Common Features
All PIC microcontrollers use the same basic architecture (Chapter 5) and instruction set (Chapter 4), to provide a design progression path from simple programs to the most complex applications. The architectural features may be compared by studying the block diagram for each device found in its data sheet. The shared features of the 8-bit devices considered here are:
• Harvard architecture with RISC instruction set
• Flash program memory with in-circuit programming
• RAM block including special function registers
• Single working register and dedicated, non-writable stack
• Power-up, brownout and watchdog timers
• Multiple interrupt sources, with single vector address
• 8- and 16-bit hardware timers with PWM, capture and compare mode
• Sleep mode and low-power operation in selected devices
• EEPROM non-volatile data memory in selected devices.