
7
1477K–AVR–08/10
ATtiny26(L)
AVR CPU Core
Architectural
Overview
The fast-access Register File concept contains 32 x 8-bit general purpose working registers with
a single clock cycle access time. This means that during one single clock cycle, one ALU (Arith-
metic Logic Unit) operation is executed. Two operands are output from the Register File, the
operation is executed, and the result is stored back in the Register File – in one clock cycle.
Six of the 32 registers can be used as 16-bit pointers for indirect memory access. These pointers
are called the X-, Y-, and Z-pointers, and they can address the Register File and the Flash pro-
gram memory.
Figure 2. The ATtiny26(L) AVR Enhanced RISC Architecture
The ALU supports arithmetic and logic functions between registers or between a constant and a
register. Single register operations are also executed in the ALU. Figure 2 shows the
ATtiny26(L) AVR Enhanced RISC microcontroller architecture. In addition to the register opera-
tion, the conventional memory addressing modes can be used on the Register File as well. This
is enabled by the fact that the Register File is assigned the 32 lowermost Data Space addresses
($00 - $1F), allowing them to be accessed as though they were ordinary memory locations.
The I/O memory space contains 64 addresses for CPU peripheral functions as Control Regis-
ters, Timer/Counters, A/D Converters, and other I/O functions. The I/O Memory can be
accessed directly, or as the Data Space locations following those of the Register File, $20 - $5F.
The AVR uses a Harvard architecture concept with separate memories and buses for program
and data memories. The program memory is accessed with a two stage pipelining. While one
instruction is being executed, the next instruction is pre-fetched from the program memory. This
1024 x 16
Program
FLASH
Instruction
Register
Instruction
Decoder
Program
Counter
Control Lines
32 x 8
General
Purpose
Registers
ALU
Direct
Addressing
Indirect
Addressing
Status
and Test
Control
Registers
Interrupt
Unit
2 x 8-bit
Timer/Counter
Universal
Serial Interface
Watchdog
Timer
Analog
Comparator
I/O Lines
8-bit Data Bus
ISP Unit
ADC
128 x 8
SRAM
128 byte
EEPROM