The Z80 microprocessor
is an 8 bit CPU with a 16 bit address bus capable of direct access
of 64k of memory space. It has a language of 252 root instructions
and with the reserved 4 bytes as prefixes, acceses an additional 308
instructions. The Z80 was modeled after the 8088 and contains the 78
- 8088 opcodes as a subset to it's language.
Programming features
include an accumulator and six eight bit registers that can be
paired as 3-16 bit registers. In addition to the general registers,
a stack-pointer, program-counter, and two index (memory pointers)
registers are provided. While not in the same leauge as the 80486 or
68000 series, the Z80 is extremely useful for low cost control
applications. One of the more useful features of the Z80 is the
built-in refresh circuitry for ease of design with DRAMs.
The Z80 comes in a 40
pin DIP package. It has been manufactured in A, B, and C models,
differing only in maximum clock speed. It also has been manufactured
as a stand-alone microcontroler with various configurations of
on-chip RAM and EPROM. |