The AVR Microcontroller:

History and Features

CENG380 Microprocessor and Microcontroller
Chapter 1

1
Microprocessors and Microcontrollers

• Microprocessor is a single IC chip containing only a CPU.

• Microprocessors must be connected externally to RAM, ROM, and I/O.
• In microcontrollers different parts of a system, including CPU, RAM, ROM,
and I/O are put together on the same chip.
2
History of Microcontrollers
• 1980s and 1990s:
• Intel 32-bit chips of x86 (80386, 80486 and Pentium) and Motorola’s 32-bit
68xxx were used for high-end embedded products
• The 8051 from Intel and 68HC11 from Motorola were the dominant 8-bit
microcontrollers
• PIC from Microchip and AVR developed by Atmel in 1996 designed by
Alf-Egle Bogen and Vegard wallam are now market leaders for 8-bit
microcontrollers
• ARM has become the leading microcontroller in the 32-bit market

3
Type of CPU
• RISC: reduced instruction set computer
1. Big code(lot of lines)
2. Simple code in compiling

• CISC: complex instruction set computer

1. Small code
2. Complex code

RISC is faster than CISC

4
Type of ROM & RAM
Type of ROM:
• PROM: programable read only memory.
• EPROM: erasable programable ROM.
• EEPROM: electrically erasable programable ROM.
• Flash EPROM
•Type of RAM: SRAM is quicker and more energy
• SRAM: static RAM efficient than DRAM. However DRAM
can store more data than SRAM with
• DRAM: Dynamic RAM more power consumption.
5
AVR Microcontroller
AVR features:
• An 8-bit RISC microcontroller
• Harvard architecture
• On-chip:
• Program (code) ROM
• Data RAM
• Data EEPROM
• Timers
• I/O ports

6
Some Terms
• ADC: Analog to digital converter
• USART: Universal synchronous Asynchronous receiver transmitter.
The maximum support RAM in AVR : 64KB
The maximum support ROM in AVR : 8MB
=8 =16
Max ROM
Max RAM
in AVR
in AVR
X=16 X=22

7
AVR Family Overview
There is a lot of ATMEGA types,
in our course we are interested in ATMEGA 328P