Beginner: How to know if its 8bit or 16 bit MCU?

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Beginner: How to know if its 8bit or 16 bit MCU?

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jigsaw
Contributor I
Sorry if im askin stupid questions but im new to microcontrollers, i started to use two boards DEMO9S08LL16 and MC9S12E128 how do i know if its 8bit or 16bit? what exactly is 8bit and 16 bit (i know what 8bit and 16bit means in general but why we use it in MCU)? whats the difference between both? Thx
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J2MEJediMaster
Specialist I

In general, if the part has "08" (for example, RS08, HCS08, HC08) in it, the MCU is 8-bit. If the part has a "12" in it, the MCU is 16-bit. If the embedded application will manage simple control functions, then you often use an 8-bit part. If the embedded application will require data processing (generating packets for a network connection, sampling an ADC and computing an average) then a 16-bit part, which has more computing power, might be used.

 

That is an oversimplified explanation, of course, but is the essence of why there are the two different MCU types.

 

---Tom

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