I've recently bought a Minipro TL866CS EPROM programmer and found my old, home-made EPROM eraser from back in the early 80s, so I'm ready to erase and burn some EPROMs, but have some general questions:
1) I know the type of UV-light used for EPROM erasing is dangerous (I've read it can cause cancer and permanent eye damage), and my home-made metal box isn't completely light-proof and doesn't have any safety switch mechanism as I understand the professional erasers do.
Just how dangerous is it? Is it safe enough just not to stare directly into the light, or do I have to keep a fair distance and get hold of some special safety glasses as well?
It's got a small (15cm long) fluorescent tube marked "National GL-4" and some Japanese writing, identical to the one pictured here. According to another page it's a 4W germicidal lamp.
2) I've heard that subjecting EPROMs to too much UV light can be damaging -is this true? How much is "too much"? I suppose it might be a good idea to erase for a few minutes, check it with the EPROM programmer and continue to erase some more until I find out how long time is needed.
3) I've read that the data inside EPROMs can get unreliable/damaged after 20 years. Is this because the EPROM itself has a certain lifespan, so it must be discarded when this happens, or will erasing and reprogramming the EPROM with the same data (provided you have a fully working backup) give another 20 years (at least in theory) because the data is "refreshed"?
1) I know the type of UV-light used for EPROM erasing is dangerous (I've read it can cause cancer and permanent eye damage), and my home-made metal box isn't completely light-proof and doesn't have any safety switch mechanism as I understand the professional erasers do.
Just how dangerous is it? Is it safe enough just not to stare directly into the light, or do I have to keep a fair distance and get hold of some special safety glasses as well?
It's got a small (15cm long) fluorescent tube marked "National GL-4" and some Japanese writing, identical to the one pictured here. According to another page it's a 4W germicidal lamp.
2) I've heard that subjecting EPROMs to too much UV light can be damaging -is this true? How much is "too much"? I suppose it might be a good idea to erase for a few minutes, check it with the EPROM programmer and continue to erase some more until I find out how long time is needed.
3) I've read that the data inside EPROMs can get unreliable/damaged after 20 years. Is this because the EPROM itself has a certain lifespan, so it must be discarded when this happens, or will erasing and reprogramming the EPROM with the same data (provided you have a fully working backup) give another 20 years (at least in theory) because the data is "refreshed"?