The ATtiny85-15ST is a microcontroller packed into an 8-lead ultra-small package. It is designed to be a low-cost, small form factor single-chip solution for a wide variety of applications. It is equipped with a variety of features and capabilities that make it a powerful choice for many applications.

General Features

The ATtiny85-15ST is a low-power 8-bit microcontroller with an integrated 8k-byte 9-bitflash memory. It uses internal oscillators and has an integrated peripheral with wake-up features to reduce overall power consumption. This microcontroller comes with two on-chip timers, 8-channel 8-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) compatibility. It has one 10-bit timer/counters, and one USI (Universal Serial Interface). A USI is an interface between microcontroller and an external device (e.g. microprocessor) where protocol transfer is simpler, faster and more reliable.

Memory Size and Speed

The ATtiny85-15ST has 8K bytes of 9-bit flash memory and 256 bytes of RAM. The Flash memory is configured to provide instructions and data, while the RAM is used to store variables, the stack, and other data. The Flash memory is divided into 4K words of 9-bits each, and the RAM is divided into 128 bytes of 8-bits each. The Flash memory can be read and written at speeds up to 2 MHz. The Internal Flash can be erased or programmed in pages or by-bytes, and is protected by a self-programming protection lock latch. The RAM can be read and written at speeds up to 1 MHz.

Clocking System

The ATtiny85-15ST is equipped with both an internal RC oscillator and an external oscillator. The internal oscillator has a maximum frequency of 8MHz and is used for real-time clock (RTC) and I/O computations. The external oscillator has a maximum frequency of 16MHz and is used for system operations such as instruction fetching, instruction decoding and other functions. In order to ensure that the internal RC oscillator is stable, a calibration procedure is performed with the use of the external oscillator to adjust the internal RC frequency.

Interrupts

The ATtiny85-15ST has an 8-channel external interrupt controller and supports up to 8 interrupt sources. These interrupt sources include rising and falling edge interrupts and can be mapped to one of the 8-channels. The interrupt vector table provides address information to the CPU of where to jump to when an interrupt is triggered. The interrupt controller supports level interrupt and a wake-up interrupt feature. It also supports high priority interrupts, allowing interrupt sources to gain higher priority than other interrupt sources. Additionally, it supports four types of interrupt modes: low level trigger, high level trigger, rising edge trigger and falling edge trigger.

Timers

The ATtiny85-15ST features two 16-bit timers. The first timer is a programmable timer/counter and the second timer is a standard timer/counter. The first timer/counter is used for counting events, generating interrupts and for pulse width modulation. The second timer/counter is used for timing, event counting and for generating interrupts. Additionally, the ATtiny85-15ST features a 10-bit timer/counter for real-time clock application.

Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)

The ATtiny85-15ST has an 8-channel 8-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ADC provides a resolution of 8-bits and is capable of converting up to 8 analog values. It also provides a 8-channel analog multiplexer which can be used to select one of the 8 channels for conversion. The ADC has an input voltage range of 0 to 3.3v and has a maximum conversion rate of 61.5K samples/second.

Universal Serial Interface (USI)

The ATtiny85-15ST has a USI module. The USI module enables the ATtiny85-15ST to communicate with external devices. It supports full-duplex communication, allowing the ATtiny85-15ST to both transmit and receive data simultaneously. The USI module provides an integrated shift register (for data transfer), a clock generator (for synchronous data transfer) and a baud rate generator (for asynchronous data transfer). The USI module is designed to be compatible with various protocols, such as the SPI, UART, I2C, USI and other USI-compatible interfaces.

Power Management

The ATtiny85-15ST is equipped with a variety of power management features. These features include sleep mode, idle mode, and low power run mode. Sleep mode allows the ATtiny85-15ST to enter a low-power state where only a few of the internal circuits are enabled, resulting in a reduced current consumption. This mode is disabled by default to reduce power consumption but can be enabled by the user. Idle mode is similar to sleep mode, but with increased power consumption. It allows the ATtiny85-15ST to enter an active state with reduced current consumption. Low power run mode allows the ATtiny85-15ST to operate at a reduced frequency and power level, while still being able to execute instructions at speeds close to the system clock rate. This mode is enabled by default to reduce power consumption and can also be disabled by the user. In addition to these power management features, the ATtiny85-15ST is also equipped with wake-up features that allow the system to enter sleep mode and then be woken up by an external event.

Conclusion

The ATtiny85-15ST is a powerful and cost-effective microcontroller packed into an 8-lead ultra-small package. It features a variety of features and capabilities that make it an ideal solution for a wide range of applications. It includes an 8-channel 8-bit analog-to-digital converter, two on-chip timers, an 8-channel external interrupt controller, a USI module and integrated peripheral with wake-up features, and a variety of power management features. With its low-power, small form factor and wide range of features and capabilities, the ATtiny85-15ST is an ideal choice for many embedded applications.