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  • A strange quantum effect could power future electronics
    Rice University physicists confirmed that flat electronic bands in kagome superconductors aren’t just theoretical, they actively shape superconductivity and magnetism. This breakthrough could guide the design of next-generation quantum materials and technologies.
  • Room-temperature quantum breakthrough freezes motion without cooling
    ETH Zurich scientists have levitated a tower of three nano glass spheres using optical tweezers, suppressing almost all classical motion to observe quantum zero-point fluctuations with unprecedented precision. Achieving 92% quantum purity at room temperature, a feat usually requiring near absolute zero, they have opened the door to advanced quantum sensors without costly cooling.
  • Tiny gold “super atoms” could spark a quantum revolution
    Scientists have found that microscopic gold clusters can act like the world’s most accurate quantum systems, while being far easier to scale up. With tunable spin properties and mass production potential, they could transform quantum computing and sensing.
  • Scientists unveil bioplastic that degrades at room temperature, and outperforms petroplastics
    Plastic pollution is a mounting global issue, but scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have taken a bold step forward by creating a new bioplastic inspired by the structure of leaves. Their innovation, LEAFF, enhances strength, functionality, and biodegradability by utilizing cellulose nanofibers, outperforming even traditional plastics. It degrades at room temperature, can be […]
  • Building electronics that don’t die: Columbia's breakthrough at CERN
    Deep beneath the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider unleashes staggering amounts of energy and radiation—enough to fry most electronics. Enter a team of Columbia engineers, who built ultra-rugged, radiation-resistant chips that now play a pivotal role in capturing data from subatomic particle collisions. These custom-designed ADCs not only survive the hostile environment inside CERN […]
  • Digital twins are reinventing clean energy — but there’s a catch
    Researchers are exploring AI-powered digital twins as a game-changing tool to accelerate the clean energy transition. These digital models simulate and optimize real-world energy systems like wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. But while they hold immense promise for improving efficiency and sustainability, the technology is still riddled with challenges—from environmental variability and degraded equipment […]

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Educational graphic showing the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) process using the PIC16F877A microcontroller. On the left is a graph of a smooth analog voltage waveform sampled at discrete points (shown as red dots), and on the right is the PIC16F877A chip with MPLAB X IDE branding. The image illustrates how analog voltages are digitized for processing in microcontroller-based systems.
PIC16F877A Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)
The ADC module in microcontrollers indeed allows them to interface with the analog world by converting continuous analog signals into discrete digital values. This capability...
Graphical illustration of PWM signal showing narrow and wide pulses with varying duty cycles. Includes a 10V signal graph, labels for voltage levels, and mentions PIC16F877A microcontroller and MPLAB X IDE.
Using PWM in PIC16F877A
Digital signals (0 or 1) and analog signals (range of values) are both used in electronics. Analog inputs can be converted to digital through an...
Educational slide introducing Timer2 of the PIC16F877A microcontroller. It includes a stopwatch icon with the phrase “Alarm, Timers, how does it work?” on the left, and an image of the PIC microcontroller with MPLAB X IDE branding on the right. The tutorial focuses on Timer2's use in generating precise delays and pulse-width modulation (PWM).
PIC16F877A Timer2 tutorial
The Timer2 module is an 8-bit timer/counter within most PIC MCU devices. Timer2 can increment up to a value of 255 before it overflows back...
Educational slide introducing the Timer1 module of the PIC16F877A microcontroller. The left side shows a stopwatch icon and the question “Alarm, Timers, how does it work?”, while the right side features the microcontroller image and MPLAB X IDE logo. The tutorial focuses on Timer1's role in timing, delays, and interrupts.
PIC16F877A Timer1 Tutorial
The Timer1 module is a 16-bit timer/counter within most PIC MCU devices. Timer1 can increment up to a value of 65535 before it overflows back...
Educational graphic introducing Timer0 of the PIC16F877A microcontroller. On the left, a stopwatch icon and the question "Alarm, Timers, how does it work?" highlight practical applications. On the right, a microcontroller image and the MPLAB X IDE logo indicate the programming environment used for learning timer-based functionality.
PIC16F877A Timer0 tutorial
The Timer0 module is an 8-bit timer/counter that is included with all 8-bit PIC MCU devices. The Timer0 is more than just a timer....
Educational slide introducing the use of hardware timers in the PIC16F877A microcontroller. The left side features a stopwatch icon and the question “Alarm, Timers, how does it work?”, while the right side shows the microcontroller and MPLAB X IDE logo. The image sets the stage for learning about Timer0, Timer1, and Timer2 functionality.
PIC Microcontrollers Timers
In this tutorial, we will learn what are "Timers"; we will explain this with examples using the Microcontroller PIC16F877A. For this tutorial is may be...

Prerequisits

To make it easier, I assume you have a basic knowledge of the following:

  • Basic circuitry knowledge; such as resistors, transistors, diodes, relays.
  • Basic programming knowledge in C; understand what are functions, operators, data types, and more.
  • Digital electronics, such as logic gates.

On some occasions I will explain it from scratch, but to understand everything, it is best to brush up on the basics so that you can follow the tutorials.

Required Software

For these tutorials we use Microchip’s own software package that includes:

  • MPLAB X IDE
  • XC8 Compiler
  • PICKIT3 programmer/debugger

All the tools can be downloaded at the official website of Microchip Technology

Required Hardware

The full tutorial consists of many different types of electrical components, sensors and actuators. It depends completely on your own project what you need. However, in all cases you will need a Pickit3 tool to install the software and you need at least 1 PIC16F877A microcontroller to install it on.