Motorola MC14500B


The MC14500B Industrial Control Unit is a CMOS one-bit microprocessor designed by Motorola for simple control applications in 1977. It is well-suited to the implementation of ladder logic, and thus could be used to replace relay systems and programmable logic controllers, also intended for serial data manipulation. The processor supports 16 commands, operating at a frequency of 1 MHz. The MC14500B unit does not include a program counter ; instead, a clock signal drives a separate PC chip; therefore the size of supported memory is dependent on the implementation of that chip. It was still in production in 1995.
The ICU was conceived by Vern Gregory in the mid-1970s while working as an engineer in a marketing / applications group of Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector in Phoenix, AZ; Brian Dellande originated circuit and sub-routine designs, and co-wrote the manual; Ray DiSilvestro was the bench technician; Terry Malarkey provided management support.
In the CMOS Logic Division in Austin, TX Phil Smith was the chip designer; Mike Hadley provided product applications support.
A form of the design served as an embedded controller in a custom automotive chip made for NipponDenso by Motorola—Japan. I.P.R.S. Băneasa manufactured a clone of the MC14500B with the designation βP14500 in IIL technology.
One of the computers known to be based on this processor is the educational WDR 1-bit computer.
The ICU architecture is similar to that of the DEC PDP-14 computer.