PICkit™ 3 USER’S GUIDE
©
2009 Microchip Technology Inc.
DS51795A-page 9
Chapter 1. Overview
1.1
INTRODUCTION
An overview of the PICkit 3 programmer/debugger system is given.
• PICkit 3 Programmer/Debugger Defined
• How the PICkit 3 Programmer/Debugger Helps You
• PICkit 3 Programmer/Debugger Components
• Device and Feature Support
1.2
PICKIT 3 PROGRAMMER/DEBUGGER DEFINED
The PICkit 3 programmer/debugger (see Figure 1-1) is a simple, low-cost in-circuit
debugger that is controlled by a PC running MPLAB IDE (v8.20 or greater) software on
a Windows
®
platform. The PICkit 3 programmer/debugger is an integral part of the
development engineer’s toolsuite. The application usage can vary from software
development to hardware integration.
The PICkit 3 programmer/debugger is a debugger system used for hardware and
software development of Microchip PIC
®
microcontrollers (MCUs) and dsPIC
®
Digital
Signal Controllers (DSCs) that are based on In-Circuit Serial Programming™ (ICSP™)
and Enhanced In-Circuit Serial Programming 2-wire serial interfaces. In addition to
debugger functions, the PICkit 3 programmer/debugger system also may be used as a
development programmer.
The debugger system executes code like an actual device because it uses a device
with built-in emulation circuitry, instead of a special debugger chip, for emulation. All
available features of a given device are accessible interactively, and can be set and
modified by the MPLAB IDE interface.
The PICkit 3 debugger was developed for emulating embedded processors with debug
facilities. The PICkit 3 features include:
• Full-speed USB support using Windows standard drivers
• Real-time execution
• Processors run at maximum speeds
• Built-in over-voltage/short circuit monitor
• Low voltage to 5V (1.8-5V range)
• Diagnostic LEDs (power, active, status)
• Read/write program and data memory of microcontroller
• Erase of all memory types (EEPROM, ID, configuration and program) with
verification
• Peripheral freeze at breakpoint
Note:
The PICkit 3 is intended for development programming. For production
programming, please consider the MPLAB PM3 device programmer or
other third party programmers designed for a production environment.
