History[edit]

Motorola MC68000 (CLCC package)

Motorola MC68000 (PLCC package)

Motorola's first widely-produced CPU was the Motorola 6800. Although a capable design, it was
eclipsed by more powerful designs like the Zilog Z80 and less powerful but faster designs like
the MOS 6502. As the sales prospects of the 6800 dimmed, Motorola began a totally new design to
replace it. This became the Motorola Advanced Computer System on Silicon project, or MACSS,
begun in 1976.
The MACSS aimed to develop an entirely new architecture without backward compatibility with the
6800. It ultimately did retain a bus protocol compatibility mode for existing 6800 peripheral devices,
and a version with an 8-bit data bus was produced. However, the designers mainly focused on the
future, or forward compatibility, which gave the 68000 design a head start against later 32-
bit instruction set architectures. For instance, the CPU registers are 32 bits wide, though few self-
contained structures in the processor itself operate on 32 bits at a time. The MACSS team drew
heavily on the influence of minicomputer processor design, such as the PDP-11 and VAX systems,
which were similarly microcode-based.
In the mid 1970s, the 8-bit microprocessor manufacturers raced to introduce the 16-bit
generation. National Semiconductor had been first with its IMP-16 and PACE processors in 1973–
1975, but these had issues with speed. Intel had worked on their advanced 16/32-bit Intel iAPX
432 (alias 8800) since 1975 and their Intel 8086 since 1976 (it was introduced in 1978 but became
really widespread in the form of the almost identical 8088 in the IBM PC a few years later). Arriving
late to the 16-bit arena afforded the new processor more transistors (roughly 40,000[citation needed] active
versus 20,000 active in the 8086), 32-bit macroinstructions, and acclaimed general ease of use.
The original MC68000 was fabricated using an HMOS process with a 3.5 µm feature size. Formally
introduced in September 1979,[3] initial samples were released in February 1980, with production
chips available over the counter in November.[4] Initial speed grades were 4, 6, and 8 MHz. 10 MHz
chips became available during 1981[citation needed], and 12.5 MHz chips by June 1982.[4] The 16.67 MHz
"12F" version of the MC68000, the fastest version of the original HMOS chip, was not produced until
the late 1980s.
The 68k instruction set was particularly well suited to implement Unix,[5] and the 68000 and its
successors became the dominant CPUs for Unix-based workstations including Sun
workstations and Apollo/Domain workstations. The 68000 also was used for mass-market computers
such as the Apple Lisa, Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST. The 68000 was used in
Microsoft Xenix systems, as well as an early NetWare Unix-based Server. The 68000 was used in
the first generation of desktop laser printers, including the original Apple Inc. LaserWriter and the HP
LaserJet.
In 1982, the 68000 received a minor update to its ISA to support virtual memory and to conform to
the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements. The updated chip was called the 68010. It also
added a new "loop mode" which sped up small loops, and increased overall performance by about
10% at the same clock speeds. A further extended version, which exposed 31 bits of the address
bus, was also produced in small quantities as the 68012.
To support lower-cost systems and control applications with smaller memory sizes, Motorola
introduced the 8-bit compatible MC68008, also in 1982. This was a 68000 with an 8-bit data bus and
a smaller (20-bit) address bus. After 1982, Motorola devoted more attention to
the 68020 and 88000 projects.

Second-sourcing[edit]

Hitachi HD68000

Thomson TS68000

Several other companies were second-source manufacturers of the HMOS 68000. These
included Hitachi (HD68000), who shrank the feature size to 2.7 µm for their 12.5 MHz
version,[4] Mostek (MK68000), Rockwell (R68000), Signetics (SCN68000), Thomson/SGS-
Thomson (originally EF68000 and later TS68000), and Toshiba (TMP68000). Toshiba was also a
second-source maker of the CMOS 68HC000 (TMP68HC000).
Encrypted variants of the 68000, being the Hitachi FD1089 and FD1094, store decryption keys for
opcodes and opcode data in battery-backed memory and were used in certain Sega arcade systems
including System 16 to prevent piracy and illegal bootleg games.[6]

CMOS versions[edit]

Motorola MC68HC000LC8

The 68HC000, the first CMOS version of the 68000, was designed by Hitachi and jointly introduced
in 1985.[7] Motorola's version was called the MC68HC000, while Hitachi's was the HD68HC000. The
68HC000 was eventually offered at speeds of 8–20 MHz. Except for using CMOS circuitry, it
behaved identically to the HMOS MC68000, but the change to CMOS greatly reduced its power
consumption. The original HMOS MC68000 consumed around 1.35 watts at an ambient temperature
of 25 °C, regardless of clock speed, while the MC68HC000 consumed only 0.13 watts at 8 MHz and
0.38 watts at 20 MHz. (Unlike CMOS circuits, HMOS still draws power when idle, so power
consumption varies little with clock rate.) Apple selected the 68HC000 for use in the Macintosh
Portable.
Motorola replaced the MC68008 with the MC68HC001 in 1990.[8] This chip resembled the 68HC000
in most respects, but its data bus could operate in either 16-bit or 8-bit mode, depending on the
value of an input pin at reset. Thus, like the 68008, it could be used in systems with cheaper 8-bit
memories.
The later evolution of the 68000 focused on more modern embedded control applications and on-
chip peripherals. The 68EC000 chip and SCM68000 core expanded the address bus to 32 bits,
removed the M6800 peripheral bus, and excluded the MOVE from SR instruction from user mode
programs.[9] In 1996, Motorola updated the standalone core with fully static circuitry, drawing only
2 µW in low-power mode, calling it the MC68SEC000.[10]
Motorola ceased production of the HMOS MC68000 and MC68008 in 1996,[11] but its spin-off
company Freescale Semiconductor was still producing the MC68HC000, MC68HC001,
MC68EC000, and MC68SEC000, as well as the MC68302 and MC68306 microcontrollers and later
versions of the DragonBall family. The 68000's architectural descendants, the 680x0, CPU32,
and Coldfire families, were also still in production. More recently, with the Sendai fab closure, all
68HC000, 68020, 68030, and 68882 parts have been discontinued, leaving only the 68SEC000 in
production.[12]

As a microcontroller core[edit]
After being succeeded by "true" 32-bit microprocessors, the 68000 was used as the core of
many microcontrollers. In 1989, Motorola introduced the MC68302 communications processor.[13]

Applications[edit]
Two Hitachi 68HC000 CPUs being used on an arcade-game PCB

At its introduction, the 68000 was first used in high-priced systems, including
multiuser microcomputers like the WICAT 150,[14] early Alpha Microsystems computers, Sage II /
IV, Tandy TRS-80 Model 16, and Fortune 32:16; single-user workstations such as Hewlett-
Packard's HP 9000 Series 200 systems, the first Apollo/Domain systems, Sun Microsystems' Sun-1,
and the Corvus Concept; and graphics terminals like Digital Equipment
Corporation's VAXstation 100 and Silicon Graphics' IRIS 1000 and 1200. Unix systems rapidly
moved to the more capable later generations of the 68k line, which remained popular in that market
throughout the 1980s.
By the mid-1980s, falling production cost made the 68000 viable for use in personal and home
computers, starting with the Apple Lisa and Macintosh, and followed by
the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and Sharp X68000. On the other hand, the Sinclair
QL microcomputer was the most commercially important utilisation of the 68008, along with its
derivatives, such as the ICL One Per Desk business terminal. Helix Systems (in Missouri, United
States) designed an extension to the SWTPC SS-50 bus, the SS-64, and produced systems built
around the 68008 processor.
While the adoption of RISC and x86 displaced the 68000 series as desktop/workstation CPU, the
processor found substantial use in embedded applications. By the early 1980s, quantities of 68000
CPUs could be purchased for less than 30 USD per part.
Video game manufacturers used the 68000 as the backbone of many arcade games and
home game consoles: Atari's Food Fight, from 1982, was one of the first 68000-based arcade
games. Others included Sega's System 16, Capcom's CP System and CPS-2, and SNK's Neo Geo.
By the late 1980s, the 68000 was inexpensive enough to power home game consoles, such as
Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis console and also the Sega CD attachment for it (A Sega CD system has
three CPUs, two of them 68000s). The 1993 multi-processor Atari Jaguar console used a 68000 as
a support chip, although some developers used it as the primary processor due to familiarity. The
1994 multi-processor Sega Saturn console used the 68000 as a sound co-processor (much as the
Mega Drive/Genesis uses the Z80 as a co-processor for sound and/or other purposes).
Certain arcade games (such as Steel Gunner and others based on Namco System 2) use a dual
68000 CPU configuration,[15] and systems with a triple 68000 CPU configuration also exist (such
as Galaxy Force and others based on the Sega Y Board),[16] along with a quad 68000 CPU
configuration, which has been used by Jaleco (one 68000 for sound has a lower clock rate
compared to the other 68000 CPUs)[17] for games such as Big Run and Cisco Heat; a fifth 68000 (at
a different clock rate compared to the other 68000 CPUs) was additionally used in the Jaleco arcade
game Wild Pilot for I/O processing.[18]
The 68000 also saw great success as an embedded controller. As early as 1981, laser printers such
as the Imagen Imprint-10 were controlled by external boards equipped with the 68000. The first
HP LaserJet—introduced in 1984—came with a built-in 8 MHz 68000. Other printer manufacturers
adopted the 68000, including Apple with its introduction of the LaserWriter in 1985, the
first PostScript laser printer. The 68000 continued to be widely used in printers throughout the rest of
the 1980s, persisting well into the 1990s in low-end printers.
The 68000 also saw success in the field of industrial control systems. Among the systems benefited
from having a 68000 or derivative as their microprocessor were families of programmable logic
controllers (PLCs) manufactured by Allen-Bradley, Texas Instruments and subsequently, following
the acquisition of that division of TI, by Siemens. Users of such systems do not accept product
obsolescence at the same rate as domestic users, and it is entirely likely that despite having been
installed over 20 years ago, many 68000-based controllers will continue in reliable service well into
the 21st century.
In a number of digital oscilloscopes from the 80s,[19] the 68000 has been used as a waveform display
processor; some models including the LeCroy 9400/9400A[20] also use the 68000 as a waveform
math processor (including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of two
waveforms/references/waveform memories), and some digital oscilloscopes using the 68000
(including the 9400/9400A) can also perform FFT functions on a waveform.
The 683XX microcontrollers, based on the 68000 architecture, are used in networking and telecom
equipment, television set-top boxes, laboratory and medical instruments, and even handheld
calculators. The MC68302 and its derivatives have been used in many telecom products from Cisco,
3com, Ascend, Marconi, Cyclades and others. Past models of the Palm PDAs and the Handspring
Visor used the DragonBall, a derivative of the 68000. AlphaSmart uses the DragonBall family in later
versions of its portable word processors. Texas Instruments uses the 68000 in its high-end graphing
calculators, the TI-89 and TI-92 series and Voyage 200. Early versions of these used a specialized
microcontroller with a static 68EC000 core; later versions use a standard MC68SEC000 processor.
A modified version of the 68000 formed the basis of the IBM XT/370 hardware emulator of the
System 370 processor.