A Z80 manufactured in June 1976 according to the date stamp
General information
Launched
July 1976
Designed by
Federico Faggin, Masatoshi Shima
Common manufacturer(s)
Mostek, Synertek, Zilog, SGS-Thomson, NEC, Sharp, Toshiba, Rohm, GoldStar (LG), Hitachi, National Semiconductor,[i] and others
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate
2.5, 4, 6, 8 MHz to 10 MHz with CMOS variant up to 20 MHz and binary compatible derivatives (from Zilog) up to 33 and 50 MHz
Data width
8 bits[1]
Address width
16 bits[1]
Architecture and classification
Instruction set
Z80[ii]
Physical specifications
Transistors
8500 (4 μm process)
Package(s)
40-pin DIP, 44-pin PLCC, 44-pin QFP
Socket(s)
Not applicable
History
Predecessor(s)
Intel 8080
Successor(s)
Z8000
Z800/Z280
Z180
Z380
eZ80
The Z80's original DIP40 chip package pinout
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975, before going on sale in July 1976. The processor is a software-compatible with the Intel 8080 but with several enhancements and at a lower price. Like the 8080, the Z80 was mainly aimed at embedded systems, but it became one of the most widely used CPUs in home computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s.[2][3] The Zilog Z80 was also common in military applications, musical equipment (such as synthesizers like the Roland Jupiter-8), and coin-operated arcade games of the era, including Pac-Man.
With the revenue from the Z80, the company built its own chip factories.[4] Zilog licensed the Z80 to the US-based Synertek and Mostek, which had helped them with initial production, as well as to a European second-source manufacturer SGS. The design was also copied by several Japanese, Eastern European and Soviet manufacturers.[iii] This won the Z80 acceptance in the world market since large companies like NEC, Toshiba, Sharp, and Hitachi started to manufacture the device (or their own Z80-compatible clones or designs).
In later decades, the Z80 remained in use in embedded systems and continued to see improvements. The most recent Z80-compatible microcontroller family, the fully pipelined 24-bit eZ80 with a linear 16 MB address range, has been sold alongside the simpler Z80 and Z180 products.
Zilog announced in April 2024 that it would begin discontinuing manufacture of the Z80 CPU after 48 years on the market.[5]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-roman> tags or {{efn-lr}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-roman}} template or {{notelist-lr}} template (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference Z80_CPU_User_Manual_pinout was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Balch, Mark (2003-06-18). "Digital Fundamentals". Complete Digital Design: A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Electronics and Computer System Architecture. Professional Engineering. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 122. ISBN 0-07-140927-0.
^The Seybold report on professional computing. Seybold Publications. 1983. In the 8-bit world, the two most popular microcomputers are the Z80 and 6502 computer chips.
^Faggin, Shima & Ungermann 2007.
^"Z80 Product line: Z84C00 - End of Life/Last Time Buy Notification" (PDF). Zilog, Inc.
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and...
The Zilog eZ80 is an 8-bit microprocessor from Zilog, introduced in 2001. eZ80 is an updated version of the company's first product, the Z80 microprocessor...
The Zilog Z180 eight-bit processor is a successor of the Z80 CPU. It is compatible with the large base of software written for the Z80. The Z180 family...
The Z8000 is a 16-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog in early 1979. The architecture was designed by Bernard Peuto while the logic and physical implementation...
The Zilog Z280 is a 16-bit microprocessor, an enhancement of the ZilogZ80 architecture, introduced in July 1987. It is basically the Z800, renamed, with...
serial communication USART chip. He then joined Zilog, where he worked with Faggin to develop the ZilogZ80 (1976) and Z8000 (1979). He studied organic chemistry...
The Zilog Z800 was a 16-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and meant to be released in 1985. It was instruction compatible with their existing Z80, and...
Mikroelektronik "Karl Marx" in 1983). The U880 is an unlicensed clone of the ZilogZ80 microprocessor, also supporting illegal opcodes and bugs, except for very...
very different from the ZilogZ80. Despite this, the instruction set and assembly language syntax are quite similar to other Zilog processors: Load/store...
16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the CPU, a ZilogZ80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware sprites...
Ralph Ungermann) and CEO of Zilog, the first company solely dedicated to microprocessors, and led the development of the ZilogZ80 and Z8 processors. He was...
Freescale v4e, Motorola 680x0, MIPS, PowerPC, IBM System z, TI MSP430, ZilogZ80. SDAS (fork of ASxxxx Cross Assemblers and part of the Small Device C...
designed by Radofin and released by Mattel Electronics in 1983. Based on the ZilogZ80 microprocessor, the system has a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4K of RAM, and...
notably including the MOS Technology 6502 and 6510 in addition to the ZilogZ80. Although considerably easier than in machine language, writing long programs...
Unix-style segment. "Z80,OOOTM CPU Preliminary Technical Manual September 1984" (PDF). p. 12(1-3). Retrieved 2023-12-08. Zilog Z80,000 CPU Preliminary...
Intel 8080 and the ZilogZ80. The SM83 has the seven general-purpose registers of the 8080 (compared to 14 on the Z80) but retains the Z80's extra bit manipulation...
between two other 8-bit processors: the Intel 8080 and the ZilogZ80. The SM83 uses the Z80's programming syntax and extra bit manipulation instructions...
Companion 1985 BBC/Heber (UK) ? ZilogZ80 8-bit Video Art LJN (U.S.) ? ? Zemmix Daewoo Electronics (South Korea) ZilogZ80 8-bit Sega Mark III/Master System...
Global Information
