Programmable System on Chip

PSoC (Programmable System on Chip) represents a whole new concept in microcontroller development. In addition to all the standard elements of 8-bit microcontrollers, PSoC chips feature digital and analog programmable blocks, which themselves allow implementation of large number of peripherals.

Digital blocks consist of smaller programmable blocks that can be configured to allow different development options. Analog blocks are used for

development of analog elements, such as analog filters, comparators, instrumentation (non–) inverting amplifiers, as well as AD and DA converters.

There are a number of different PSoC families you can base your project upon, depending on the project requirements. Basic difference between PSoC families is the number of available programmable blocks and the number of input/output pins.

Number of components that can be devised is primarily a function of the available programmable blocks. Depending on the microcontroller family, PSoC chips have 4–16 digital blocks, and 3–12 analog programmable blocks.