Datasheet
DS87C520/DS83C520 EPROM/ROM High-Speed Microcontrollers 
17 of 43 
Crystal/Ring Operation 
The DS87C520/DS83C520 allow software to choose the clock source as an independent selection from 
the instruction cycle rate. The user can select crystal-based or ring oscillator-based operation under 
software control. Power-on reset default is the crystal (or external clock) source. The ring may save 
power depending on the actual crystal speed. To save still more power, software can then disable the 
crystal amplifier. This process requires two steps. Reversing the process also requires two steps. 
The XT/
RG
 bit (EXIF.3) selects the crystal or ring as the clock source. Setting XT/
RG
 = 1 selects the 
crystal. Setting XT/ RG  = 0 selects the ring. The RGMD (EXIF.2) bit serves as a status bit by indicating 
the active clock source. RGMD = 0 indicates the CPU is running from the crystal. RGMD = 1 indicates it 
is running from the ring. When operating from the ring, disable the crystal amplifier by setting the 
XTOFF bit (PMR.3) to 1. This can only be done when XT/ RG  = 0. 
When changing the clock source, the selection will take effect after a one-instruction cycle delay. This 
applies to changes from crystal to ring and vise versa. However, this assumes that the crystal amplifier is 
running. In most cases, when the ring is active, software previously disabled the crystal to save power. If 
ring operation is being used and the system must switch to crystal operation, the crystal must first be 
enabled. Set the XTOFF bit to 0. At this time, the crystal oscillation will begin. The 
DS87C520/DS83C520 then provide a warm-up delay to make certain that the frequency is stable. 
Hardware will set the XTUP bit (STATUS.4) to a 1 when the crystal is ready for use. Then software 
should write XT/
RG
 to 1 to begin operating from the crystal. Hardware prevents writing XT/
RG
 to 1 
before XTUP=1. The delay between XTOFF = 0 and XTUP = 1 will be 65,536 crystal clocks in addition 
to the crystal cycle startup time. 
Switchback has no effect on the clock source. If software selects a reduced clock divider and enables the 
ring, a Switchback will only restore the divider speed. The ring will remain as the time base until altered 
by software. If there is serial activity, Switchback usually occurs with enough time to create proper baud 
rates. This is not true if the crystal is off and the CPU is running from the ring. If sending a serial 
character that wakes the system from crystal-less PMM, then it should be a dummy character of no 
importance with a subsequent delay for crystal startup. 
Figure 3 illustrates a typical decision
 set associated with PMM. Table 6 is a summary of the bits relating 
to PMM and its operation. 










