Rabbit 2000 - Page 8

4 Rabbit 2000 Microprocessor
If the main oscillator is turned off and the microprocessor is operated at 32.768 kHz from
the clock oscillator, the current will drop to about 200 µA exclusive of the current required
by the memory. The level of power consumption can be fine-tuned by adding memory
wait states, which have the effect of reducing power consumption. In order to obtain
microampere level power consumption, it is necessary to use auto powerdown flash mem-
ories to hold the executing code. Standby power while the system is waiting for an event
can be reduced by executing long strings of multiply zero by zero instructions. Keep in
mind that a Rabbit operating at 3.68 MHz has the compute power of a Z180 microproces-
sor operating at approximately triple the clock frequency (11 MHz).
Most design advice given for the Rabbit assumes the use of surface-mount technology.
However, it is possible to use the older through hole technology and develop a Rabbit sys-
tem. One can use Z-World’s Rabbit-based Core Module, a small daughter circuit board
with a complete Rabbit core that includes memory and oscillators. Another possibility is
to solder the Rabbit processors by hand to the circuit board. This is not difficult and is sat-
isfactory for low production volumes if the right technique is used.