Making the most of VLSI in microcomputers

ABSTRACT

An introduction to the innovative SCAT design philosophy for VLSI microcomputers of Texas Instruments (TI) is presented. The recently announced 8-bit TMS7000 Microcomputer family is used as an example of a SCAT design. TMS7000 benefits resulting from SCAT include a very dense bar for lower chip costs and microcomputer prices; a unique microprogrammability feature that will allow a user to modify the instruction set for the few applications that require it; and the architectural flexibility that will allow TI to bring many new microcomputer devices to the marketplace quickly and easily.