A 16-bit microcontroller family from Freescale Semiconductor
The 68HC12 (6812 or HC12 for short) is a microcontroller family from Freescale (former Motorola) Semiconductor. Originally introduced in the mid 1990s, the architecture is a 16-bit enhancement of the 8-bit Motorola 68HC11. Programs written for the HC11 are usually compatible with the HC12, which has a few extra instructions. The first 68HC12 derivatives had a maximum bus speed of 8MHz and flash memory sizes up to 128 kB.
Around year 2002, the devices known as 68HC12 were gradually replaced by the very similar HCS12, which uses the same CPU core but different hardware peripherals. The name 68HC12 or HC12 (without 'S') nowadays refers to the older, obsolete MCU.