PIC microcontrollers are a family of specialized microcontroller chips produced by Microchip Technology in Chandler, Arizona. The acronym PIC stands for "peripheral interface driver", although this term is rarely used today. A microcontroller is a compact microcomputer designed to govern the operation of embedded systems in motor vehicles, robots, office machines, medical devices, mobile radios, vending machines, appliances and other devices. A typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory and peripherals.
PIC microcontrollers appeal to amateurs and experimenters, especially in the fields of electronics and robotics. Key features include wide availability, low cost, easy reprogramming with built-in EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable memory), an extensive collection of free application notes, abundant development tools and a wealth of information available on the Internet. PIC microcontrollers often appear under the PICmicro brand.
Each PIC microcontroller has a set of registers that also function as RAM (random access memory). Special purpose control registers for hardware resources on the chip are also assigned to the data space. Each PIC has a stack that stores the return addresses. The stack was not accessible by software in earlier versions of the PIC, but this limitation was removed in later devices.