Intel MCS-48

Intel 8048 microcontroller
The 8749 with UV EPROM
An Intel 8049 microcontroller, as used in a HP3478A multimeter. This chip was manufactured in the second week of 1984.
Intel 8749 die
Intel 8048 registers
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 (bit position)
Main registers
  A Accumulator
PC Program Counter
Program Status Word
  CY AC FO BS 1 Stack
Note: All other programmer-visible registers and stack are allocated in RAM.

The MCS-48 microcontroller series, Intel's first microcontroller, was originally released in 1976. Its first members were 8048, 8035 and 8748. The 8048[1] is arguably the most prominent member of the family. Initially, this family was produced using NMOS (n-type metal–oxide–semiconductor) technology. In the early 1980s, it became available in CMOS technology. It was manufactured into the 1990s to support older designs that still used it.

The MCS-48 series has a modified Harvard architecture, with internal or external program ROM and 64 to 256 bytes of internal (on-chip) RAM. The I/O is mapped into its own address space, separate from programs and data.

Though the MCS-48 series was eventually replaced by the very successful MCS-51 series, it remained quite popular even by the year 2000 due to its low cost, wide availability, memory-efficient one-byte instruction set, and mature development tools. Because of this, it is used in high-volume, cost-sensitive consumer electronics devices such as TV remotes, computer keyboards, and toys.

  1. ^ Laws, David; Blume Jr., Henry; Ekiss, John; Feng, Yung; Kline, Barbara; Raphael, Howard; Stamm, David (2008-07-30). Oral History Panel on the Development and Promotion of the Intel 8048 Microcontroller (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-27.