Intel N87C196KC20: An In-Depth Technical Overview of the 16-Bit Embedded Controller
The Intel N87C196KC20 stands as a significant member of the MCS® 96 family of 16-bit embedded controllers, a lineage renowned for its high-performance capabilities tailored for demanding real-time control applications. This microcontroller integrates a powerful 16-bit CPU core, advanced peripherals, and on-chip EPROM onto a single monolithic chip, making it a robust solution for complex industrial systems, automotive control, and sophisticated instrumentation.
At the heart of the N87C196KC20 lies the high-performance 16-bit CHMOS CPU. Unlike simpler 8-bit architectures, this core features a register-to-register architecture centered around a 256-byte register file. This design eliminates the accumulator bottleneck common in other designs, allowing most operations to be performed directly on any register, significantly accelerating data manipulation and throughput. The core executes instructions from a rich, powerful instruction set that includes bit manipulation, multiply and divide (16x16-bit multiplication in 1.5µs, 32/16-bit division in 2.5µs), and various addressing modes, providing exceptional computational efficiency.
A key feature of this controller is its 20 KB of on-chip erasable and programmable read-only memory (EPROM). This non-volatile memory is used for storing the application firmware, offering the advantage of in-system programmability and ease of prototyping and development, while ensuring code integrity and security. Complementing this is 512 bytes of register RAM, which serves as the primary working memory for fast operand storage and stack operations.
The peripheral set of the N87C196KC20 is engineered for comprehensive system control. It includes a sophisticated Timer Processing Unit (TPU) that relieves the main CPU from time-critical I/O management. This unit can independently handle complex timing tasks like pulse generation and measurement. The microcontroller is also equipped with a 10-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) with a sample-and-hold circuit, capable of converting an analog input in just 22µs. This is crucial for systems requiring precise monitoring of sensor data.
Further enhancing its connectivity are multiple high-speed I/O ports, a serial port (UART), and a dedicated Windowed Watchdog Timer. The watchdog timer is a critical safety feature that resets the processor in the event of software runaway, ensuring system reliability in electrically noisy environments. The device operates at a 16 MHz maximum frequency, providing a high instruction execution rate, and is designed using Intel's CHMOS technology, which offers the high speed of HMOS with the low power consumption of CMOS.
ICGOOODFIND: The Intel N87C196KC20 represents a high-integration, high-performance paradigm in 16-bit embedded control. Its powerful CPU architecture, substantial on-chip EPROM, and a rich suite of intelligent peripherals like the TPU and fast ADC made it an exceptionally capable controller for its era, designed to tackle the most computationally intensive and timing-critical tasks in industrial automation and automotive electronics.
Keywords: 16-Bit Embedded Controller, On-Chip EPROM, Register-to-Register Architecture, Timer Processing Unit (TPU), Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)
