Microcontrollers from different manufacturers have different architectures and different capabilities. Some may suit a particular application while others may be totally unsuitable for the same application. The hardware features common to most microcontrollers are described in this section.

Most microcontrollers operate with the standard logic voltage of +5V. Some microcontrollers can operate at as low as +2.7V, and some will tolerate +6V without any problem. The manufacturer’s data sheet will have information about the allowed limits of the power supply voltage. PIC18F452 microcontrollers can operate with a power supply of +2V to +5.5V.

Usually, a voltage regulator circuit is used to obtain the required power supply voltage when the device is operated from a mains adapter or batteries. For example, a 5V regulator is required if the microcontroller is operated from a 5V supply using a 9V battery.

All microcontrollers require a clock (or an oscillator) to operate, usually provided by external timing devices connected to the microcontroller. In most cases, these external timing devices are a crystal plus two small capacitors. In some cases they are resonators or an external resistor-capacitor pair. Some microcontrollers have built-in timing circuits and do not require external timing components. If an application is not time-sensitive, external or internal (if available) resistor-capacitor timing components are the best option for their simplicity and low cost.

An instruction is executed by fetching it from the memory and then decoding it. This usually takes several clock cycles and is known as the instruction cycle. In PIC microcontrollers, an instruction cycle takes four clock periods. Thus the microcontroller operates at a clock rate that is one-quarter of the actual oscillator frequency. The PIC18F series of microcontrollers can operate with clock frequencies up to 40MHz.