PIC16LF877A-I/P - 8-bit PIC MCU 14KB Flash 40-PDIP | Microchip
MPN: PIC16LF877A-I/P ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8.1 | $8.10 |
| 10 | $7.32 | $73.20 |
| 100 | $6.55 | $655.00 |
| 500 | $5.81 | $2,905.00 |
| 1,000 | $5.2 | $5,200.00 |
PIC16LF877A-I/P Overview
A microcontroller (MCU) is a single-chip computer that integrates a CPU core, non-volatile program memory (Flash/ROM), working RAM, and a rich set of peripherals such as timers, ADC, UART, and I/O ports onto one silicon die. PIC16F-series parts sit in the mid-range PIC16 family, which is positioned between the baseline PIC10/12/16/17 families and the high-performance PIC18/dsPIC33 families, and is widely used in industrial control, hobbyist, and education markets because of its deterministic instruction set, low cost, and the free MPLAB X IDE toolchain.
Key features include 33 digital I/O pins, a 10-bit ADC with up to 8 channels, two 8-bit timers plus one 16-bit timer, two capture/compare/PWM modules, a USART with RS-485 support, an MSSP port for SPI and I2C (master/slave), two analog comparators, an 8-bit parallel slave port, and brown-out reset plus power-on reset. The 40-pin PDIP package has a maximum power dissipation of approximately 1 W and is ideal for through-hole prototyping, breadboards, and legacy industrial boards.
The PIC16LF877A uses a 14-bit instruction word and a modified Harvard architecture with separate program and data buses, allowing instruction fetch and data access in the same cycle. The flash memory supports in-circuit serial programming (ICSP) via two pins (RB6/RB7), enabling firmware updates without removing the part from the board.
Typical applications include industrial sensor conditioning, motor control boards, HVAC thermostats, educational embedded platforms, and consumer appliance controllers. The wide 2.0V-5.5V range also supports battery-powered data loggers when paired with an external low-frequency crystal.
When designing with this device, place decoupling capacitors (100 nF plus 10 uF) within 5 mm of VDD/VSS, keep the MCLR pull-up close to the IC, and reserve RB6/RB7 for ICSP. The device is pin-compatible with PIC16F877A-I/P, allowing firmware migration at higher clock rates up to 20 MHz.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in alternatives, and practical design notes that are not found in the manufacturer datasheet alone, giving engineers a single-source decision view.
Drop-in alternatives for PIC16LF877A-I/P — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with PIC16LF877A-I/P (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, ADC, Core Architecture, I/O Pins, Mounting Type.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
PIC16F877A-I/P
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
PIC16F887-I/P
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1.88 / Unit
View Datasheet →PIC16F877-20I/P
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$5.1 / Unit
View Datasheet →PIC18F4520-I/P
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
PIC16F874A-I/P
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
PIC16LF876A-I/SP
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ Specs Unverified📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
PIC16LF877A-I/P Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core Architecture | PIC16 (8-bit RISC, 14-bit instruction word) |
| Program Memory (Flash) | 14 KB (8K x 14) |
| Data RAM | 368 bytes |
| Data EEPROM | 256 bytes |
| Maximum CPU Speed | 20 MHz (200 ns instruction cycle) |
| Supply Voltage (VDD) | 2.0 V to 5.5 V |
| I/O Pins | 33 |
| ADC | 10-bit, up to 8 channels |
| Timers | 2 x 8-bit + 1 x 16-bit |
| Capture/Compare/PWM | 2 modules |
| Serial Interfaces | USART (RS-485), MSSP (SPI/I2C) |
| Analog Comparators | 2 |
| Parallel Slave Port | Yes (8-bit) |
| Operating Temperature | -40 C to +85 C (Industrial) |
| Package | 40-pin PDIP (DIP-40, 0.600 in / 15.24 mm) |
| Mounting Type | Through-Hole |
| ICSP | Yes (RB6/RB7) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
PIC16LF877A-I/P Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | MCLR/VPP — Master Clear (reset) input / programming voltage input |
| Pin 2 | RA0/AN0 — PORTA bit 0 / analog input 0 |
| Pin 3 | RA1/AN1 — PORTA bit 1 / analog input 1 |
| Pin 4 | RA2/AN2/VREF- — PORTA bit 2 / analog input 2 / ADC VREF- |
| Pin 5 | RA3/AN3/VREF+ — PORTA bit 3 / analog input 3 / ADC VREF+ |
| Pin 6 | RA4/T0CKI — PORTA bit 4 (open-drain) / Timer0 clock input |
| Pin 7 | RA5/AN4/SS — PORTA bit 5 / analog input 4 / SPI slave select |
| Pin 8 | RE0/RD/AN5 — PORTE bit 0 / parallel slave port read / analog input 5 |
| Pin 9 | RE1/WR/AN6 — PORTE bit 1 / parallel slave port write / analog input 6 |
| Pin 10 | RE2/CS/AN7 — PORTE bit 2 / parallel slave port chip select / analog input 7 |
| Pin 11 | VDD — Positive power supply |
| Pin 12 | VSS — Ground reference |
| Pin 13 | OSC1/CLKIN — Oscillator crystal input / external clock input |
| Pin 14 | OSC2/CLKOUT — Oscillator crystal output / clock output |
| Pin 15 | RC0/T1OSO/T1CKI — PORTC bit 0 / Timer1 oscillator output / Timer1 clock input |
| Pin 16 | RC1/T1OSI/CCP2 — PORTC bit 1 / Timer1 oscillator input / CCP2 I/O |
| Pin 17 | RC2/CCP1 — PORTC bit 2 / CCP1 I/O |
| Pin 18 | RC3/SCK/SCL — PORTC bit 3 / SPI clock / I2C clock |
| Pin 19 | RD0/PSP0 — PORTD bit 0 / parallel slave port data 0 |
| Pin 20 | RD1/PSP1 — PORTD bit 1 / parallel slave port data 1 |
| Pin 21 | RD2/PSP2 — PORTD bit 2 / parallel slave port data 2 |
| Pin 22 | RD3/PSP3 — PORTD bit 3 / parallel slave port data 3 |
| Pin 23 | RC4/SDI/SDA — PORTC bit 4 / SPI data in / I2C data |
| Pin 24 | RC5/SDO — PORTC bit 5 / SPI data out |
| Pin 25 | RC6/TX/CK — PORTC bit 6 / USART async transmit / USART sync clock |
| Pin 26 | RC7/RX/DT — PORTC bit 7 / USART async receive / USART sync data |
| Pin 27 | RD4/PSP4 — PORTD bit 4 / parallel slave port data 4 |
| Pin 28 | RD5/PSP5 — PORTD bit 5 / parallel slave port data 5 |
| Pin 29 | RD6/PSP6 — PORTD bit 6 / parallel slave port data 6 |
| Pin 30 | RD7/PSP7 — PORTD bit 7 / parallel slave port data 7 |
| Pin 31 | VSS — Ground reference (second) |
| Pin 32 | VDD — Positive power supply (second) |
| Pin 33 | RB0/INT — PORTB bit 0 / external interrupt 0 |
| Pin 34 | RB1 — PORTB bit 1 |
| Pin 35 | RB2 — PORTB bit 2 |
| Pin 36 | RB3/PGM — PORTB bit 3 / low-voltage ICSP programming enable |
| Pin 37 | RB4 — PORTB bit 4 |
| Pin 38 | RB5 — PORTB bit 5 |
| Pin 39 | RB6/PGC — PORTB bit 6 / ICSP clock (programming/debug clock) |
| Pin 40 | RB7/PGD — PORTB bit 7 / ICSP data (programming/debug data) |
Typical Applications
PIC16LF877A-I/P is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial Sensor Conditioning and 4-20 mA Loop Monitoring, Educational Microcontroller Training and Hobby Projects, HVAC Thermostat and Building Automation Controllers, Battery-Powered Data Loggers, Consumer Appliance Front Panels, Motor Control and PWM Drive Boards, Legacy Replacement and Industrial Board Maintenance.
Industrial Sensor Conditioning and 4-20 mA Loop Monitoring
The PIC16LF877A-I/P fits industrial sensor boards that must digitize analog signals and forward them over RS-485 to a PLC or SCADA node. Its 10-bit 8-channel ADC handles 4-20 mA loop current shunts or 0-10 V pressure and temperature transducers at up to ~50 ksamples/s, while the USART with RS-485 driver enable line natively drives a half-duplex transceiver. The 2.0 V minimum VDD lets the board run from a 24 V loop with a low-dropout regulator, and the industrial -40 C to +85 C rating covers outdoor and factory-floor enclosures.
Recommended
Educational Microcontroller Training and Hobby Projects
The PIC16LF877A-I/P is a favorite for university embedded courses and hobbyist breadboard projects because it plugs directly into standard 0.600-inch DIP sockets and accepts through-hole components. The ICSP pins RB6/RB7 allow in-circuit programming with a PICkit 3/4 or Snap debugger, so students can iterate on code without an erase-and-socketing step. The 33 I/O pins and free MPLAB X IDE plus XC8 compiler provide a low-cost, low-friction entry into interrupt-driven embedded development on a deterministic RISC core.
Recommended
HVAC Thermostat and Building Automation Controllers
The PIC16LF877A-I/P fits thermostats, damper actuators, and small HVAC zone controllers where it must read NTC thermistors or 10K potentiometers, drive TRIACs or relay coils, and periodically display status on an LCD. The 10-bit ADC provides sub-0.5 C temperature resolution when paired with an NTC, while the two CCP modules generate PWM outputs for proportional damper or valve control. The wide 2.0-5.5 V supply tolerates rectified 24 VAC walls while the 5 MIPS throughput keeps the control loop under 5 ms.
Recommended
Battery-Powered Data Loggers
The PIC16LF877A-I/P operates from 2.0 V to 5.5 V, allowing direct connection to a single lithium primary cell or two alkaline AA cells and extending runtime in remote sensor loggers. Its 14 KB flash stores weeks of buffered sample data while the 256-byte EEPROM provides non-volatile configuration storage for calibration constants. The USART and MSSP peripherals can drive an external UART- or SPI-based cellular or LoRa module, and the nanoWatt sleep modes cut average current to single-digit microamps between samples.
Recommended
Consumer Appliance Front Panels
The PIC16LF877A-I/P serves as the front-panel controller in white goods such as washing machines, dishwashers, and microwave ovens, scanning keypad matrices, driving seven-segment or character LCDs, and talking to the main motor-control board over I2C or SPI. The 33 I/O pins handle up to a 4x5 keypad plus eight LED indicators, while the parallel slave port allows external DMA-style data transfer from a higher-performance host controller. The industrial -40 C to +85 C temperature range survives the inside of a kitchen appliance during a steam cycle.
Recommended
Motor Control and PWM Drive Boards
The PIC16LF877A-I/P is suitable for brushed DC and small stepper motor controllers, providing two CCP/PWM channels with up to 10-bit resolution to drive H-bridges or stepper drivers at variable duty cycle. The 16-bit timer can be configured for precise commutation timing, while the 8-bit timers handle user-input debounce and encoder feedback. The 33 I/O lines accept quadrature encoder inputs from incremental encoders or Hall-sensor feedback, and the industrial temperature range lets the board sit next to the motor in a sealed housing.
Recommended
Legacy Replacement and Industrial Board Maintenance
The PIC16LF877A-I/P is widely used as a form-fit-function replacement on legacy 40-pin DIP boards in industrial PLCs, lab instruments, and test fixtures where the original PIC16F877A or 16C73/74 has reached end-of-life. Its 40-pin PDIP pinout matches PIC16F877A-I/P exactly, allowing direct socket swap on existing PCBs without layout changes. Existing 16F877A firmware can be re-flashed on the LF part with only the supply-voltage path re-checked if the original board ran from a 5 V rail below 4.0 V margin.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for PIC16LF877A-I/P — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | PIC16F877A-I/P | PIC16F887-I/P | PIC16F877-20I/P | PIC18F4520-I/P | PIC16F874A-I/P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology |
| Package | 40-pin PDIP | 40-pin PDIP - same | 40-pin PDIP - same | 40-pin PDIP - same | 40-pin PDIP - same | 40-pin PDIP - same |
| Core / Architecture | PIC16 (8-bit, 14-bit instruction) | PIC16 (8-bit, 14-bit instruction) | PIC16 (8-bit, 14-bit instruction) | PIC16 (8-bit, 14-bit instruction) | PIC18 (8-bit, 16-bit instruction) | PIC16 (8-bit, 14-bit instruction) |
| Program Flash | 14 KB | 14 KB | 14 KB | 14 KB | 32 KB | 7 KB |
| Data RAM | 368 bytes | 368 bytes | 368 bytes | 368 bytes | 1536 bytes | 192 bytes |
| Data EEPROM | 256 bytes | 256 bytes | 256 bytes | 256 bytes | 256 bytes | 128 bytes |
| Max CPU Speed | 20 MHz / 5 MIPS | 20 MHz / 5 MIPS | 20 MHz / 5 MIPS | 20 MHz / 5 MIPS | 40 MHz / 16 MIPS | 20 MHz / 5 MIPS |
| Supply Voltage (VDD min) | 2.0 V | 4.0 V | 2.0 V | 4.0 V | 2.0 V | 4.0 V |
| ADC | 10-bit, 8 channels | 10-bit, 8 channels | 10-bit, 14 channels | 10-bit, 8 channels | 10-bit, 13 channels | 10-bit, 8 channels |
| Operating Temperature | -40 C to +85 C (I) | -40 C to +85 C (I) | -40 C to +85 C (I) | -40 C to +85 C (I) | -40 C to +85 C (I) | -40 C to +85 C (I) |
Key Differentiators
- Lowest minimum VDD at 2.0 V in a 40-PDIP PIC16F87XA family (vs PIC16F877A-I/P)
- More ADC channels and nanoWatt XLP than the legacy PIC16F877A (vs PIC16F887-I/P)
- Higher MIPS and more flash than the PIC16F874A (vs PIC16F874A-I/P)
Design Notes
Place a 100 nF decoupling capacitor within 5 mm of each VDD pin (pins 11 and 32) and a single 10 uF bulk capacitor at the board power entry. The PIC16LF877A-I/P draws approximately 2 mA at 5 V/20 MHz active and under 1 uA in sleep, but the two-VDD-pin topology means both pins must be bypassed separately to prevent logic errors during ADC sampling. A bulk 10 uF near the IC improves analog VREF stability during high-current I/O transitions.
Keep traces from the 20 MHz crystal (or resonator) at OSC1/OSC2 short (< 10 mm) and route them away from RB6/RB7 to avoid coupling programming noise into the oscillator. The 40-pin PDIP footprint is forgiving for hand-wired prototypes, but production boards should still place a ground pour under the MCU and add a guard ring around the analog VREF/VSS pins. If the ICSP header is shared with end-user I/O, isolate PGC/PGD with jumpers or resistors to prevent accidental shorts.
Do not exceed the 5.5 V absolute maximum VDD on the PIC16LF877A-I/P - even a brief overshoot during hot-plug can damage the flash memory. Always tie MCLR to VDD through a 10 kohm resistor and a 100 nF cap to ground for proper brown-out reset; leaving MCLR floating is the most common cause of in-field lockups. When migrating from PIC16F877A, verify that any supply rail below 4.0 V is replaced with a 3.3 V regulator so the LF part starts reliably.
When using the parallel slave port (PSP) on PORTD, keep RD0-RD7 trace lengths matched within 10 mm to preserve setup/hold timing at the highest read/write rates. The MSSP module's SPI master can drive out at FOSC/4 (5 MHz at 20 MHz clock), so add a series resistor near the SCK pin if the cable length to the slave exceeds 50 mm. Use the analog comparators only with low-impedance sources to avoid oscillation on the C1OUT and C2OUT pins.
Compliance Information
RoHS and REACH compliant per Microchip product page and PIC16F877A datasheet (DS39582C). Industrial temperature range -40 C to +85 C. AEC-Q100 not applicable for general-purpose MCU grade.
