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The Z80 microprocessor is an 8 bit CPU with a 16 bit address bus capable of direct access of 64k of memory space. It has a language of 252 root instructions and with the reserved 4 bytes as prefixes, acceses an additional 308 instructions. The Z80 was modeled after the 8088 [[8080]] and contains the 78 - 8088 8080 opcodes as a subset to it's language.

Programming features include an accumulator and six eight bit registers that can be paired as 3-16 bit registers. In addition to the general registers, a stack-pointer, program-counter, and two index (memory pointers) registers are provided. While not in the same leauge as the 80486 Intel 80x86 or the [[Motorola 68000 ]] series, the Z80 is extremely useful for low cost control applications. One of the more useful features of the Z80 is the built-in refresh circuitry for ease of design with DRAMs.

The Z80 comes in a 40 pin DIP package. It has been manufactured in A, B, and C models, differing only in maximum clock speed. It also has been manufactured as a stand-alone microcontroler with various configurations of on-chip RAM and EPROM.