Toshiba TLCS

The Toshiba TLCS series are a family of CISC and RISC microcontrollers from Toshiba.

TLCS-47 Family

The microcontrollers in the TLCS-47 family are 4-bit systems.

TLCS-870 Family

The microcontrollers in the TLCS-870 family use a 8-bit/16-bit architecture reminiscent of the Z80.

TLCS-900 Family

The microcontrollers in the TLCS-900 family are 16-bit (TLCS-900, TLCS-900/L, TLCS-900/H and TLCS-900/L1 series) and 32-bit (TLCS-900/H1 series) systems. Most of them are CISC based, with a few systems being RISC based.

Features and differences

Current TLCS' offer some or all of the following features:
*multifunction, bi-directional general purpose I/O ports with optional built-in pull-up resistors
*mask programmable, one time programmable, flash memory or EEPROM type of ROM. ROMless versions are also available
*a variety of serial interfaces:
**I²C
**Synchronous/Asynchronous Serial Peripherals (UART/USART) (used with RS-232, RS-485, and more)
**Serial Peripheral Interface Bus (SPI)
** USB
*watchdog timer (WDT)
*multiplexed 10-bit A/D converters; D/A converters
*dual clock inputs and on-line clock switching by selecting different "gear values" (frequency divider), thus allowing either low-power low-frequency modes or high-performance high-frequency modes
*prescalable 8-bit and 16-bit timers (may be used as Programmable Interval Timers)
*8-bit and 16-bit pulse-width modulation (PWM) and programmable pulse generation (PPG) output
*power voltage supply range between 1.8 to 5.5 Volt
*external interrupt control
*pattern generator, suitable for stepper motor control
*Chip select/wait controller
*different chip carrier formats

As demand for these features differs widely depending on the requirements for a specific project (low energy consumption; high number of I/O ports; etc.), customers can choose from a wide range of different versions.

Development Tools

Toshiba offers a ANSI C compatible C compiler and an assembler. Both tools are not available for free.

There is a [http://code.google.com/p/tlcs900archc project for porting GNU assembler] to the TLCS-900 family.

Websites

* [http://www.semicon.toshiba.co.jp/eng/product/micro/index.html Toshiba Japan website about the TLCS series]
* [http://www.toshiba.com/taec/Catalog/Family.do?familyid=14 Toshiba USA website about the TLCS series]