Zilog Z80

Zilog Z80

A Z80 manufactured in June 1976 according to the date stamp
General information
Launched	July 1976
Designed by	Federico Faggin, Masatoshi Shima
Common manufacturer(s)	Mostek, Synertek, Zilog, SGS-Thomson, NEC, Sharp, Toshiba, Rohm, GoldStar (LG), Hitachi, National Semiconductor,[i] and others
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate	2.5, 4, 6, 8 MHz to 10 MHz with CMOS variant up to 20 MHz and binary compatible derivatives (from Zilog) up to 33 and 50 MHz
Data width	8 bits[1]
Address width	16 bits[1]
Architecture and classification
Instruction set	Z80[ii]
Physical specifications
Transistors	8500 (4 μm process)
Package(s)	40-pin DIP, 44-pin PLCC, 44-pin QFP
Socket(s)	Not applicable
History
Predecessor(s)	Intel 8080
Successor(s)	Z8000 Z800/Z280 Z180 Z380 eZ80

The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975, before going on sale in July 1976. The processor is a software-compatible with the Intel 8080 but with several enhancements and at a lower price. Like the 8080, the Z80 was mainly aimed at embedded systems, but it became one of the most widely used CPUs in home computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s.^[2][3] The Zilog Z80 was also common in military applications, musical equipment (such as synthesizers like the Roland Jupiter-8), and coin-operated arcade games of the era, including Pac-Man.

With the revenue from the Z80, the company built its own chip factories.^[4] Zilog licensed the Z80 to the US-based Synertek and Mostek, which had helped them with initial production, as well as to a European second-source manufacturer SGS. The design was also copied by several Japanese, Eastern European and Soviet manufacturers.^[iii] This won the Z80 acceptance in the world market since large companies like NEC, Toshiba, Sharp, and Hitachi started to manufacture the device (or their own Z80-compatible clones or designs).

In later decades, the Z80 remained in use in embedded systems and continued to see improvements. The most recent Z80-compatible microcontroller family, the fully pipelined 24-bit eZ80 with a linear 16 MB address range, has been sold alongside the simpler Z80 and Z180 products.

Zilog announced in April 2024 that it would begin discontinuing manufacture of the Z80 CPU after 48 years on the market.^[5]

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