In this topic we introduce the pic16F84 mcu

All these MPUs and MCUs were based on the von Neumann architecture used by mainframe computers. The alternative Harvard architecture,which is chiefly distinguished by having a separate memory space for program and data, originated at Harvard university for a US Defence department computing project, but was rejected in favor of a rival von Neumann design from Princeton university. The first MPU using this architecture was the Sig-netics 8X300, and this was adapted by General Instruments in the mid 1970s for use as a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) which was designed to be a programmable I/O port for their 16-bit CP1600 MPU.
General Instruments sold off their microelectronics division in 1988 to a start up company called Arizona Microchip Technology. Microchip’s main product was, and is still, a series of microcontroller families based on this PIC architecture. Their first family was introduced in 1989 with the PIC16C5X series. These Harvard processors are based on a set of only 33 instructions. All instructions are coded in a single 12-bit word. This use of a primordial instruction set is known as Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and contrasts with the Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) model used in most computers/MPUs where several hundred instructions/modes are provided, and because of their number take several memory words to encode. The combination of single-word instructions, the simplified instruction decoder implicit with the RISC paradigm and the Harvard separate Program and Data buses gives a fast, efficient and cost effective processor implementation. The PIC16C5XX 12-bit core family features between 512 and 2048-instruction Program stores implemented as One-Time Programmable (OTP) EEPROM, 25 to 73 bytes of Data memory, 12 or 20 I/O pins in the 18- and 28-pin package respectively, and an 8-bit timer. The PIC12CXXX family are 8-pin equivalents.
By 1992 the PIC16CXXX family family based on a 14-bit core enabled easier addressing of larger Program spaces and additional peripheral devices, such as 16-bit timers and A/D converters as well as interrupt handling. The RISC instruction set is virtually identical to the 12-bit core, with a total of 35 instructions. The 16-bit PIC17CXXX core, introduced in 1997, has 58 instruction, with a multiplying ALU and further interface capabilities. It is complemented by the extended 16-bit core PIC18CXXX family introduced in 1999 with 77 instructions more oriented towards high-level language compiler needs.