Now then, what do people need devices that operate off 3V power sources for? That’s right, portable applications: king of the 8-bit microprocessor generation, Campbell, California-based Zilog Inc has come out with 3.0V versions of the Z80 microprocessor family, as well as the Z85C30 Serial Communications Controller and SCSI families of products; the new 3.0V Z80 family includes the Z84C00 Z80 CPU, the Z80181 Z181 microprocessor, the Z84C15 Integrated Peripheral Controller, the Z84C90 KI0 and the new static version of the Z180; the new 0-volt products will operate in a range of voltage from 2.7V to 5.5V at frequencies from 6MHz to 10MHz, depending on the device; pricing on the 3V family will be similar to those of the 5V versions which will continue in production, Zilog said.
