Features of the Device

The Features section of a data sheet is typically located on the first page of the data sheet.  Most often, they are indicated using a bullet format to provide a break-down on a peripheral or device designation.  Typical information contained in this section include:

1. Clock and cycle time - This data provides the maximum selectable speeds and clock outputs the processor can operate under normal conditions.  This data is also used to define the instruction or cycle time the device can perform an instruction.

2. Package Options - This section will provide information on the type of packages available for the device and the pin counts

3. Instruction set - This section summarizes the type of architecture and special features that optimize code size or execution time.

4. Peripherals - This section summarizes the peripherals available on the device as well as define important parameters of their operation (registers, interfaces)

5. Memory - This section will define the sizes of both on chip memory and off chip addressing space.  The data will also include a break-down on how that memory is available for data and program space.