Description

The MC68020 is the first full 32-bit implementation of the M68000 family of microprocessors from Motorola. Using VLSI technology, the MC68020 is implemented with 32-bit registers and data paths, 32-bit addresses, a rich instruction set, and versatile addressing modes. The MC68020 is object-code compatible with earlier members of the M68000 family and has the added features of new addressing modes in support of high-level languages, an on-chip instruction cache, and a flexible coprocessor interface with full IEEE floating-point support (the MC68881 and MC68882). The asynchronous bus structure of the MC68020 uses a nonmultiplexed bus with 32 bits of address and 32 bits of data. The processor supports a dynamic bus sizing mechanism that allows the processor to transfer operands to or from external devices while automatically determining device port size on a cycle-by-cycle basis. The dynamic bus interface allows access to devices of differing data bus widths, in addition to eliminating all data alignment restrictions.

Specifications and features

The main features of the MC68020/EC020 are as follows:
• Object-Code Compatible with Earlier M68000 Microprocessors
• Addressing Mode Extensions for Enhanced Support of High-Level Languages
• New Bit Field Data Type Accelerates Bit-Oriented Applications—e.g., Video Graphics
• An On-Chip Instruction Cache for Faster Instruction Execution
• Coprocessor Interface to Companion 32-Bit Peripherals—the MC68881 and MC68882 Floating-Point Coprocessors and the MC68851 Paged Memory Management Unit
• Pipelined Architecture with High Degree of Internal Parallelism Allowing Multiple Instructions To Be Executed Concurrently
• High-Performance Asynchronous Bus Is Nonmultiplexed and Full 32 Bits
• Dynamic Bus Sizing Efficiently Supports 8-/16-/32-Bit Memories and Peripherals
• Full Support of Virtual Memory and Virtual Machine
• Sixteen 32-Bit General-Purpose Data and Address Registers
• Two 32-Bit Supervisor Stack Pointers and Five Special-Purpose Control Registers
• Eighteen Addressing Modes and Seven Data Types
• 4-Gbyte Direct Addressing Range for the MC68020
• 16-Mbyte Direct Addressing Range for the MC68EC020
• Selection of Processor Speeds for the MC68020: 16.67, 20, 25, and 33.33 MHz
• Selection of Processor Speeds for the MCEC68020: 16.67 and 25 MHz

Application Scenarios

This microprocessor is suitable for a wide range of applications including high-level language programming, video graphics, virtual memory systems, and 32-bit peripherals.

Comparison

- Object-code compatible with earlier M68000 microprocessors
- New addressing modes for enhanced support of high-level languages
- On-chip instruction cache for faster instruction execution
- Support for full IEEE floating-point with coprocessor interface
- High-performance asynchronous bus for efficient data transfer
- Dynamic bus sizing for compatibility with different data bus widths

- Limited processor speeds available
- Limited direct addressing range for the MC68EC020 model