ZiLOG

ZiLOG, often seen as Zilog, is a manufacturer of 8-bit CPUs, and is most famous for its Intel 8080-compatible Z80 series. Zilog was incorporated in California in 1974 by Federico Faggin, who left Intel after working on the 8080, and the Z80 was a vast improvement over it (it was faster, etc.). The Z80 was a best seller because it was much cheaper than the 8080. It was used in the Nintendo Game Boy and many Texas Instruments graphing calculators as the main processor and in some newer game consoles as a secondary processor, like the Mega Drive.

After the Z80 Zilog introduced 16-bit and 32-bit processors, but these were not particularly successful, and the company refocused on the microcontroller market, producing both basic CPUs and application-specific integrated circuits/standard products (ASICs/ASSPs) built around a CPU core. As well as producing processors, Zilog has produced several other components. One of the most famous was the Z8530 serial communications controller as found on Sun SPARCstations and SPARCservers up to the SPARCstation 20.

The company became a subsidiary of Exxon in 1980, but the management and employees bought it back in 1989. It went public in 1991, but was acquired in 1998 by Texas Pacific Group, who, after chip prices plummeted, reorganized the company in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2001.

List of ZiLOG products

Microprocessor families

Zilog Z80 (1976)
Zilog Z8000 (ca 1978)
Zilog Z8 (1979)
Zilog Z800 (1985)
Zilog Z80000 (late 1985)
Zilog Z280 (early 1986)
Zilog Z180 (late 1986)
Zilog Z380 (1994)
Zilog eZ80 (2001)
Zilog eZ8 (2005)

Infrared controllers

Zilog Crimzon

IrDA transceiver

ZHX series

Communication Controllers

Microprocessor

Z80382/Z8L382

Single chip modem

Z022 series

PCMCIA adapter

Z16017/Z16M17/Z86017

Serial Communication Controllers

Wireless controller

Z87200
Z87L01
Z87L10

Digital Signal Processor

Z86295
Z89 series

TV controllers

Line 21 Decoders

Z86129/Z86130/Z86131
Z86228/Z86229/Z86230

TV Controllers

Z90231
Z90233
Z90251
Z90255

External links

Electronics companies of the United States | 1974 establishments

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