Using a timer and I/O pins to interface 8051 MCUs with I?C serial EEPROMs

The 24XXX series serial EEPROMs from Microchip Technology support a bidirectional, 2-wire bus and data transmission protocol. The bus is controlled by the MCU (master), which generates the serial clock, controls the bus access and generates the start and stop conditions, while the 24XXX serial EEPROM works as slave. The 24XXX serial EEPROMs are I?C compatible and have maximum clock frequencies ranging from 100kHz to 1MHz.

The main features of the 24XXX serial EEPROMs are:

2-wire serial interface bus, I?C compatible

EEPROM densities from 128bit to 512Kbit

Bus speed from 100kHz to 1MHz

Voltage range from 1.7V to 5.5V

Low power operation

Temperature range from -40°C to +125°C

Over 1,000,000 erase/write cycles

Up to eight devices may be connected to same bus.

This application note is part of a series that provide source code to help the user implement the protocol with minimal effort.

View the PDF document for more information.