The Z80 powered many retro favorites like the ZX Spectrum, TRS-80, MSX, Game Boy, Master System, Pac-Man arcade cabinet, and many more
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The original Z80 packed 8,500 transistors on a 4μm process and typically ran at 2.5 MHz, with later CMOS variants reaching 20 MHz. Binary compatibility with the Intel 8080 let it absorb the existing CP/M software base, with an on-die DRAM refresh counter that cut the number of support chips a system needed. Development of working prototypes cost roughly $400,000 against $500,000 in funding from Exxon, per the Computer History Museum.
However, Renaldas Zioma's FOSS Z80 project, launched shortly after the end-of-life notice , now has working silicon. The first version, fabbed on SkyWater's 130nm node through Tiny Tapeout 7 on a die of just 0.064mm 2 , has been confirmed as functional via the project’s GitHub repository. A QFN64 version with all 40 pins exposed followed on the Efabless CI2406 shuttle, two further runs then went through IHP's 130nm process, and the current run targets the classic DIP40 form factor using chip-on-board assembly on GlobalFoundries' 180nm GF180MCU node via Wafer.Space. The end goal here is to fab a drop-in replacement for machines like the ZX Spectrum and RC2014 kits.
The design is built around Guy Hutchison's TV80 Verilog core, and the project's Tiny Tapeout page says the 130nm CMOS implementation should support clocks up to 50 MHz, against 4 MHz for the original NMOS part.
Intel introduced ‘the first processor in the x86 series and the first 8086 microprocessor’ on this day in 1978
Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum receive clamshell makeover
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/zilog-z80-turns-50-as-open-source-replacement-heads-for-drop-in-dip40-silicon#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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