ATmega8A Data Sheet (Microchip, 2020)
The current archived device manual used to verify ATmega8A architecture, peripheral lifecycles, programming behavior, and electrical boundaries. It is a device contract, not a generic template for every AVR.
Microchip's 327-page ATmega8A data sheet is the current device-level replacement used when the supplied ATmega8(L) manual does not establish present-day ATmega8A behavior. The product was listed as in production when this source was audited on 2026-08-21.
How GTK uses it #
The manual supplies a coherent end-to-end example of a small AVR microcontroller: CPU and memories, clock/reset/power control, GPIO, interrupts, timers, serial interfaces, ADC/comparator, self-programming, serial programming, and electrical limits. Generic chapters use the causal mechanisms while marking register names, pin routes, timing, and sequences as device-specific.
The strongest operational lesson is that a peripheral is a state machine behind registers. Correct use requires an order: supply and clock validity, reset release, pin routing, configuration, stale-flag handling, enable, event/service, acknowledgement, and shutdown. Reading a single bit-field table never establishes that lifecycle.
Visual audit #
All 327 pages were rendered and inspected. The core diagram and memory maps support the AVR architecture chapter. Clock/reset distribution, GPIO cell, interrupt table, timer block diagrams and waveforms, serial timing, ADC path, boot partition, and programming connections support the generic peripheral chapters.
Electrical-characteristic plots and package pinouts remain attached to this source rather than being generalized. No figure is copied; GTK's diagrams explicitly separate reusable state flow from ATmega8A-specific registers and pins.
Boundaries #
- The data sheet, revision history, and device errata form one operational contract; none should be substituted by a family summary.
- Typical-characteristic graphs are not guaranteed limits.
- Peripheral flags may clear through different mechanisms; a write-one-to-clear rule is not universal even within one device.
- Fuse, lock, boot, and programming operations can make code unreachable or disable an interface, so production procedures must name the exact device and recovery path.