8086 and Memory Interfacing

Bore Gowda S B
ECE Department
Manipal Institute of Technology
Manipal-576104

Memory organization
In the design of all computers, semiconductor memories are used as
primary storage for data and code
They are connected directly to the CPU and they are the memory the CPU
asks for information (code or data)
Among the most widely used are RAM and ROM
The physical address space, or memory map, of a microprocessor refers to
the range of addresses of memory location that can accessed by the
microprocessor. The size of the address space depends on the number of
address lines of the microprocessor.
At least two memory devices are required in a microprocessor system:
one for the ROM and one for the RAM.
In an 8086 the high addresses in the memory map should always be
occupied by a ROM, while the low addresses in the memory map should
always be occupied by a RAM.
Memory Capacity
The number of bits/bytes that a semiconductor memory chip can store is
called its chip capacity

Memory organization
A memory device or memory chip must have three types of lines or
connections: Address, Data, Enable and Control.
Address Lines:
The input lines that select a memory location within the memory
device.

Decoders are used, inside the memory chip, to select a specific

location
The number of address pins on a memory chip specifies the
number of memory locations.
If n specifies the number of address lines, then
Number of memory location = 2n

Memory organization
Data Lines:
The data pins are typically bi-directional in read-write
memories.
The number of data pins is related to the size of the memory
location .
For example, an 8-bit wide (byte-wide) memory device has
8 data pins
The number of data lines (m-bits) determines the size of
each location in the memory.
Memory Capacity = 2n x m

Memory organization
Enable Lines:
All memory devices have at least one Chip Select () or Chip Enable
() input, used to select or enable the memory device.

If a device is not selected or enabled then no data can be read from, or

written into it.
The or input is usually controlled by the microprocessor through
the higher address lines via an address decoding circuit.

Control Lines:
RAM chips have two control input signals that specify the type of memory
operation: the Read () and the Write () signals.
Some RAM chips have a common Read/ Write (R/) signal.
ROM chips can perform only memory read operations, thus there is no need
for a Write () signal.
In most real ROM devices the Read signal is called the Output
Enable () signal.

Memory organization

Read/Write
R/

2n words
m-bits per word

Chip select
n-address lines
A0 - An

n-address lines
A0 - An

Chip select

Write Read

2n words
m-bits per word

m-data lines
D0 - Dm

m-data lines
D0 - Dm

RAM Memory Chip

RAM Memory Chip

Memory organization

n-address lines
A0 - An

Chip select

Read

2n words
m-bits per word

m-data lines
D0 - Dm

ROM Memory Chip

Memory Interfacing
If the microprocessor has n address lines, then it is possible to
address 2n =N memory locations.
If only P memory locations are to be interfaced, then least
significant p address lines out of n lines are required
The remaining (n-p) higher order address lines may be used to
generate chip select signal using decoding circuit
Procedure for interfacing memory with 8086
1. Arrange the available memory chips so as to obtain 16-bit data
bus width. The upper 8-bit bank is called ODD Address memory
bank and the lower 8-bit bank is called EVEN Address bank.
2. Connect address lines of memory chips with those of the
microprocessor and also connect the memory and inputs
to the corresponding to the processor control signal.
3. The remaining address lines of the microprocessor, , and A0
are used for generating the chip select signal for ODD and EVEN
bank using decoding circuits

Memory Decoding
In general, all the memory locations are not implemented.
All the address are not used by the memory devices to select
particular memory locations.
The unused lines are used to decode to generate chip select
signals.
Basically, two techniques are used to decode the address
1. Absolute or Full decoding
2. Linear or Partial decoding
Full Decoding
All of the higher address lines are decoded to select memory
chip, and the chip is selected only for the specified logic levels
on these high order address lines.
Each memory location has unique address
Disadvantages: it needs more hardware for decoding

Memory Decoding
Partial Decoding
All the address lines are not used to generate chip select,
basically used in small systems
Individual high order address lines are used to decode the chip
select for the memory chips using less hardware
Disadvantages: Each memory location has more than one
address called roll-over addresses (fold back or shading).

Decoding circuits
1.
2.
3.
4.

NAND gates
Decoders
Programmable Logic Devices(PLAs, PAL, GAL)
Comparators

Interface two 4Kx8 EPROM (8Kx8) chips to 8086. Select suitable address maps

Note:
1. The address of RAM may be selected anywhere in the 1MB
address space.
2. The address of EPROM/ROM may be selected such that the
address FFFF0H must lie in this space.
To address 8K=23 x 210 = 213 , the processor needs 13 address lines
So address lines A0 A12 used to address 8K locations
A13 A19 are used to generate chip select signal
Address Map/ Address decoding Table
CHIPS

A19 A18 A17 A16 A15 A14 A13 A12 A11 A10 A9 A8 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0 ADDRESS

EPROM 1
(O and E) 1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

To decoder

1
1

1
1

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

To 4K Memory IC

1
0

1
0

1
0

1
0

FFFFFH
FE000H