PIC Microcontroller

PIC is abbreviated as Peripheral Interface Controller.

     Microcontroller PIC16F877A is one of the PIC Micro family microcontrollers which is popular at this moment, start from beginner until all professionals. Because of its user friendly nature and use of flash memory technology where programs can be read and written thousand times.

     PIC16F877A has 40 pins in which 33 are I/O pins. Hence PIC16F877A perfectly fits in to many uses, from automotive industries and controlling home appliances to industrial instruments, remote sensors, electrical door locks and safety devices. It is also ideal for smart cards as well as for battery supplied devices because of its low consumption.

     EEPROM memory makes it easier to apply microcontrollers to devices where permanent storage of various parameters is needed (codes for transmitters, motor speed, receiver frequencies, etc.). Low cost, low consumption, easy handling and flexibility make PIC16F877A applicable even in areas where microcontrollers had not previously been considered  (example: timer functions, interface replacement in larger systems, coprocessor applications, etc.).

     In System Programmability of this chip (along with using only two pins in data transfer) makes possible the flexibility of a product, after assembling and testing have been completed. This capability can be used to create assembly-line production, to store calibration data available only after final testing, or it can be used to improve programs on finished products.

  

PIC FAMILY

     PIC Microcontroller MCU from Microchip Company divided into 4 large families. Each families has a variety of components that provide built-in special features.

Evolution of PIC

The third family is PIC16(16FXXX)

     With six variants ranging from 3.5K-14K bytes of Flash memory, up to 256 bytes of RAM and a mix of peripherals including USART, CCP and onboard and comparators. These devices are well suited for designers with applications that need more code space or I/O than 14-pin variants supply, and are looking to increase system performance and code efficiency by employing hardware motor control and communications capability.

FEATURES OF PIC

HIGH PERFORMANCE RISC CPU

·        Only 35 single word instructions to learn

·        All single-cycle instructions except for program branches, which are two-cycle

·        Operating speed: DC-20 MHz clock input DC-200 ns instruction cycle

·        Up to 8K x 14 words of Flash Program Memory, up to 368 x 8 bytes of Data Memory (RAM), up to 256 x 8 bytes of EEPROM Data Memory.

·        Pin out compatible to other 28-pin or 40/44-pin PIC16CXXX and PIC16FXXX microcontrollers.

PERIPHERAL FEATURES

·        Timer 0: 8-bit timer/counter with 8-bit pre scalar

·        Timer 1: 16-bit timer/counter with pre scalar can be incremented during Sleep via external crystal/clock.

·        Timer 2: 8-bit timer/counter with 8-bit period register, pre scalar and post scalar.

·        Two Capture, Compare, PWM modules.

·        Capture is 16-bit, max. Resolution is 12.5 ns.

·        Compare is 16-bit, max. Resolution is 200 ns.

·        PWM max. Resolution is 10-bit.

·        Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) with SPI(Master mode) and I2C (Master/slave).

·        Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART/SCI) with 9-bit address detection.

·        Parallel Slave Port (PSP)-8 bits wide with external RD, WR and CS controls (40/44-pin only).

ANALOG FEATURES

·        10-bit, up to 8-channel analog to digital converter(A/D).

·        Brown-Out Reset (BOR)

·        Analog comparator module with two analog comparators.

·        Programmable on chip voltage reference (VREF0 module.

Pin Diagram

Architecture