Microcontroller

A microcontroller (MCU for microcontroller unit) is a small

computer on a single metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) integrated
circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs
(processor cores) along with memory and programmable
input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of
ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included
on chip, as well as a small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are
designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the
microprocessors used in personal computers or other general
purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips.
The die from an Intel 8742, an 8-bit
In modern terminology, a microcontroller is similar to, but less microcontroller that includes a CPU
sophisticated than, a system on a chip (SoC). SoC may include a running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM,
microcontroller as one of its components, but usually integrates it 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in the
with advanced peripherals like graphics processing unit (GPU), Wi- same chip
Fi module, or one or more coprocessors.[1]

Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and

devices, such as automobile engine control systems, implantable
medical devices, remote controls, office machines, appliances, power
tools, toys and other embedded systems. By reducing the size and cost
compared to a design that uses a separate microprocessor, memory,
and input/output devices, microcontrollers make it economical to
digitally control even more devices and processes. Mixed signal
microcontrollers are common, integrating analog components needed
to control non-digital electronic systems. In the context of the internet
of things, microcontrollers are an economical and popular means of
data collection, sensing and actuating the physical world as edge
devices. Two ATmega microcontrollers

Some microcontrollers may use four-bit words and operate at

frequencies as low as 4 kHz for low power consumption (single-digit milliwatts or microwatts). They
generally have the ability to retain functionality while waiting for an event such as a button press or other
interrupt; power consumption while sleeping (CPU clock and most peripherals off) may be just nanowatts,
making many of them well suited for long lasting battery applications. Other microcontrollers may serve
performance-critical roles, where they may need to act more like a digital signal processor (DSP), with higher
clock speeds and power consumption.

Contents
History
Background
Development
Volume and cost
Smallest computer
Embedded design
Interrupts
Programs
Other microcontroller features
Higher integration
Programming environments
Types
Interrupt latency
Memory technology
Data
Firmware
See also
References
External links

History

Background

The origins of both the microprocessor and the microcontroller can be traced back to the invention of the
MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor), also known as the MOS transistor.[2] It was
invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, and first demonstrated in 1960.[3]
The same year, Atalla proposed the concept of the MOS integrated circuit, which was an integrated circuit
chip fabricated from MOSFETs.[4] By 1964, MOS chips had reached higher transistor density and lower
manufacturing costs than bipolar chips. MOS chips further increased in complexity at a rate predicted by
Moore's law, leading to large-scale integration (LSI) with hundreds of transistors on a single MOS chip by the
late 1960s. The application of MOS LSI chips to computing was the basis for the first microprocessors, as
engineers began recognizing that a complete computer processor could be contained on a single MOS LSI
chip.[2]

The first multi-chip microprocessors, the Four-Phase Systems AL1 in 1969 and the Garrett AiResearch
MP944 in 1970, were developed with multiple MOS LSI chips. The first single-chip microprocessor was the
Intel 4004, released on a single MOS LSI chip in 1971. It was developed by Federico Faggin, using his
silicon-gate MOS technology, along with Intel engineers Marcian Hoff and Stan Mazor, and Busicom
engineer Masatoshi Shima.[5] It was followed by the 4-bit Intel 4040, the 8-bit Intel 8008, and the 8-bit Intel
8080. All of these processors required several external chips to implement a working system, including
memory and peripheral interface chips. As a result, the total system cost was several hundred (1970s US)
dollars, making it impossible to economically computerize small appliances. MOS Technology introduced
sub-$100 microprocessors, the 6501 and 6502, with the chief aim of addressing this economic obstacle, but
these microprocessors still required external support, memory, and peripheral chips which kept the total system
cost in the hundreds of dollars.

Development
One book credits TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran with the successful creation of the first
microcontroller in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS 1000, which became commercially available in
1974. It combined read-only memory, read/write memory, processor and clock on one chip and was targeted at
embedded systems.[6]

During the early-to-mid-1970s, Japanese electronics manufacturers began producing microcontrollers for
automobiles, including 4-bit MCUs for in-car entertainment, automatic wipers, electronic locks, and
dashboard, and 8-bit MCUs for engine control.[7]

Partly in response to the existence of the single-chip TMS 1000,[8] Intel developed a computer system on a
chip optimized for control applications, the Intel 8048, with commercial parts first shipping in 1977.[8] It
combined RAM and ROM on the same chip with a microprocessor. Among numerous applications, this chip
would eventually find its way into over one billion PC keyboards. At that time Intel's President, Luke J.
Valenter, stated that the microcontroller was one of the most successful products in the company's history, and
he expanded the microcontroller division's budget by over 25%.

Most microcontrollers at this time had concurrent variants. One had EPROM program memory, with a
transparent quartz window in the lid of the package to allow it to be erased by exposure to ultraviolet light.
These erasable chips were often used for prototyping. The other variant was either a mask programmed ROM
or a PROM variant which was only programmable once. For the latter, sometimes the designation OTP was
used, standing for "one-time programmable". In an OTP microcontroller, the PROM was usually of identical
type as the EPROM, but the chip package had no quartz window; because there was no way to expose the
EPROM to ultraviolet light, it could not be erased. Because the erasable versions required ceramic packages
with quartz windows, they were significantly more expensive than the OTP versions, which could be made in
lower-cost opaque plastic packages. For the erasable variants, quartz was required, instead of less expensive
glass, for its transparency to ultraviolet light—to which glass is largely opaque—but the main cost
differentiator was the ceramic package itself.

In 1993, the introduction of EEPROM memory allowed microcontrollers (beginning with the Microchip
PIC16C84)[9] to be electrically erased quickly without an expensive package as required for EPROM,
allowing both rapid prototyping, and in-system programming. (EEPROM technology had been available prior
to this time,[10] but the earlier EEPROM was more expensive and less durable, making it unsuitable for low-
cost mass-produced microcontrollers.) The same year, Atmel introduced the first microcontroller using Flash
memory, a special type of EEPROM.[11] Other companies rapidly followed suit, with both memory types.

Nowadays microcontrollers are cheap and readily available for hobbyists, with large online communities
around certain processors.

Volume and cost

In 2002, about 55% of all CPUs sold in the world were 8-bit microcontrollers and microprocessors.[12]

Over two billion 8-bit microcontrollers were sold in 1997,[13] and according to Semico, over four billion 8-bit
microcontrollers were sold in 2006.[14] More recently, Semico has claimed the MCU market grew 36.5% in
2010 and 12% in 2011.[15]

A typical home in a developed country is likely to have only four general-purpose microprocessors but around
three dozen microcontrollers. A typical mid-range automobile has about 30 microcontrollers. They can also be
found in many electrical devices such as washing machines, microwave ovens, and telephones.
 Historically, the 8-bit segment has dominated the MCU market [..] 16-bit microcontrollers became
the largest volume MCU category in 2011, overtaking 8-bit devices for the first time that year [..]
IC Insights believes the makeup of the MCU market will undergo substantial changes in the next
five years with 32-bit devices steadily grabbing a greater share of sales and unit volumes. By
2017, 32-bit MCUs are expected to account for 55% of microcontroller sales [..] In terms of unit
volumes, 32-bit MCUs are expected account for 38% of microcontroller shipments in 2017, while
16-bit devices will represent 34% of the total, and 4-/8-bit designs are forecast to be 28% of units
sold that year. The 32-bit MCU market is expected to grow rapidly due to increasing demand for
higher levels of precision in embedded-processing systems and the growth in connectivity using
the Internet. [..] In the next few years, complex 32-bit MCUs are expected to account for over
25% of the processing power in vehicles.

— IC Insights, MCU Market on Migration Path to 32-bit and ARM-based Devices[16]

Cost to manufacture can be under $0.10 per unit.

Cost has plummeted over time, with the cheapest 8-bit microcontrollers being available for under 0.03 USD in
2018,[17] and some 32-bit microcontrollers around US$1 for similar quantities.

In 2012, following a global crisis—a worst ever annual sales decline and recovery and average sales price
year-over-year plunging 17%—the biggest reduction since the 1980s—the average price for a microcontroller
was US$0.88 ($0.69 for 4-/8-bit, $0.59 for 16-bit, $1.76 for 32-bit).[16]

In 2012, worldwide sales of 8-bit microcontrollers were around $4 billion, while 4-bit microcontrollers also
saw significant sales.[18]

In 2015, 8-bit microcontrollers could be bought for $0.311 (1,000 units),[19] 16-bit for $0.385 (1,000
units),[20] and 32-bit for $0.378 (1,000 units, but at $0.35 for 5,000).[21]

In 2018, 8-bit microcontrollers can be bought for $0.03,[17] 16-bit for $0.393 (1,000 units, but at $0.563 for
100 or $0.349 for full reel of 2,000),[22] and 32-bit for $0.503 (1,000 units, but at $0.466 for 5,000).[23] A
lower-priced 32-bit microcontroller, in units of one, can be had for $0.891.[24]

In 2018, the low-priced microcontrollers above from 2015 are all more expensive (with inflation calculated
between 2018 and 2015 prices for those specific units) at: the 8-bit microcontroller can be bought for $0.319
(1,000 units) or 2.6% higher,[19] the 16-bit one for $0.464 (1,000 units) or 21% higher,[20] and the 32-bit one
for $0.503 (1,000 units, but at $0.466 for 5,000) or 33% higher.[21]

Smallest computer

On 21 June 2018, the "world's smallest computer" was announced by the University of Michigan. The device
is a "0.04mm3 16nW wireless and batteryless sensor system with integrated Cortex-M0+ processor and optical
communication for cellular temperature measurement." It "measures just 0.3 mm to a side—dwarfed by a grain
of rice. [...] In addition to the RAM and photovoltaics, the new computing devices have processors and
wireless transmitters and receivers. Because they are too small to have conventional radio antennae, they
receive and transmit data with visible light. A base station provides light for power and programming, and it
receives the data."[25] The device is 1/10th the size of IBM's previously claimed world-record-sized computer
from months back in March 2018,[26] which is "smaller than a grain of salt",[27] has a million transistors, costs
less than $0.10 to manufacture, and, combined with blockchain technology, is intended for logistics and
"crypto-anchors"—digital fingerprint applications.[28]
Embedded design
A microcontroller can be considered a self-contained system with a
processor, memory and peripherals and can be used as an embedded
system.[29] The majority of microcontrollers in use today are
embedded in other machinery, such as automobiles, telephones,
appliances, and peripherals for computer systems.

While some embedded systems are very sophisticated, many have

minimal requirements for memory and program length, with no
operating system, and low software complexity. Typical input and
output devices include switches, relays, solenoids, LED's, small or
custom liquid-crystal displays, radio frequency devices, and sensors A PIC 18F8720 microcontroller in an
for data such as temperature, humidity, light level etc. Embedded 80-pin TQFP package
systems usually have no keyboard, screen, disks, printers, or other
recognizable I/O devices of a personal computer, and may lack
human interaction devices of any kind.

Interrupts

Microcontrollers must provide real-time (predictable, though not necessarily fast) response to events in the
embedded system they are controlling. When certain events occur, an interrupt system can signal the processor
to suspend processing the current instruction sequence and to begin an interrupt service routine (ISR, or
"interrupt handler") which will perform any processing required based on the source of the interrupt, before
returning to the original instruction sequence. Possible interrupt sources are device dependent, and often
include events such as an internal timer overflow, completing an analog to digital conversion, a logic level
change on an input such as from a button being pressed, and data received on a communication link. Where
power consumption is important as in battery devices, interrupts may also wake a microcontroller from a low-
power sleep state where the processor is halted until required to do something by a peripheral event.

Programs

Typically micro-controller programs must fit in the available on-chip memory, since it would be costly to
provide a system with external, expandable memory. Compilers and assemblers are used to convert both high-
level and assembly language codes into a compact machine code for storage in the micro-controller's memory.
Depending on the device, the program memory may be permanent, read-only memory that can only be
programmed at the factory, or it may be field-alterable flash or erasable read-only memory.

Manufacturers have often produced special versions of their micro-controllers in order to help the hardware
and software development of the target system. Originally these included EPROM versions that have a
"window" on the top of the device through which program memory can be erased by ultraviolet light, ready
for reprogramming after a programming ("burn") and test cycle. Since 1998, EPROM versions are rare and
have been replaced by EEPROM and flash, which are easier to use (can be erased electronically) and cheaper
to manufacture.

Other versions may be available where the ROM is accessed as an external device rather than as internal
memory, however these are becoming rare due to the widespread availability of cheap microcontroller
programmers.
The use of field-programmable devices on a micro controller may allow field update of the firmware or permit
late factory revisions to products that have been assembled but not yet shipped. Programmable memory also
reduces the lead time required for deployment of a new product.

Where hundreds of thousands of identical devices are required, using parts programmed at the time of
manufacture can be economical. These "mask programmed" parts have the program laid down in the same
way as the logic of the chip, at the same time.

A customized micro-controller incorporates a block of digital logic that can be personalized for additional
processing capability, peripherals and interfaces that are adapted to the requirements of the application. One
example is the AT91CAP from Atmel.

Other microcontroller features

Microcontrollers usually contain from several to dozens of general purpose input/output pins (GPIO). GPIO
pins are software configurable to either an input or an output state. When GPIO pins are configured to an input
state, they are often used to read sensors or external signals. Configured to the output state, GPIO pins can
drive external devices such as LEDs or motors, often indirectly, through external power electronics.

Many embedded systems need to read sensors that produce analog signals. This is the purpose of the analog-
to-digital converter (ADC). Since processors are built to interpret and process digital data, i.e. 1s and 0s, they
are not able to do anything with the analog signals that may be sent to it by a device. So the analog to digital
converter is used to convert the incoming data into a form that the processor can recognize. A less common
feature on some microcontrollers is a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that allows the processor to output
analog signals or voltage levels.

In addition to the converters, many embedded microprocessors include a variety of timers as well. One of the
most common types of timers is the programmable interval timer (PIT). A PIT may either count down from
some value to zero, or up to the capacity of the count register, overflowing to zero. Once it reaches zero, it
sends an interrupt to the processor indicating that it has finished counting. This is useful for devices such as
thermostats, which periodically test the temperature around them to see if they need to turn the air conditioner
on, the heater on, etc.

A dedicated pulse-width modulation (PWM) block makes it possible for the CPU to control power converters,
resistive loads, motors, etc., without using many CPU resources in tight timer loops.

A universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) block makes it possible to receive and transmit data
over a serial line with very little load on the CPU. Dedicated on-chip hardware also often includes capabilities
to communicate with other devices (chips) in digital formats such as Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C), Serial
Peripheral Interface (SPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Ethernet.[30]

Higher integration
Micro-controllers may not implement an external address or data bus as they integrate RAM and non-volatile
memory on the same chip as the CPU. Using fewer pins, the chip can be placed in a much smaller, cheaper
package.

Integrating the memory and other peripherals on a single chip and testing them as a unit increases the cost of
that chip, but often results in decreased net cost of the embedded system as a whole. Even if the cost of a CPU
that has integrated peripherals is slightly more than the cost of a CPU and external peripherals, having fewer
chips typically allows a smaller and cheaper circuit board, and reduces the labor required to assemble and test
the circuit board, in addition to tending to decrease the defect rate for the finished assembly.
A micro-controller is a single integrated circuit, commonly with the
following features:

central processing unit – ranging from small and simple 4-

bit processors to complex 32-bit or 64-bit processors
volatile memory (RAM) for data storage
ROM, EPROM, EEPROM or Flash memory for program
and operating parameter storage
discrete input and output bits, allowing control or detection
of the logic state of an individual package pin
serial input/output such as serial ports (UARTs)
other serial communications interfaces like I²C, Serial
Die of a PIC12C508 8-bit, fully static,
Peripheral Interface and Controller Area Network for
EEPROM/EPROM/ROM-based
system interconnect CMOS microcontroller manufactured
peripherals such as timers, event counters, PWM by Microchip Technology using a
generators, and watchdog 1200 nanometer process
clock generator – often an oscillator for a quartz timing
crystal, resonator or RC circuit
many include analog-to-digital converters, some include
digital-to-analog converters
in-circuit programming and in-circuit debugging support

This integration drastically reduces the number of chips and the

amount of wiring and circuit board space that would be needed to
produce equivalent systems using separate chips. Furthermore, on low
pin count devices in particular, each pin may interface to several
internal peripherals, with the pin function selected by software. This
allows a part to be used in a wider variety of applications than if pins
had dedicated functions.

Micro-controllers have proved to be highly popular in embedded

systems since their introduction in the 1970s. Die of a STM32F100C4T6B ARM
Cortex-M3 microcontroller with 16
Some microcontrollers use a Harvard architecture: separate memory kilobytes flash memory, 24 MHz
buses for instructions and data, allowing accesses to take place central processing unit (CPU), motor
concurrently. Where a Harvard architecture is used, instruction words control and Consumer Electronics
for the processor may be a different bit size than the length of internal Control (CEC) functions.
memory and registers; for example: 12-bit instructions used with 8-bit Manufactured by
data registers. STMicroelectronics.

The decision of which peripheral to integrate is often difficult. The

microcontroller vendors often trade operating frequencies and system design flexibility against time-to-market
requirements from their customers and overall lower system cost. Manufacturers have to balance the need to
minimize the chip size against additional functionality.

Microcontroller architectures vary widely. Some designs include general-purpose microprocessor cores, with
one or more ROM, RAM, or I/O functions integrated onto the package. Other designs are purpose built for
control applications. A micro-controller instruction set usually has many instructions intended for bit
manipulation (bit-wise operations) to make control programs more compact.[31] For example, a general
purpose processor might require several instructions to test a bit in a register and branch if the bit is set, where
a micro-controller could have a single instruction to provide that commonly required function.
Microcontrollers traditionally do not have a math coprocessor, so floating point arithmetic is performed by
software. However, some recent designs do include an FPU and DSP optimized features. An example would
be Microchip's PIC32 MIPS based line.

Programming environments
Microcontrollers were originally programmed only in assembly language, but various high-level programming
languages, such as C, Python and JavaScript, are now also in common use to target microcontrollers and
embedded systems.[32] Compilers for general purpose languages will typically have some restrictions as well
as enhancements to better support the unique characteristics of microcontrollers. Some microcontrollers have
environments to aid developing certain types of applications. Microcontroller vendors often make tools freely
available to make it easier to adopt their hardware.

Microcontrollers with specialty hardware may require their own non-standard dialects of C, such as SDCC for
the 8051, which prevent using standard tools (such as code libraries or static analysis tools) even for code
unrelated to hardware features. Interpreters may also contain nonstandard features, such as MicroPython,
although a fork, CircuitPython, has looked to move hardware dependencies to libraries and have the language
adhere to a more CPython standard.

Interpreter firmware is also available for some microcontrollers. For example, BASIC on the early
microcontrollers Intel 8052;[33] BASIC and FORTH on the Zilog Z8[34] as well as some modern devices.
Typically these interpreters support interactive programming.

Simulators are available for some microcontrollers. These allow a developer to analyze what the behavior of
the microcontroller and their program should be if they were using the actual part. A simulator will show the
internal processor state and also that of the outputs, as well as allowing input signals to be generated. While on
the one hand most simulators will be limited from being unable to simulate much other hardware in a system,
they can exercise conditions that may otherwise be hard to reproduce at will in the physical implementation,
and can be the quickest way to debug and analyze problems.

Recent microcontrollers are often integrated with on-chip debug circuitry that when accessed by an in-circuit
emulator (ICE) via JTAG, allow debugging of the firmware with a debugger. A real-time ICE may allow
viewing and/or manipulating of internal states while running. A tracing ICE can record executed program and
MCU states before/after a trigger point.

Types
As of 2008, there are several dozen microcontroller architectures and vendors including:

ARM core processors (many vendors)

ARM Cortex-M cores are specifically targeted toward microcontroller applications
Microchip Technology Atmel AVR (8-bit), AVR32 (32-bit), and AT91SAM (32-bit)
Cypress Semiconductor's M8C core used in their PSoC (Programmable System-on-Chip)
Freescale ColdFire (32-bit) and S08 (8-bit)
Freescale 68HC11 (8-bit), and others based on the Motorola 6800 family
Intel 8051, also manufactured by NXP Semiconductors, Infineon and many others
Infineon: 8-bit XC800, 16-bit XE166, 32-bit XMC4000 (ARM based Cortex M4F), 32-bit TriCore
and, 32-bit Aurix Tricore Bit microcontrollers[35]
Maxim Integrated MAX32600, MAX32620, MAX32625, MAX32630, MAX32650, MAX32640
MIPS
 Microchip Technology PIC, (8-bit PIC16, PIC18, 16-bit dsPIC33 / PIC24), (32-bit PIC32)
NXP Semiconductors LPC1000, LPC2000, LPC3000, LPC4000 (32-bit), LPC900, LPC700 (8-
bit)
Parallax Propeller
PowerPC ISE
Rabbit 2000 (8-bit)
Renesas Electronics: RL78 16-bit MCU; RX 32-bit MCU; SuperH; V850 32-bit MCU; H8; R8C
16-bit MCU
Silicon Laboratories Pipelined 8-bit 8051 microcontrollers and mixed-signal ARM-based 32-bit
microcontrollers
STMicroelectronics STM8 (8-bit), ST10 (16-bit), STM32 (32-bit), SPC5 ([Link]
tomotive-microcontrollers/[Link]?querycriteria=productId=SC963)
(automotive 32-bit)
Texas Instruments TI MSP430 (16-bit), MSP432 ([Link] (32-bit), C2000
(32-bit)
Toshiba TLCS-870 (8-bit/16-bit)

Many others exist, some of which are used in very narrow range of applications or are more like applications
processors than microcontrollers. The microcontroller market is extremely fragmented, with numerous
vendors, technologies, and markets. Note that many vendors sell or have sold multiple architectures.

Interrupt latency
In contrast to general-purpose computers, microcontrollers used in embedded systems often seek to optimize
interrupt latency over instruction throughput. Issues include both reducing the latency, and making it be more
predictable (to support real-time control).

When an electronic device causes an interrupt, during the context switch the intermediate results (registers)
have to be saved before the software responsible for handling the interrupt can run. They must also be restored
after that interrupt handler is finished. If there are more processor registers, this saving and restoring process
may take more time, increasing the latency. (If an ISR does not require the use of some registers, it may simply
leave them alone rather than saving and restoring them, so in that case those registers are not involved with the
latency.) Ways to reduce such context/restore latency include having relatively few registers in their central
processing units (undesirable because it slows down most non-interrupt processing substantially), or at least
having the hardware not save them all (this fails if the software then needs to compensate by saving the rest
"manually"). Another technique involves spending silicon gates on "shadow registers": One or more duplicate
registers used only by the interrupt software, perhaps supporting a dedicated stack.

Other factors affecting interrupt latency include:

Cycles needed to complete current CPU activities. To minimize those costs, microcontrollers
tend to have short pipelines (often three instructions or less), small write buffers, and ensure
that longer instructions are continuable or restartable. RISC design principles ensure that most
instructions take the same number of cycles, helping avoid the need for most such
continuation/restart logic.
The length of any critical section that needs to be interrupted. Entry to a critical section restricts
concurrent data structure access. When a data structure must be accessed by an interrupt
handler, the critical section must block that interrupt. Accordingly, interrupt latency is increased
by however long that interrupt is blocked. When there are hard external constraints on system
latency, developers often need tools to measure interrupt latencies and track down which
critical sections cause slowdowns.
 One common technique just blocks all interrupts for the duration of the critical section. This
is easy to implement, but sometimes critical sections get uncomfortably long.
A more complex technique just blocks the interrupts that may trigger access to that data
structure. This is often based on interrupt priorities, which tend to not correspond well to the
relevant system data structures. Accordingly, this technique is used mostly in very
constrained environments.
Processors may have hardware support for some critical sections. Examples include
supporting atomic access to bits or bytes within a word, or other atomic access primitives
like the LDREX/STREX exclusive access primitives introduced in the ARMv6 architecture.
Interrupt nesting. Some microcontrollers allow higher priority interrupts to interrupt lower priority
ones. This allows software to manage latency by giving time-critical interrupts higher priority
(and thus lower and more predictable latency) than less-critical ones.
Trigger rate. When interrupts occur back-to-back, microcontrollers may avoid an extra context
save/restore cycle by a form of tail call optimization.

Lower end microcontrollers tend to support fewer interrupt latency controls than higher end ones.

Memory technology
Two different kinds of memory are commonly used with microcontrollers, a non-volatile memory for storing
firmware and a read-write memory for temporary data.

Data

From the earliest microcontrollers to today, six-transistor SRAM is almost always used as the read/write
working memory, with a few more transistors per bit used in the register file.

In addition to the SRAM, some microcontrollers also have internal EEPROM for data storage; and even ones
that do not have any (or not enough) are often connected to external serial EEPROM chip (such as the BASIC
Stamp) or external serial flash memory chip.

A few microcontrollers beginning in 2003 have "self-programmable" flash memory.[11]

Firmware

The earliest microcontrollers used mask ROM to store firmware. Later microcontrollers (such as the early
versions of the Freescale 68HC11 and early PIC microcontrollers) had EPROM memory, which used a
translucent window to allow erasure via UV light, while production versions had no such window, being OTP
(one-time-programmable). Firmware updates were equivalent to replacing the microcontroller itself, thus many
products were not upgradeable.

Motorola MC68HC805 [10] was the first microcontroller to use EEPROM to store the firmware. EEPROM
microcontrollers became more popular in 1993 when Microchip introduced PIC16C84[9] and Atmel
introduced an 8051-core microcontroller that was first one to use NOR Flash memory to store the
firmware.[11] Today's microcontrollers almost exclusively use flash memory, with a few models using FRAM,
and some ultra-low-cost parts still use OTP or Mask-ROM.

See also
List of common microcontrollers
 List of Wi-Fi microcontrollers
List of open-source hardware projects
Microbotics
Programmable logic controller
Single-board microcontroller

References
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[Link]/tech-history/silicon-revolution/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-microprocessors).
IEEE Spectrum. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 53 (9): 48–54.
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2019.
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[Link]/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/). The Silicon
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