13.3.2.3 Interrupt Response Time

The minimum interrupt response time for all enabled interrupts is three CPU clock cycles: one cycle to finish the ongoing instruction, and two cycles to store the program counter to the stack. After the program counter is pushed on the stack, the program vector for the interrupt is executed. See also figure below, first diagram.

The jump to the interrupt handler takes three clock cycles. If an interrupt occurs during execution of a multicycle instruction, this instruction is completed before the interrupt is served. See also figure below, second diagram.

Figure 13-2. Interrupt Execution of a Single Cycle Instruction, Multicycle Instruction and from Sleep

If an interrupt occurs when the device is in sleep mode, the interrupt execution response time is increased by five clock cycles. In addition, the response time is increased by the start-up time from the selected sleep mode.

A return from an interrupt handling routine takes four to five clock cycles, depending on the size of the program counter. During these clock cycles, the program counter is popped from the stack and the stack pointer is incremented. See also figure above, bottom diagram.