18F series PICs versus 16F series

echase · Post by **echase** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:20 pm

What is the fundamental difference between the 18F PIC series and the 16F series?

I canβ€™t see any real difference in technology between the two. Did they just run out of 16F numbers and move on to the 18F series or is there some new technology used in the 18F series? Microchipβ€™s website does not seem to explain this.

Post by **Benj** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:45 pm

Hello

the PIC18 series tend to be more powerful then the PIC16 series.

Here are a few examples of why the PIC18 is more powerful.

Faster clock speed - Up to 48MHz.
USB support.
More peripherals like extra SPI, MI2C and UART.
More memory.
Bigger EEPROM.
Larger Chips with more I/O - Up to Port H or J

echase · Post by **echase** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:54 pm

Thanks. So itβ€™s an incremental change rather than a whole new technology.

Post by **Benj** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:51 pm

Hello

Yes the PIC18 devices are very similar to the PIC16 as they are both 8 bit devices. The only difference being the power and usability of the device.

Post by **Steve** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:07 am

If you are using Flowcode, or even C, you will probably not notice much of a difference apart from the extra ROM, RAM, speed, size and peripherals.

However, if you use Assembly then things have changed quite a bit. The "core" of the device has changed and offers many improvements over the 16F devices. For example, the program memory bus is now 16 bits wide (the 16F was 14-bits wide) which allows for a bigger addressing space and more instructions.

But don't see the 18F series as a replacement for the 16F series. The 16F devices will be enough for many applications and are generally cheaper.