MODULE: 1

1. INTRODUCTION TO MICROPROCESSOR AND MICROCOMPUTER ARCHITECTURE:

Microprocessor: A microprocessor is a programmable electronics chip that has computing and decision
making capabilities similar to central processing unit of a computer. Nowadays, microprocessor is seen in
almost all types of electronics devices like mobile phones, printers, washing machines etc. Microprocessors
are also used in advanced applications like radars, satellites and flights.

Microcomputers: Any microprocessor-based systems having limited number of resources are called
microcomputers.

Fig.1 Microprocessor-based system

 Bit: A bit is a single binary digit.
 Word: A word refers to the basic data size or bit size that can be processed by the arithmetic and logic
unit of the processor. A 16-bit binary number is called a word in a 16-bit processor.
 Bus: A bus is a group of wires/lines that carry similar information.
 System Bus: The system bus is a group of wires/lines used for communication between the
microprocessor and peripherals.
 Memory Word: The number of bits that can be stored in a register or memory element is called a
memory word.
 Address Bus: It carries the address, which is a unique binary pattern used to identify a memory location
or an I/O port. For example, an eight bit address bus has eight lines and thus it can address 2 8 = 256 different
locations. The locations in hexadecimal format can be written as 00H – FFH.
 Data Bus: The data bus is used to transfer data between memory and processor or between I/O device
and processor. For example, an 8-bit processor will generally have an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit processor
will have 16-bit data bus.
 Control Bus: The control bus carry control signals, which consists of signals for selection of memory or
I/O device from the given address, direction of data transfer and synchronization of data transfer in case of
slow devices.

*A typical microprocessor consists of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) in association with control unit to
process the instruction execution.

Store-program concept: Almost all the microprocessors are based on the principle of store-program
concept. In store-program concept, programs or instructions are sequentially stored in the memory locations
that are to be executed. To do any task using a microprocessor, it is to be programmed by the user. So the
programmer must have idea about its internal resources, features and supported instructions.
Instruction set: Each microprocessor has a set of instructions, a list which is provided by the
microprocessor manufacturer. The instruction set of a microprocessor is provided in two forms: binary
machine code and mnemonics.

Machine language: Microprocessor communicates and operates in binary numbers 0 and 1. The set of
instructions in the form of binary patterns is called a machine language and it is difficult for us to
understand.

Assembly language: Machine language is difficult for us to understand. Therefore, the binary patterns are
given abbreviated names, called mnemonics, which forms the assembly language.

Assembler: The conversion of assembly-level language into binary machine-level language is done by
using an application called assembler.

Technology Used in Mocroprocessor:

The semiconductor manufacturing technologies used for chips are:
 Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL)
 Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL)
 Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)
Classification of Microprocessors: Based on their specification, application and architecture
microprocessors are classified. Based on size of data bus:
 4-bit microprocessor
 8-bit microprocessor
 16-bit microprocessor
 32-bit microprocessor

Based on application:
 General-purpose microprocessor- These are used in general computer system and can be used by
programmer for any application. Examples, 8085 to Intel Pentium.
 Microcontroller- These microprocessor has built-in memory and ports and can be programmed for any
generic control application. Example, 8051.
 Special-purpose processors- These are designed to handle special functions required for an application.
Examples, digital signal processors and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips.

Based on architecture: Based on architecture, microprocessors can be classified in two groups:

 Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processors
 Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) processors

2. 8085 MICROPROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE

The 8085 microprocessor is an 8-bit processor available as a 40-pin IC package and uses +5 V for power. It
can run at a maximum frequency of 3 MHz. Its data bus width is 8-bit and address bus width is 16-bit, thus
it can address 216 = 64 KB of memory. The internal architecture of 8085 is shown is Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 Internal Architecture of 8085

Arithmetic and Logic Unit:
The ALU performs the actual numerical and logical operations such as Addition (ADD), Subtraction (SUB),
AND, OR etc. It uses data from memory and from Accumulator to perform operations. The results of the
arithmetic and logical operations are stored in the accumulator.

Registers: The 8085 includes six registers, one accumulator and one flag register, as shown in Fig. 3. In
addition, it has two 16-bit registers: stack pointer and program counter. They are briefly described as
follows:
The 8085 has six general-purpose registers to store 8-bit data; these are identified as B, C, D, E, H and L.
They can be combined as register pairs - BC, DE and HL to perform some 16-bit operations. The
programmer can use these registers to store or copy data into the register by using data copy instructions.
 Fig. 3 Register organization
Accumulator : The accumulator is an 8-bit register that is a part of ALU. This register is used to store 8-bit
data and to perform arithmetic and logical operations. The result of an operation is stored in the
accumulator. The accumulator is also identified as register A.

Flag register: The ALU includes five flip-flops, which are set or reset after an operation according to data
condition of the result in the accumulator and other registers. They are called Zero (Z), Carry (CY), Sign
(S), Parity (P) and Auxiliary Carry (AC) flags. Their bit positions in the flag register are shown in Fig. 4.
The microprocessor uses these flags to test data conditions.

Fig. 4 Flag register

For example, after an addition of two numbers, if the result in the accumulator is larger than 8-bit, the flip-
flop uses to indicate a carry by setting CY flag to 1. When an arithmetic operation results in zero, Z flag is
set to 1. The S flag is just a copy of the bit D7 of the accumulator. A negative number has a 1 in bit D7 and
a positive number has a 0 in 2’s complement representation. The AC flag is set to 1, when a carry result
from bit D3 and passes to bit D4. The P flag is set to 1, when the result in accumulator contains even
number of 1s.

Program Counter (PC): This 16-bit register deals with sequencing the execution of instructions. This
register is a memory pointer. The microprocessor uses this register to sequence the execution of the
instructions. The function of the program counter is to point to the memory address from which the next
byte is to be fetched. When a byte is being fetched, the program counter is automatically incremented by
one to point to the next memory location.

Stack Pointer (SP): The stack pointer is also a 16-bit register, used as a memory pointer. It points to a
memory location in R/W memory, called stack. The beginning of the stack is defined by loading 16-bit
address in the stack pointer.

Instruction Register/Decoder: It is an 8-bit register that temporarily stores the current instruction of a
program. Latest instruction sent here from memory prior to execution. Decoder then takes instruction and
decodes or interprets the instruction. Decoded instruction then passed to next stage.

Control Unit: Control unit generates signals on data bus, address bus and control bus within
microprocessor to carry out the instruction, which has been decoded. Typical buses and their timing are
described as follows:

a) Data Bus: Data bus carries data in binary form between microprocessor and other external units such as
memory. It is used to transmit data i.e. information, results of arithmetic etc between memory and the
microprocessor. Data bus is bidirectional in nature. The data bus width of 8085 microprocessor is 8-bit i.e.
28 combination of binary digits and are typically identified as D0 – D7. Thus size of the data bus determines
what arithmetic can be done. If only 8-bit wide then largest number is 11111111 (255 in decimal).
Therefore, larger numbers have to be broken down into chunks of 255. This slows microprocessor.
b) Address Bus: The address bus carries addresses and is one way bus from microprocessor to the memory
or other devices. 8085 microprocessor contain 16-bit address bus and are generally identified as A0 - A15.
The higher order address lines (A8 – A15) are unidirectional and the lower order lines (A0 – A7) are
multiplexed (time-shared) with the eight data bits (D0 – D7) and hence, they are bidirectional.
c) Control Bus: Control bus are various lines which have specific functions for coordinating and controlling
microprocessor operations. The control bus carries control signals partly unidirectional and partly
bidirectional. The following control and status signals are used by 8085 processor:
 I) ALE (output): Address Latch Enable is a pulse that is provided when an address appears on the
AD0 – AD7 lines, after which it becomes 0.
II) RD (active low output): The Read signal indicates that data are being read
from the selected I/O or memory device and that they are available on the
data bus.
III) WR (active low output): The Write signal indicates that data on the data bus
are to be written into a selected memory or I/O location.
IV) IO/M(output): It is a signal that distinguished between a memory operation
and an I/O operation. When IO/M= 0 it is a memory operation and IO/M=
1 it is an I/O operation.
V) S1 and S0 (output): These are status signals used to specify the type of
operation being performed; they are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 Status signals and associated operations

8085 Bus Structure:

The schematic representation of the 8085 bus structure is as shown in Fig. 5. The microprocessor performs
primarily four operations:
I. Memory Read: Reads data (or instruction) from memory.
II. Memory Write: Writes data (or instruction) into memory.
III. I/O Read: Accepts data from input device.
IV. I/O Write: Sends data to output device.

The 8085 processor performs these functions using address bus, data bus and control bus as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 The 8085 bus structure