User guide

1
SmartBook for Renesas R8C/Tiny Microcontrollers
www.MightyMicons.com
Chapter 1. R8C/Tiny Architecture
1.1 Introduction:
Microcontrollers, an inevitable part of any embedded application always draw lots
of attention from the semiconductor manufacturers as well as designers. Evidently,
microcontrollers stay in limelight for a variety of reasons. A popular microcontroller
can keep the manufacturer happy for many years than any other component
because embedded applications demand the availability of the selected device for
a very long time. Also, the reliable and feature rich controllers promise huge volumes
to the semiconductor manufacturer. Manufacturers also work hard to keep the
interest on the microcontrollers alive and fresh by introducing many devices
maintaining the code compatibility among the member devices.
The devices may vary from low pin count to advanced versions with more memory,
peripherals to cover the spectrum of possible applications. In addition, the
designers are lured with development tools either costing very little or nothing. All
these factors lead to make the target microcontroller very friendly with the user,
who can in turn favors these devices till the design requirements do not outrun the
capabilities of the device.
Now, you can understand why technical superiority of the microcontrollers alone
is not enough to create the required impact with the designers. These are reasons
for many semiconductor manufacturers align themselves with the known
architecture rather than sorting out their own way. Existence of a range of 8051
derivatives even after 25 years of survival is the classical example.
Renesas Technology is one of the very few semiconductor
majors successfully created many microcontroller families
and maintaining them for a quite long time without
loosing any steam. These microcontrollers cover 8
bits to 32 bits with plenty of options. Each of
these controller families sports a wide range of
derivative devices catering to a range of
applications. Even though the list of available
devices seems mind blowing one for the
causal glance, Renesas has made sure that
N
e
w
s
4
U
s
e
Renesas Technology
was formed after the
merger of Hitachi
Semiconductor
and Mitsubishi
Electric in 2003 and
has become the world
leader in the
microcontroller.