ATmega8(L)
The dashed boxes in the block diagram separate the three main parts of the USART (listed from
the top): Clock generator, Transmitter and Receiver. Control Registers are shared by all units.
The clock generation logic consists of synchronization logic for external clock input used by syn-
chronous slave operation, and the baud rate generator. The XCK (transfer clock) pin is only
used by synchronous transfer mode. The Transmitter consists of a single write buffer, a serial
Shift Register, Parity Generator and control logic for handling different serial frame formats. The
write buffer allows a continuous transfer of data without any delay between frames. The
Receiver is the most complex part of the USART module due to its clock and data recovery
units. The recovery units are used for asynchronous data reception. In addition to the recovery
units, the Receiver includes a parity checker, control logic, a Shift Register and a two level
receive buffer (UDR). The Receiver supports the same frame formats as the Transmitter, and
can detect Frame Error, Data OverRun and Parity Errors.
AVR USART vs. AVR
UART – Compatibility
The USART is fully compatible with the AVR UART regarding:
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Bit locations inside all USART Registers
Baud Rate Generation
Transmitter Operation
Transmit Buffer Functionality
Receiver Operation
However, the receive buffering has two improvements that will affect the compatibility in some
special cases:
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A second Buffer Register has been added. The two Buffer Registers operate as a circular
FIFO buffer. Therefore the UDR must only be read once for each incoming data! More
important is the fact that the Error Flags (FE and DOR) and the ninth data bit (RXB8) are
buffered with the data in the receive buffer. Therefore the status bits must always be read
before the UDR Register is read. Otherwise the error status will be lost since the buffer state
is lost
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The Receiver Shift Register can now act as a third buffer level. This is done by allowing the
received data to remain in the serial Shift Register (see Figure 61 on page 129) if the Buffer
Registers are full, until a new start bit is detected. The USART is therefore more resistant to
Data OverRun (DOR) error conditions
The following control bits have changed name, but have same functionality and register location:
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CHR9 is changed to UCSZ2
OR is changed to DOR
Clock Generation
The clock generation logic generates the base clock for the Transmitter and Receiver. The
USART supports four modes of clock operation: normal asynchronous, double speed asynchro-
nous, Master synchronous and Slave Synchronous mode. The UMSEL bit in USART Control
and Status Register C (UCSRC) selects between asynchronous and synchronous operation.
Double speed (Asynchronous mode only) is controlled by the U2X found in the UCSRA Regis-
ter. When using Synchronous mode (UMSEL = 1), the Data Direction Register for the XCK pin
(DDR_XCK) controls whether the clock source is internal (Master mode) or external (Slave
mode). The XCK pin is only active when using Synchronous mode.
Figure 62 on page 131 shows a block diagram of the clock generation logic.
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2486AA–AVR–02/2013
ATMEL [ ATMEL ]
