Introduction to

Microcomputer and
Microprocessor
By
Dr. Sikder Sunbeam Islam
EEE, IIUC
Microcomputer System: Introduction
 Microcomputer is used to describe a system that includes a minimum
of a microprocessor, program memory, data memory, and
input/output (I/O). It is called ‘micro’ because of its small size.
 Power of the Microcomputer is determined by the capabilities of
microprocessor. It’s clock frequency determines the speed of the
microcomputer. Microprocessor is the CPU (central processing unit) of
the microcomputer.
 Microcomputer has three basic blocks:
(a) Microprocessor Unit
(b) Memory Unit , and
(c) Input /output unit
Microcomputer System :Introduction cont.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Unit/CPU

 Microprocessor Unit/CPU: The CPU executes all instructions and

performs arithmetic and logic operations on data. The CPU of
microcomputer is called Microprocessor. CPU is the "brain" of
the microcomputer.
 CPU has two parts, the arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), and
control unit.
 CPU also has several storage places called registers.
 In program execution, the CPU reads and executes the
programs instructions one by one from the main memory. The
execution of instructions may involve the arithmetic/logic
operations and/or transfer data between CPU and main
memory (or I/O ports).
Microcomputer System: Memory Unit
 The memory unit contains both program (list of instructions) and
data.
 Memory unit :
(a) Processor Memory :Registers
(b) Primary (or main) memory: RAM and ROM
(c) Secondary memory: Hard disks, CD, floppy disks, tape
 Processor Memory refers to a set of CPU registers. These registers
are useful to hold temporary results when a computation is in
progress.
 Primary memory is the memory that the CPU can access directly.
Examples of main memory include RAM, ROM, etc.
 RAM (Random Access Memory) can be read and written. It does not
retain its content when power is turn off. It is used to store data
which are temporary and might change during the course of
execution.
Microcomputer System: Memory and I/O Unit
 ROM (Read Only Memory) can be read and it retains it’s content when power is
turn off. It is used to store program and data which do not change during the
course of execution.
 The Secondary memory cannot be addressed directly (cannot access specified
memory location) by the CPU. Examples of secondary include floppy disk, hard
disk, CD, etc. The information in the secondary memory must be copied to the
main memory so that CPU can access it.
 Input Unit and Output Unit: Input and Output units are the means by which
the MPU communicates with the external devices.
 Examples: Input unit: keyboard, mouse, scanner etc.
Output unit: Monitor, printer etc.
Bi-directional ports: Modem, Network etc.
 Each input and output port has a unique address.
Microcomputer System: How Computer Works
with CPU?

 Both program and data are fed into the CPU for execution.
 The CPU reads the first instruction (Like, instruction may
be simple ADD two numbers) from the program memory
with help of address of memory location and control signal
and then execute it.
 After the data manipulation is completed result is
transferred to the output of the computer.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor and Microcontroller

 Microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable register based

electronic device which read binary instructions from memory,
processes the input data as per instructions and provides output.
It is an IC which has only the CPU inside them. Such as Intel’s
Pentium 1,2,3,4, core 2 duo, i3, i5 etc. These microprocessors
don’t have RAM, ROM, and other peripheral on the chip.
 Microcontroller is a device that includes microprocessor,
memory and input/output devices on a single chip.
Microcontroller has a CPU, in addition with a fixed amount of
RAM, ROM and other peripherals all embedded on a single chip.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor and Microcontroller
Microcomputer System: Types of Microprocessors
 The common way of categorizing microprocessor is by the number bits
that their ALU can work with, at a time. Over time, five standard
data widths have evolved for microprocessors: 4-bit, 8-bit, 16bit, 32-
bit, 64-bit.
 Like,8-bit microprocessor means that ALU can work with 8-bit number
at a time or, data width of this microprocessor is 8-bit.
 Depending on registers microprocessor can be classified in two types:
 a) Accumulator based: Use accumulator register as one data source for
ALU operation. 8-bit Microprocessors are accumulator based. Example:
Intel 8085 and Motorolla 6809.
 b) General purpose register based: Registers can be used for holding
data, address, results. 16-and 32-bit Microprocessors are General
purpose register based. Like, Intel 8086, Motorolla 6800.
Microcomputer System: Evaluation of Microprocessors
 We can divide the years of development of microprocessors as 5
generations (based on data width):
 The first commercial microprocessor was introduced by Intel in 1971
named Intel 4004. It wad 4 bit device, evolved from the development
effort while designing a calculator chip. They were fabricated using
PMOS (P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor) technology, supported only
45 instructions and not compatible with TTL.
 In 1972 Intel came out with 8008 which was capable of working using 8-
bit words.
 Second Generation (1974 – 1978): In 1974 Intel announced 8-bit
microprocessor 8080 which had much larger instruction set. It was
NMOS technology based and faster than 8008. It is called 2nd generation
microprocessors. Some of the popular 2nd generation processors were:
Motorola’s 6800 and 6809 ; Intel’s 8085;Zilog’s Z80 .
Microcomputer System: Evaluation of Microprocessor contin….

 Third generation microprocessors (1979 – 80): Age of 16 – bits

microprocessors. Example: Intel’s 8086/80186/80286 and Motorolla’s
68000/68010. They were designed using HMOS technology. Four times
better than that of NMOS.
 Fourth Generation (1981 – 1995) : Beginning of 32 bits
microprocessors. Intel introduced 80386 and Motorola launched
68020/68030. Fabricated using low-power version of the HMOS (High
density, short channel MOS) technology called HCMOS(high-density
Complementary metal–oxide) .
 Fifth Generation (1995 – till date): Introduction of 64-bit
microprocessors. Intel leads the show here with Pentium, Celeron and
very recently dual and quad core processors working with up to 3.5GHz
speed.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture

Figure: Simplified Microprocessor Architecture

Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture contin….

 Generally microprocessor unit (MPU) contain storage elements called registers,

computational circuitry called ALU, decoding and control Unit. These are the main
units of typical microprocessor.
 Internal Registers: This is a small amount of internal memory that is used for the
quick storage and retrieval of data and instructions. Typically MPU contains some
registers.
 Program Counter (PC): It is the register that contains the address of the
instruction or operation code. This register is used to hold the memory address of
the next instruction that has to execute in a program. The width of the PC is the
same as the width of the address bus.
 Upon activiting the microprocessor reset input, the address of the first instruction
to be executed is loaded into the PC. In order to execute the instruction, the
microprocessor typically places the contents of the PC on the address bus and
reads (fetches) the contents of this address (i.e. instruction)from memory. The PC
contents are automatically incremented by microprocessor internal logic. The
microprocessor thus executes the program sequentially.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture contin….

 Accumulator (A, or ACC): Accumulator is the register associated with

ALU operations and sometimes I/O operations. It is used to store results
after most ALU operations.8-bit microprocessors are usually
accumulator based. Some processors (16 or 32-bits MPU) have general
purpose registers that may be used as accumulator.
 Status Register (Flags): Available in all microprocessors. The
individual bits in this register is called Flag. The conditions of the Flags
change with respective ALU operations.
 General Purpose Registers: General purpose registers may be used to
temporary store data and hold address or result of ALU operations. It
can store address or data for indefinite period of time then to retrieve
address or data when needed. 16 or 32-bit microprocessors (Like, Intel
8086/80386 or Motorolla 68000/68020) are usually general purpose
register based.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture contin….

 Instruction Register (IR): This register stores an Instruction. After

fetching an instruction from memory, the microprocessor stores it in
the IR. This 8-bit register is decoded internally by microprocessor
which then perform the desired operations.
 Memory Buffer Register (MBR): When an instruction or data is
obtained from the memory or elsewhere, it is first placed in the
memory buffer register. The next action to take is then determined and
carried out, and the data is moved on to the desired location.
 Stack Pointer Register: It is a specialized register that keeps truck of
next available memory location in the stack. Stack is reserved area in
the RAM used for temporary storage data, return address and contents
of registers. Stack is used during subroutine call and interrupts.
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture contin….

 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): This unit of microprocessor performs

arithmetic, logic and rotate operations which affects the status register
(Flags). The results from ALU are placed back in the accumulator via
the internal bus. The size of the ALU confirms the type of the
microprocessor. Accumulator and temporary registers many times
considered as a part of ALU.
ALU basically performs the following tasks:
 Addition, subtraction, Multiplication and division
 Logical operations and comparisons
 Bit shifting and rotating operations (move the content of the
Accumulator or other register 1 bit to left or right)
 Finding 1’s complement of data
Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture contin….

 Control Unit (CU): This unit of microprocessor performs instructions

interpreting and sequencing.
 Normally the instruction decoder interprets the contents of the
instruction register to the control unit and then the control unit
responds to the instruction by generating sequence of enable signals
which activate the appropriate ALU logic blocks (Adder, Shifter, etc.).
 In sequencing phase, it also determines the address of the next
instruction to be executed and load it into the program counter.


Microcomputer System: Microprocessor Architecture(Based on instruction set)

 There are two prevalent instruction set architectures:

RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Architecture.
CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) Architecture.
Microcomputer System: System Bus
 System Bus: Bus refers to the group of wires that interconnect
components (processor, memory and peripherals) in a microcomputer
system.
 The system bus consists of three different groups of wiring, called the
data bus, control bus and address bus.

Fig. System Bus

Microcomputer System: System Bus contin…
 Control Bus: The control bus contains lines that select the memory or I/O and
cause them to perform a read or write operation. In most computer system,
there are four control bus connections:

 Data Bus: This is used for the exchange of data between the processor,
memory and peripherals, and is bi-directional so that it allows data flow in
both directions along the wires. Data bus may be 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits or 64
bits.
 Address Bus: This is a unidirectional bus. This bus is usually 8 to 32 bits wide.
Information transfer takes place from the microprocessor to the memory or I/O
elements. For a 16 bit address bus, microprocessor can generate 216 = 65,536
different possible address.
Microcomputer System: Instruction Execution
 To execute an instruction processor must follows minimum of four
steps: (1) Instruction Fetch (2) Instruction Decode (3) Instruction
execute (4) Store or, Store of Result
 Instruction Fetch: Control unit collect the instructions from main
memory and put them in CPU register. This is called instruction fetch.
 Instruction Decode: When instruction reaches in processor register, CU
decodes or interprets the instruction and sends necessary signals and
data to ALU.
 Instruction Execute: ALU process the data with arithmetic and logic
operations and gives a result according to instructions.
 Store Result: Finally CU stores result in Accumulator or main memory.
 These four steps to execute an instruction are called machine cycle.
Classification of Memory

 Main purpose of memory unit is to hold programs

and data.
 The cost of memory unit is so prohibitive that it is
practically not feasible to design a large memory
unit with one technology that guarantees a high
speed.
 Memory is usually designed with different
technologies such as solid state, magnetic and
optical.
Classification of Memory
 A microcomputer memory system logically
divided into three groups:
 Processor Memory: Refers to CPU registers.
There is no speed disparity between the
registers and the microprocessor because they
are fabricated using the same technology.
 Primary Memory: CPU can access directly in
primary memory. All program and data are
saved in here prior to execution.
 Secondary Memory: Holds large data files
and huge programs such as, compilers and
database management systems. Also referred
to as auxiliary or backup.

Fig. Memory classifications

Classification of Memory
 RAM(Random Access Memory):One type of volatile memory.
RAM can be made of magnetic core or by semiconductor.
Semiconductor RAM’s are two types:

 Difference between Static and Dynamic RAMs:

Classification of Memory
 ROM: Bipolar: Mask ROM: Contents are programmed by the
manufacturer. Example: Character generator ROM2513.
 ROM: Bipolar: PROM(Programmable ROM): User can program
this ROM but for only one time. Can not be reprogrammed.
 ROM: MOS: EPROM(Erasable PROM): Programs are entered
using electrical impulses and stored information is erased by UV
rays.
 ROM: MOS: EAROM/EEPROM(Electrically Alterable ROM/
Electrically Erasable PROM): Can be programmed even when
they are in circuit board. Slower write times than read times.
Main Memory Array Design: Addressing Memory

 Using 3-bit we can address 23=8 distinct memory location. So, n

number of bits can address 2n memory locations.
 1K Byte = 1024 Byte.
210=1024
 So, for addressing 1KB of memory we need at least 10 bits. And the
addresses will be-
0 to 1023 (decimal) or, 000H to 3FFH (HEX) or, 0000 0000 0000 to 0011
1111 1111 B (Binary). Similarly, for addressing 64 KB of memory we
need at least 16 bits.
Main Memory Array Design: Memory Addressing and Design

 How many bits are necessary to address 1MB memory?

 1MB= 1024Kbyte= 1,048,576 Byte = 220 Byte
 So, we need 20 bits to address 1MByte memory. Addresses will be-
 0 to 1,048,575 (Decimal)
 00000H to FFFFFH (Hex)
 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 to 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 B (Binary)
 Microprocessor 8086 has 20-bit address bus. So, it can addresses 1
MB memory.
 In many applications, a large size capacity is often realized by
interconnecting several small size memory blocks. There are two
kinds of techniques used for designing the main memory in such
cases. They are:
Main Memory Array Design: Typical RAM

 To grasp the idea of interconnection technique first we should know about a

small memory block. Let us consider the block diagram of a typical RAM IC.

Fig. Block diagram of a

typical RAM

 The capacity of this chip is 1Kbytes (=1024 bytes)

 10-bit address lines A9 – A0 ; so can be accessed 210=1024 different memory
locations;
 8-bit bidirectional data bus (D7– D0)
 .
Main Memory Array Design: Typical RAM

The following truth table describes the operation of this chip:

Acts as

Acts as

 When CS is high, chip is not selected at all, hence D7 to D0 are driven to high
impedance state.
 When CS = 0 and WE = 0, data on lines D7 – D0 acts as input bus ( data are
written into the word addressed by A0 through A9).
 When CS = 0 and WE = 1, data on lines D7 – D0 acts as output bus (the contents
of memory word whose address is on A9 – A0 will appear on lines D7 – D0.)
 Main Memory Array Design:
Linear Decoding

 This technique uses the unused address lines of the

microprocessor as chip selects for the memory chip.
 A simple way to connect an 8-bit microprocessor to
a 6K RAM system using linear decoding is shown in
figure, where-
 Address lines A9 through A0 of the microprocessor
used as common input to address lines of each 1 KB
RAM chip.
 The data lines of microprocessor are connected to
data lines of all memory chips.
 The remaining address lines (A10-A15) are used to
select one of the chips ( )̅̅̅̅ at a time. For example,

Fig. Linear Decoding

Main Memory Array Design: Linear Decoding
Main Memory Array Design: Linear Decoding
 Advantage:-
 Linear decoding does not need any decoding circuit (Hardware).
 Disadvantages:-
 a) With 16 bit address bus we can connect =64 KB of RAM but
here we are able to interface only 6KB of RAM so, waste of address
space.
 b) Address map is not contiguous. It is sparsely distributed. (such as,
13FF+1=1400 but started from 2000, so not contagious).
 c) Bus conflicts occur if both A11 and A10 become high at the same time
(as both RAM1 and RAM2 are selected).
 d) If all unused address lines are not used as chip selectors for memory
then these unused pins become don’t cares (can be 0 or 1). This results in
foldback, meaning a memory location will have its image in memory
map. For example, if A15 is don‟t care, then address 0000H is same as
address 8000H. It wastes memory space.
Main Memory Array Design:
Fully Decoding
 The problems of bus conflict and sparse
address distribution are eliminated by the
use of fully decoded addressing technique.
 The Figure shows a organization where we
used 2 to 4 decoder and interface the 8-bit
microprocessor with 4 KB of RAM.
 If we observe A10 and A11, 2-to-4 decoder
would be an obvious choice for CS signals.
We can write the truth table as follows:
 The above hardware makes sure that the
memory system enables only when the lines
A15-A12 will be Zero. If any line becomes
high memory system disable and by this
way fold bask is removed. Above that,
address space is not wasted since the
unused lines (A15-A10) can be used in
future by making use of higher decoder.
Main Memory Array Design: Fully Decoding
 Main Memory Array Design:
The 3-to-8 Line Decoder (74LS138)

 The truth table shows that only

one of the eight outputs ever goes
low at any time. For each low
output the decoder must have to
enabled by--,

 Once the 74LS138 is enabled, the

address inputs (C, B and A) select
which output pin goes low.
Problem: Interface 4KB memory to 8085 microprocessor with
starting address A000H using 74LS138 decoder.

A0-A11 address lines (12 lines)

are used as

A12-A15 are used for selecting

memory chips.
A15 line is use for enabling
decoder chip.(A15-should be High)

When A12, A13, A14 lines are

010; output should be „0‟.
This is provided at O2 pin of
74LS138 chip.
Exercise:
Problem: Find the range of address for RAM1 and RAM2 in the
following figure.
Exercise:
1. Interface an 8-bit microprocessor with a 2K×8 ROM Chip and two 1K×8
Chips such that the following address map is realized:

2. Interface an 8-bit microprocessor with a 1K×8 ROM Chip, two 512×8 RAM
Chips and two RAM 256×8 Chips.
Exercise:
Problem: Considering the figure bellow, determine the
address map of this system.
References

 Microprocessor and Interfacing Programming and Hardware; Douglas V

Hall, 2nd Edition.
 Microprocessors and Microcomputer-Based System Design; Mohammed
Rafiquzzaman, revised edition.
 Microprocessor & Interfacing Lecture Materials ;Mohammed Abdul
kader, IIUC.