The Z80CTC (Z0843004PSC), manufactured by Zilog, is a Counter/Timer Circuit designed to work with the Z80 microprocessor. It provides four independent programmable counter/timer channels, enabling versatile timing and control functions in Z80-based systems.

Applications

• Peripheral control
• Real-time clocks
• Frequency generation
• Pulse width modulation (PWM)
• Event counting

Features

• Four independent counter/timer channels
• Programmable timer modes (e.g., timer, counter, event counter)
• Programmable prescalers
• Interrupt generation capabilities
• Daisy-chain interrupt priority control

Benefits

• Provides precise timing and control functions for Z80 systems
• Reduces CPU overhead by handling timing tasks in hardware
• Flexible configuration options for various timing requirements
• Simplified system integration with interrupt handling
• Enables accurate frequency generation and pulse width modulation

Additional Details

The Z80CTC offers four independent counter/timer channels, each capable of operating in various modes, including timer mode, counter mode, and event counter mode. Each channel can be programmed with a prescaler to divide the input clock frequency, allowing for a wide range of timing intervals. The CTC can generate interrupts upon timer expiration or event counting completion, enabling the Z80 CPU to respond to timing events in real-time. The daisy-chain interrupt priority control allows for easy management of multiple interrupt sources in a Z80 system. Each channel has a 16-bit counter. The trigger for each timer can be configured to be either rising or falling edge, depending on the application. The Z0843004PSC typically comes in a DIP (Dual In-line Package).

The channels can be used independently or cascaded for longer time intervals. The CTC is crucial in applications where timing and precise event triggering are required.