Configuring the Pin

Each port pin consists of three register bits: DDxn, PORTxn, and PINxn. As shown in Register Description, the DDxn bits are accessed at the DDRx I/O address, the PORTxn bits at the PORTx I/O address, and the PINxn bits at the PINx I/O address.

The DDxn bit in the DDRx Register selects the direction of this pin. If DDxn is written logic one, Pxn is configured as an output pin. If DDxn is written logic zero, Pxn is configured as an input pin.

If PORTxn is written logic one when the pin is configured as an input pin, the pull-up resistor is activated. To switch the pull-up resistor off, PORTxn has to be written logic zero or the pin has to be configured as an output pin. The port pins are tri-stated when reset condition becomes active, even if no clocks are running.

If PORTxn is written logic one when the pin is configured as an output pin, the port pin is driven high (one). If PORTxn is written logic zero when the pin is configured as an output pin, the port pin is driven low (zero).

When switching between tri-state ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b00) and output high ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b11), an intermediate state with either pull-up enabled ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b01) or output low ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b10) must occur. Normally, the pull-up enabled state is fully acceptable, as a high-impedant environment will not notice the difference between a strong high driver and a pull-up. If this is not the case, the PUD bit in the SFIOR Register can be set to disable all pull-ups in all ports.

Switching between input with pull-up and output low generates the same problem. The user must use either the tristate ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b00) or the output high state ({DDxn, PORTxn} = 0b11) as an intermediate step.

The table below summarizes the control signals for the pin value.