PIC (usually pronounced as /pɪk/) is a family of microcontrollers made by Microchip
Technology, derived from the PIC1640[1][2] originally developed by General
Instrument's Microelectronics Division. The name PIC initially referred to Peripheral
Interface Controller,[3] and was subsequently expanded for a short time to
include Programmable Intelligent Computer,[4] though the name PIC is no longer
used as an acronym for any term. The first parts of the family were available in 1976;
by 2013 the company had shipped more than twelve billion individual parts, used in a
wide variety of embedded systems.[5]
The PIC was originally designed as a peripheral for the General Instrument CP1600,
the first commercially available single-chip 16-bit microprocessor. To limit the
number of pins required, the CP1600 had a complex highly-multiplexed bus which
was difficult to interface with, so in addition to a variety of special-purpose
peripherals, General Instrument made the programmable PIC1640 as an all-purpose
peripheral. With its own small RAM, ROM and a simple CPU for controlling the
transfers, it could connect the CP1600 bus to virtually any existing 8-bit peripheral.
While this offered considerable power, GI's marketing was limited and the CP1600
was not a success. However, GI had also made the PIC1650, a standalone PIC1640
with additional general-purpose I/O in place of the CP1600 interface. When the
company spun off their chip division to form Microchip in 1985, sales of the CP1600
were all but dead, but the PIC1650 and successors had formed a major market of
their own, and they became one of the new company's primary products.[6]
Early models only had mask ROM for code storage, but with its spinoff it was soon
upgraded to use EPROM and then EEPROM, which made it possible for end-users
to program the devices in their own facilities. All current models use flash memory for
program storage, and newer models allow the PIC to reprogram itself. Since then the
line has seen significant change; memory is now available in 8-bit, 16-bit, and, in
latest models, 32-bit wide. Program instructions vary in bit-count by family of PIC,
and may be 12, 14, 16, or 24 bits long. The instruction set also varies by model, with
more powerful chips adding instructions for digital signal processing functions. The
hardware implementations of PIC devices range from 6-pin SMD, 8-pin DIP chips up
to 144-pin SMD chips, with discrete I/O pins, ADC and DAC modules, and
communications ports such as UART, I2C, CAN, and even USB. Low-power and
high-speed variations exist for many types.
The manufacturer supplies computer software for development known as MPLAB X,
assemblers and C/C++ compilers, and programmer/debugger hardware under
the MPLAB and PICKit series. Third party and some open-source tools are also
available. Some parts have in-circuit programming capability; low-cost development
programmers are available as well as high-volume production programmers.
PIC devices are popular with both industrial developers and hobbyists due to their
low cost, wide availability, large user base, an extensive collection of application
notes, availability of low cost or free development tools, serial programming, and re-
programmable flash-memory capability.
