OVERVIEW OF THE 8051 FAMILY

SECTION 1.2: OVERVIEW OF THE 8051 FAMILY
In this section we first look at the various members of the 8051 family of microcontrollers and their internal features. Plus we see who are the different manufacturers of the 8051 and what kind of products they offer.
A brief history of the 8051
In 1981, Intel Corporation introduced an 8-bit microcontroller called the 8051. This microcontroller had 128 bytes of RAM, 4K bytes of on-chip ROM, two timers, one serial port, and four ports (each 8-bits wide) all on a single chip. At the time it was also referred to as a “system on a chip.” The 8051 is an 8-bit processor, meaning that the CPU can work on only 8 bits of data at a time. Data larger than 8 bits has to be broken into 8-bit pieces to be processed by the CPU. The 8051 has a total of four I/O ports, each 8 bits wide. See Figure 1-2. Although the 8051 can have a maximum of 64K bytes of on-chip ROM, many manufacturers have put only 4K bytes on the chip. This will be discussed in more detail later.

Table 1-3: Features of the 8051





The 8051 became widely popular after Intel allowed other manufacturers to make and market any flavors of the 8051 they please with the condition that they remain code-compatible with the 8051. This has led to many, versions of the 8051 with different speeds and amounts of on-chip ROM marketed by more than half a dozen manufacturers. Next we review some of them. It is important to note that although there are different flavors of the 8051 in terms of speed and amount of on-chip ROM, they are all compatible with the original 8051 as far as the instructions are concerned. This means that if you write your program for one, it will run on any of them regardless of the manufacturer.
8051 microcontroller

The 8051 is the original member of the 8051 family. Intel refers to it as MCS-51. Table 1-3 shows the main features of the 8051.



Figure 1-2. Inside the 8051 Microcontroller Block Diagram
Other members of the 8051 family
There are two other members in the 8051 family of microcontrollers. They are the 8052 and the 8031.
8052 microcontroller
The 8052 is another member of the 8051 family. The 8052 has all the standard features of the 8051 as well as an extra 128 bytes of RAM and an extra timer. In other words, the 8052 has 256 bytes of RAM and 3 timers. It also has 8K bytes of on-chip program ROM instead of 4K bytes. See Table 1 -4.
Table 1-4: Comparison of 8051 Family Members

As can be seen from Table 1-4, the 8051 is a subset of the 8052; therefore, all programs written for the 8051 will run on the 8052, but the reverse is not true.

8031 microcontroller
Another member of the 8051 family is the 8031 chip. This chip is often referred to as a ROM-less 8051 since it has OK bytes of on-chip ROM. To use this chip you must add external ROM to it. This external ROM must contain the program that the 8031 will fetch and execute. Contrast that to the 8051 in which the on-chip ROM contains the program to be fetched and executed but is limited to only 4K bytes of code. The ROM containing the program attached to the 8031 can be as large as 64K bytes. In the process of adding external ROM to the 8031, you lose two ports. That leaves only 2 ports (of the 4 ports) for I/O operations. To solve this problem, you can add external I/O to the 8031. Interfacing the 8031 with memory and I/O ports such as the 8255 chip is discussed in Chapter 14. There are also various speed versions of the 8031 available from different companies..
Various 8051 microcontrollers
Although the 8051 is the most popular member of the 8051 family, you will not see “8051″ in the part number. This is because the 8051 is available in different memory types, such as UV-EPROM, flash, and NV-RAM, all of which have different part numbers. A discussion of the various types of ROM will be given in Chapter 14. The UV-EPROM version of the 8051 is the 8751. The flash ROM version is marketed by many companies including Atmel Corp. and Dallas Semiconductor. The Atmel Flash 8051 is called AT89C51, while Dallas Semiconductor calls theirs DS89C4xO (DS89C420/430/440). The NV-RAM version of the 8051 made by Dallas Semiconductor is called DS5000. There is also an OTP (one-time programmable) version of the 8051 made by various manufacturers. Next we discuss briefly each of the above chips and describe applications where they are used.
8751 microcontroller
This 8751 chip has only 4K bytes of on-chip UV-EPROM. Using this chip for development requires access to a PROM burner, as well as a UV-EPROM eraser to erase the contents of UV-EPROM inside the 8751 chip before you can program it again. Because the on-chip ROM for the 8751 is UV-EPROM, it takes around 20 minutes to erase the 8751 before it can be programmed again. This has led many manufacturers to introduce flash and NV-RAM versions of the 8051, as we will discuss next. There are also various speed versions of the 8751 available from different companies.
DS89C4xO from Dallas Semiconductor (Maxim)
Many popular 8051 chips have on-chip ROM in the form of flash memory. The AT89C51 from Atmel Corp. is one example of an 8051 with flash ROM. This is ideal for fast development since flash memory can be erased in seconds compared to the twenty minutes or more needed for the 8751. For this reason the AT89C51 is used in place of the 8751 to eliminate the waiting time needed to erase the chip and thereby speed up the development time. Using the AT89C51 to develop a microcontroller-based system requires a ROM burner that supports flash memory; however, a ROM eraser is not needed. Notice that in flash memory you must erase the entire contents of ROM in order to program it again. This erasing of flash is done by the PROM burner itself, which is why a separate eraser is not needed. To eliminate the need for a PROM burner, Dallas Semiconductor, now part of the Maxim Corp., has a version of the 8051/52 called DS89C4xO (DS89C420/430/…) that can be programmed via the serial COM port of an IBM
PC-Notice that the on-chip ROM for the DS89C4xO is in the form of flash.
The DS89C4xO (420/430/440/450) comes with an on-chip loader, which allows the program to be loaded into the on-chip flash ROM while it is in the system. This can be done via the serial COM port of an IBM PC. This in-system program loading of the DS89C4xO via a PC serial COM port makes it an ideal home development system. Dallas Semiconductor also has an NV-RAM version of the 8051 called DS5000. The advantage of NV-RAM is the ability to change the ROM contents one byte at a time. The DS5000 also comes with a loader, allowing it to be programmed via the PC’s COM port. See Table 1-5. From Table 1-5, notice that the DS89C4xO is a really an 8052 chip since it has 256 bytes of RAM and 3 timers.


X
Source: www.maxim-ic.com/products/microcontrollers/805 l_drop_in.cfm
DS89C4xO Trainer
In Chapter 8, we discuss the design of DS89C4xO Trainer extensively. The MDE8051 Trainer is available from www.MicroDigitalEd.com. This Trainer allows you to program the DS89C4xO chip from the COM port of the x86 IBM PC, with no need for a ROM burner.
For a DS89C4xO-based trainer see www.MicroDigitalEd.com.
AT89C51 from Atmel Corporation



The Atmel Corp. has a wide selection of 8051 chips, as shown in Tables 1-6 and 1-7. For example, the AT89C51 is a popular and inexpensive chip used in many small projects. It has 4K bytes of flash ROM. Notice the AT89C51-12PC, where “C” before the 51 stands for CMOS, which has a low power consumption, “12″ indicates 12 MHz, “P” is for plastic DIP package, “C” is for commercial.

Table 1-6: Versions of 8051 From Atmel (All ROM Flash)


Note: “C” in the part number indicates CMOS.
Table 1-7: Various Speeds of 8051 From Atmel


OTP version of the 8051
There are also OTP (one-time-programmable) versions of the 8051 available from different sources. Flash and NV-RAM versions are typically used for product development. When a product is designed and absolutely finalized, the OTP version of the 8051 is used for mass production since it is much cheaper in terms of price per unit.
8051 family from Philips
Another major producer of the 8051 family is Philips Corporation. Indeed, they have one of the largest selections of 8051 microcontrollers. Many of their products include features such as A-to-D converters, D-to-A converters, extended I/O, and both OTP and flash. For the list of companies producing the 8051 family see the Web sites in the box below.
See the following Web sites for 8051 products and their features from various companies:
www.8052.com/chips.phtml www.MicroDigitalEd.com

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