38
ATmega161(L)
1228B–09/01
Timer/Counters
The ATmega161 provides three general purpose Timer/Counters – two 8-bit T/Cs and
one 16-bit T/C. Timer/Counter2 can optionally be asynchronously clocked from an exter-
nal oscillator. This oscillator is optimized for use with a 32.768 kHz watch crystal,
enabling use of Timer/Counter2 as a Real-time Clock (RTC). Timer/Counters 0 and 1
have individual prescaling selection from the same 10-bit prescaling timer.
Timer/Counter2 has its own prescaler. Both these prescalers can be reset by setting the
corresponding control bits in the Special Functions IO Register (SFIOR). Refer to page
39 for a detailed description. These Timer/Counters can either be used as a timer with
an internal clock time base or as a counter with an external pin connection, which trig-
gers the counting.
Timer/Counter
Prescalers
Figure 30.
Prescaler for Timer/Counter0 and 1
For Timer/Counters 0 and 1, the four prescaled selections are: CK/8, CK/64, CK/256,
and CK/1024, where CK is the oscillator clock. For the two Timer/Counters 0 and 1, CK,
external source and stop can also be selected as clock sources. Setting the PSR10 bit
in SFIOR resets the prescaler. This allows the user to operate with a predictable pres-
caler. Note that Timer/Counter1 and Timer/Counter0 share the same prescaler and a
prescaler reset will affect both Timer/Counters.
PSR10
Clear
TCK1
TCK0