APPLICATION
NOTE
AP-252
March 1985
Designing With The 80C51BH
TOM WILLIAMSON
MCO APPLICATIONS ENGINEER
Order Number: 270068-002
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DESIGNING WITH THE
80C51BH
CONTENTS PAGE
CMOS EVOLVES ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 1
WHAT IS CHMOS? ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 1
THE MCS-51 FAMILY IN CHMOS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 1
LATCHUP ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 2
LOGIC LEVELS AND INTERFACING
PROBLEMS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 2
NOISE CONSIDERATIONS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 2
UNUSED PINS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 3
PULLUP RESISTORS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 4
PULLDOWN RESISTORS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 4
DRIVE CAPABILITY OF THE
INTERNAL PULLUPS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 5
POWER CONSUMPTION ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 6
Idle ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 7
Power Down ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 7
USING THE POWER DOWN MODE ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 8
USING POWER MOSFETs TO
CONTROL VCC ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 9
BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEMS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 9
POWER SWITCHOVER CIRCUITS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 11
80C31BH aCHMOS EPROM ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 12
SCANNING A KEYBOARD ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 13
DRIVING AN LCD ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 16
Using an LCD Driver ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 17
RESONANT TRANSDUCERS ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 18
Frequency Measurements ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 18
Period Measurements ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 20
Pulse Width Measurements ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 21
HMOS/CHMOS
INTERCHANGEABILITY ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 21
External Clock Drive ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 21
Unused Pins ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 22
Logic Levels ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 22
Idle and Power Down ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 22
REFERENCES ÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀÀ 23
AP-252
CMOS EVOLVES
The original CMOS logic families were the 4000-series
and the 74C-series circuits. The 74C-series circuits are
functional equivalents to the corresponding numbered
74-series TTL circuits, but have CMOS logic levels and
retain the other well known characteristics of CMOS
logic.
These characteristics are: low power consumption, high
noise immunity, and slow speed. The low power con-
sumption is inherent to the nature of the CMOS circuit.
The noise immunity is due partly to the CMOS logic
levels, and partly to the slowness of the circuits. The
slow speed is due to the technology used to construct
the transistors in the circuit.
The technology used is called metal-gate CMOS, be-
cause the transistor gates are formed by metal deposi-
tion. More importantly, the gates are formed after the
drain and source regions have been defined, and must
overlap the source and drain somewhat to allow for
alignment tolerances. This overlap plus the relatively
large size of the transistors themselves result in high
electrode capacitance, and that is what limits the speed
of the circuit.
High speed CMOS became feasible with the develop-
ment of the self-aligning silicon gate technology. In this
process polysilicon gates are deposited before the
source and drain regions are defined. Then the source
and drain regions are formed by ion implantation using
the gate itself as a mask for the implantation. This elim-
inates most of the overlap capacitance. In addition, the
process allows smaller transistors. The result is a signif-
icant increase in circuit speed. The 74HC-series of
CMOS logic circuits is based on this technology, and
has speeds comparable to LS TTL, which is to say
about 10 times faster than the 74C-series circuits.
The size reduction that contributes to the higher speed
also demands an accompanying reduction in the maxi-
mum supply voltage. High-speed CMOS is generally
limited to 6V.
WHAT IS CHMOS?
CHMOS is the name given to Intel’s high-speed CMOS
processes. There are two CHMOS processes, one based
on an n-well structure and one based on a p-well struc-
ture. In the n-well structure, n-type wells are diffused
into a p-type substrate. Then the n-channel transistors
(nFETs) are built into the substrate and pFETs are
built into the n-wells. In the p-well structure, p-type
wells are diffused into an n-type substrate. Then the
nFETs are built into the wells and pFETs, into the
substrate. Both processes have their advantages and
disadvantages, which are largely transparent to the
user.
Lower operating voltages are easier to obtain with the
p-well structure than with the n-well structure. But the
p-well structure does not easily adapt to an EPROM
which would be pin-for-pin compatible with HMOS
EPROMs. On the other hand the n-well structure can
be based on the solidly founded HMOS process, in
which nFETs are built into a p-type substrate. This
allows somewhat more than half of the transistors in a
CHMOS chip to be constructed by processes that are
already well characterized.
Currently Intel’s CHMOS microcontrollers and memo-
ry products are n-well devices, whereas CHMOS mi-
croprocessors are p-well devices.
Further discussion of the CHMOS technology is pro-
vided in References 1 and 2 (which are reprinted in the
Microcontroller Handbook).
THE MCSÉ-51 FAMILY IN CHMOS
The 80C51BH is the CHMOS version of Intel’s original
8051. The 80C31BH is the ROMless 80C51BH, equiva-
lent to the 8031. These CHMOS devices are architec-
turally identical with their HMOS counterparts, except
that they have two added features for reduced power.
These are the Idle and Power Down modes of opera-
tion.
In most cases, an 80C51BH can directly replace the
8051 in existing applications. It can execute the same
code at the same speed, accept signals from the same
sources, and drive the same loads. However, the
80C51BH covers a wider range of speeds, will emit
CMOS logic levels to CMOS loads, and will draw about
1/10 the current of an 8051 (and less yet in the reduced
power modes). Interchangeability between the HMOS
and CHMOS devices is discussed in more detail in the
final section of this Application Note.
It should be noted that the 80C51BH CPU is not static.
That means if the clock frequency is too low, the CPU
might forget what it was doing. This is because the
circuitry uses a number of dynamic nodes. A dynamic
node is one that uses the note-to-ground capacitance to
form a temporary storage cell. Dynamic nodes are used
to reduce the transistor count, and hence the chip area,
thus to produce a more economical device.
This is not to say that the on-chip RAM in CHMOS
microcontrollers is dynamic. It’s not. It’s the CPU that
is dynamic, and that is what imposes the minimum
clock frequency specification.
1
AP-252
LATCHUP
Latchup is an SCR-type turn-on phenomenon that is
the traditional nemesis of CMOS systems. The sub-
strate, the wells, and the transistors form parasitic pnpn
structures within the device. These parasitic structures
turn on like an SCR if a sufficient amount of forward
current is driven through one of the junctions. From
the circuit designer’s point of view it can happen when-
ever an input or output pin is externally driven a diode
drop above VCC or below VSS, by a source that is capa-
ble of supplying the required trigger current.
However much of a problem latchup has been in the
past, it is good to know that in most recently developed
CMOS devices, and specifically in CHMOS devices, the
current required to trigger latchup is typically well over
100 mA. The 80C51BH is virtually immune to latchup.
(References 1 and 2 present a discussion of the latchup
mechanisms and the steps that are taken on the chip to
guard against it.) Modern CMOS is not absolutely im-
mune to latchup, but with trigger currents in the hun-
dreds of mA, latchup is certainly a lot easier to avoid
than it once was.
A careless power-up sequence might trigger a latchup
in the older CMOS families, but it’s unlikely to be a
major problem in high-speed CMOS or in CHMOS.
There is still some risk incurred in inserting or remov-
ing chips or boards in a CMOS system while the power
is on. Also, severe transients, such as inductive kicks or
momentary short-circuits, can exceed the trigger cur-
rent for latchup.
For applications in which some latchup risk seems un-
avoidable, you can put a small resistor (100Xor so) in
series with signal lines to ensure that the trigger current
will never be reached. This also helps to control over-
shoot and RFI.
LOGIC LEVELS AND INTERFACING
PROBLEMS
CMOS logic levels differ from TTL levels in two ways.
First, for equal supply voltages, CMOS gives (and re-
quires) a higher ‘‘logic 1’’ level than TTL. Secondly,
CMOS logic levels are VCC (or VDD) dependent,
whereas guaranteed TTL logic levels are fixed when
VCC is within TTL specs.
Standard 74HC logic levels are as follows:
VIHMIN e70% of VCC
VILMAX e20% of VCC
VOHMIN eVCC b0.1V,
l
IOH
l
s20 mA
VOLMAX e0.1V,
l
IOL
l
s20 mA
Figure 1 compares 74HC, LS TTL, and 74HCT logic
levels with those of the HMOS 8051 and the CHMOS
80C51BH for VCC e5V.
Output logic levels depend of course on load current,
and are normally specified at several load currents.
When CMOS and TTL are powered by the same VCC,
the logic levels guaranteed on the data sheets indicate
that CMOS can drive TTL, but TTL can’t drive
CMOS. The incompatibility is that the TTL circuit’s
VOH level is too low to reliably be recognized by the
CMOS circuit as a valid VIH.
Since HMOS circuits were designed to be TTL-compat-
ible, they have the same incompatibility.
Fortunately, 74HCT-series circuits are available to ease
these interfacing problems. They have TTL-compatible
logic levels at the inputs and standard CMOS levels at
the outputs.
The 80C51BH is designed to work with either TTL or
CMOS. Therefore its logic levels are specified very
much like 74HCT circuits. That is, its input logic levels
are TTL-compatible, and its output characteristics are
like standard high-speed CMOS.
NOISE CONSIDERATIONS
One of the major reasons for going to CMOS has tradi-
tionally been that CMOS is less susceptible to noise. As
previously noted, its low susceptibility to noise is
Logic State VCC e5V
74HC 74HCT LS TTL 8051 80C51BH
VIH 3.5V 2.0V 2.0V 2.0V 1.9V
VIL 1.0V 0.8V 0.8V 0.8V 0.9V
VOH 4.9V 4.9V 2.7V 2.4V 4.5V
VOL 0.1V 0.1V 0.5V 0.45V 0.45V
Figure 1. Logic Level Comparison. (Output voltage levels depend on load current.
Data sheets list guaranteed output levels for several load currents. The output
levels listed here are for minimum loading.)
2
AP-252
partly due to superior noise margins, and partly due to
its slow speed.
Noise margin is the difference between VOL and VIL,
or between VOH and VIH.IfV
OH from a driving cir-
cuit is 2.7V and VIH to the driven circuit is 2.0V, then
the driven circuit has 0.7V of noise margin at the logic
high level. These kinds of comparisons show that an
all-CMOS system has wider noise margins than an all-
TTL system.
Figure 2 shows noise margins in CMOS and LS TTL
systems when both have VCC e5V. It can be seen that
CMOS/CMOS and CMOS/CHMOS systems have an
edge over LS TTL in this respect.
Noise margins can be misleading, however, because
they don’t say how much noise energy it takes to induce
in the circuit a noise voltage of sufficient amplitude to
cause a logic error. This would involve consideration of
the width of the noise pulse as compared with the cir-
cuit’s response speed, and the impedance to ground
from the point of noise introduction in the circuit.
When these considerations are included, it is seen that
using the slower 74C- and 4000-series circuits with a 12
or 15V supply voltage does offer a truly improved level
of noise immunity, but that high-speed CMOS at 5V is
not significantly better than TTL.
One should not mistake the wider supply voltage toler-
ance of high-speed CMOS for VCC glitch immunity.
Supply voltage tolerance is a DC rating, not a glitch
rating.
For any clocked CMOS, and most especially for VLSI
CMOS, VCC decoupling is critical. CHMOS draws
Noise Margin for
Interface VCC e5V
Logic Low Logic High
VIL–VOL VOH–VIH
74HC to 74HC 0.9V 1.4V
LSTTL to LSTTL 0.3V 0.7V
LSTTL to 74HCT 0.3V 0.7V
LSTTL to 80C51BH 0.3V 0.7V
74HC to 80C51BH 0.8V 3.0V
80C51BH to 74HC 0.8V 1.0V
Figure 2. Noise Margins for CMOS
and LS TTL Circuits
current in extremely sharp spikes at the clock edges.
The VHF and UHF components of these spikes are not
drawn from the power supply, but from the decoupling
capacitor. If the decoupling circuit is not sufficiently
low in inductance, VCC will glitch at each clock edge.
We suggest that a 0.1 mF decoupler cap be used in a
minimum-inductance configuration with the microcon-
troller. A minimum-inductance configuration is one
that minimizes the area of the loop formed by the chip
(VCC to VSS), the traces to the decoupler cap, and the
decoupler cap. PCB designers too often fail to under-
stand that if the traces that connect the decoupler cap
to the VCC and VSS pins aren’t short and direct, the
decoupler loses much of its effectiveness.
Overshoot and ringing in signal lines are potential
sources of logic upsets. These can largely be controlled
by circuit layout. Inserting small resistors (about 100X)
in series with signal lines that seem to need them will
also help.
The sharp edges produced by high-speed CMOS can
cause RFI problems. The severity of these problems is
largely a function of the PCB layout. We don’t mean to
imply that all RFI problems can be solved by a better
PCB layout. It may well be, for example, that in some
RFI-sensitive designs high-speed CMOS is simply not
the answer. But circuit layout is a critical factor in the
noise performance of any electronic system, and more
so in high-speed CMOS systems than others.
Circuit layout techniques for minimizing noise suscepti-
bility and generation are discussed in References 3
through 6.
UNUSED PINS
CMOS input pins should not be left to float, but should
always be pulled to one logic level or the other. If they
float, they tend to float into the transition region be-
tween 0 and 1, where the pullup and pulldown devices
in the input buffer are both conductive. This causes a
significant increase in ICC. A similar effect exists in
HMOS circuits, but with less noticeable results.
In 80C51BH and 80C31BH designs, unused pins of
Ports 1, 2, and 3 can be ignored, because they have
internal pullups that will hold them at a valid Logic 1
level. Port 0 pins are different, however, in not having
internal pullups (except during bus operations).
When the 80C51BH is in reset, the Port 0 pins are in a
float state unless they are externally pulled up or down.
If it’s going to be held in reset for just a short time, the
transient float state can probably be ignored. When it
comes out of reset, the pins stay afloat unless
3
AP-252
they are externally pulled either up or down. Alterna-
tively, the software can internally write 0s to whatever
Port 0 pins may be unused.
The same considerations are applicable to the
80C31BH with regards to reset. But when the
80C31BH comes out of reset, it commences bus opera-
tions, during which the logic levels at the pins are al-
ways well defined as high or low.
Consider the 80C31BH in the Power Down or Idle
modes, however. In those modes it is not fetching in-
structions, and the Port 0 pins will float if not external-
ly pulled high or low. The choice of whether to pull
them high or low is the designer’s. Normally it is suffi-
cient to pull them up to VCC with 10k resistors. But if
power is going to be removed from circuits that are
connected to the bus, it will be advisable to pull the bus
pins down (normally with 10k resistors). Considera-
tions involved in selecting pullup and pulldown resistor
values are as follows.
2700681
Figure 3a. Conditions defining the minimum
value for R. P0.X is emitting a logic low. R must
be large enough to not cause IOL to exceed
data sheet specifications.
270068 2
Figure 3b. Conditions defining the maximum
value for R. P0.X is in a high impedance
state. R must be small enough to keep
VOH acceptably high.
PULLUP RESISTORS
If a pullup resistor is to be used on a Port 0 pin, its
minimum value is determined by IOL requirements. If
the pin is trying to emit a 0, then it will have to sink the
current from the pullup resistor plus whatever other
current may be sourced by other loads connected to the
pin, as shown in Figure 3a, while maintaining a valid
output low (VOL). To guarantee that the pin voltage
will not exceed 0.45V, the resistor should be selected so
that IOL doesn’t exceed the value specified on the data
sheet. In most CMOS applications, the minimum value
would be about 2k X.
The maximum value you could use depends on how
fast you want the pin to pull up after bus operations
have ceased, and how high you want the VOH level to
be. The smaller the resistor the faster it pulls up. Its
effect on the VOH level is that VOH eVCC b(ILI a
IIH) cR. ILI is the input leakage current to the Port 0
pin, and IIH is the input high current to the external
loads, as shown in Figure 3b. Normally VOH can be
expected to reach 0.9 VCC if the pullup resistance does
not exceed about 50k X.
Pulldown Resistors
If a pulldown resistor is to be used on a Port 0 pin, its
minimum value is determined by VOH requirements
during bus operations, and its maximum value is in
most cases determined by leakage current.
During bus operations the port uses internal pullups to
emit 1s. The D.C. Characteristics in the data sheet list
guaranteed VOH levels for given IOH currents. (The ‘‘-’’
sign in the IOH value means the pin is sourcing that
current to the external load, as shown in Figure 4.) To
ensure the VOH level listed in the data sheet, the resis-
270068 3
Figure 4a. Conditions defining the minimum
value for R. P0.X is emittinga1inabus
operation. R must be large enough to not cause
IOH to exceed data sheet specifications.
4
AP-252
VOH
RaIIH s
l
IOH
l
tor has to satisfy where IIH is the input high current to
the external loads.
When the pin goes into a high impedance state, the
pulldown resistor will have to sink leakage current
from the pin, plus whatever other current may be
sourced by other loads connected to the pin, as shown
in Figure 4b. The Port 0 leakage current is ILI on the
data sheet. The resistor should be selected so that the
voltage developed across it by these currents will be
seen as a logic low by whatever circuits are connected
to it (including the 80C51BH). In CMOS/CHMOS ap-
plications, 50k Xis normally a reasonable maximum
value.
270068 4
Figure 4b. Conditions defining the maximum
value for R. P0.X is in a high impedance state.
R must be small enough to keep VOL
acceptably low.
DRIVE CAPABILITY OF THE
INTERNAL PULLUPS
There’s an important difference between HMOS and
CHMOS port drivers. The pins of Ports 1, 2, and 3 of
the CHMOS parts each have three pullups: strong, nor-
mal, and weak, as shown in Figure 5. The strong pullup
(p1) is only used during 0-to-1 transitions, to hasten the
transition. The weak pullup (p2) is on whenever the bit
latch contains a 1. The ‘‘normal’’ pullup (p3) is con-
trolled by the pin voltage itself.
The reason that p3 is controlled by the pin voltage is
that if the pin is being used as an input, and the external
source pulls it to a low, then turning off p3 makes for a
lower IIL. The data sheet shows an ‘‘ITL’’ specification.
This is the current that p3 will source during the time
the pin voltage is making its 1-to-0 transition. This is
what IIL would be if an input low at the pin didn’t turn
p3 off.
Note, however, that this p3 turn-off mechanism puts a
restriction on the drive capacity of the pin if it’s being
used as an output. If you’re trying to output a logic
high, and the external load pulls the pin voltage below
the pin’s VIHMIN spec, p3 might turn off, leaving only
the weak p2 to provide drive to the load. To prevent
this happening, you need to ensure that the load doesn’t
draw more than the IOH spec for a valid VOH. The idea
is to make sure the pin voltage never falls below its own
VIHMIN specification.
270068 5
Figure 5. 80C51BH Output Drivers for Ports 1, 2 and 3
5
AP-252
POWER CONSUMPTION
The main reason for going to CMOS, of course, is to
conserve power. (There are other reasons, but this is the
main one.) Conserving power doesn’t mean just reduc-
ing your electric bill. Nor does it necessarily relate to
battery operation, although battery operation without
CMOS is pretty unhandy. The main reason for conserv-
ing power is to be able to put more functionality into a
smaller space. The reduced power consumption allows
the use of smaller and lighter power supplies, and less
heat being generated allows denser packaging of circuit
components. Expensive fans and blowers can usually be
eliminated.
A cooler running chip is also more reliable, since most
random and wearout failures relate to die temperature.
And finally, the lower power dissipation will allow
more functions to be integrated onto the chip.
The reason CMOS consumes less power than NMOS is
that when it’s in a stable state there is no path of con-
duction from VCC to VSS except through various leak-
age paths. CMOS does draw current when it’s changing
states. How much current it draws depends on how
often and how quickly it changes states.
270068 6
Figure 6. 80C51BH ICC vs. Clock Frequency
CMOS circuits draw current in sharp spikes during log-
ical transitions. These current spikes are made up of
two components. One is the current that flows during
the transition time when pullup and pulldown FETs are
both active. The average (DC) value of this component
is larger when the transition times of the input signals
are longer. For this reason, if the current draw is a
critical factor in the design, slow rise and fall times
should be avoided, even when the system speed doesn’t
seem to justify a need for nanosecond switching speeds.
The other component is the current that charges stray
and load capacitance at the nodes of a CMOS logic
gate. The average value of this current spike is its area
(integral over time) multiplied by its rep rate. Its area is
the amount of charge it takes to raise the node capaci-
tance, C, to VCC. That amount of charge is just C x
VCC. So the average value of the current spike is C x
VCC x f, where f is the clock frequency.
This component of current increases linearly with clock
frequency. For minimal current draw, the 80C52BH-2
is spec’d to run at frequencies as low as 500 kHz.
Keep in mind, though, that other component of current
that is due to slow rise and fall times. A sinusoid is not
the optimal waveform to drive the XTAL1 pin with.
Yet crystal oscillators, including the one on the
80C51BH, generate sinusoidal waveforms. Therefore, if
the on-chip oscillator is being used, you can expect the
device to draw more current at 500 kHz, than it does at
1.5 MHz, as shown in Figure 6. If you derive a good
sharp square wave from an external oscillator, and use
that to drive XTAL1, then the microcontroller will
draw less current. But the external oscillator will prob-
ably make up the difference.
The 80C51BH has two power-saving features not avail-
able in the HMOS devices. These are the Idle and Pow-
er Down modes of operation. The on-chip hardware
that implements these reduced power modes is shown
in Figure 7. Both modes are invoked by software.
270068 7
Figure 7. Oscillator and Clock Circuitry Showing Idle and Power Down Hardware
6
AP-252
Idle: In the Idle Mode (IDL e0 in Figure 7), the CPU
puts itself to sleep by gating off its own clock. It doesn’t
stop the oscillator. It just stops the internal clock signal
from getting to the CPU. Since the CPU draws 80 to 90
percent of the chip’s power, shutting it off represents a
fairly significant power savings. The on-chip periperals
(timers, serial port, interrupts, etc.) and RAM continue
to function as normal. The CPU status is preserved in
its entirety: the Stack Pointer, Program Counter, Pro-
gram Status Word, Accumulator, and all other regis-
ters maintain their data during Idle.
The Idle Mode is invoked by setting bit 0 (IDL) of the
PCON register. PCON is not bit-addressable, so the bit
has to be set by a byte operation, such as
ORL PC0N,#1
The PCON register also contains flag bits GF0 and
GF1, which can be used for any general purposes, or to
give an indication if an interrupt occurred during nor-
mal operation or during Idle. In this application, the
instruction that invokes Idle also sets one or both of the
flag bits. Their status can then be checked in the inter-
rupt routines.
While the device is in the Idle Mode, ALE and PSEN
emit logic high (VOH), as shown in Figure 8. This is so
external EPROM can be deselected and have its output
disabled.
The port pins hold the logical states they had at the
time the Idle was activated. If the device was executing
out of external program memory, Port 0 is left in a high
impedance state and Port 2 continues to emit the high
byte of the program counter (using the strong pullups
to emit 1s). If the device was executing out of internal
program memory, Ports 0 and 2 continue to emit what-
ever is in the P0 and P2 registers.
There are two ways to terminate Idle. Activation of any
enabled interrupt will cause the hardware to clear bit 0
of the PCON register, terminating the Idle mode. The
interrupt will be serviced, and following RETI the next
instruction to be executed will be the one following the
instruction that invoked Idle.
The other way is with a hardware reset. Since the clock
oscillator is still running, RST only needs to be held
active for two machine cycles (24 oscillator periods) to
complete the reset. Note that this exit from Idle writes
1s to all the ports, initializes all SFRs to their reset
values, and restarts program execution from location 0.
Power Down: In the Power Down Mode (PD e0in
Figure 7), the CPU puts the whole chip to sleep by
turning off the oscillator. In case it was running from
an external oscillator, it also gates off the path to the
internal phase generators, so no internal clock is gener-
ated even if the external oscillator is still running. The
on-chip RAM, however, saves its data, as long as VCC
is maintained. In this mode the only ICC that flows is
leakage, which is normally in the micro-amp range.
The Power Down Mode is invoked by setting bit 1 in
the PCON register, using a byte instruction such as
ORL PCON,#2
While the device is in Power Down, ALE and PSEN
emit lows (VOL), as shown in Figure 8. The reason they
are designed to emit lows is so that power can be re-
moved from the rest of the circuit, if desired, while the
80CS51BH is in its Power Down mode.
The port pins continue to emit whatever data was writ-
ten to them. Note that Port 2 emits its P2 register data
even if execution was from external program memory.
Pin Internal Execution External Execution
Idle Power Down Idle Power Down
ALE1010
PSEN/ 1 0 1 0
P0 SFR Data SFR Data High-Z High-Z
P1 SFR Data SFR Data SFR Data SFR Data
P2 SFR Data SFR Data PCH SFR Data
P3 SFR Data SFR Data SFR Data SFR Data
Figure 8. Status of Pins in Idle and Power Down Modes. ‘‘SFR data’’ means the port pins emit their
internal register data. ‘‘PCH’’ is the high byte of the Program Counter.
7
AP-252
Port 0 also emits its P0 register data, but if execution
was from external program memory, the P0 register
data is FF. The oscillator is stopped, and the part re-
mains in this state as long as VCC is held, and until it
receives an external reset signal.
The only exit from Power Down is a hardware reset.
Since the oscillator was stopped, RST must be held ac-
tive long enough for the oscillator to re-start and stabi-
lize. Then the reset function initializes all the Special
Function Registers (ports, timers, etc.) to their reset
values, and re-starts the program from location 0.
Therefore, timer reloads, interrupt enables, baud rates,
port status, etc. need to be re-established. Reset does
not affect the content of the on-chip data RAM. If VCC
was held during Power Down, the RAM data is still
good.
USING THE POWER DOWN MODE
The software-invoked Power Down feature offers a
means of reducing the power consumption to a mere
trickle in systems which are to remain dormant for
some period of time, while retaining important data.
The user should give some thought to what state the
port pins should be left in during the time the clock is
stopped, and write those values to the port latches be-
fore invoking Power Down.
If VCC is going to be held to the entire circuit, one
would want to write values to the port latches that
would deselect peripherals before invoking Power
Down. For example, if external memory is being used,
the P2 SFR should be loaded with a value which will
not generate an active chip select to any memory de-
vice.
In some applications, VCC to part of the system may be
shut off during Power Down, so that even quiescent
and standby currents are eliminated. Signal lines that
connect to those chips must be brought to a logic low,
whether the chip in question is CMOS, NMOS, or
TTL, before VCC is shut off to them. CMOS pins have
parasitic pn junctions to VCC, which will be forward
biased if VCC is reduced to zero while the pin is held at
a logic high. NMOS pins often have FETs that look
like diodes to VCC. TTL circuits may actually be dam-
aged by an input high if VCC e0. That’s why the
80C51BH outputs lows at ALE and PSEN during Pow-
er Down.
Figure 9 shows a circuit that can be used to turn VCC
off to part of the system during Power Down. The cir-
cuit will ensure that the secondary circuit is not de-en-
ergized until after the 80C31BH is in Power Down, and
that the 80C31BH does not receive a reset (terminating
the Power Down mode) before the secondary circuit is
re-energized. Therefore, the program memory itself can
be part of the secondary circuit.
270068 8
Figure 9. The 80C31BH de-energizes part of the circuit (VCC2) when it goes into Power Down.
Selections of R and Q2 depend on VCC2 current draw.
8
AP-252
In Figure 9, when VCC is switched on to the 80C31BH,
capacitor C1 provides a power-on reset. The reset func-
tion writes 1s to all the port pins. The 1 at P2.6 turns
Q1 on, enabling VCC to the secondary circuit through
transistor Q2. As the 80C31BH comes out of reset, Port
2 commences emitting the high byte of the Program
Counter, which results in the P2.7 and P2.6 pins out-
putting 0s. The 0 at P2.7 ensures continuation of VCC
to the secondary circuit.
The system software must now write a 1 to P2.7 and a 0
to P2.6 in the Port 2 SFR, P2. These values will not
appear at the Port 2 pins as long as the device is fetch-
ing instructions from external program memory. How-
ever, whenever the 80C31BH goes into Power Down,
these values will appear at the port pins, and will shut
off both transistors, disabling VCC to the secondary cir-
cuit.
Closing the switch S1 re-energizes the secondary cir-
cuit, and at the same time sends a reset through C2 to
the 80C31BH to wake it up. The diode D1 is to prevent
C1 from hogging current from C2 during this second-
ary reset. D2 prevents C2 from discharging through the
RST pin when VCC to the secondary circuit goes to
zero.
270068 9
a. Using a pFET
270068 28
b. Using an nFET
Figure 10. Using Power MOSFETs
to Control VCC2
USING POWER MOSFETs to
CONTROL VCC
Power MOSFETs are gaining in popularity (and avail-
ability). The easiest way to control VCC is with a Logic
Level pFET, as shown in Figure 10a. This circuit al-
lows the full VCC to be used to turn the device on.
Unfortunately, power pFETs are not economically
competitive with bipolar transistors of comparable rat-
ings.
Power nFETs are both economical and available, and
can be used in this application if a DC supply of higher
voltage is available to drive the gate. Figure 10b shows
how to implement a VCC switch using a power nFET
and a (nominally) a12V supply. The problem here is
that if the device is on, its source voltage is a5V. To
maintain the on state, the gate has to be another 5 or
10V above that. The ‘‘12V’’ supply is not particularly
critical. A minimally filtered, unregulated rectifier will
suffice.
BATTERY BACKUP SYSTEMS
Here we consider circuits that normally draw power
from the AC line, but switch to battery operation in the
event of a power failure. We assume that in battery
operation high-current loads will be allowed to die
along with the AC power. The system may continue
then with reduced functionality, monitoring a control
transducer, perhaps, or driving an LCD. Or it may go
into a bare-bones survival mode, in which critical data
is saved but nothing else happens till AC power is re-
stored.
In any case it is necessary to have some early warning
of an impending power failure so that the system can
arrange an orderly transfer to battery power. Early
warning systems can operate by monitoring either the
AC line voltage or the unregulated rectifier output, or
even by monitoring the regulated DC voltage.
Monitoring the AC line voltage gives the earliest warn-
ing. That way you can know within one or two half-cy-
cles of line frequency that AC power is down. In most
cases you then have at least another half-cycle of line
frequency before the regulated VCC starts to fall. In a
half-cycle of line frequency an 80C51BH can execute
about 5,000 instructionsÐplenty of time to arrange an
orderly transfer of power.
The circuit in Figure 11 uses a Zener diode to test the
line voltage each half-cycle, and a junction transistor to
pass the information on to the 80C51BH. (Obviously a
voltage comparator with a suitable reference source can
9
AP-252
270068 10
Figure 11. Power Failure Detector with Battery Backup. When AC power fails,
VCC1 goes down and VCC2 is held.
perform the same function, if one prefers.) The way it
works is if the line voltage reaches an acceptably high
level, it breaks over Z1, drives Q1 to saturation, and
interrupts the 80C51BH. The interrupt would be tran-
sition-activated, in this application. The interrupt serv-
ice routine reloads one of the C51BH’s timers to a value
that will make it roll over in something between one
and two half-cycles of line frequency. As long as the
line voltage is healthy, the timer never rolls over, be-
cause it is reloaded every half-cycle. If there is a single
half-cycle in which the line voltage doesn’t reach a high
enough level to generate the interrupt, the timer rolls
over and generates a timer interrupt.
The timer interrupt then commences the transition to
battery backup. Critical data needs to be copied into
protected RAM. Signals to circuits that are going to
lose power must be written to logic low. Protected cir-
cuits (those powered by VCC2) that communicate with
unprotected circuits must be deselected. The microcon-
troller itself may be put into Idle, so that it can contin-
ue some level of interrupt-driven functionality, or it
may be put into Power Down.
Note that if the CPU is going to invoke Power Down,
the Special Function Registers may also need to be cop-
ied into protected RAM, since the reset that terminates
the Power Down mode will also intialize all the SFRs
to their reset values.
The circuit in Figure 11 does not show a wake-up
mechanism. A number of choices are available, howev-
er. A pushbutton could be used to generate an inter-
rupt, if the CPU is in Idle, or to activate reset, if the
CPU is in Power Down.
Automatic wake-up on power restoration is also possi-
ble. If the CPU is in Idle, it can continue to respond to
any interrupts that might be generated by Q1. The in-
terrupt service routine determines from the status of
flag bits GF0 and GF1 in PCON that it is in Idle be-
cause there was a power outage. It can then sample
VCC1 through a voltage comparator similar to Z1, Q1
in Figure 11. A satisfactory level of VCC1 would be
indicated by the transistor being in saturation.
But perhaps you can’t spare the timer that is the key to
the operation of the circuit in Figure 11. In that case a
retriggerable one-shot, triggered by the AC line voltage,
can perform essentially the same function. Figure 12
shows an example of this type of power failure detector.
A retriggerable one-shot (one half of a 74HC123) moni-
tors the AC line voltage through transistor Q1. Q1 re-
triggers the one-shot every half-cycle of line frequency.
If the output pulse width is between one and two half-
cycles of line frequency, then a single missing or low
half-cycle will generate an active low warning flag,
which can be used to interrupt the microcontroller.
The interrupt routine takes care of the transition to
battery backup. From this point VCC1 may or may not
actually drop out. The missing half-cycle of line voltage
that caused the power down sequence may have been
nothing more than a short glitch. If the AC line comes
back strong enough to trigger the one-shot while VCC1
is still up (as indicated by the state of transistor Q2),
then the other half of the 74HC123 will generate a
wake-up signal.
10
AP-252
270068 11
Figure 12. Power Failure Detector uses retriggerable one-shots to flag impending power outage and
generate automatic wake-up when power returns.
Having been awakened, the 80C51BH will stay awake
for at least another half-cycle of line frequency (another
5,000 or so instructions) before possibly being told to
arrange another transfer of power. Consequently, if the
line voltage is jittering erratically around the switch-
over point (determined by diode Z1), the system will
limp along executing in half-cycle units of line frequen-
cy.
On the other hand, if the power outage is real and
lengthy, VCC1 will eventually fall below the level at
which the backup battery takes over. The backup bat-
tery maintains power to the 80C51BH, and to the
74HC123, and to whatever other circuits are being pro-
tected during this outage. The battery voltage must be
high enough to maintain VCCMIN specs to the
80C51BH.
If the microcontroller is an 80C31BH, executing out of
external ROM, and if the C31BH is put into Idle dur-
ing the power outage, then the external ROM must also
be supplied by the battery. On the other hand, if the
C31BH is put into Power Down during the outage,
then the ROM can be allowed to die with the AC pow-
er. The considerations here are the same as in Figure 9:
VCC to the ROM is still up at the time Power Down is
invoked, and we must ensure (through selection of di-
ode Z2 in Figure 12) that the 80C31BH is not awak-
ened till ROM power is back in spec.
POWER SWITCHOVER CIRCUITS
Battery backup systems need to have a way for the
protected circuits to draw power from the line-operated
power supply when that source is available, and to
switch over to battery power when required. The
switchover circuit is simple if the entire system is to be
battery powered in the event of a line power outage. In
that case a pair of diodes suffice, as shown in Figure 12,
provided VCCMIN specs are still met after the diode
drop has been subtracted from its respective power
source.
The situation becomes more complicated when part of
the circuit is going to be allowed to die when the AC
power goes out. In that case it is difficult to maintain
equal VCCs to protected and unprotected circuits (and
possibly dangerous not to).
The problem can be alleviated by using a Schottky di-
ode instead of a 1N4001, for its lower forward voltage
drop. The 1N5820, for example, has a foward drop of
about 0.35V at 1A.
Other solutions are to use a transistor or power MOS-
FET switch, as shown in Figure 13. With minor modifi-
cations this switch can be controlled by port pins.
11
AP-252
270068 27
a. Using a pnp Transistor
270068 12
b. Using a Power MOSFET
Figure 13. Power Switchover Ckts.
80C31BH aCHMOS EPROM
The 27C64 and 87C64 are Intel’s 8K byte CHMOS
EPROMs. The 27C64 requires an external address
latch, and can be used with the 80C31BH as shown in
Figure 14a. In most 8031 a2764 (HMOS) appli-
cations, the 2764’s Chip Enable (CE) pin is hardwired
to ground (since it’s normally the only program memo-
ry on the bus). This can be done with the CHMOS
versions as well, but there is some advantage in con-
necting CE to ALE, as shown in Figure 14a. The ad-
vantage is that if the 80C31BH is put into Idle mode,
since ALE goes toa1inthat mode, the 27C64 will be
deselected and go into a low current standby mode.
The timing waveforms for this configuration are shown
in Figure 14b. In Figure 14b the signals and timing
parameters in parenthesis are those of the 27C64, and
the others are of the 80C31BH, except Tprop is a pa-
rameter of the address latch. The requirements for tim-
ing compatibility are
TAVIV bTprop ltACC
TLLIV ltCE
TPLIV ltOE
TPXIZ ltDF
If the application is going to use the Power Down mode
then we have another consideration: In Idle, ALE e
PSEN e1, and in Power Down, ALE ePSEN e0.
In a realistic application there are likely to be more
chips in the circuit than are shown in Figure 14, and it
is likely that the nonessential ones will have their VCC
removed while the CPU is in Power Down. In that case
the EPROM and the address latch should be among
the chips that have VCC removed, and logic lows are
exactly what are required at ALE and PSEN.
But if VCC is going to be maintained to the EPROM
during Power Down, then it will be necessary to de-
270068 26
Figure 14a. 80C31BH a27C64
12
AP-252
270068 13
Figure 14b. Timing Waveforms for 80C31BH a
27C64
select the EPROM when the CPU is in Power Down. If
Idle is never invoked, CE of the EPROM can be con-
nected to P2.7 of the 80C31BH, as shown in Figure
15a. In normal operation, P2.7 will be emitting the
MSB of the Program Counter, which is 0 if the pro-
gram contains less than 32K of code. Then when the
CPU goes into Power Down, the Port 2 pins emit P2
SFR data, which putsa1atP2.7, thus deselecting the
EPROM.
If Idle and Power Down are both going to be used, CE
of the EPROM can be driven by the logical OR of ALE
and P2.7, as shown in Figure 15b. In Idle, ALE e1
will deselect the EPROM, and in Power Down, P2.7 e
1 will deselect it.
270068 14
a. Power Down is used but not idle.
270068 15
b. Idle and Power Down both used.
Figure 15. Modifications to 80C31BH/27C64
Interface
Pulldown resistors are shown in Figure 14a under the
assumption that something on the bus is going to have
its VCC removed during Power Down. If this is not the
case, pullups can be used as well as pulldowns.
The 87C64 is like the 27C64 except that it has an on-
chip address latch. The Port 0 pins are tied to both
address and data pins of the 87C64, as shown in Figure
16a. ALE drives the EPROM’s ALE/CS input. During
ALE high, the address information is allowed to flow
into the EPROM and begin accessing the code byte. On
the falling edge of ALE the address byte is internally
latched. The A0A7 inputs are then ignored and the
same bus lines are used to transmit the fetched code
byte from the O0O7 pins back to the 80C31BH.
The timing waveforms for this configuration are shown
in Figure 16b. In Figure 16b the signals and timing
parameters in parentheses are those of the 87C64, and
the others are of the 80C31BH. The requirements for
timing compatibility are
TLHLL ltLL
TAVLL ltAL
TLLAX ltLA
TLLIV ltACL
TPLIV ltOE
TLLPL ltCOE
TPXIZ ltOHZ
The same considerations apply to the 87C64 as to the
27C64 with regards to the Idle and Power Down
modes. Basically you want CS e1ifV
CC is main-
tained to the EPROM, and CS eOE e0ifV
CC is
removed.
SCANNING A KEYBOARD
There are many different kinds of keyboards, but alpha-
numeric keyboards generally consist of a matrix of 8
scan lines and 8 receive lines as shown in Figure 17.
Each set of lines connects to one port of the microcon-
troller. The software has written 0s to the scan lines,
and 1s to the receive lines. Pressing a key connects a
scan line to a receive line, thus pulling the receive line
to a logic low.
The 8 receive lines are ANDed to one of the external
interrupt pins, so that pulling any of the receive lines
low generates an interrupt. The interrupt service rou-
tine has to identify the pressed key, if only one key is
down, and convert that information to some useful out-
put. If more than one key in the line matrix is found to
be pressed, no action is taken. (This is a ‘‘two key lock-
out’’ scheme.)
13
AP-252
On some keyboards, certain keys (Shift, Control, Es-
cape, etc.) are not a part of the line matrix. These keys
would connect directly to a port pin on the microcon-
troller, and would not cause lock-out if pressed simulta-
neously with a matrix key, nor generate an interrupt if
pressed singly.
Normally the microcontroller would be in idle mode
when a key has not been pressed, and another task is
not in progress. Pressing a matrix key generates an in-
terrupt, which terminates the Idle. The interrupt serv-
ice routine would first call a 30 ms (or so) delay to
debounce the key, and then set about the task of identi-
fying which key is down.
First, the current state of the receive lines is latched
into an internal register. If a single key is down, all but
one of the lines would be read as 1s. Then 0s are written
to the receive lines and 1s to the scan lines, and the scan
lines are read. If a single key is down, all but one of
270068 16
Figure 16a. 80C31BH a87C64
270068 17
Figure 16b. Timing Waveforms for 80C31BH a87C64
14
AP-252
these lines would be read as 1s. By locating the single 0
in each set of lines, the pressed key can be identified. If
more than one matrix key is down, one or both sets of
lines will contain multiple 0s.
A subroutine is used to determine which of 8 bits in
either set of lines is 0, and whether more than one bit is
0. Figure 18 shows a subroutine (SCAN) which does
that using the 8051’s bit-addressing capability. To use
the subroutine, move the line data into a bit-address-
able RAM location named LINE, and call the SCAN
routine. The number of LINE bits which are zero is
returned in ZEROÐCOUNTER. If only one bit is
zero, its number (1 through 8) is returned in ZEROÐ
BIT.
The interrupt service routine that is executed in re-
sponse to a key closure might then be as follows:
RESPONSE TO KEY CLOSURE:
CALL DEBOUNCE DELAY
MOV LINE,P1; ;See Figure 17.
CALL SCAN
DJNZ ZERO COUNTER,REJECT
MOV ADDRESS,ZERO BIT
MOV P2,#0FFH; ;See Figure 17.
MOV P1,#0
MOV LINE,P2
CALL SCAN
DJNZ ZERO COUNTER,REJECT
XCH A,ZERO BIT
SWAP A
ORL ADDRESS,A
XCH A,ZERO BIT
MOV P1,#0FFH
MOV P2,#O
REJECT: CLR EX0
RETI
270068 18
Figure 17. Scanning a Keyboard
15
AP-252
270068 19
Figure 18. Subroutine SCAN Determines Which of 8 Bits in LINE is Zero
Notice that RESPONSEÐTOÐKEYÐCLOSURE
does not change the Accumulator, the PSW, nor any of
the registers R0 through R7. Neither do SCAN or DE-
BOUNCEÐDELAY.
What we come out with then is a one-byte key address
(ADDRESS) which identifies the pressed key. The
key’s scan line number is in the upper nibble of AD-
DRESS, and its receive line number is in the lower
nibble. ADDRESS can be used in a look-up table to
generate a key code to transmit to a host computer,
and/or to a display device.
The keyboard interrupt itself must be edge-triggered,
rather than level-activated, so that the interrupt routine
is invoked when a key is pressed, and is not constantly
being repeated as long as the key is held down. In edge-
triggered mode, the on-chip hardware clears the inter-
rupt flag (EX0, in this case) as the service routine is
being vectored to. In this application, however, contact
bounce will cause several more edges to occur after the
service routine has been vectored to, during the DE-
BOUNCEÐDELAY routine. Consequently it is neces-
sary to clear EX0 again in software before executing
RETI.
The debounce delay routine also takes advantage of the
Idle mode. In this routine a timer must be preloaded
with a value appropriate to the desired length of delay.
This would be
timer preload e(osc kHz) c(delay time ms)
12
For example, with a 3.58 MHz oscillator frequency, a
30 ms delay could be obtained using a preload value of
b8950, or DD0A, in hex digits.
In the debounce delay routine (Figure 19), the timer
interrupt is enabled and set to a higher priority than the
keyboard interrupt, because as we invoke Idle, the key-
board interrupt is still ‘‘in progress’’. An interrupt of
the same priority will not be acknowledged, and will
not terminate the Idle mode. With the timer interrupt
set to priority 1, while the keyboard interrupt is a prior-
ity 0, the timer interrupt, when it occurs, will be ac-
knowledged and will wake up the CPU. The timer in-
terrupt service routine does not itself have to do any-
thing. The service routine might be nothing more than
a single RETI instruction. RETI from the timer inter-
rupt service routine then returns execution to the de-
bounce delay routine, which shuts down the timer and
returns execution to the keyboard service routine.
DRIVING AN LCD
An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) consists of a back-
plane and any number of segments or dots which will
be used to form the image being displayed. Applying a
voltage (nominally 4 or 5V) between any segment and
the backplane causes the segment to darken. The only
catch is that the polarity of the applied voltage has to
be periodically reversed, or else a chemical reac-
16
AP-252
270068 20
Figure 19. Subroutine DEBOUNCEÐDELAY Puts the 80C51BH into Idle During the Delay Time
tion takes place in the LCD which causes deterioration
and eventual failure of the liquid crystal.
To prevent this happening, the backplane and all the
segments are driven with an AC signal, which is de-
rived from a rectangular voltage waveform. If a seg-
ment is to be ‘‘off’’ it is driven by the same waveform as
the backplane. Thus it is always at backplane potential.
If the segment is to be ‘‘on’’ it is driven with a wave-
form that is the inverse of the backplane waveform.
Thus it has about 5V of periodically changing polarity
between it and the backplane.
With a little software overhead, the 80C51BH can per-
form this task without the need for additional LCD
drivers. The only drawback is that each LCD segment
uses up one port pin, and the backplane uses one more.
If more than, say, two 7-segment digits are being driv-
en, there aren’t many port pins left for other tasks.
Nevertheless, assuming a given application leaves
enough port pins available to support this task, the con-
siderations for driving the LCD are as follows.
Suppose, for example, it is a 2-digit display with a deci-
mal point. One port (TENSÐDIGIT) connects to the 7
segments of the tens digit plus the backplane. Another
port (ONESÐDIGIT) connects to a decimal point plus
the 7 segments of the ones digit.
One of the 80C51BH’s timers is used to mark off half-
periods of the drive voltage waveform. The LCD drive
waveform should have a rep rate between 30 and 100
Hz, but it’s not very critical. A half-period of 12 ms will
set the rep rate to about 42 Hz. The preload/reload
value to get 12 ms to rollover is the 2’s complement
negative of the oscillator frequency in kHz: if the oscil-
lator frequency is 3.58 MHz, the reload value is
b3580, or F204 in hex digits.
Now, the 80C51BH would normally be in Idle, to con-
serve power, during the time that the LCD and other
tasks are not requiring servicing. When the timer rolls
over it generates an interrupt, which brings the
80C51BH out of Idle. The service routine reloads the
timer (for the next rollover), and inverts the logic levels
of all the pins that are connected to the LCD. It might
look like this:
LCD DRIVE INTERRUPT:
MOV TL1,#LOW( 1XTAL FREQ)
MOV TH1,#HIGH( 1XTAL FREQ)
XRL TENS DIGIT,#0FFH
XRL ONES DIGIT,#0FFH
RETI
To update the display, one would use a look-up table to
generate the characters. In the table, ‘‘on’’ segments are
represented as 1s, and ‘‘off’’ segments as 0s. The back-
plane bit is represented as a 0. The quantity to be dis-
played is stored in RAM as a BCD value. The look-up
table operates on the low nibble of the BCD value, and
produces the bit pattern that is to be written to either
the ones digit or the tens digit. Before the new patterns
can be written to the LCD, the LCD drive interrupt has
to be disabled. That is to prevent a polarity reversal
from taking place between the times the two digits are
written. An update subroutine is shown in Figure 20.
USING AN LCD DRIVER
As was noted, driving an LCD directly with an
80C51BH uses a lot of port pins. LCD drivers are avail-
able in CMOS to interface an 80C51BH to a 4-digit
display using only 7 of the C51BH’s I/O pins. Basical-
ly, the C51BH tells the LCD driver what digit is to be
displayed (4 bits) and what position it is to be displayed
in (2 bits), and toggles a Chip Select pin to tell the
driver to latch this information. The LCD driver gener-
ates the display characters (hex digits), and takes care
of the polarity reversals using its own RC oscillator to
generate the timing.
17
AP-252
Figure 21a shows an 80C51BH working with an
ICM7211M to drive a 4-digit LCD, and the software
that updates the display.
One could equally well send information to the LCD
driver over the bus. In that case, one would set up the
Accumulator with the digit select and data input bits,
and execute a MOVX@R0,A instruction. The LCD
driver’s chip select would be driven by the CPU’s WR
signal. This is a little easier in software than the direct
bit manipulation shown in Figure 21a. However, it uses
more I/O pins, unless there is already some external
memory involved. In that case, no extra pins are used
up by adding the LCD driver to the bus.
RESONANT TRANSDUCERS
Analog transducers are often used to convert the value
of a physical property, such as temperature, pressure,
etc., to an analog voltage. These kinds of transducers
then require an analog-to-digital converter to put the
measurement into a form that is compatible with a digi-
tal control system. Another kind of transducer is now
becoming available that encodes the value of the physi-
cal property into a signal that can be directly read by a
digital control system. These devices are called reso-
nant transducers.
Resonant transducers are oscillators whose frequency
depends in a known way on the physical property being
measured. These devices output a train of rectangular
pulses whose repetition rate encodes the value of the
quantity being measured. The pulses can in most cases
be fed directly into the 80C51BH, which then measures
either the frequency or period of the incoming signal,
basing the measurement on the accuracy of its own
clock oscillator. The 80C51BH can even do this in its
sleep; that is, in Idle.
When the frequency or period measurement is complet-
ed, the C51BH wakes itself up for a very short time to
perform a sanity check on the measurement and con-
vert it in software to any scaling of the measured quan-
tity that may be desired. The software conversion can
include corrections for nonlinearities in the transduc-
er’s transfer function.
Resolution is also controlled by software, and can even
be dynamically varied to meet changing needs as a situ-
ation becomes more critical. For example, in a process
controller you can increase your resolution (‘‘fine tune’’
the control, as it were) as the process approaches its
target.
The nominal reference frequency of the output signal
from these devices is in the range of 20 Hz to 500 kHz,
depending on the design. Transducers are available that
have a full scale frequency shift 2 to 1. The transducer
operates from a supply voltage range of 3V to 20V,
which means it can operate from the same supply volt-
age as the 80C51BH. At 5V, the transducer draws less
than 5 mA (Reference 7). It can normally be connected
directly to one of the C51BH’s port pins, as shown in
Figure 22.
FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS
Measuring a frequency means counting pulses for a
known sample time. Two timer/counters can be used,
one to mark off the sample time and one to count puls-
es. If the frequency being counted doesn’t exceed 50
kHz or so, one may equally well connect the transducer
signal to one of the external interrupt pins, and count
pulses in software. That frees up one timer, with very
little cost in CPU time.
The count that is directly obtained is TxF, where T is
the sample time and F is the frequency. The full scale
270068 21
Figure 20. UPDATEÐLCD Routine Writes Two Digits to an LCD
18
AP-252
range is Tx(Fmax-Fmin). For n-bit resolution
1 LSB eTx(Fmax-Fmin)
2n
Therefore the sample time required for n-bit resolution
is
Te2n
Fmax-Fmin
For example, 8-bit resolution in the measurement of a
frequency that varies between 7 kHz and 9 kHz would
require, according to this formula, a sample time of 128
ms. The maximum acceptable frequency count would
be 128 ms c9 kHz e1152 counts. The minimum
would be 896 counts. Subtracting 896 from each fre-
quency count (or presetting the frequency counter to
b896 e0FC80H) would allow the frequency to be
reported on a scale of 0 to FF in hex digits.
270068 22
Figure 21a. Using an LCD Driver
270068 23
Figure 21b. UPDATEÐLCD Routine Writes 4 Digits to an LCD Driver
19
AP-252
270068 24
Figure 22. Resonant Transducer Does Not
Require an A/D Converter
To implement the measurement, one timer is used to
establish the sample time. The timer is preset to a value
that causes it to roll over at the end of the sample time,
generating an interrupt and waking the CPU from its
Idle mode. The required preset value is the 2’s comple-
ment negative of the sample time measured in machine
cycles. The conversion from sample time to machine
cycles is to multiply it by 1/12 the clock frequency. For
example, if the clock frequency is 12 MHz, then a sam-
ple time of 128 ms is
(128 ms) c(12000 kHz)/12 e128000 machine cycles.
Then the required preset value to cause the timer to roll
over in 128 ms is
b128000 eFE0C00, in hex digits.
Note that the preset value is 3 bytes wide whereas the
timer is only 2 bytes wide. This means the timer must
be augmented in software in the timer interrupt routine
to three bytes. The 80C51BH has a DJNZ instruction
(decrement and jump if not zero) that makes it easier to
code the third timer byte to count down instead of up.
If the third timer byte counts down, its reload value is
the 2’s complement of what it would be for an up-coun-
ter. For example, if the 2’s complement of the sample
time is FE0C00, then the reload value for the third
timer byte would be 02, instead of FE. The timer inter-
rupt routine might then be:
TIMER INTERRUPT ROUTINE:
DNJZ THIRD TIMER BYTE,OUT
MOV TL0,#0
MOV TH0,#0CH
MOV THIRD TIMERBYTE,#2
MOV FREQUENCY,COUNTER LO
;Preset COUNTER to 1896:
MOV COUNTER LO,#80H
MOV COUNTER HI,#0FCH
OUT: RETI
At this point the value of the frequency of the transduc-
er signal, measured to 8 bit resolution, is contained in
FREQUENCY. Note that the timer can be reloaded on
the fly. Note too that the timer can be reloaded on the
fly. Note too that for 8-bit resolution only the low byte
of the frequency counter needs to be read, since the
high byte is necessarily 0. However, one may want to
test the high byte to ensure that it is zero, as a sanity
check on the data. Both bytes, of course must be re-
loaded.
PERIOD MEASUREMENTS
Measuring the period of the transducer signal means
measuring the total elapsed time over a known number,
N, of transducer pulses. The quantity that is directly
measured is NT, where T is the period of the transduc-
er signal in machine cycles. The relationship between T
in machine cycles and the transducer frequency F in
arbitrary frequency units is
TeFxtal
Fc(1/12),
where Fxtal is the 80C51BH clock frequency, in the
same units as F.
The full scale range then is Nx (TmaxbTmin). For
n-bit resolution.
1 LSB eNs(Tmax-Tmin)
2n.
Therefore the number of periods over which the elapsed
time should be measured is
Ne2n
Tmax-Tmin
However, N must also be an integer. It is logical to
evaluate the above formula (don’t forget Tmax and
Tmin have to be in machine cycles) and select for N the
next higher integer. This selection gives a period mea-
surement that has somewhat more than n-bit resolu-
tion, but it can be scaled back if desired.
For example, suppose we want 8-bit resolution in the
measurement of the period of a signal whose frequency
varies from 7.1 kHz to 9 kHz. If the clock frequency is
12 MHz, then Tmax is (12000 kHz/7.1 kHz) x (1/12)
e141 machine cycles. Tmin is 111 machine cycles.
The required value for N, then, is 256/(141-111) e
8.53 periods, according to the formula. Using N e9
periods will give a maximum NT value of 141 x 9 e
1269 machine cycles. The minimum NT will be 111 c
9e999 machine cycles. A lookup table can be used to
20
AP-252
scale these values back to a range of 0 to 255, giving
precisely the 8-bit resolution desired.
To implement the measurement, one timer is used to
measure the elapsed time, NT. The transducer is con-
nected to one of the external interrupt pins, and this
interrupt is configured to the transition-activated mode.
In the transition-activated mode every 1-to-0 transition
in the transducer output will generate an interrupt. The
interrupt routine counts transducer pulses, and when it
gets to the predetermined N, it reads and clears the
timer. For the specific example cited above, the inter-
rupt routine might be:
INTERRUPT RESPONSE:
DJNZ N,OUT
MOV N,#9
CLR EA
CLR TR1
MOV NT LO,TL1
MOV NT HI,TH1
MOV TL1,#9
MOV TH1,#0
SETB TR1
SETB EA
CALL LOOKUP TABLE
OUT: RETI
In this routine a pulse counter N is decremented from
its preset value, 9, to zero. When the counter gets to
zero it is reloaded to 9. Then all interrupts are blocked
for a short time while the timer is read and cleared. The
timer is stopped during the read and clear operations,
so ‘‘clearing’’ it actually means presetting it to 9, to
make up for the 9 machine cycles that are missed while
the timer is stopped.
The subroutine LOOKUPÐTABLE is used to scale
the measurement back to the desired 8-bit resolution. It
can also include built-in corrections for errors or non-
linearities in the transducer’s transfer function.
The subroutine uses the MOVC A, @AaDPTR
instruction to access the table, which contains 270 en-
tries commencing at the 16-bit address referred to as
TABLE. The subroutine must compute the address of
the table entry that corresponds to the measured value
of NT. This address is
DPTR eTABL aNT bNTMIN,
where NTMIN e999, in this specific example.
LOOKUP TABLE:
PUSH ACC
PUSH PSW
MOV A,#LOW(TABLE-NTMIN)
ADD A,NT LO
MOV DPL,A
MOV A,#HIGH(TABLE-NMTIN)
ADDC A,NT HI
MOV DPH,A
CLR A
MOVC A,@A0DTPR
MOV PERIOD,A
POP PSW
POP ACC
RET
At this point the value of the period of the transducer
signal, measured to 8 bit resolution, is contained in PE-
RIOD.
PULSE WIDTH MEASUREMENTS
The 80C51BH timers have an operating mode which is
particularly suited to pulse width measurements, and
will be useful in these applications if the transducer
signal has a fixed duty cycle.
In this mode the timer is turned on by the on-chip
circuitry in response to an input high at the external
interrupt pin, and off by an input low, and it can do this
while the 80C51BH is in Idle. (The ‘‘GATE’’ mode of
timer operation is described in the Intel Microcontrol-
ler Handbook.) The external interrupt itself can be en-
abled, so the same 1-to-0 transition from the transducer
that turns off the timer also generates an interrupt. The
interrupt routine then reads and resets the timer.
The advantage of this method is that the transducer
signal has direct access to the timer gate, with the result
that variations in interrupt response time have no effect
on the measurement.
Resonant transducers that are designed to fully exploit
the GATE mode have an internal divide-by-N circuit
that fixes the duty cycle at 50% and lowers the output
frequency to the range of 250 to 500 Hz (to control
RFI). The transfer function between transducer period
and measurand is approximately linear, with known
and repeatable error functions.
HMOS/CHMOS Interchangeability
The CHMOS version of the 8051 is architecturally
identical with the HMOS version, but there are never-
theless some important differences between them which
the designer should be aware of. In addition, some ap-
plications require interchangeability between HMOS
and CHMOS parts. The differences that need to be con-
sidered are as follows:
External Clock Drive: To drive the HMOS 8051 with
an external clock signal, one normally grounds the
XTAL1 pin and drives the XTAL2 pin. To drive the
CHMOS 8051 with an external clock signal, one must
drive the XTAL1 pin and leave the XTAL2 pin uncon-
nected. The reason for the difference is that in the
21
AP-252
HMOS 8051, it is the XTAL2 pin that drives the inter-
nal clocking circuits, whereas in the CHMOS version it
is the XTAL1 pin that drives the internal clocking cir-
cuits.
There are several ways to design an external clock drive
to work with both types. For low clock frequencies (be-
low 6 MHz), the HMOS 8051 can be driven in the same
way as the CHMOS version, namely, through XTAL1
with XTAL2 unconnected. Another way is to drive
both XTAL1 and XTAL2; that is, drive XTAL1 and
use and external inverter to derive from XTAL1 a sig-
nal with which to drive XTAL2.
In either case, a 74HC or 74HCT circuit makes an ex-
cellent driver for XTAL1 and/or XTAL2, because nei-
ther the HMOS nor the CHMOS XTAL pins have
TTL-like input logic levels.
Unused Pins: Unused pins of Ports 1, 2 and 3 can be
ignored in both HMOS and CHMOS designs. The in-
ternal pullups will put them into a defined state. Un-
used Port 0 pins in 8051 applications can be ignored,
even if they’re floating. But in 80C51BH applications,
these pins should not be left afloat. They can be exter-
nally pulled up or down, or they can be internally
pulled down by writing 0s to them.
8031/80C31BH designs may or may not need pullups
on Port 0. Pullups aren’t needed for program fetches,
because in bus operations the pins are actively pulled
high or low by either the 8031 or the external program
memory. But they are needed for the CHMOS part if
the Idle or Power Down mode is invoked, because in
these modes Port 0 floats.
Logic Levels: If VCC is between 4.5V and 5.5V, an
input signal that meets the HMOS 8051’s input logic
levels will also meet the CHMOS 80C51BH’s input log-
ic levels (except for XTAL1/XTAL2 and RST). For
the same VCC condition, the CHMOS device will reach
or surpass the output logic levels of the HMOS device.
The HMOS device will not necessarily reach the output
logic levels of the CHMOS device. This is an important
consideration if HMOS/CHMOS interchangeability
must be maintained in an otherwise CMOS system.
HMOS 8051 outputs that have internal pullups (Ports
1, 2, and 3) ‘‘typically’’ reach 4V or more if IOH is zero,
but not fast enough to meet timing specs. Adding an
external pullup resistor will ensure the logic level, but
still not the timing, as shown in Figure 23. If timing is
an issue, the best way to interface HMOS to CMOS is
through a 74HCT circuit.
Idle and Power Down: The Idle and Power Down
modes exist only on the CHMOS devices, but if one
270068 25
Figure 23. 0-to-1 Transition Shows Unspec’d
Delay (Dt) in HMOS to 74HC Logic
wishes to preserve the capability of interchanging
HMOS and CHMOS 8051s the software has to be de-
signed so that the HMOS parts will respond in an ac-
ceptable manner when a CHMOS reduced power mode
is invoked.
For example, an instruction that invokes Power Down
can be followed by a ‘‘JMP $’’:
CLR EA
ORL PCON,#2
JMP $
The CHMOS and HMOS parts will respond to this
sequence of code differently. The CHMOS part, going
into a normal CHMOS Power Down Mode, will stop
fetching instructions until it gets a hardware reset. The
HMOS part will go through the motions of executing
the ORL instruction, and then fetch the JMP instruc-
tion. It will continue fetching and executing JMP $ un-
til hardware reset.
Maintaining HMOS/CHMOS 8051 interchangeability
in response to Idle requires more planning. The HMOS
part will not respond to the instruction that puts the
CHMOS part into Idle, so that instruction needs to be
followed by a software idle. This would be an idling
loop which would be terminated by the same conditions
that would terminate the CHMOS’s hardware Idle.
Then when the CHMOS device goes into Idle, the
HMOS version executes the idling loop, until either a
hardware reset or an enabled interrupt is received. Now
if Idle is terminated by an interrupt, execution for the
CHMOS device will proceed after RETI from the in-
struction following the one that invoked Idle. The in-
struction following the one that invoked Idle is the
idling loop that was inserted for the HMOS device. At
this point, both the HMOS and CHMOS devices must
be able to fall through the loop to continue execution.
22
AP-252
One way to achieve the desired effect is to define a
‘‘fake’’ Idle flag, and set it just before going into Idle.
The instruction that invoked Idle is followed by a soft-
ware idle:
SETB IDLE
ORL PCON,#1
JB IDLE,$
Now the interrupt that terminates the CHMOS’s Idle
must also break the software idle. It does so by clearing
the ‘‘Idle’’ bit:
...
CLR IDLE
RETI
Note too that the PCON register in the HMOS 8051
contains only one bit, SMOD, whereas the PCON reg-
ister in CHMOS contains SMOD plus four other bits.
Two of those other bits are general purpose flags. Main-
taining HMOS/CHMOS interchangeability requires
that these flags not be used.
REFERENCES
1. Pawlowski, Moroyan, Alnether, ‘‘Inside CMOS
Technology,’’ BYTE magazine, Sept., 1983. Avail-
able as Article Reprint AR-302.
2. Kokkonen, Pashley, ‘‘Modular Approach to C-MOS
Technology Tailors Process to Application,’’ Elec-
tronics, May, 1984. Available as Article Reprint
AR-332.
3. Williamson, T., Designing Microcontroller Systems
for Electrically Noisy Environments, Intel Applica-
tion Note AP-125, Feb. 1982.
4. Williamson, T., ‘‘PC Layout Techniques for Mini-
mizing Noise,’’ Mini-Micro Southeast, Session 9,
Jan., 1984.
5. Alnether, J., High Speed Memory System Design Us-
ing 2147H, Intel Application Note AP-74, March
1980.
6. Ott, H., ‘‘Digital Circuit Grounding and Intercon-
nection,’’ Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on
Electromagnetic Compatibility, pp. 292297, Aug.
1981.
7. Digital Sensors by Technar, Technar Inc., 205 North
2nd Ave., Arcadia, CA 91006.
23
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