The Intel MCS-96 is a family of

microcontroller A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable i ...

s (MCU) commonly used in

embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as ...

s. The family is often referred to as the 8xC196 family, or 80196, the most popular MCU in the family. These MCUs are commonly used in

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

drives,

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

s, printers, pattern recognition and

motor control Motor control is the regulation of movement in organisms that possess a nervous system. Motor control includes reflexes as well as directed movement. To control movement, the nervous system must integrate multimodal sensory information (both f ...

. In 2007,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

announced the discontinuance of the entire MCS-96 family of microcontrollers. Intel noted that "There are no direct replacements for these components and a redesign will most likely be necessary."

History

The MCS-96 family originated as a commercial derivative of the

Intel 8061 The Intel 8061 microcontroller is most notable for its use in the Ford EEC-IV automotive engine control unit. A close relative of the 8096, the Intel 8061 is second-sourced by Toshiba (under the model number 6127 and 6126) and Motorola (now Frees ...

, the first processor in the Ford EEC-IV engine controller family. Differences between the 8061 and the 8096 include the memory interface bus, the 8061's M-Bus being a 'burst-mode' bus requiring a tracking program counter in the memory devices. There were also considerable differences in the I/O peripherals of the two parts – the 8061 had 8 HSI (pulse-measurement) inputs, 10 HSO (pulse-generation) outputs entirely separated from the HSI pins, and a non-sampling 10-bit ADC with more channels than the 8096 had. Many differences between the EEC-IV and the 8096 resulted from an effort to share pins to reduce I/O pin count in favor of using the pins for a more conventional memory interface bus. The 8096 also had on-chip program memory lacking in the 8061. Ford created the Ford Microelectronics facility in Colorado Springs in 1982 to propagate the EEC-IV family, develop other custom circuits for use in automobiles, and to explore the

gallium arsenide Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a Zincblende (crystal structure), zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monoli ...

integrated circuit market. Parts in that family included the 8065, which incorporated a memory controller allowing it to address a megabyte of memory. The family of microcontrollers are

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...

, however they do have some

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

operations. The processors operate at 16, 20, 25, and 50

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, and is separated into 3 smaller families. The HSI (high speed input) / HSO (high speed output) family operates at 16 and 20 MHz, and the EPA (event processor array) family operates at all of the

frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

. The main features of the MCS-96 family include a large on-chip memory, Register-to-register architecture, three

operand In mathematics, an operand is the object of a mathematical operation, i.e., it is the object or quantity that is operated on. Example The following arithmetic expression shows an example of operators and operands: :3 + 6 = 9 In the above examp ...

instructions,

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

controller to allow 8- or 16-bit bus widths, and direct flat addressability of large blocks (256 or more) of registers.

809x/839x/879x family

The 809x/839x/879x ICs are members of the MCS-96 family. Although MCS-96 is thought of as the 8x196 family, the 8095 was the first member of the family. Later the 8096, 8097, 8395, 8396, and 8397 were added to the family. The

809x/839x/879x ICs are 12

, 16-

bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...

microcontrollers A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programmabl ...

. The

microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny M ...

is based on a 5 V, 3 micrometre,

HMOS In integrated circuits, depletion-load NMOS is a form of digital logic family that uses only a single power supply voltage, unlike earlier NMOS (n-type metal-oxide semiconductor) logic families that needed more than one different power supply v ...

process. The microcontroller has an on-chip ALU, 4 channel 10-bit

analog-to-digital converter In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal. An ADC may also provide ...

(ADC), 8-bit

pulse width modulator In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

(PWM),

watchdog timer A watchdog timer (sometimes called a ''computer operating properly'' or ''COP'' timer, or simply a ''watchdog'') is an electronic or software timer that is used to detect and recover from computer malfunctions. Watchdog timers are widely used in ...

, 4 16-bit software timers,

hardware multiply Hardware may refer to: Technology Computing and electronics * Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations ** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals *** Computer hardw ...

and divide, and 8 KB of on-chip

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

. The 8095 is ROMless and has five 8-bit high speed I/O, full duplex

serial port In computing, a serial port is a serial communication interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in parallel. ...

, as well as an ADC input and PWM output. The 8095 comes in a 48-pin

Ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

DIP package, and the following part number variants. C8095-90

8x196/8xC196 family

The MCS-96 family is generally thought of as the 80C196 IC, even though the family includes the 809x/839x/879x microcontrollers, which came first. Members of this sub-family are 80C196, 83C196, 87C196 and 88C196.

Other vendors

As of 2021, microcontrollers using the MCS-96 architecture are still being manufactured by NIIET in

Voronesh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on th ...

, Russia, as the 1874 series of integrated circuits. This includes a

radiation-hardened Radiation hardening is the process of making electronic components and circuits resistant to damage or malfunction caused by high levels of ionizing radiation ( particle radiation and high-energy electromagnetic radiation), especially for environ ...

device with a

Spacewire SpaceWire is a spacecraft communication network based in part on the IEEE 1355 standard of communications. It is coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with international space agencies including NASA, JAXA, and RKA. ...

interface under the designation 1874VE7T (russian: 1874ВЕ7Т, italic=yes). Cobham (formerly

Aeroflex Aeroflex Inc. was an American company which produced test equipment, RF and microwave integrated circuits, components and systems used for wireless communications. Its headquarters were located in Plainview, New York. In May 2014, Aeroflex was ...

) manufactured another radiation-hardened MCS-96 microcontroller until about 2020.

References

* Intel
"809XBH/839XBH/879XBH COMMERCIAL/EXPRESS HMOS MICROCONTROLER"
(Preliminary) (Accessed 7. September 2007) * Intel
"MCS-96 809X-90,839X-90"
Order #270016-004, T-49-19-16;T-49-19-59, Oct 1987 (Preliminary) (Accessed 7. September 2007) * http://www.cpushack.com/chippics/Intel/8x9x/IntelC8095-90.html (Accessed 7. September 2007) * https://web.archive.org/web/20071009212029/http://dragonsdawn.org/photos/MacIICard.jpg (Accessed 7. September 2007) ;Notes {{Intel_controllers Intel microcontrollers

History

809x/839x/879x family

8x196/8xC196 family

Other vendors

See also

References