Best method for writing to UICR during production

Question

Please note that I am a new developer. 
 
 I am currently testing on a nRF52 DK on Windows. 
 
 I want to flash my application (which has a SoftDevice) and also write manufacturing information such as serial number to the UICR (customer reserved) registers. 
 
 I have tried using the method described in the UICR Config Example where Keil uVision is modified to write to UICR. This method works, but is not desirable. I want to use a Flasher ATE (JLink flash programmer) to flash each of my devices during production. 
 
 I have seen in some threads that it is possible to write to the UICR using nrfjprog as such: 
 nrfjprog --memwr 0x10001304 --val 0x00000000 
 
 Is the best method to use nrfjprog and write to each individual UICR address and then to flash the application and SoftDevice? Or perhaps it is more efficient to produce a single .hex file (using mergehex) where UICR registers are already written. 
 
 My question is: what is the most efficient way to write to the UICR registers during production? 
 
 Thanks for any help!

Robin · Accepted Answer

Based on new knowledge I`ll try to answer my own question. I will keep this thread here as future reference. Writing to UICR via Flasher ATE (during manufacturing): When using Flasher ATE during product manufacturing, it is possible to use a command called "#AUTO PATCH". As described in the Flasher ATE User Guide . The Flasher ATE will be connected to a PC using either RS232 or telnet interface. It is then possible to issue commands using J-Link software. From the Flasher ATE User Guide : A file called "Patches.txt" can be placed on the ATE module. Each line in the Patches.txt file can hold up to four patches, each being maximum 32 bytes in length. The number in "Serial.txt" refer to which line number in Patches.txt which will be used for the current cycle. Each cycle can refer to a single device which currently is being programmed. Alternatively it is possible to do single patching (no cycling) if there is only one device. The single patch command looks like this: #AUTO PATCH ,,: For example: #AUTO 0 PATCH 1,10001080,4:12345678 Here 10001080 refer to the CUSTOMER[0] UICR register address. 4 is the number of bytes in the data, and 12345678 is the data (e.g. the serial number of the device). Edit: As stated by greenlava below, in order to write to UICR using the ATE Flasher, these memory addresses should be filled with empty dummy data in the .hex file. The ATE Flasher fails to write to addresses which exceeds addresses included in the .hex file. Therefor, the .hex file should be padded with dummy data.

Best method for writing to UICR during production

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