MCU Interface TFT Displays (8080 Parallel)

What an MCU interface is

"MCU interface" means a parallel bus between the host and a display controller that holds the image in its own frame memory. The host writes commands and pixels only when something changes, and the controller refreshes the panel by itself. That is the main difference from parallel RGB, where the host has to stream every frame continuously.

The bus has data lines plus four control signals: WRX (write), RDX (read), CSX (chip select) and D/CX (command or data). On controllers such as the ST7789V and ILI9341, the IM pins select the mode and bus width at the chip. On a finished module the choice is usually fixed by the FPC, so check which bus width the model you order brings out.

Bus width, pins and frame time

Both datasheets specify a 66 ns minimum write cycle on the 8080 bus. The time to send a full 240×320 RGB565 frame follows from that:

• 16-bit bus: 1 write per pixel, 76,800 writes, about 5.1 ms. Needs 16 data lines plus 4 control lines, 20 in total.
• 8-bit bus: 2 writes per pixel, 153,600 writes, about 10.1 ms. Needs 8 data lines plus 4 control lines, 12 in total.
• SPI: 1,228,800 bits. At the datasheet serial write cycle that is about 81 ms on the ST7789V (66 ns) and about 123 ms on the ILI9341 (100 ns). See the driver pages for what boards run in practice.

These are the limits of the display controller; the host's bus timing and your drawing code decide what you actually reach. Parallel is worth the extra pins when you redraw the whole screen often. For a dashboard that updates small areas, SPI is usually enough.

8080 or 6800?

The ST7789V and ILI9341 datasheets list 8080-series parallel modes (8, 9, 16 and 18-bit) and serial modes, and do not list a 6800 mode. So if your host only has a 6800-style bus, do not assume a module with one of these controllers will work. The two buses differ in their control signals: 8080 has separate write and read strobes, while 6800 uses a single read/write line with an enable strobe. Send us the host and the controller you have in mind and we will check the exact controller's datasheet.

On the host side, the ESP32-P4 LCD_CAM controller lists both I8080 and MOTO6800 formats at 8, 16 or 24 bits; see the ESP32-S3 page for its 8080 support.

Our MCU interface models

We have 11 MCU interface models with product pages, from 1.77″ to 3.5″. Most are 240×320:

• 1.77″ 128×160 with an ILI9163V
• 2.0″, 2.4″ 240×320 with an ST7789V, including 2.4″ IPS models
• 2.3″ 320×240 with an ILI9342C
• 2.8″ 240×320, and a 240×400 transflective model; see the 2.8-inch page
• 3.2″ 240×320 with an ILI9341V
• 3.5″ 320×480

Three of them (2.4″ IPS and 3.2″) also list SPI and RGB, and a 2.0″ model also lists SPI. The factory table on this page adds models from 1.28″ to 3.5″ with 8-bit or 16-bit buses, most of them available with touch. Part numbers encode the standard backlight, and other backlight levels can be built; the rest of a custom specification is agreed per project.