LPC SPIFI Peripheral

SPIFI-NXP-MICROCONTROLLERS

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The SPI Flash Interface (SPIFI) allows low pin-count serial flash memories to be connected to an Arm® based LPC Microcontroller with very little performance penalty compared to higher pin-count parallel flash memories. After a few commands configure the interface at startup,the entire flash content is accessible as normal memory using byte, halfword, and word accesses by the processor and/or DMA channels.Erasure and programming are handled by simple sequences of commands.

Many SPI flash devices use serial commands for device setup/initialization, and then move to dual or quad commands for normal operation. Different serial Flash vendors and devices accept or require different commands and command formats. SPIFI includes sufficient flexibility to be compatible with many market-leading devices plus extensions to help insure compatibility with future devices.

The SPIFI implements basic, dual, and quad SPI in half-duplex mode, in which the SPIFI always sends a command to a serial flash memory at the start of each frame. In write commands, the SPIFI sends all of the data in the frame, while in read commands, the SPIFI sends the command, and then the serial flash sends data to the SPIFI. SPI Flash devices respond to commands sent by software, or automatically sent by the SPIFI when software reads the serial flash region of the memory map. Commands are divided into fields called opcode, address, intermediate data, and data. The address,intermediate data, and data fields are optional depending on the opcode. Some devices include a mode in which the opcode can be implied in Read commands for higher performance. Data fields are further divided into input and output data fields depending on the opcode.

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Diagram

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LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD1

LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD1

LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD2

LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD2

LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD3

LPC-SPIFI-PERIPHERAL-BD3
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Features

  • Quad SPI Flash Interface (SPIFI) to external flash.
  • Transfer rates of up to SPIFI_CLK/2 bytes per second.
  • External flash is directly memory mapped for fast access.
  • Supports 1-, 2-, and 4-bit bi-directional serial protocols.
  • Transfer protocol compatible with various vendors and devices.
  • The SPIFI memory is accessible by the DMA.
  • Software driver library is available.
  • Supports execute-in-place (direct code execution from the SPI Flash memory) and general read/write/erase operations.
  • Built-in cache to give high-performance code execution.
  • Allows designers to use a small, inexpensive serial flash in place of larger, more expensive parallel flash.
  • With SPIFI, the external serial flash appears in the microcontroller’s memory map and can be read like other on-chip memory.

Boot from SPIFI:

LPC1800/4300 devices support boot from flash.The boot code sets the SPIFI clock to 32 MHz at the beginning of the boot process and checks for the type of SPI flash device. If the detected device is unknown, the SPIFI clock is reduced to 18 MHz,otherwise device boot with a SPIFI clock of 32MHz

  • Any device that can accept a 03 read serial opcode after receiving an FF opcode is expected to boot successfully.
  • A device that switches to quad opcodes and doesn't return after an 0xff reset to serial mode might not boot after a reset.
Device Boot Support Exit from no opcode mode Comments
Chingis PM25LD040, PM25LD010C, PM25LD020C, PM25LD512C, PM25LD256C, PM25LQ032C Yes
Giga Device GD25Q80 Yes
Macronix MX25L6435E, MX25L8006E, MX25L1606E, MX25L8035E, MX25L1633E, MX25L3235E, MX25L6435E, MX25L12835E, MX25L25635E, MX1635E Yes
MX25L12835F, MX25L25635F Yes These devices take longer time to be ready after power on. You may need to delay the startup of LPC18xx/LPC43xx.One way to achieve this sequence is to delay RESETN signal of LPC18xx/LPC43xx.
Micron M25PX80, M25PX16, M25PX32, M25PX64, M25P10, M25P16, M25P32, M25P64, M25P80 Yes
N25Q032A, N25Q064A, N25Q128A, N25Q256A No* LPC18xx/LPC43xx support cold boot with these devices. May not boot when LPC18xx/LPC43xx is reset and serial flash is in no Opcode mode. In case of planned reset, MCU can get serial flash out of No Opcode mode before resetting itself.
Spansion S25FL032P, S25FL064P, S25FL128S, S25FL256S, S25FL256S, S25FL129P, S25FL004K, S25FL008K
S25FL016K, S25FL032K, S25FL064K, S25FL116K, S25FL132K, S25FL164K,S25FL127S		 Yes
SST(Microchip) SST25VF064,SST25VF016 Yes
Winbond W25Q80BV,W25Q16DV,W25Q32FV,W25Q64FV,W25Q128FV,W25Q256FV, W25Q32JVSIQ, W25Q64JVSIQ Yes

Remarks: To boot from serial flashes, it is recommended that customers fully characterize the timing in their applications.

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  • BSP, Drivers and Middleware

    Code Examples - LPCOpen 2_12 Keil NGX Xplorer 1830 SPIFI v1.0

    ZIPRev 2.12Apr 25, 2016 00:00:001.3 MBLPCXPRESSO_NGX_XPLORE1830_SPIFI
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  • BSP, Drivers and Middleware

    Code Examples - LPCOpen 2_12 Keil MCB 1857 SPIFI v1.0

    ZIPRev 1.0Apr 25, 2016 00:00:001.4 MBLPCXPRESSO_KEIL_MCB_1857_SPIFI
    Download
  • Embedded Application Software - miscellaneous

    SPIFI Library - lpclibspifi lpcxpresso 1.03_68

    ZIPRev 1.03_68Oct 10, 2013 00:00:00138.5 KBLPCLIBSPIFI_LPCXPRESSO_103_68
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  • Embedded Application Software - miscellaneous

    SPIFI Library - keil iar 1.03_68

    ZIPRev 1.03_68Oct 10, 2013 00:00:00498.0 KBLPCLIBSPIFI_KEIL_IAR_103_68
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  • Embedded Application Software - miscellaneous

    LPCSPIFI Library v0.06 release (Released: 06/25/2014): Library Updates

    ZIPRev 0.06Jun 25, 2014 00:00:001.2 MBLPCSPIFI-LIBRARY-V0.06-LIBRARYU
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