The HD44780U dot-matrix liquid crystal display controller and driver LSI displays alphanumerics,
Japanese kana characters, and symbols. It can be configured to drive a dot-matrix liquid crystal display
under the control of a 4- or 8-bit microprocessor. Since all the functions such as display RAM, character
generator, and liquid crystal driver, required for driving a dot-matrix liquid crystal display are internally
provided on one chip, a minimal system can be interfaced with this controller/driver.
A single HD44780U can display up to one 8-character line or two 8-character lines.
The HD44780U has pin function compatibility with the HD44780S which allows the user to easily replace
an LCD-II with an HD44780U. The HD44780U character generator ROM is extended to generate 208 5 ′
8 dot character fonts and 32 5 ′ 10 dot character fonts for a total of 240 different character fonts.
The low power supply (2.7V to 5.5V) of the HD44780U is suitable for any portable battery-driven product
requiring low power dissipation.