Overview of Microprocessors and Microcontrollers

Microcontrollers & Microprocessors

A microcontroller (sometimes abbreviated C, uC or MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit, (IC) or at most a few integrated circuits

Microprocessors
Intel 4004

It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. It is an example of sequential digital logic, as it has internal memory.

Basic Microprocessor Architecture

Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system.

Functions of Microprocessor
The

microprocessor is the master in the system, which controls all the activity of the system. It issues address and control signals and fetches the instruction and data from memory. Then it executes the instruction to take appropriate action. A microprocessor can perform many different functions (not specific as microcontrollers).

Architecture
Von Neumann architecture:One shared memory for instructions (program) and data with one data bus and one address bus between processor and memory. Harvard architecture : The Harvard architecture is a computer architecture with physically separate storage and signal pathways for instructions and data.

Evolution of Microprocessors
During the 1960s, computer processors were constructed out of small and medium-scale ICs each containing from tens to a few hundred transistors. For each computer built, all of these had to be placed and soldered onto printed circuit boards, and often multiple boards would have to be interconnected in a chassis.

Evolution of Microprocessors
The large number of discrete logic gates used more electrical powerand therefore, produced more heatthan a more integrated design with fewer ICs. The distance that signals had to travel between ICs on the boards limited the speed at which a computer could operate. In the 1960s, integrated circuits were developed, which placed all of the components onto a single chip. In 1971, Intel developed the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.

First Generation
Introduced in 1971 Serial instructions

to 1972

Ex:- Intel 4004

Introduced November 15, 1971 Clock rate 740 kHz 0.07 MIPS Bus Width 8 bits PMOS Number of Transistors 2,300 at 10 m Addressable Memory 640 bytes Program Memory 4 KB (4 KB)

Second Generation
Late 1970s 16-bit arithmetic

and pipelined instruction processing. overlapped fetch, decode, and execute steps Ex:- MC68000, 8080 (Used in home computers).

Third Generation
16-bit

processors with minicomputer-like performance. The third generation came about as IC transistor counts approached 2,50,000. The depth of the pipeline increased to five or more stages. Intels 8086 (Introduced in 1976),Zilog Z8000,MC68020 were the examples

Fourth Generation
More

than one instruction per clock cycle Example:- 80960CA,Motorolas 88100

Fifth Generation
Microprocessors

in their fifth generation, the design soon surpassed 10 million transistors. In this generation, PCs are a low-margin, highvolume-business dominated by a single microprocessor (Computer, 1996).

Moores Law

Microcontrollers
An Intel Die

Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purpose applications. Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and devices, such as automobile engine control systems, implantable medical devices, remote controls, office machines, appliances, power tools, toys and

Microcontrollers (Contd)
Essentially a microprocessor with onchip memories and I/O devices Designed for specific functions All in one solution - Reduction in chip count Reduced cost, power, physical size, etc.

Microcontrollers (Contd)
By reducing the size and cost compared to a design that uses a separate microprocessor, memory, and input/output devices, microcontrollers make it economical to digitally control even more devices and processes. They will generally have the ability to retain functionality while waiting for an event such as a button press or other interrupt; power consumption while sleeping (CPU clock and most peripherals off) may be just nanowatts, making many of them well suited for long lasting battery applications.

Why Microcontrollers?
The microprocessors Intel 4004 and 8008 required external chips to implement a working system, raising total system cost, and making it impossible to economically computerize appliances. Then TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran succeeded in creating the first microcontroller in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS 1000, which went commercial in 1974. It combined read-only memory, read/write memory, processor and clock on one chip and was targeted at embedded systems

Development of Microcontrollers
Partly in response to the existence of the singlechip TMS 1000, Intel developed a computer system on a chip optimized for control applications, the Intel 8048, with commercial parts first shipping in 1977. It combined RAM and ROM on the same chip. This chip found its way in over one billion PC Keyboards and other numerous applications. This increased Intel divisions budget by 25%. Intel introduced a microcontroller 8048 in 1976. But, it came up with a higher performance microcontroller 8051. It took the microcontroller applications to peaks in the electronic world. This is the most widely used microcontroller till date.

Differences in Microcontrollers
Most microcontrollers at this time had two variants. One had an erasable EPROM program memory, which was significantly more expensive than the PROM variant which was only programmable once. In 1993, the introduction of EEPROM memory allowed microcontrollers (beginning with the MicrochipPIC16x84) to be electrically erased quickly without an expensive package as required for EPROM. In the same year, Atmel produced its first microcontroller using Flash Technology.

8051 Microcontroller

8051 (Contd)

12 MHz clock. Processor instruction cycle time 1 s. An 8-bit ALU. Harvard memory architecture the external program memory and data memory have separate address spaces from 0x0000 and separate control signal(s). 8-bit internal data bus width and 16-bit internal address bus Harvard memory architecture CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)

8051 (Contd)

Special function registers (SFRs) PSW (processor status word) A (accumulator) B register SP (stack pointer) Registers for serial IOs, timers, ports and interrupt . No floating-point processor No cache No memory management-unit No pipeline and No instruction level parallelism On-chip RAM of 128 bytes. 32 bytes of RAM also used as four banks (sets) of registers. Each register-set (bank) thus eight registers. External data/stack memory can be added up to 64 KB in most version. In certain 8051 enhancements, this limit enhanced to 16 MB

8051 (Contd)

Two external interrupt pins, INT0 and INT1. Four ports of 8-bits each in single chip mode. Two timers. Serial interface (SI)programmable for three full duplex UART modes for serial IO.

In certain versions DMA controller In certain versions pulse width modulator and thus support to DAC, d.c and servo motor controls. In certain versions modem, watchdog timer, ADC. Advanced versions support these features and a version is selected as per the system requirement.

Picture of 8051 Development Board

Questions?

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