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Microcontroller
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Amicrocontroller(sometimesabbreviatedC,uCorMCU)
isasmallcomputeronasingleintegratedcircuitcontaininga
processorcore,memory,andprogrammableinput/output
peripherals.ProgrammemoryintheformofNORflashorOTP
ROMisalsooftenincludedonchip,aswellasatypicallysmall
amountofRAM.Microcontrollersaredesignedforembedded
applications,incontrasttothemicroprocessorsusedinpersonal
computersorothergeneralpurposeapplications.
Microcontrollersareusedinautomaticallycontrolledproducts
anddevices,suchasautomobileenginecontrolsystems,
implantablemedicaldevices,remotecontrols,officemachines,
appliances,powertools,toysandotherembeddedsystems.By
reducingthesizeandcostcomparedtoadesignthatusesa
separatemicroprocessor,memory,andinput/outputdevices,
microcontrollersmakeiteconomicaltodigitallycontroleven
moredevicesandprocesses.Mixedsignalmicrocontrollersare
common,integratinganalogcomponentsneededtocontrolnon
digitalelectronicsystems.
Somemicrocontrollersmayusefourbitwordsandoperateat
clockratefrequenciesaslowas4kHz,forlowpower
consumption(singledigitmilliwattsormicrowatts).Theywill
generallyhavetheabilitytoretainfunctionalitywhilewaitingfor
aneventsuchasabuttonpressorotherinterruptpower
consumptionwhilesleeping(CPUclockandmostperipherals
off)maybejustnanowatts,makingmanyofthemwellsuitedfor
longlastingbatteryapplications.Othermicrocontrollersmay
serveperformancecriticalroles,wheretheymayneedtoact
morelikeadigitalsignalprocessor(DSP),withhigherclock
speedsandpowerconsumption.

ThediefromanIntel8742,an8bit
microcontrollerthatincludesaCPU
runningat12MHz,128bytesof
RAM,2048bytesofEPROM,andI/O
inthesamechip.

2ATmegamicrocontrollers

Contents
1History
1.1Volumes
2Embeddeddesign
2.1Interrupts
2.2Programs
2.3Othermicrocontrollerfeatures
3Higherintegration
4Programmingenvironments
5Typesofmicrocontrollers
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6Interruptlatency
7Microcontrollerembeddedmemorytechnology
7.1Data
7.2Firmware
8Seealso
9References
10Externallinks

History
Thefirstmicroprocessorwasthe4bitIntel4004releasedin1971,withtheIntel8008andothermore
capablemicroprocessorsbecomingavailableoverthenextseveralyears.However,bothprocessors
requiredexternalchipstoimplementaworkingsystem,raisingtotalsystemcost,andmakingit
impossibletoeconomicallycomputerizeappliances.
TheSmithsonianInstitutionsaysTIengineersGaryBooneandMichaelCochransucceededincreating
thefirstmicrocontrollerin1971.TheresultoftheirworkwastheTMS1000,whichbecame
commerciallyavailablein1974.Itcombinedreadonlymemory,read/writememory,processorand
clockononechipandwastargetedatembeddedsystems.[1]
PartlyinresponsetotheexistenceofthesinglechipTMS1000,[2]Inteldevelopedacomputersystemon
achipoptimizedforcontrolapplications,theIntel8048,withcommercialpartsfirstshippingin1977.[2]
ItcombinedRAMandROMonthesamechip.ThischipwouldfinditswayintooveronebillionPC
keyboards,andothernumerousapplications.AtthattimeIntel'sPresident,LukeJ.Valenter,statedthat
themicrocontrollerwasoneofthemostsuccessfulinthecompany'shistory,andexpandedthedivision's
budgetover25%.
Mostmicrocontrollersatthistimehadtwovariants.OnehadanerasableEPROMprogrammemory,
withatransparentquartzwindowinthelidofthepackagetoallowittobeerasedbyexposureto
ultravioletlight.TheotherwasaPROMvariantwhichwasonlyprogrammableoncesometimesthis
wassignifiedwiththedesignationOTP,standingfor"onetimeprogrammable".ThePROMwas
actuallyexactlythesametypeofmemoryastheEPROM,butbecausetherewasnowaytoexposeitto
ultravioletlight,itcouldnotbeerased.Theerasableversionsrequiredceramicpackageswithquartz
windows,makingthemsignificantlymoreexpensivethantheOTPversions,whichcouldbemadein
lowercostopaqueplasticpackages.Fortheerasablevariants,quartzwasrequired,insteadofless
expensiveglass,foritstransparencytoultravioletglassislargelyopaquetoUVbutthemaincost
differentiatorwastheceramicpackageitself.
In1993,theintroductionofEEPROMmemoryallowedmicrocontrollers(beginningwiththeMicrochip
PIC16x84)tobeelectricallyerasedquicklywithoutanexpensivepackageasrequiredforEPROM,
allowingbothrapidprototyping,andInSystemProgramming.(EEPROMtechnologyhadbeenavailable
priortothistime,buttheearlierEEPROMwasmoreexpensiveandlessdurable,makingitunsuitable
forlowcostmassproducedmicrocontrollers.)Thesameyear,Atmelintroducedthefirstmicrocontroller
usingFlashmemory,aspecialtypeofEEPROM.[3]Othercompaniesrapidlyfollowedsuit,withboth
memorytypes.

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Costhasplummetedovertime,withthecheapest8bitmicrocontrollersbeingavailableforunder
0.25USDinquantity(thousands)in2009,andsome32bitmicrocontrollersaround1USDforsimilar
quantities.
Nowadaysmicrocontrollersarecheapandreadilyavailableforhobbyists,withlargeonlinecommunities
aroundcertainprocessors.
Inthefuture,MRAMcouldpotentiallybeusedinmicrocontrollersasithasinfiniteenduranceandits
incrementalsemiconductorwaferprocesscostisrelativelylow.

Volumes
About55%ofallCPUssoldintheworldare8bitmicrocontrollersandmicroprocessors.[4]Overtwo
billion8bitmicrocontrollersweresoldin1997,[5]andAccordingtoSemico,overfourbillion8bit
microcontrollersweresoldin2006.[6]Morerecently,SemicohasclaimedtheMCUmarketgrew36.5%
in2010and12%in2011.[7]
Atypicalhomeinadevelopedcountryislikelytohaveonlyfourgeneralpurposemicroprocessorsbut
aroundthreedozenmicrocontrollers.Atypicalmidrangeautomobilehasasmanyas30ormore
microcontrollers.Theycanalsobefoundinmanyelectricaldevicessuchaswashingmachines,
microwaveovens,andtelephones.

Embeddeddesign
Amicrocontrollercanbeconsideredaselfcontainedsystemwith
aprocessor,memoryandperipheralsandcanbeusedasan
embeddedsystem.[8]Themajorityofmicrocontrollersinuse
todayareembeddedinothermachinery,suchasautomobiles,
telephones,appliances,andperipheralsforcomputersystems.
Whilesomeembeddedsystemsareverysophisticated,many
haveminimalrequirementsformemoryandprogramlength,
withnooperatingsystem,andlowsoftwarecomplexity.Typical
inputandoutputdevicesincludeswitches,relays,solenoids,
APIC18F8720microcontrollerin
LEDs,smallorcustomLCDdisplays,radiofrequencydevices,
an80pinTQFPpackage.
andsensorsfordatasuchastemperature,humidity,lightlevel
etc.Embeddedsystemsusuallyhavenokeyboard,screen,disks,
printers,orotherrecognizableI/Odevicesofapersonalcomputer,andmaylackhumaninteraction
devicesofanykind.

Interrupts
Microcontrollersmustproviderealtime(predictable,thoughnotnecessarilyfast)responsetoeventsin
theembeddedsystemtheyarecontrolling.Whencertaineventsoccur,aninterruptsystemcansignalthe
processortosuspendprocessingthecurrentinstructionsequenceandtobeginaninterruptservice
routine(ISR,or"interrupthandler").TheISRwillperformanyprocessingrequiredbasedonthesource
oftheinterrupt,beforereturningtotheoriginalinstructionsequence.Possibleinterruptsourcesare
devicedependent,andoftenincludeeventssuchasaninternaltimeroverflow,completingananalogto
digitalconversion,alogiclevelchangeonaninputsuchasfromabuttonbeingpressed,anddata
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receivedonacommunicationlink.Wherepowerconsumptionisimportantasinbatteryoperated
devices,interruptsmayalsowakeamicrocontrollerfromalowpowersleepstatewheretheprocessoris
halteduntilrequiredtodosomethingbyaperipheralevent.

Programs
Typicallymicrocontrollerprogramsmustfitintheavailableonchipprogrammemory,sinceitwouldbe
costlytoprovideasystemwithexternal,expandable,memory.Compilersandassemblersareusedto
converthighlevellanguageandassemblerlanguagecodesintoacompactmachinecodeforstoragein
themicrocontroller'smemory.Dependingonthedevice,theprogrammemorymaybepermanent,read
onlymemorythatcanonlybeprogrammedatthefactory,orprogrammemorythatmaybefield
alterableflashorerasablereadonlymemory.
Manufacturershaveoftenproducedspecialversionsoftheirmicrocontrollersinordertohelpthe
hardwareandsoftwaredevelopmentofthetargetsystem.OriginallytheseincludedEPROMversions
thathavea"window"onthetopofthedevicethroughwhichprogrammemorycanbeerasedby
ultravioletlight,readyforreprogrammingafteraprogramming("burn")andtestcycle.Since1998,
EPROMversionsarerareandhavebeenreplacedbyEEPROMandflash,whichareeasiertouse(can
beerasedelectronically)andcheapertomanufacture.
OtherversionsmaybeavailablewheretheROMisaccessedasanexternaldeviceratherthanasinternal
memory,howeverthesearebecomingincreasinglyrareduetothewidespreadavailabilityofcheap
microcontrollerprogrammers.
Theuseoffieldprogrammabledevicesonamicrocontrollermayallowfieldupdateofthefirmwareor
permitlatefactoryrevisionstoproductsthathavebeenassembledbutnotyetshipped.Programmable
memoryalsoreducestheleadtimerequiredfordeploymentofanewproduct.
Wherehundredsofthousandsofidenticaldevicesarerequired,usingpartsprogrammedatthetimeof
manufacturecanbeaneconomicaloption.These"maskprogrammed"partshavetheprogramlaiddown
inthesamewayasthelogicofthechip,atthesametime.
Acustomizablemicrocontrollerincorporatesablockofdigitallogicthatcanbepersonalizedinorderto
provideadditionalprocessingcapability,peripheralsandinterfacesthatareadaptedtotherequirements
oftheapplication.Forexample,theAT91CAPfromAtmelhasablockoflogicthatcanbecustomized
duringmanufactureaccordingtouserrequirements.

Othermicrocontrollerfeatures
Microcontrollersusuallycontainfromseveraltodozensofgeneralpurposeinput/outputpins(GPIO).
GPIOpinsaresoftwareconfigurabletoeitheraninputoranoutputstate.WhenGPIOpinsare
configuredtoaninputstate,theyareoftenusedtoreadsensorsorexternalsignals.Configuredtothe
outputstate,GPIOpinscandriveexternaldevicessuchasLEDsormotors.
Manyembeddedsystemsneedtoreadsensorsthatproduceanalogsignals.Thisisthepurposeofthe
analogtodigitalconverter(ADC).Sinceprocessorsarebuilttointerpretandprocessdigitaldata,i.e.1s
and0s,theyarenotabletodoanythingwiththeanalogsignalsthatmaybesenttoitbyadevice.Sothe
analogtodigitalconverterisusedtoconverttheincomingdataintoaformthattheprocessorcan
recognize.Alesscommonfeatureonsomemicrocontrollersisadigitaltoanalogconverter(DAC)that
allowstheprocessortooutputanalogsignalsorvoltagelevels.

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Inadditiontotheconverters,manyembeddedmicroprocessorsincludeavarietyoftimersaswell.One
ofthemostcommontypesoftimersistheProgrammableIntervalTimer(PIT).APITmayeithercount
downfromsomevaluetozero,oruptothecapacityofthecountregister,overflowingtozero.Onceit
reacheszero,itsendsaninterrupttotheprocessorindicatingthatithasfinishedcounting.Thisisuseful
fordevicessuchasthermostats,whichperiodicallytestthetemperaturearoundthemtoseeiftheyneed
toturntheairconditioneron,theheateron,etc.
AdedicatedPulseWidthModulation(PWM)blockmakesitpossiblefortheCPUtocontrolpower
converters,resistiveloads,motors,etc.,withoutusinglotsofCPUresourcesintighttimerloops.
UniversalAsynchronousReceiver/Transmitter(UART)blockmakesitpossibletoreceiveandtransmit
dataoveraseriallinewithverylittleloadontheCPU.Dedicatedonchiphardwarealsooftenincludes
capabilitiestocommunicatewithotherdevices(chips)indigitalformatssuchasICandSerial
PeripheralInterface(SPI).

Higherintegration
Microcontrollersmaynotimplementanexternaladdressordata
busastheyintegrateRAMandnonvolatilememoryonthesame
chipastheCPU.Usingfewerpins,thechipcanbeplacedina
muchsmaller,cheaperpackage.
Integratingthememoryandotherperipheralsonasinglechip
andtestingthemasaunitincreasesthecostofthatchip,but
oftenresultsindecreasednetcostoftheembeddedsystemasa
whole.EvenifthecostofaCPUthathasintegratedperipherals
isslightlymorethanthecostofaCPUandexternalperipherals,
havingfewerchipstypicallyallowsasmallerandcheapercircuit
board,andreducesthelaborrequiredtoassembleandtestthe
circuitboard,inadditiontotendingtodecreasethedefectratefor
thefinishedassembly.
Amicrocontrollerisasingleintegratedcircuit,commonlywith
thefollowingfeatures:
centralprocessingunitrangingfromsmallandsimple4

DieofaPIC12C5088bit,fully
static,EEPROM/EPROM/ROM
basedCMOSmicrocontroller
manufacturedbyMicrochip
Technologyusinga1200nanometre
process.

bitprocessorstocomplex32or64bitprocessors
volatilememory(RAM)fordatastorage
ROM,EPROM,EEPROMorFlashmemoryforprogramandoperatingparameterstorage
discreteinputandoutputbits,allowingcontrolordetectionofthelogicstateofanindividual
packagepin
serialinput/outputsuchasserialports(UARTs)
otherserialcommunicationsinterfaceslikeIC,SerialPeripheralInterfaceandControllerArea
Networkforsysteminterconnect
peripheralssuchastimers,eventcounters,PWMgenerators,andwatchdog
clockgeneratoroftenanoscillatorforaquartztimingcrystal,resonatororRCcircuit
manyincludeanalogtodigitalconverters,someincludedigitaltoanalogconverters
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incircuitprogramminganddebuggingsupport
Thisintegrationdrasticallyreducesthenumberofchipsandthe
amountofwiringandcircuitboardspacethatwouldbeneededto
produceequivalentsystemsusingseparatechips.Furthermore,
onlowpincountdevicesinparticular,eachpinmayinterfaceto
severalinternalperipherals,withthepinfunctionselectedby
software.Thisallowsaparttobeusedinawidervarietyof
applicationsthanifpinshaddedicatedfunctions.
Microcontrollershaveprovedtobehighlypopularinembedded
systemssincetheirintroductioninthe1970s.
SomemicrocontrollersuseaHarvardarchitecture:separate
memorybusesforinstructionsanddata,allowingaccessesto
takeplaceconcurrently.WhereaHarvardarchitectureisused,
instructionwordsfortheprocessormaybeadifferentbitsize
thanthelengthofinternalmemoryandregistersforexample:
12bitinstructionsusedwith8bitdataregisters.

DieofaSTM32F100C4T6BARM
CortexM3microcontrollerwith16
kilobytesflashmemory,24MHz
CentralProcessingUnit(CPU),
motorcontrolandConsumer
ElectronicsControl(CEC)functions.
Manufacturedby
STMicroelectronics.

Thedecisionofwhichperipheraltointegrateisoftendifficult.
Themicrocontrollervendorsoftentradeoperatingfrequencies
andsystemdesignflexibilityagainsttimetomarket
requirementsfromtheircustomersandoveralllowersystemcost.Manufacturershavetobalancethe
needtominimizethechipsizeagainstadditionalfunctionality.

Microcontrollerarchitecturesvarywidely.Somedesignsincludegeneralpurposemicroprocessorcores,
withoneormoreROM,RAM,orI/Ofunctionsintegratedontothepackage.Otherdesignsarepurpose
builtforcontrolapplications.Amicrocontrollerinstructionsetusuallyhasmanyinstructionsintended
forbitwiseoperationstomakecontrolprogramsmorecompact.[9]Forexample,ageneralpurpose
processormightrequireseveralinstructionstotestabitinaregisterandbranchifthebitisset,wherea
microcontrollercouldhaveasingleinstructiontoprovidethatcommonlyrequiredfunction.
Microcontrollerstypicallydonothaveamathcoprocessor,sofloatingpointarithmeticisperformedby
software.

Programmingenvironments
Microcontrollerswereoriginallyprogrammedonlyinassemblylanguage,butvarioushighlevel
programminglanguagesarenowalsoincommonusetotargetmicrocontrollers.Theselanguagesare
eitherdesignedspeciallyforthepurpose,orversionsofgeneralpurposelanguagessuchastheC
programminglanguage.Compilersforgeneralpurposelanguageswilltypicallyhavesomerestrictions
aswellasenhancementstobettersupporttheuniquecharacteristicsofmicrocontrollers.Some
microcontrollershaveenvironmentstoaiddevelopingcertaintypesofapplications.Microcontroller
vendorsoftenmaketoolsfreelyavailabletomakeiteasiertoadopttheirhardware.
ManymicrocontrollersaresoquirkythattheyeffectivelyrequiretheirownnonstandarddialectsofC,
suchasSDCCforthe8051,whichpreventusingstandardtools(suchascodelibrariesorstaticanalysis
tools)evenforcodeunrelatedtohardwarefeatures.Interpretersareoftenusedtohidesuchlowlevel
quirks.
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Interpreterfirmwareisalsoavailableforsomemicrocontrollers.Forexample,BASIContheearly
microcontrollersIntel8052[10]BASICandFORTHontheZilogZ8[11]aswellassomemoderndevices.
Typicallytheseinterpreterssupportinteractiveprogramming.
Simulatorsareavailableforsomemicrocontrollers.Theseallowadevelopertoanalyzewhatthe
behaviorofthemicrocontrollerandtheirprogramshouldbeiftheywereusingtheactualpart.A
simulatorwillshowtheinternalprocessorstateandalsothatoftheoutputs,aswellasallowinginput
signalstobegenerated.Whileontheonehandmostsimulatorswillbelimitedfrombeingunableto
simulatemuchotherhardwareinasystem,theycanexerciseconditionsthatmayotherwisebehardto
reproduceatwillinthephysicalimplementation,andcanbethequickestwaytodebugandanalyze
problems.
Recentmicrocontrollersareoftenintegratedwithonchipdebugcircuitrythatwhenaccessedbyanin
circuitemulatorviaJTAG,allowdebuggingofthefirmwarewithadebugger.

Typesofmicrocontrollers
Asof2008thereareseveraldozenmicrocontrollerarchitecturesandvendorsincluding:
ARMcoreprocessors(manyvendors)
ARMCortexMcoresarespecificallytargetedtowardsmicrocontrollerapplications
AtmelAVR(8bit),AVR32(32bit),andAT91SAM(32bit)
CypressSemiconductor'sM8CCoreusedintheirPSoC(ProgrammableSystemonChip)
FreescaleColdFire(32bit)andS08(8bit)
Freescale68HC11(8bit)
Intel8051
Infineon:8bitXC800,16bitXE166,32bitXMC4000(ARMbasedCortexM4F),32bitTriCore
and,32bitAurixTricoreBitmicrocontrollers[12]
MIPS
MicrochipTechnologyPIC,(8bitPIC16,PIC18,16bitdsPIC33/PIC24),(32bitPIC32)
NXPSemiconductorsLPC1000,LPC2000,LPC3000,LPC4000(32bit),LPC900,LPC700(8bit)
ParallaxPropeller
PowerPCISA
Rabbit2000(8bit)
RenesasElectronics:RL7816bitMCURX32bitMCUSuperHV85032bitMCUH8R8C
16bitMCU
SiliconLaboratoriesPipelined8bit8051MicrocontrollersandmixedsignalARMbased32bit
microcontrollers
STMicroelectronicsSTM8(8bit),ST10(16bit)andSTM32(32bit)
TexasInstrumentsTIMSP430(16bit)C2000(32bit)
ToshibaTLCS870(8bit/16bit).

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Manyothersexist,someofwhichareusedinverynarrowrangeofapplicationsoraremorelike
applicationsprocessorsthanmicrocontrollers.Themicrocontrollermarketisextremelyfragmented,with
numerousvendors,technologies,andmarkets.Notethatmanyvendorssellorhavesoldmultiple
architectures.

Interruptlatency
Incontrasttogeneralpurposecomputers,microcontrollersusedinembeddedsystemsoftenseekto
optimizeinterruptlatencyoverinstructionthroughput.Issuesincludebothreducingthelatency,and
makingitbemorepredictable(tosupportrealtimecontrol).
Whenanelectronicdevicecausesaninterrupt,theintermediateresults(registers)havetobesaved
beforethesoftwareresponsibleforhandlingtheinterruptcanrun.Theymustalsoberestoredafterthat
softwareisfinished.Iftherearemoreregisters,thissavingandrestoringprocesstakesmoretime,
increasingthelatency.Waystoreducesuchcontext/restorelatencyincludehavingrelativelyfew
registersintheircentralprocessingunits(undesirablebecauseitslowsdownmostnoninterrupt
processingsubstantially),oratleasthavingthehardwarenotsavethemall(thisfailsifthesoftwarethen
needstocompensatebysavingtherest"manually").Anothertechniqueinvolvesspendingsilicongates
on"shadowregisters":Oneormoreduplicateregistersusedonlybytheinterruptsoftware,perhaps
supportingadedicatedstack.
Otherfactorsaffectinginterruptlatencyinclude:
CyclesneededtocompletecurrentCPUactivities.Tominimizethosecosts,microcontrollerstend
tohaveshortpipelines(oftenthreeinstructionsorless),smallwritebuffers,andensurethatlonger
instructionsarecontinuableorrestartable.Reducedinstructionsetcomputing/RISCdesign
principlesensurethatmostinstructionstakethesamenumberofcycles,helpingavoidtheneedfor
mostsuchcontinuation/restartlogic.
Thelengthofanycriticalsectionthatneedstobeinterrupted.Entrytoacriticalsectionrestricts
concurrentdatastructureaccess.Whenadatastructuremustbeaccessedbyaninterrupthandler,
thecriticalsectionmustblockthatinterrupt.Accordingly,interruptlatencyisincreasedby
howeverlongthatinterruptisblocked.Whentherearehardexternalconstraintsonsystem
latency,developersoftenneedtoolstomeasureinterruptlatenciesandtrackdownwhichcritical
sectionscauseslowdowns.
Onecommontechniquejustblocksallinterruptsforthedurationofthecriticalsection.This
iseasytoimplement,butsometimescriticalsectionsgetuncomfortablylong.
Amorecomplextechniquejustblockstheinterruptsthatmaytriggeraccesstothatdata
structure.Thisisoftenbasedoninterruptpriorities,whichtendtonotcorrespondwelltothe
relevantsystemdatastructures.Accordingly,thistechniqueisusedmostlyinvery
constrainedenvironments.
Processorsmayhavehardwaresupportforsomecriticalsections.Examplesinclude
supportingatomicaccesstobitsorbyteswithinaword,orotheratomicaccessprimitives
liketheLoadlink/storeconditional/LDREX/STREXexclusiveaccessprimitivesintroduced
intheARMv6architecture.
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Interruptnesting.Somemicrocontrollersallowhigherpriorityinterruptstointerruptlowerpriority
ones.Thisallowssoftwaretomanagelatencybygivingtimecriticalinterruptshigherpriority(and
thuslowerandmorepredictablelatency)thanlesscriticalones.
Triggerrate.Wheninterruptsoccurbacktoback,microcontrollersmayavoidanextracontext
save/restorecyclebyaformoftailcalloptimization.
Lowerendmicrocontrollerstendtosupportfewerinterruptlatencycontrolsthanhigherendones.

Microcontrollerembeddedmemorytechnology
Sincetheemergenceofmicrocontrollers,manydifferentmemorytechnologieshavebeenused.Almost
allmicrocontrollershaveatleasttwodifferentkindsofmemory,anonvolatilememoryforstoring
firmwareandareadwritememoryfortemporarydata.

Data
Fromtheearliestmicrocontrollerstotoday,sixtransistorSRAMisalmostalwaysusedastheread/write
workingmemory,withafewmoretransistorsperbitusedintheregisterfile.FRAMorMRAMcould
potentiallyreplaceitasitis4to10timesdenserwhichwouldmakeitmorecosteffective.
InadditiontotheSRAM,somemicrocontrollersalsohaveinternalEEPROMfordatastorageandeven
onesthatdonothaveany(ornotenough)areoftenconnectedtoexternalserialEEPROMchip(suchas
theBASICStamp)orexternalserialflashmemorychip.
Afewrecentmicrocontrollersbeginningin2003have"selfprogrammable"flashmemory.[3]

Firmware
TheearliestmicrocontrollersusedmaskROMtostorefirmware.Latermicrocontrollers(suchasthe
earlyversionsoftheFreescale68HC11andearlyPICmicrocontrollers)hadquartzwindowsthat
allowedultravioletlightintoerasetheEPROM.
TheMicrochipPIC16C84,introducedin1993,[13]wasthefirstmicrocontrollertouseEEPROMtostore
firmware.Inthesameyear,AtmelintroducedthefirstmicrocontrollerusingNORFlashmemoryto
storefirmware.[3]

Seealso
Listofcommonmicrocontrollers
Microbotics
Programmablelogiccontroller
Singleboardmicrocontroller
PICmicrocontroller
MCUwithbuiltinWiFi

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References
1. ^Augarten,Stan(1983).TheMostWidelyUsedComputeronaChip:TheTMS1000
(http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/augarten/p38.htm).StateoftheArt:APhotographicHistoryoftheIntegrated
Circuit(NewHavenandNewYork:Ticknor&Fields).ISBN0899191959.Retrieved20091223.
2. ^ab"OralHistoryPanelontheDevelopmentandPromotionoftheIntel8048Microcontroller"
(http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/Oral_History/102658328.05.01.acc.pdf).Computer
HistoryMuseumOralHistory,2008.p.4.Retrieved20110628.
3. ^abc" "AtmelsSelfProgrammingFlashMicrocontrollers" "
(http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc2464.pdf).20120124.Retrieved20081025.by
OddJosteinSvendsli2003
4. ^JimTurley."TheTwoPercentSolution"(http://www.embedded.com/electronicsblogs/significant
bits/4024488/TheTwoPercentSolution)2002.
5. ^TomCantrell"MicrochipontheMarch"
(http://www.circuitcellar.com/library/designforum/silicon_update/3/index.asp).CircuitCellar.1998.
6. ^http://www.semico.com
7. ^MomentumCarriesMCUsInto2011http://semico.com/content/momentumcarriesmcus2011
8. ^Heath,Steve(2003).Embeddedsystemsdesign(http://books.google.com/books?
id=BjNZXwH7HlkC&pg=PA11).EDNseriesfordesignengineers(2ed.).Newnes.pp.1112.
ISBN9780750655460.
9. ^EasyWaytobuildamicrocontrollerproject(http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/200901/dotdot
programming)
10. ^"8052BasicMicrocontrollers"(http://www.lvr.com/microc.htm)byJanAxelson1994
11. ^Edwards,Robert(1987)."OptimizingtheZilogZ8ForthMicrocontrollerforRapidPrototyping"
(http://www.ornl.gov/info/reports/1987/3445602791343.pdf).MartinMarietta.p.3.Retrieved9December
2012.
12. ^www.infineon.com/mcu(http://www.infineon.com/mcu)
13. ^MicrochipunveilsPIC16C84,areprogrammableEEPROMbased8bitmicrocontroller
(http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=2018&mcparam=en013082)
1993

Externallinks
HowtoProgramaMicrocontroller(http://www.mycircuits9.com/2013/04/SimpleStepsBurn
ProgramintoMicrocontroller.html)
Microcontroller
(https://www.dmoz.org/Business/Electronics_and_Electrical/Control_Systems/Microcontroller)at
DMOZ
EmbeddedSystemsDesign(http://www.embedded.com/mag.htm)magazine
Retrievedfrom"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microcontroller&oldid=635693344"
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