The Intel MCS-51 (commonly termed 8051) is a single-chip
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...
(MCU) series developed by
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
in 1980 for use in
embedded system
An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is e ...
s. The architect of the Intel MCS-51 instruction set was
John H. Wharton.
[.] Intel's original versions were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, and enhanced
binary compatible derivatives remain popular today. It is a
complex instruction set computer
A complex instruction set computer (CISC ) is a computer architecture in which single instructions can execute several low-level operations (such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store) or are capable of multi-step ...
with separate memory spaces for program instructions and data.
Intel's original MCS-51 family was developed using N-type metal–oxide–semiconductor (
NMOS) technology, like its predecessor
Intel MCS-48, but later versions, identified by a letter C in their name (e.g., 80C51) use complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (
CMOS) technology and consume less power than their NMOS predecessors. This made them more suitable for battery-powered devices.
The family was continued in 1996 with the enhanced
8-bit MCS-151 and the 8/
16/
32-bit
In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...
MCS-251 family of binary compatible microcontrollers.
While Intel no longer manufactures the MCS-51, MCS-151 and MCS-251 family, enhanced
binary compatible derivatives made by numerous vendors remain popular today. Some derivatives integrate a
digital signal processor (DSP) or a
floating-point unit
A floating-point unit (FPU), numeric processing unit (NPU), colloquially math coprocessor, is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating-point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multip ...
(coprocessor, FPU). Beyond these physical devices, several companies also offer MCS-51 derivatives as
IP cores for use in
field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or
application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficienc ...
(ASIC) designs.
Important features and applications

The 8051 architecture provides many functions (
central processing unit
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions ...
(CPU),
random-access memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of Computer memory, electronic computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows ...
(RAM),
read-only memory
Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing sof ...
(ROM),
input/output
In computing, input/output (I/O, i/o, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, such as another computer system, peripherals, or a human operator. Inputs a ...
(I/O) ports, serial port,
interrupt
In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted ...
control,
timer
A timer or countdown timer is a type of clock that starts from a specified time duration and stops upon reaching 00:00. It can also usually be stopped manually before the whole duration has elapsed. An example of a simple timer is an hourglass ...
s) in one
package:
* 8-
bit arithmetic logic unit
In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a Combinational logic, combinational digital circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise operations on integer binary numbers. This is in contrast to a floating-point unit (FPU), which operates on ...
(ALU) and
accumulator, 8-bit
registers (one
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
register with special
move instructions), 8-bit
data bus and 2 × 16-bit
address buses,
program counter
The program counter (PC), commonly called the instruction pointer (IP) in Intel x86 and Itanium microprocessors, and sometimes called the instruction address register (IAR), the instruction counter, or just part of the instruction sequencer, ...
,
data pointer, and related 8/11/16-bit operations; hence it is mainly an 8-bit
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...
*
Boolean processor with 17 instructions, 1-bit accumulator, 32 registers (4 × 8-bit, bit-addressable) and up to 144 special 1 bit-addressable RAM variables (18 × 8-bit)
*
Multiply, divide and
compare instructions
* Four fast
switchable register banks with 8 registers each (memory-mapped)
* Fast interrupt with optional register bank switching
*
Interrupt
In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted ...
s and
threads with selectable priority
* 128 or 256
byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...
s of on-chip RAM (IRAM)
* Dual 16-bit
address bus; it can access 2 × 2
16 memory locations: 64
KB (65,536 locations) each of ROM (PMEM) and external RAM (XRAM), using two memory buses in a
Harvard architecture.
* On-chip ROM (not included on 803x variants)
* Four (three full) 8-
bit bidirectional
input/output
In computing, input/output (I/O, i/o, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, such as another computer system, peripherals, or a human operator. Inputs a ...
ports, bit-addressable
* UART (
serial port
A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...
)
* Two 16-bit counters/
timer
A timer or countdown timer is a type of clock that starts from a specified time duration and stops upon reaching 00:00. It can also usually be stopped manually before the whole duration has elapsed. An example of a simple timer is an hourglass ...
s
*
Power-saving mode (on some derivatives)
One feature of the 8051 core is the inclusion of a Boolean processing engine, which allows
bit-level
Boolean logic
In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variable (mathematics), variables are the truth values ''true'' and ''false'', usually denot ...
operations to be carried out directly and efficiently on select internal
registers, ports and select
RAM locations. Another feature is the inclusion of four
bank-selectable working register sets, which greatly reduce the time required to perform the
context switches to enter and leave
interrupt service routines. With one instruction, the 8051 can switch register banks, avoiding the time-consuming task of transferring the critical registers to RAM.
Derivative features
, new derivatives are still being developed by many major chipmakers, and major compiler suppliers such as
IAR Systems
IAR Systems is a Sweden, Swedish computer software company that offers development tools for embedded systems. IAR Systems was founded in 1983, and is listed on Nasdaq Nordic in Stockholm. IAR is an abbreviation of Ingenjörsfirma Anders Rundgren ...
,
Keil and
TASKING continuously release updates.
MCS-51-based microcontrollers typically include one or two
UARTs, two or three timers, 128 or 256 bytes of internal data
RAM (16 bytes of which are bit-addressable), up to 128 bytes of
I/O, 512 bytes to 64 KB of internal program memory, and sometimes a quantity of extended data RAM (ERAM) located in the external data space. External RAM and ROM share the data and address buses. The original 8051 core ran at 12 clock cycles per machine cycle, with most instructions executing in one or two machine cycles. With a 12 MHz
clock frequency, the 8051 could thus execute 1 million one-cycle instructions per second or 500,000 two-cycle instructions per second. Enhanced 8051 cores are now commonly used which run at six, four, two, or even one clock per machine cycle (denoted "1T") and have clock frequencies of up to 100 MHz, thus being capable of an even greater number of instructions per second. All
Silicon Labs, some
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
(now part of
Maxim Integrated) and a few
Atmel (now part of
Microchip) devices have
single-cycle cores.
8051 variants may include built-in reset timers with
brown-out detection, on-chip oscillators, self-programmable
flash ROM program memory, built-in external RAM, extra internal program storage,
bootloader code in ROM,
EEPROM non-volatile data storage,
I2C,
SPI, and
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
host interfaces,
CAN or
LIN bus,
Zigbee or
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...
radio modules,
PWM generators, analog
comparators,
analog-to-digital and
digital-to-analog converters,
RTCs, extra counters and timers, in-circuit
debugging
In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the Root cause analysis, root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bug (engineering), bugs.
For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, Logf ...
facilities, more interrupt sources, extra power-saving modes, more or fewer parallel ports etc. Intel manufactured a mask-programmed version, 8052AH-BASIC, with a
BASIC
Basic or BASIC may refer to:
Science and technology
* BASIC, a computer programming language
* Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base
* Basic access authentication, in HTTP
Entertainment
* Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film
...
interpreter in ROM, capable of running user programs loaded into RAM.
MCS-51-based microcontrollers have been adapted to extreme environments. Examples for high-temperature variants are the Tekmos TK8H51 family for −40°C to +250°C or the
Honeywell
Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
HT83C51 for −55°C to +225°C (with operation for up to 1 year at +300°C).
Radiation-hardenend MCS-51 microcontrollers for use in spacecraft are available; e.g., from
Cobham (formerly
Aeroflex) as the UT69RH051 or from NIIET as the 1830VE32 ().
[
In some engineering schools, the 8051 microcontroller is used in introductory microcontroller courses.
]
Family naming conventions
Intel's first MCS-51 microcontroller was the 8051, with 4 KB ROM and 128 byte RAM. Variants starting with 87 have a user-programmable EPROM, sometimes UV-erasable. Variants with a C as the third character are some kind of CMOS. 8031 and 8032 are ROM-less versions, with 128 and 256 bytes of RAM. The last digit can indicate memory size, e.g. 8052 with 8 KB ROM, 87C54 16 KB EPROM, and 87C58 with 32 KB EPROM, all with 256-byte RAM.
Memory architecture
The MCS-51 has four distinct types of memory: internal RAM, special function registers, program memory, and external data memory. To access these efficiently, some compilers utilize as many as 7 types of memory definitions: internal RAM, single-bit access to internal RAM, special function registers, single-bit access to selected (divisible by 8) special function registers, program RAM, external RAM accessed using a register indirect access, using one of the standard 8-bit registers, and register indirect external RAM access utilizing the 16-bit indirect access register.
The 8051's instruction set is designed as a Harvard architecture with segregated memory (data and instructions); it can only execute code fetched from program memory and has no instructions to write to program memory. However, the bus leaving the IC has a single address and data path, and strongly resembles a von Neumann architecture bus.
Most 8051 systems respect the instruction set and require customized features to download new executable programs, e.g. in flash memory.
Internal RAM
Internal RAM (IRAM) has an 8-bit address space, using addresses 0 through 0xFF. IRAM from 0x00 to 0x7F contains 128 directly addressable 1-byte registers, which can be accessed using an 8-bit absolute address that is part of the instruction. Alternatively, IRAM can be accessed indirectly: the address is loaded into R0 or R1, and the memory is accessed using the @R0
or @R1
syntax, or as stack memory through the stack pointer SP, with the PUSH
/POP
and *CALL
/RET
operations.
The original 8051 has only 128 bytes of IRAM. The 8052 added IRAM from 0x80 to 0xFF, which can ''only'' be accessed indirectly (e.g. for use as stack space). Most 8051 clones also have a full 256 bytes of IRAM.
Direct accesses to the IRAM addresses 0x80–0xFF are, instead, mapped onto the special function registers (SFR), where the accumulators A, B, carry bit C, and other special registers for control, status, etc., are located.
Special function registers
Special function registers (SFR) are located in the same address space as IRAM, at addresses 0x80 to 0xFF, and are accessed directly using the same instructions as for the lower half of IRAM. They cannot be accessed indirectly via @R0
or @R1
or by the stack pointer SP; indirect access to those addresses will access the second half of IRAM instead.
The special function registers (SFR) include the accumulators A (or ACC, at E0) and B (at F0) and program status word (or PSW, at D0), themselves, as well as the 16-bit data pointer DPTR (at 82, as DPL and 83 as DPH). In addition to these, a small core of other special function registers including the interrupt enable IE at A8 and interrupt priority IP at B8; the I/O ports P0 (80), P1 (90), P2 (A0), P3 (B0); the serial I/O control SCON (98) and buffer SBUF (99); the CPU/power control register PCON (87); and the registers for timers 0 and 1 control (TCON at 88) and operation mode (TMOD at 89), the 16-bit timer 0 (TL0 at 8A, TH0 at 8C) and timer 1 (TL1 at 8B, TH1 at 8D) are present on all versions of the 8051. Other addresses are version-dependent; in particular, the registers of timer 2 for the 8052, the control register T2CON (at C8), the 16-bit capture/latch (RCAP2L at CA, RCAP2H at CB) and timer 2 (TL2 at CC and TH2 at CD) are not included with the 8051.
Register windows
The 32 bytes in IRAM from 0x00 to 0x1F contain space for four 8-byte register windows, which the eight registers R0–R7 map to. The currently active window is determined by a two-bit address contained in the program status word.
Bit registers
The 16 bytes (128 bits) at IRAM locations 0x20–0x2F contain space for 128 1-bit registers, which are separately addressable as bit registers 00–7F.
The remaining bit registers, addressed as 80–FF, are mapped onto the 16 special function registers 80, 88, 90, 98, ..., F0 and F8 (those whose addresses are multiples of 8), and therefore include the bits comprising the accumulators A, B and program status word PSW. The register window address, being bits 3 and 4 of the PSW, is itself addressable as bit registers D3 and D4 respectively; while the carry bit C (or CY), at bit 7 of the PSW, is addressable as bit register D7.
Program memory
Program memory (PMEM, though less common in usage than IRAM and XRAM) is up to 64 KB of read-only memory, starting at address 0 in a separate address space. It may be on- or off-chip, depending on the particular model of chip being used. Program memory is read-only, though some variants of the 8051 use on-chip flash memory and provide a method of re-programming the memory in-system or in-application.
In addition to code, it is possible to store read-only data such as lookup table
In computer science, a lookup table (LUT) is an array data structure, array that replaces runtime (program lifecycle phase), runtime computation of a mathematical function (mathematics), function with a simpler array indexing operation, in a proc ...
s in program memory, retrieved by the or instructions. The address is computed as the sum of the 8-bit accumulator and a 16-bit register (PC or DPTR).
Special jump and call instructions ( and ) slightly reduce the size of code that accesses local (within the same 2 KB) program memory.
When code larger than 64 KB is required, a common system makes the code bank-switched, with general-purpose I/O selecting the upper address bits. Some 8051 compilers make provisions to automatically access paged code. In these systems, the interrupt vectors and paging table are placed in the first 32 KB of code and are always resident.
External data memory
External data memory (XRAM) is a third address space, also starting at address 0, and allowing 16 bits of address space. It can also be on- or off-chip; what makes it "external" is that it must be accessed using the (move external) instruction. Many variants of the 8051 include the standard 256 bytes of IRAM plus a few kilobytes of XRAM on the chip.
The first 256 bytes of XRAM may be accessed using the , , , and instructions. The full 64 KB may be accessed using and . The 16-bit address requires the programmer to load the 16-bit index register. For this reason, RAM accesses with 16-bit addresses are substantially slower.
Some CPUs permit the 8-bit indirect address to use any 8-bit general-purpose register.
To permit the use of this feature, some 8051-compatible microcontrollers with internal RAM larger than 256 bytes, or an inability to access external RAM, access internal RAM as if it were external and have a special function register (e.g. PDATA) that permits them to set the upper address of the 256-byte page. This emulates the MCS8051 mode that can page the upper byte of a RAM address by setting the general-purpose I/O pins.
When RAM larger than 64 KB is required, a common system makes the RAM bank-switched, with general-purpose I/O selecting the upper address bits. Some 8051 compilers make provisions to automatically access paged data.
Registers
The only register on an 8051 that is not memory-mapped is the 16-bit program counter (PC). This specifies the address of the next instruction to execute. Relative branch instructions supply an 8-bit signed offset which is added to the PC.
Eight general-purpose registers R0–R7 may be accessed with instructions one byte shorter than others. They are mapped to IRAM between 0x00 and 0x1F. Only eight bytes of that range are used at any given time, determined by the two bank-select bits in the PSW.
The following is a partial list of the 8051's registers, which are memory-mapped into the special function register space:
; Stack pointer, SP (0x81): This is an 8-bit register used by subroutine call and return instructions. The stack grows upward; the SP is incremented before pushing and decremented after popping a value.
; Data pointer, DP (0x82–83): This is a 16-bit register that is used for accessing PMEM and XRAM.
; Program status word, PSW (0xD0): This contains important status flags, by bit number:
; Accumulator, A (0xE0): This register is used by most instructions.
; B register (0xF0): This is used as an extension to the accumulator for multiply and divide instructions.
256 single bits are directly addressable. These are the 16 IRAM locations from 0x20–0x2F, and the 16 special function registers 0x80, 0x88, 0x90, ..., 0xF8. Any bit of these bytes may be directly accessed by a variety of logical operations and conditional branches.
Note that the PSW does not contain the common negative (N), or zero (Z) flags. For the former, the most significant bit of the accumulator can be addressed directly, as it is a bit-addressable SFR. For the latter, there are explicit instructions to jump on whether or not the accumulator is zero. There is also a two-operand compare and jump operation.
The parity (P) bit is often used to implement serial modes that include parity. To support this, the standard MCS51 UARTs could send 9 bits.
Microarchitecture
The microarchitecture of the Intel MCS8051 is proprietary, but published features suggest how it works. It is a multi-cycle processor. The MCS8051 used 12 clock cycles for most instructions. Many instructions utilize an accumulator. In contrast, most compatible computers execute instructions in one to three cycles, except for the multiply and divide instructions. The much higher speed is a major reason why these have replaced the MCS8051 in most applications.
Each interrupt has four priorities. Within each priority, the interrupts of devices are in a fixed priority.
Instruction set
Instructions are all 1 to 3 bytes long, consisting of an initial opcode byte, followed by up to 2 bytes of operands.
of the opcode bytes, ''x''0–''x''3, are used for irregular opcodes.
of the opcode bytes, ''x''4–''x''F, are assigned to 16 basic ALU instructions with 12 possible operands. The least significant nibble
In computing, a nibble, or spelled nybble to match byte, is a unit of information that is an aggregation of four- bits; half of a byte/ octet. The unit is alternatively called nyble, nybl, half-byte or tetrade. In networking or telecommuni ...
of the opcode selects the primary operand as follows:
* ''x''8–''x''F: Register direct, R0–R7.
* ''x''6–''x''7: Register indirect, @R0 or @R1.
* ''x''5: Memory direct, a following byte specifies an IRAM or SFR location.
* ''x''4: Immediate, a following byte specifies an 8-bit constant. When the operand is a destination (, ) ''or'' the operation already includes an immediate source (, ), this instead specifies that the accumulator is used.
The most significant nibble specifies the operation as follows. Not all support all addressing modes; the immediate mode in particular is unavailable when the primary operand is written to. Instruction mnemonics use ''destination'', ''source'' operand order.
; 0''y'' : Increment the specified operand. Immediate mode (opcode 0x04) specifies the accumulator, .
; 1''y'' : Decrement the specified operand. Immediate mode (opcode 0x14) specifies the accumulator, .
; 2''y'' : Add the operand to the accumulator, A. Opcode 0x23 (, "rotate left" but actually a shift left) may be thought of as .
; 3''y'' : Add the operand, plus the C bit, to the accumulator. Opcode 0x33 (, rotate left through carry) may be thought of as .
; 4''y'' : Logical OR the operand into the accumulator. Two memory-destination forms of this operation, and , are specified by opcodes 0x43 and 0x42.
; 5''y'' : Logical AND the operand into the accumulator. Two memory-destination forms of this operation, and , are specified by opcodes 0x53 and 0x52.
; 6''y'' : Logical exclusive-OR the operand into the accumulator. Two memory-destination forms of this operation, and , are specified by opcodes 0x63 and 0x62.
; 7''y'' : Move immediate to the operand. Immediate mode (opcode 0x74) specifies the accumulator, .
; 8''y'' : Move value to an IRAM or SFR register. Immediate mode (opcode 0x84) is not used for this operation, as it duplicates opcode 0x75.
; 9''y'' : Subtract the operand from the accumulator. This operation borrows and there is no subtract ''without'' borrow.
; A''y'' : Move value from an IRAM or SFR register. Immediate mode (opcode 0xA4) is not used, as immediates serve only as sources. Memory direct mode (opcode 0xA5) is not used, as it duplicates 0x85.
; B''y'' : Compare ''operand'' to the immediate , and jump to if not equal. Immediate and memory direct modes (opcodes 0xB4 and 0xB5) compare the operand against the accumulator, . Note that there is no compare and jump if equal instruction, .
; C''y'' : Exchange the accumulator and the operand. Immediate mode (opcode 0xC4) is not used for this operation.
; D''y'' : Decrement the operand, and jump to if the result is non-zero. Immediate mode (opcode 0xD4), and register indirect mode (0xD6, 0xD7) are not used.
; E''y'' : Move operand to the accumulator. Immediate mode is not used for this operation (opcode 0xE4), as it duplicates opcode 0x74.
; F''y'' : Move accumulator to the operand. Immediate mode (opcode 0xF4) is not used, as it would have no effect.
Only the , , and instructions set PSW flags. The , , and logical instructions do not. The instruction modifies the C bit only, to the borrow that results from .
The irregular instructions comprise 64 opcodes, having more limited addressing modes, plus several opcodes scavenged from inapplicable modes in the regular instructions.
; 85: move directly between two IRAM or SFR registers.
; A5: ''Unused''
; B5: compare accumulator to an IRAM or SFR register, and jump to if not equal.
; D6–7: exchange low-order nibble of operands.
The (short jump) opcode takes a signed relative offset byte operand and transfers control there relative to the address of the following instruction. The / opcodes combine the three most significant bits of the opcode byte with the following byte to specify an 11-bit destination that is used to replace 11 bottom bits of the PC register (top 5 bits of PC register remain intact). For larger addresses, the and instructions allow a 16-bit destination.
One of the reasons for the 8051's popularity is its range of operations on single bits. Bits are always specified by absolute addresses; there is no register-indirect or indexed addressing. Instructions that operate on single bits are:
* , , : Set, clear, or complement the specified bit
* : Jump if bit set
* : Jump if bit clear
* : Jump if bit set, and clear bit
* , : Move the specified bit to the carry bit, or vice versa
* , : Or the bit (or its complement) to the carry bit
* , : And the bit (or its complement) to the carry bit
A bit operand is written in the form . Because the carry flag is bit 7 of the bit-addressable program status word, the , and instructions are shorter equivalents to , and .
Programming
There are various high-level programming language
A high-level programming language is a programming language with strong Abstraction (computer science), abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ''elements'', be ea ...
compilers for the 8051. Several C compilers are available for the 8051, most of which allow the programmer to specify where each variable should be stored in its six types of memory, and provide access to 8051-specific hardware features such as the multiple register banks and bit manipulation instructions. There are many commercial C compilers. Small Device C Compiler (SDCC) is a popular open-source C compiler.
Other high level languages such as C++, Forth,[
][
]
BASIC
Basic or BASIC may refer to:
Science and technology
* BASIC, a computer programming language
* Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base
* Basic access authentication, in HTTP
Entertainment
* Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film
...
, Object Pascal
Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal (programming language), Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as Class (computer programming), classes and Method (computer programming), methods.
T ...
, Pascal, PL/M and Modula-2 are available for the 8051, but they are less widely used than C and assembly.
Because IRAM, XRAM, and PMEM (read only) all have an address 0, C compilers for the 8051 architecture provide compiler-specific pragmas or other extensions to indicate where a particular piece of data should be stored (i.e. constants in PMEM or variables needing fast access in IRAM). Since data could be in one of three memory spaces, a mechanism is usually provided to allow determining to which memory a pointer refers, either by constraining the pointer type to include the memory space or by storing metadata with the pointer.
Related processors
Intel discontinued its MCS-51 product line in March 2007; however, there are plenty of enhanced 8051 products or silicon intellectual property added regularly from other vendors.
The 8051's predecessor, the 8048, was used in the keyboard of the first IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...
, where it converted keypresses into the serial data stream which is sent to the main unit of the computer. An Intel 8049 served a similar role in the Sinclair QL. The 8048 and derivatives are still used for basic model keyboards.
The 8031 was a reduced version of the original 8051 that had no internal program ROM. To use this chip, external ROM had to be added containing the program that the 8031 would fetch and execute. An 8051 chip could be sold as a ROM-less 8031, as the 8051's internal ROM is disabled by the normal state of the EA pin in an 8031-based design. A vendor might sell an 8051 as an 8031 for any number of reasons, such as faulty code in the 8051's ROM, or simply an oversupply of 8051s and undersupply of 8031s.
The 8044 (as well as the ROM-less 8344 and the 8744 with EPROM) added an SDLC controller to the 8051 core (especially for Bitbus applications).
The 8052 was an enhanced version of the original 8051 that featured 256 bytes of internal RAM instead of 128 bytes, 8 KB of ROM instead of 4 KB, and a third 16-bit timer. Most modern 8051-compatible microcontrollers include these features.
The 8032 had these same features as the 8052 except it lacked internal ROM program memory.
The 8751 was an 8051 with 4 KB EPROM instead of 4 KB ROM. They were identical except for the non-volatile memory type. This part was available in a ceramic package with a clear quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
window over the top of the die so UV light could be used to erase the EPROM. Related parts are: 8752 had 8 KB EPROM, 8754 had 16 KB EPROM, 8758 had 32 KB EPROM.
The 80C537 (ROM-less) and 80C517 (8 KB ROM) are CMOS versions, designed for the automotive industry
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...
. Enhancements mostly include new and enhanced peripherals. The 80C5x7 has fail-safe mechanisms, analog signal processing facilities, enhanced timer capabilities, and a 32-bit arithmetic peripheral. Other features include:
* 256-byte on-chip RAM
* 256 directly addressable bits
* External program and data memory expandable up to 64 KB
* 8-bit A/D converter with 12 multiplexed inputs
* Arithmetic peripheral can perform 16×16→32-bit multiplication, 32/16→16-bit division, 32-bit shift and 32-bit normalize operations
* Eight data pointers instead of one for indirect addressing of program and external data memory
* Extended watchdog facilities
* Nine I/O ports
* Two full-duplex serial interfaces with individual baud rate generators
* Four priority level interrupt systems, 14 interrupt vectors
* Three power-saving modes
second sources">
File:Intel_D87C51_AMD.jpg, AMD D87C51
File:MBL8031AH.jpg, Fujitsu MBL8031AH
File:Ic-photo-MHS--S-80C31--(8031-MCU).png, MHS S-80C31
File:Ic-photo-OKI--M80C31F--(8031-MCU).JPG, OKI M80C31
File:Ic-photo-Philips--80C31BH-3 16P--(8031-MCU).png, Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
PCB80C31
File:Ic-photo-Signetics--SCN8031H--(8031-MCU).JPG, Signetics
Signetics Corporation was an American electronics manufacturer specifically established to make integrated circuits. Founded in 1961, they went on to develop a number of early microprocessors and support chips, as well as the widely used 555 time ...
SCN8031
File:Ic-photo-Temic--TS80C32X2-MCB-(8032-MCU).png, Temic TS80C32X2
Derivative vendors
More than 20 independent manufacturers produce MCS-51 compatible processors.
File:Atmel 89c2051 gfdl.jpg, Atmel AT89C2051
File:SAB-C515-LN.jpg, Infineon
Infineon Semiconductor solutions is the largest microcontroller manufacturer in the world, as well as Germany's largest semiconductor manufacturer. It is also the leading automotive semiconductor manufacturer globally. Infineon had roughly 58,0 ...
SAB-C515
File:EPROM-Microcontroller Philips 87C654.jpg, Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
S87C654
File:Ic-photo-Siemens--SAB-C501G-1RP-(MCU).png, Siemens SAB-C501
File:STC89C52.jpg, STC Micro STC89C52
Other ICs or IPs compatible with the MCS-51 have been developed by Analog Devices, Integral Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
,
Kristall Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, and
NIIET Voronezh.
Use as intellectual property
Today, 8051s are still available as discrete parts, but they are mostly used as silicon intellectual property cores. Available in hardware description language source code (such as VHDL
VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Program, VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is a hardware description language that can model the behavior and structure of Digital electronics, digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ran ...
or Verilog
Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits, with the highest level of abstraction being at the re ...
) or FPGA netlist
In electronic design, a netlist is a description of the connectivity of an electronic circuit. In its simplest form, a netlist consists of a list of the electronic components in a circuit and a list of the nodes they are connected to. A netwo ...
forms, these cores are typically integrated within embedded systems, in products ranging from USB flash drive
A flash drive (also thumb drive, memory stick, and pen drive/pendrive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. A typical USB drive is removable, rewritable, and smaller than an optical disc, and u ...
s to washing machines to complex wireless communication systems on a chip. Designers use 8051 silicon IP cores, because of the smaller size, and lower power, compared to 32-bit processors like ARM Cortex-M series, MIPS and BA22.
Subsequent 8051 core designs have increased performance while retaining compatibility with the original MCS 51 instruction set. The original Intel 8051 was a microcode engine using 12 clocked microcode cycles per machine cycle to minimize the number of NMOS logic gates consuming power in passive resistive pull-ups. Most instructions executed in one or two machine cycles. At the typical maximum clock frequency of 12 MHz the original 8051 types execute one million single-cycle instructions, or 500,000 two-cycle instructions, per second. The change to CMOS using active P-channel FET pull-ups makes it possible to realize the core without microcode. Enhanced 8051 IP cores run at one clock cycle per machine cycle. With clock frequencies of up to 450 MHz an 8051-compatible processor can execute up to 450 million instructions per second.
MCUs based on 8051
* ABOV: MC94F, MC95F, MC96F series
* Analog Devices (formerly Maxim Integrated, originally Dallas): DS80-series etc.
* Cypress PSoC CY8C3xxxx series, which has a dedicated USB 2.0 interface
* Jin Rui (brand CACHIP): CA51Fx family 8-bit MCUs.
* Infineon: XC800
* Mentor Graphics: M8051EW etc. designed for Mentor by SYNTILL8
* Megawin: 74, 82, 84, 86, 87, and 89 series
*Microchip (formerly Atmel): AT89C51, AT89S51, AT83C5134, etc.
* NXP: NXP700 and NXP900 series
* Siemens 8-bit: SAB 8035/8048, SAB 80512/80532, SAB 80513, SAB 8352-2/8352-5, SAB 80(C)515/80(C)535, SAB 83515, SAB 80(C)517/80(C)537, SAB 8051A/8031A, SAB 8052A/8032A, SAB 8052B/8032B, SAB80C52/80C32, SDA 30C164-2 (ROMless)
* Silergy electricity metering SoCs: 71M6511, 71M6513, 71M6531, 71M6533, 71M6534, 71M6542, 71M6543 Energy measurement SoCs: 78M6631, 78M6618, 78M6613, 78M6612
* Silicon Labs: C8051 series and EFM8 series
* Silicon Storage Technology: FlashFlex51 MCU (SST89E52RD2, SST89E54RD2, SST89E58RD2, SST89E516RD2SST89V52RD2, SST89V54RD2, SST89V58RD2, SST89V516RD2)
* STC Micro: STC89C51RC, STC90C51RC, STC90C58AD, STC10F08XE, STC11F60XE, STC12C5410AD, STC12C5202AD, STC12C5A60S2, STC12C5628AD, STC15F100, STC15F204EA, STC15F2K60S2, STC15F4K60S2, STC15F101W, STC15F408AD, STC15W104, STC15W408S, STC15W201S, STC15W408AS, STC15W1K16S and STC15W4K56S4 series
* Texas Instruments CC111x, CC24xx and CC25xx families of RF SoCs
* WCH ( Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics): CH551, CH552, CH554, CH546, CH547, CH548, CH558, CH559
Digital signal processor (DSP) variants
Several variants with an additional 16-bit digital signal processor (DSP) (for example for MP3 or Vorbis coding/decoding) with up to 675 million instructions per second (MIPS) and integrated USB 2.0 interface or as intellectual property exist.
Enhanced 8-bit binary compatible microcontroller: MCS-151 family
In 1996 Intel announced the MCS-151 family, an up to 6 times faster variant, that's fully binary and instruction set
In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...
compatible with 8051. Unlike their 8051 MCS-151 is a pipelined CPU, with 16-bit internal code bus and is 6x the speed. The MCS-151 family was also discontinued by Intel, but is widely available in binary compatible and partly enhanced variants.
8/16/32-bit binary compatible microcontroller: MCS-251 family
The 80251 8/16/32-bit microcontroller with 16 MB ( 24-bit) address-space and 6 times faster instruction cycle was introduced by Intel in 1996. It can perform as an 8-bit 8051, has 24-bit linear addressing, an 8-bit ALU, 8-bit instructions, 16-bit instructions, a limited set of 32-bit instructions, 16 8-bit registers, 16 16-bit registers (8 16-bit registers which do not share space with any 8-bit registers, and 8 16-bit registers which contain 2 8-bit registers per 16-bit register), and 10 32-bit registers (2 dedicated 32-bit registers, and 8 32-bit registers which contain 2 16-bit registers per 32-bit register).
It features extended instructions – see also the programmer's guide – and later variants with higher performance, also available as intellectual property (IP). It is 3-stage pipelined. The MCS-251 family was also discontinued by Intel, but is widely available in binary compatible and partly enhanced variants from many manufacturers.
See also
* DS80C390
* Hitachi HD44780 - LCD controller with XRAM-compatible interface
* Intel PL/M-51
* SDK-51 system design kit
References
Further reading
;Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
;Intel
*
MCS-51 Microcontroller Family User's Manual
'; Intel; 1994; publication number 121517.
* ''MCS-51 Macro Assembler User's Guide''; Intel; publication number 9800937.
* ''8-Bit Embedded Controllers''; Intel; 1991; publication number .
* ''Microcontroller Handbook''; Intel; 1984; publication number .
*
8051 Microcontroller Preliminary Architectural Specification and Functional Description
'; Intel; 44 pages; 1980.
;Misc
*
https://web.archive.org/web/20210806202253/https://www.dos4ever.com/8031board/SIM51_06.zip] (Besides the elektor assembler hex format, EASM format, the HEX.DOC file discusses various hex file formats by Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
, Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...
, Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...
, MOS Technology and elektor.)
External links
Complete tutorial for 8051 microcontrollers
the source website for tutorials and simulator for 8051
Open source VHDL 8051 implementation (Oregano Systems)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Intel Mcs-51
Intel microcontrollers