After successfully executing the first sample project by following the Quick Start guide last time, we can continue to quickly develop and design products under the ecosystem provided by Nuvoton. After development is completed, next is to program the designed coding onto the target IC, which means entering the mass production stage. In this stage, Nuvoton provided the ICP (In Circuit Programming) programming software, where settings are done through a simple GUI interface without additional tools. Programs can be programmed into the IC using the Nu-Link programming debugger equipped on the NuMaker development board. This article will introduce how to obtain the ICP programming software and the mass production processes; detailed instructions will be explained later.

        Nuvoton’s ICP programming software can be downloaded from Nuvoton’s official website. Locate “Software development tools” under “Software and Tools” on the home page, and then click “Programming software” to locate the link to download the ICP programming software: NuMicro_ICP_Programming_tool_Vx.xx.xxxx. Suppose users plan to use the UART interface of the virtual COM port provided by the Nu-Link programming debugger to execute programming or debugging functions. In that case, the Nu-Link USB Driver must be selected and installed after the installation of the ICP programming software has been completed. (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Select and install Nu-Link USB Driver

Through Nuvoton’s ICP programming software, the processes for the mass production stage become very simple (Fig. 2); connect the product PCB board equipped with Nuvoton IC to the Nu-Link programming debugger, and then connect it to the computer through USB to program the target IC. This is called Online ICP. Nuvoton also provides Offline ICP solutions; use the ICP programming software to save coding and programming related settings into the Nu-Link programming debugger in advance, and then connect the product PCB board alone to the Nu-Link programming debugger to perform programming to the target IC. In response to the customers’ mass production needs, Nuvoton also provides the one-to-four programmer Nu-Link-Gang; it can program the coding onto four target ICs simultaneously. The following three chapters will explain how to use Nuvoton’s ICP programming software to execute online, offline, and one-to-many mass production programming.

Fig. 2 Mass production stage processes