CY8C9520A
CY8C9540A
CY8C9560A
Document Number: 38-12036 Rev. *I Page 28 of 32
microcontroller An integrated circuit chip that is designed primarily for control systems and products. In addition to a CPU, a
microcontroller typically includes memory, timing circuits, and IO circuitry. The reason for this is to permit the
realization of a controller with a minimal quantity of chips, thus achieving maximal possible miniaturization. This
in turn, reduces the volume and the cost of the controller. The microcontroller is normally not used for
general-purpose computation as is a microprocessor.
mixed-signal The reference to a circuit containing both analog and digital techniques and components.
modulator A device that imposes a signal on a carrier.
noise 1. A disturbance that affects a signal and that may distort the information carried by the signal.
2. The random variations of one or more characteristics of any entity such as voltage, current, or data.
oscillator A circuit that may be crystal controlled and is used to generate a clock frequency.
parity A technique for testing transmitting data. Typically, a binary digit is added to the data to make the sum of all the
digits of the binary data either always even (even parity) or always odd (odd parity).
Phase-locked
loop (PLL)
An electronic circuit that controls an oscillator so that it maintains a constant phase angle relative to a reference
signal.
pinouts The pin number assignment: the relation between the logical inputs and outputs of the PSoC device and their
physical counterparts in the printed circuit board (PCB) package. Pinouts involve pin numbers as a link between
schematic and PCB design (both being computer generated files) and may also involve pin names.
port A group of pins, usually eight.
Power on reset
(POR)
A circuit that forces the PSoC device to reset when the voltage is below a pre-set level. This is one type of hardware
reset.
PSoC
®
Cypress Semiconductor’s PSoC
®
is a registered trademark and Programmable System-on-Chip™ is a trademark
of Cypress.
PSoC Designer™ The software for Cypress’ Programmable System-on-Chip technology.
pulse width
modulator (PWM)
An output in the form of duty cycle which varies as a function of the applied measurand
RAM An acronym for random access memory. A data-storage device from which data can be read out and new data
can be written in.
register A storage device with a specific capacity, such as a bit or byte.
reset A means of bringing a system back to a know state. See hardware reset and software reset.
ROM An acronym for read only memory. A data-storage device from which data can be read out, but new data cannot
be written in.
serial 1. Pertaining to a process in which all events occur one after the other.
2. Pertaining to the sequential or consecutive occurrence of two or more related activities in a single device or
channel.
settling time The time it takes for an output signal or value to stabilize after the input has changed from one value to another.
shift register A memory storage device that sequentially shifts a word either left or right to output a stream of serial data.
slave device A device that allows another device to control the timing for data exchanges between two devices. Or when
devices are cascaded in width, the slave device is the one that allows another device to control the timing of data
exchanges between the cascaded devices and an external interface. The controlling device is called the master
device.
SRAM An acronym for static random access memory. A memory device where you can store and retrieve data at a high
rate of speed. The term static is used because, after a value is loaded into an SRAM cell, it remains unchanged
until it is explicitly altered or until power is removed from the device.
SROM An acronym for supervisory read only memory. The SROM holds code that is used to boot the device, calibrate
circuitry, and perform Flash operations. The functions of the SROM may be accessed in normal user code,
operating from Flash.
Glossary (continued)
