1.

0 Introduction:

1.1 definition

A device that integrates the functions of the central processing unit (CPU) of a
computer onto one semiconductor chip or integrated circuit (IC). In essence,
the microprocessor contains the core elements of a computer system, its
computation and control engine. Only a power supply, memory, peripheral
interface ICs, and peripherals (typically input/output and storage devices)
need be added to build a complete computer system.

Microprocessors made possible the advent of the microcomputer in the mid-

1970s. Before this period, electronic CPUs were typically made from bulky
discrete switching devices (and later small-scale integrated circuits)
containing the equivalent of only a few transistors. By integrating the
processor onto one or a very few large-scale integrated circuit packages
(containing the equivalent of thousands or millions of discrete transistors), the
cost of processor power was greatly reduced. Since the advent of the IC in
the mid-1970s, the microprocessor has become the most prevalent
implementation of the CPU, nearly completely replacing all other forms. See
History of computing hardware for pre-electronic and early electronic
computers.

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1.2 The evolution of microprocessors

The evolution of microprocessors has been known to follow Moore's Law

when it comes to steadily increasing performance over the years. This law
suggests that the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum
component cost, doubles every 24 months. This dictum has generally proven
true since the early 1970s. From their humble beginnings as the drivers for
calculators, the continued increase in power has led to the dominance of
microprocessors over every other form of computer; every system from the
largest mainframes to the smallest handheld computers now uses a
microprocessor at its core.

2.0 Microprocessor Generations:

2.1 Background

The evolution of the modern microprocessor is one of many surprising twists

and turns. Who invented the first micro? Who had the first 32-bit single-chip
design? You might be surprised at the answers. This article shows the
defining decisions that brought the contemporary microprocessor to its
present-day configuration.
At the dawn of the 19th century, Benjamin Franklin's discovery of the
principles of electricity were still fairly new, and practical applications of his
discoveries were few -- the most notable exception being the lightning rod,
which was invented independently by two different people in two different
places. Independent contemporaneous (and not so contemporaneous)
discovery would remain a recurring theme in electronics.
So it was with the invention of the vacuum tube -- invented by Fleming, who
was investigating the Effect named for and discovered by Edison; it was
refined four years later by de Forest (but is now rumored to have been

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invented 20 years prior by Tesla). So it was with the transistor: Shockley,
Brattain and Bardeen were awarded the Nobel Prize for turning de Forest's
triode into a solid state device -- but they were not awarded a patent, because
of 20-year-prior art by Lilienfeld. So it was with the integrated circuit (or IC) for
which Jack Kilby was awarded a Nobel Prize, but which was
contemporaneously developed by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor
(who got the patent). And so it was, indeed, with the microprocessor.

Before the flood: The 1960s 2.2

Just a scant few years after the first laboratory integrated circuits,
Fairchild Semiconductor introduced the first commercially available
integrated circuit (although at almost the same time as one from Texas
.(Instruments

Already at the start of the decade, process that would last until the
present day was available: commercial ICs made in the planar process
were available from both Fairchild Semiconductor and Texas
Instruments by 1961, and TTL (transistor-transistor logic) circuits
appeared commercially in 1962. By 1968, CMOS (complementary metal
oxide semiconductor) hit the market. There is no doubt but that
.technology, design, and process were rapidly evolving

Observing this trend, Fairchild Semiconductor's director of Research &

Development Gordon Moore observed in 1965 that the density of
elements in ICs was doubling annually, and predicted that the trend
would continue for the next ten years. With certain amendments, this
.came to be known as Moore's Law

The first ICs contained just a few transistors per wafer; by the dawn of
the 1970s, production techniques allowed for thousands of transistors
per wafer. It was only a matter of time before someone would use this
capacity to put an entire computer on a chip, and several someone's,
indeed, did just that

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Development explosion: The 2.3
1970s

The idea of a computer on a single chip had been described in the

literature as far back as 1952 Resources and more articles like this
began to appear as the 1970s dawned. Finally, process had caught up to
thinking, and the computer on a chip was made possible. The air was
.electric with the possibility

Once the feat had been established, the rest of the decade saw a
proliferation of companies old and new getting into the semiconductor
business, as well as the first personal computers, the first arcade
games, and even the first home video game systems -- thus spreading
consumer contact with electronics, and paving the way for continued
.rapid growth in the 1980s
At the beginning of the 1970s, microprocessors had not yet been introduced.
By the end of the decade, a saturated market led to price wars, and many
processors were already 16-bit

:The first types 3.0

The 4 bit microprocessor 3.1

Three projects arguably delivered a complete microprocessor at about the

same time, namely Intel's 4004, Texas Instruments' TMS 1000, and Garrett
AiResearch's Central Air Data Computer.

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In 1968, Garrett AiResearch, with designer Ray Holt and Andre Gata, were
invited to produce a digital computer to compete with electromechanical
systems then under development for the main flight control computer in the
US Navy's new F-14 Tomcat fighter. The design was complete by 1970, and
used a MOS-based chipset as the core CPU. The design was significantly
(approx 20 times) smaller and much more reliable than the mechanical
systems it competed against, and was used in all of the early Tomcat models.
This system contained a "a 20-bit, pipelined, parallel multi-microprocessor".
However, the system was considered so advanced that the Navy refused to
allow publication of the design until 1997. For this reason the CADC, and the
MP944 chipset it used, are fairly unknown even today. see First
Microprocessor Chip Set

TI developed the 4-bit TMS 1000 and stressed pre-programmed embedded

applications, introducing a version called the TMS1802NC on September 17,
1971, which implemented a calculator on a chip. The Intel chip was the 4-bit
4004, released on November 15, 1971, developed by Federico Faggin and
Marcian Hoff.

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TI filed for the patent on the microprocessor. Gary Boone was awarded U.S.
Patent 3,757,306 for the single-chip microprocessor architecture on
September 4, 1973. It may never be known which company actually had the
first working microprocessor running on the lab bench. In both 1971 and 1976,
Intel and TI entered into broad patent cross-licensing agreements, with Intel
paying royalties to TI for the microprocessor patent. A nice history of these
events is contained in court documentation from a legal dispute between Cyrix
and Intel, with TI as intervener and owner of the microprocessor patent.

A computer-on-a-chip is a variation of a microprocessor which combines the

microprocessor core (CPU), some memory, and I/O (input/output) lines, all on
one chip. The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the "microcomputer patent"
at the time, U.S. Patent 4,074,351 , was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael
J. Cochran of TI. Aside from this patent, the standard meaning of
microcomputer is a computer using one or more microprocessors as its
CPU(s), while the concept defined in the patent is perhaps more akin to a
microcontroller.

3.2 Notable 8-bit designs:

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The 4004 was later followed in 1972 by the 8008, the world's first 8-bit
microprocessor. These processors are the precursors to the very successful
Intel 8080 (1974), Zilog Z80 (1976), and derivative Intel 8-bit processors. The
competing Motorola 6800 was released August 1974. Its architecture was
cloned and improved in the MOS Technology 6502 in 1975, rivaling the Z80 in
popularity during the 1980s.

Both the Z80 and 6502 concentrated on low overall cost, through a
combination of small packaging, simple computer bus requirements, and the
inclusion of circuitry that would normally have to be provided in a separate
chip (for instance, the Z80 included a memory controller). It was these
features that allowed the home computer "revolution" to take off in the early
1980s, eventually delivering machines that sold for US$99.

The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC) introduced the CMOS 65C02 in 1982
and licensed the design to several companies which became the core of the
Apple IIc and IIe personal computers, medical implantable grade pacemakers
and defibrilators, automotive, industrial and consumer devices. WDC
pioneered the licensing of microprocessor technology which was later
followed by ARM and other microprocessor Intellectual Property (IP) providers
in the 1990’s.

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Motorola trumped the entire 8-bit world by introducing the MC6809 in 1978,
arguably one of the most powerful, orthogonal, and clean 8-bit microprocessor
designs ever fielded – and also one of the most complex hardwired logic
designs that ever made it into production for any microprocessor. Microcoding
replaced hardwired logic at about this point in time for all designs more
powerful than the MC6809 – specifically because the design requirements
were getting too complex for hardwired logic.

Another early 8-bit microprocessor was the Signetics 2650, which enjoyed a
brief flurry of interest due to its innovative and powerful instruction set
architecture.

3.3 16-bit designs

The first multi-chip 16-bit microprocessor was the National Semiconductor

IMP-16, introduced in early 1973. An 8-bit version of the chipset was
introduced in 1974 as the IMP-8. During the same year, National introduced
the first 16-bit single-chip microprocessor, the National Semiconductor PACE,
which was later followed by an NMOS version, the INS8900.

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Other early multi-chip 16-bit microprocessors include one used by Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the LSI-11 OEM board set and the packaged
PDP 11/03 minicomputer, and the Fairchild Semiconductor MicroFlame 9440,
both of which were introduced in the 1975 to 1976 timeframe.

The first single-chip 16-bit microprocessor was TI's TMS 9900, which was
also compatible with their TI-990 line of minicomputers. The 9900 was used in
the TI 990/4 minicomputer, the TI-99/4A home computer, and the TM990 line
of OEM microcomputer boards. The chip was packaged in a large ceramic 64-
pin DIP package package, while most 8-bit microprocessors such as the Intel
8080 used the more common, smaller, and less expensive plastic 40-pin DIP.
A follow-on chip, the TMS 9980, was designed to compete with the Intel 8080,
had the full TI 990 16-bit instruction set, used a plastic 40-pin package, moved
data 8 bits at a time, but could only address 16 KiB. A third chip, the TMS
9995, was a new design. The family later expanded to include the 99105 and
99110.

The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC) introduced the CMOS 65816 16-bit
upgrade of the WDC CMOS 65C02 in 1984. The 65816 16-bit microprocessor
was the core of the Apple IIgs and later the Super Nintendo Entertainment
System, making it one of the most popular 16-bit designs of all time.

Intel followed a different path, having no minicomputers to emulate, and

instead "upsized" their 8080 design into the 16-bit Intel 8086, the first member
of the x86 family which powers most modern PC type computers. Intel
introduced the 8086 as a cost effective way of porting software from the 8080
lines, and succeeded in winning much business on that premise.

3.4 32-bit designs

16-bit designs were in the market only briefly when full 32-bit implementations
started to appear.
The most famous of the 32-bit designs is the MC68000, introduced in 1979.
The 68K, as it was widely known, had 32-bit registers but used 16-bit internal
data paths, and a 16-bit external data bus to reduce pin count, and supported

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only 24-bit addresses. Motorola generally described it as a 16-bit processor,
though it clearly has 32-bit architecture. The combination of high speed, large
(16 mebibytes) memory space and fairly low costs made it the most popular
CPU design of its class. The Apple Lisa and Macintosh designs made use of
the 68000, as did a host of other designs in the mid-1980s, including the Atari
ST and Commodore Amiga.

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The world's first single-chip fully-32-bit microprocessor, with 32-bit data paths,
32-bit buses, and 32-bit addresses, was the AT&T Bell Labs BELLMAC-32A,
with first samples in 1980, and general production in 1982 (See this
bibliographic reference and this general reference). After the divestiture of
AT&T in 1984, it was renamed the WE 32000 (WE for Western Electric), and
had two follow-on generations, the WE 32100 and WE 32200.

These microprocessors were used in the AT&T 3B5 and 3B15 minicomputers;
in the 3B2, the world's first desktop supermicrocomputer; in the "Companion",
the world's first 32-bit laptop computer; and in "Alexander", the world's first
book-sized supermicrocomputer, featuring ROM-pack memory cartridges
similar to today's gaming consoles. All these systems ran the UNIX System V
operating system.

Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor was the iAPX 432, which was introduced in
1981 but was not a commercial success. It had an advanced capability-based
object-oriented architecture, but poor performance compared to other
competing architectures such as the Motorola 68000.

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 3.5 64-bit designs in personal computers

While 64-bit microprocessor designs have been in use in several markets

since the early 1990s, the early 2000s have seen the introduction of 64-bit
microchips targeted at the PC market.

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With AMD's introduction of the first 64-bit IA-32 backwards-compatible
architecture, AMD64, in September 2003, followed by Intel's own x86-64
chips, the 64-bit desktop era began. Both processors can run 32-bit legacy
apps as well as the new 64-bit software. With 64-bit Windows XP, Linux and
Mac OS X (to a certain extent) that run 64-bit native, the software too is
geared to utilise the full power of such processors. The move to 64 bits is
more than just an increase in register size from the IA-32 as it also doubles
the number of general-purpose registers for the aging CISC designs.

The move to 64 bits by PowerPC processors had been intended since the
processors' design in the early 90s and was not a major cause of
incompatibility. Existing integer registers are extended as are all related data
pathways, but, as was the case with IA-32, both floating point and vector units
had been operating at or above 64 bits for several years. Unlike what
happened with IA-32 was extended to x86-64, no new general purpose
registers were added in 64-bit PowerPC, so any performance gained when
using the 64-bit mode for applications making no use of the larger address
space is minimal.

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3.6 Multi-core processor designs

A multi-core processor is simply a single chip containing more than one

microprocessor core, effectively multiplying the potential performance with the
number of cores (as long as the operating system and software is designed to
take advantage of more than one processor). Some components, such as bus
interface and second level cache, may be shared between cores. Because
the cores are physically very close they interface at much faster clock speeds
compared to discrete multiprocessor systems, improving overall system
performance.

In 2005, the first mass-market dual-core processors were announced and as

of 2007 dual-core processors are widely used in servers, workstations and
PCs while quad-core processors are now available for high-end applications
in both the home and professional environments.

4.0 Intel processors:

4.1 types of Intel processors

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1)Intel Core™2 Duo E6600, 2.4 GHz E6600 (BX805576600) Processor

Built on the innovative Intel Core microarchitecture, the Intel Core 2 Duo
desktop processor delivers revolutionary dual-core performance and
breakthrough processor energy efficiency. With Intel Wide Dynamic
Execution, Intel Smart Memory Access, Intel Advanced Smart Cache and Intel
Digital Media Boost, this new processor is designed to do more in less time.
Additional features to support enhanced security, virtualisation and 64-bit
computing makes the Intel Core 2 Duo the most impressive new processor
developed for an increasingly multimedia-centred, high-definition world.

2)Intel Pentium® Dual-Core E2160, 1.80 GHz E160 (BX80557E2160)

Boxed Processor

The Intel Pentium dual-core processor is an addition to the Intel Pentium

processor family. This dual-core processor delivers great mobile performance,
low power enhancements, and multitasking for everyday computing

3)Intel Pentium® D, 3.40 GHz (BX80553950) Intel Boxed Processor

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The Intel® Pentium® D processor is Intel's preferred desktop processor.
Because it is powered by two execution cores in one processor it offers
exceptional functionality and performance so consumers get the most
productivity and enjoyment from their PCs.

4)Intel Core™2 Duo E4400, 2 GHz E4400 Boxed Processor

You'll experience revolutionary performance, unbelievable system

responsiveness, and energy-efficiency second to none. And, you won't have
to slow down for virus scan, multiple compute intensive programs, or
multimedia downloads these desktop processors are up to 40 percent faster
with improved energy-efficiency.

5)Intel Core™2 Extreme QX6850 3 GHz Q36850 (BX80562QX6850) Retail

Processor

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Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHz CPU The Intel® Core™2 Extreme
processor delivers revolutionary dual-core performance for those select
individuals looking for the most intense, high-performance computing
experience available. It is designed for gamers and power users seeking
exceptional performance for ultra realistic games and advanced multi-
threaded digital media creation applications requiring the PC to perform
multiple, complex tasks simultaneously.
6)Intel Core™2 Quad Q6600, 2.40 GHz (BX80562Q6600) Boxed Processor

Based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, the Intel Core 2 Quad processor
delivers four complete execution cores within a single processor, delivering
unprecedented performance and responsiveness in multi-threaded and multi-
tasking business and home use environments.

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