2545M–AVR–09/07

ATmega48/88/168

Note that enabling the alternate function of some of the port pins does not affect the use of the

other pins in the port as general digital I/O.

13.2 Ports as General Digital I/O

The ports are bi-directional I/O ports with optional internal pull-ups. Figure 13-2 shows a func-

tional description of one I/O-port pin, here generically called Pxn.

Figure 13-2. General Digital I/O

(1)

Note: 1. WRx, WPx, WDx, RRx, RPx, and RDx are common to all pins within the same port. clk

I/O

SLEEP, and PUD are common to all ports.

13.2.1 Configuring the Pin

Each port pin consists of three register bits: DDxn, PORTxn, and PINxn. As shown in “Register

Description” on page 88, the DDxn bits are accessed at the DDRx I/O address, the PORTxn bits

at the PORTx I/O address, and the PINxn bits at the PINx I/O address.

The DDxn bit in the DDRx Register selects the direction of this pin. If DDxn is written logic one,

Pxn is configured as an output pin. If DDxn is written logic zero, Pxn is configured as an input

pin.

If PORTxn is written logic one when the pin is configured as an input pin, the pull-up resistor is

activated. To switch the pull-up resistor off, PORTxn has to be written logic zero or the pin has to

be configured as an output pin. The port pins are tri-stated when reset condition becomes active,

even if no clocks are running.

clk

RPx

RRx

RDx

WDx

PUD

SYNCHRONIZER

WDx: WRITE DDRx

WRx: WRITE PORTx

RRx: READ PORTx REGISTER

RPx: READ PORTx PIN

PUD: PULLUP DISABLE

clk

I/O

: I/O CLOCK

RDx: READ DDRx

RESET

Q D

CLR

PORTxn

Q D

CLR

DDxn

PINxn

DATA BU S

SLEEP

SLEEP: SLEEP CONTROL

Pxn

I/O

WPx

WRx

WPx: WRITE PINx REGISTER

2545M–AVR–09/07

ATmega48/88/168

If PORTxn is written logic one when the pin is configured as an output pin, the port pin is driven

high (one). If PORTxn is written logic zero when the pin is configured as an output pin, the port

pin is driven low (zero).

13.2.2 Toggling the Pin

Writing a logic one to PINxn toggles the value of PORTxn, independent on the value of DDRxn.

Note that the SBI instruction can be used to toggle one single bit in a port.

13.2.3 Switching Between Input and Output

When switching between tri-state ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b00) and output high ({DDxn, PORTxn}

= 0b11), an intermediate state with either pull-up enabled {DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b01) or output

low ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b10) must occur. Normally, the pull-up enabled state is fully accept-

able, as a high-impedance environment will not notice the difference between a strong high

driver and a pull-up. If this is not the case, the PUD bit in the MCUCR Register can be set to dis-

able all pull-ups in all ports.

Switching between input with pull-up and output low generates the same problem. The user

must use either the tri-state ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b00) or the output high state ({DDxn, PORTxn}

= 0b11) as an intermediate step.

Table 13-1 summarizes the control signals for the pin value.

13.2.4 Reading the Pin Value

Independent of the setting of Data Direction bit DDxn, the port pin can be read through the

PINxn Register bit. As shown in Figure 13-2, the PINxn Register bit and the preceding latch con-

stitute a synchronizer. This is needed to avoid metastability if the physical pin changes value

near the edge of the internal clock, but it also introduces a delay. Figure 13-3 shows a timing dia-

gram of the synchronization when reading an externally applied pin value. The maximum and

minimum propagation delays are denoted t

pd,max

and t

pd,min

respectively.

Table 13-1. Port Pin Configurations

DDxn PORTxn

PUD

(in MCUCR) I/O Pull-up Comment

0 0 X Input No Tri-state (Hi-Z)

0 1 0 Input Yes Pxn will source current if ext. pulled low.

0 1 1 Input No Tri-state (Hi-Z)

1 0 X Output No Output Low (Sink)

1 1 X Output No Output High (Source)

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ATmega48/88/168

Figure 13-3. Synchronization when Reading an Externally Applied Pin value

Consider the clock period starting shortly after the first falling edge of the system clock. The latch

is closed when the clock is low, and goes transparent when the clock is high, as indicated by the

shaded region of the “SYNC LATCH” signal. The signal value is latched when the system clock

goes low. It is clocked into the PINxn Register at the succeeding positive clock edge. As indi-

cated by the two arrows tpd,max and tpd,min, a single signal transition on the pin will be delayed

between ½ and 1½ system clock period depending upon the time of assertion.

When reading back a software assigned pin value, a nop instruction must be inserted as indi-

cated in Figure 13-4. The out instruction sets the “SYNC LATCH” signal at the positive edge of

the clock. In this case, the delay tpd through the synchronizer is 1 system clock period.

Figure 13-4. Synchronization when Reading a Software Assigned Pin Value

The following code example shows how to set port B pins 0 and 1 high, 2 and 3 low, and define

the port pins from 4 to 7 as input with pull-ups assigned to port pins 6 and 7. The resulting pin

values are read back again, but as previously discussed, a nop instruction is included to be able

to read back the value recently assigned to some of the pins.

XXX in r17, PINx

0x00 0xFF

INSTRUCTIONS

SYNC LATCH

PINxn

r17

XXX

SYSTEM CLK

pd, max

pd, min

out PORTx, r16 nop in r17, PINx

0xFF

0x00 0xFF

SYSTEM CLK

r16

INSTRUCTIONS

SYNC LATCH

PINxn

r17

Part #	ATMEGA48-20AU
Description	MCU 8BIT ATMEGA RISC 4KB FLASH 3.3V/5V 32TQFP - Trays
Category	IC
Availability	Out of Stock
Qty	0

ATMEGA48-20AU

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