A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a co

mputer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit (IC),[1] o

r at most a few integrated circuits.[2] The microprocessor is a multipurpose, pr
ogrammable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to
instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. It is an exam
ple of sequential digital logic, as it has internal memory. Microprocessors oper
ate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system.
The integration of a whole CPU onto a single chip or on a few chips greatly redu
ced the cost of processing power. The integrated circuit processor was produced
in large numbers by highly automated processes, so unit cost was low. Single-chi
p processors increase reliability as there are many fewer electrical connections
to fail. As microprocessor designs get faster, the cost of manufacturing a chip
(with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the same size) generally
stays the same.
Before microprocessors, small computers had been implemented using racks of circ
uit boards with many medium- and small-scale integrated circuits. Microprocessor
s integrated this into one or a few large-scale ICs. Continued increases in micr
oprocessor capacity have since rendered other forms of computers almost complete
ly obsolete (see history of computing hardware), with one or more microprocessor
s used in everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld devices to
the largest mainframes and supercomputers.
Contents [hide]
1 Structure
1.1 Special-purpose designs
2 Embedded applications
3 History
3.1 Firsts
3.1.1 CADC
3.1.2 Gilbert Hyatt
discuss]
3.1.3 TMS 1000[dubious
3.1.4 Intel 4004
3.1.5 Pico/General Instrument
3.1.6 Four-Phase Systems AL1
3.2 8-bit designs
3.3 12-bit designs
3.4 16-bit designs
3.5 32-bit designs
3.6 64-bit designs in personal computers
3.6.1 Multi-core designs
3.7 RISC
4 Market statistics
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Structure[edit]
A block diagram of the internal architecture of the Z80 microprocessor, showing
the arithmetic and logic section, register file, control logic section, and buff
ers to external address and data lines
The internal arrangement of a microprocessor varies depending on the age of the
design and the intended purposes of the microprocessor. The complexity of an int
egrated circuit is bounded by physical limitations of the number of transistors
that can be put onto one chip, the number of package terminations that can conne
ct the processor to other parts of the system, the number of interconnections it
is possible to make on the chip, and the heat that the chip can dissipate. Adva
ncing technology makes more complex and powerful chips feasible to manufacture.

A minimal hypothetical microprocessor might only include an arithmetic logic uni

t (ALU) and a control logic section. The ALU performs operations such as additio
n, subtraction, and operations such as AND or OR. Each operation of the ALU sets
one or more flags in a status register, which indicate the results of the last
operation (zero value, negative number, overflow, or others). The control logic
section retrieves instruction operation codes from memory, and initiates whateve
r sequence of operations of the ALU requires to carry out the instruction. A sin
gle operation code might affect many individual data paths, registers, and other
elements of the processor.
As integrated circuit technology advanced, it was feasible to manufacture more a
nd more complex processors on a single chip. The size of data objects became lar
ger; allowing more transistors on a chip allowed word sizes to increase from 4and 8-bit words up to today's 64-bit words. Additional features were added to th
e processor architecture; more on-chip registers sped up programs, and complex i
nstructions could be used to make more compact programs. Floating-point arithmet
ic, for example, was often not available on 8-bit microprocessors, but had to be
carried out in software. Integration of the floating point unit first as a sepa
rate integrated circuit and then as part of the same microprocessor chip, sped u
p floating point calculations.
Occasionally, physical limitations of integrated circuits made such practices as
a bit slice approach necessary. Instead of processing all of a long word on one
integrated circuit, multiple circuits in parallel processed subsets of each dat
a word. While this required extra logic to handle, for example, carry and overfl
ow within each slice, the result was a system that could handle, for example, 32
-bit words using integrated circuits with a capacity for only four bits each.
With the ability to put large numbers of transistors on one chip, it becomes fea
sible to integrate memory on the same die as the processor. This CPU cache has t
he advantage of faster access than off-chip memory, and increases the processing
speed of the system for many applications. Processor clock frequency has increa
sed more rapidly than external memory speed, except in the recent past, so cache
memory is necessary if the processor is not delayed by slower external memory.
Special-purpose designs[edit]
A microprocessor is a general purpose system. Several specialized processing dev
ices have followed from the technology. Microcontrollers integrate a microproces
sor with peripheral devices in embedded systems. A digital signal processor (DSP
) is specialized for signal processing. Graphics processing units may have no li
mited or general programming facilities. For example, GPUs through the 1990s wer
e mostly non-programmable and have only recently gained limited facilities like
programmable vertex shaders.
32-bit processors have more digital logic than narrower processors, so 32-bit (a
nd wider) processors produce more digital noise and have higher static consumpti
on than narrower processors.[3] Reducing digital noise improves ADC conversion r
esults.[4][5] So, 8-bit or 16-bit processors are better than 32-bit processors f
or system on a chip and microcontrollers that require extremely low-power electr
onics, or are part of a mixed-signal integrated circuit with noise-sensitive onchip analog electronics such as high-resolution analog to digital converters, or
both.
Nevertheless, trade-offs apply: running 32-bit arithmetic on an 8-bit chip could
end up using more power, as the chip must execute software with multiple instru
ctions. Modern microprocessors go into low power states when possible, and a 8-b
it chip running 32-bit software is active most of the time. This creates a delic
ate balance between software, hardware and use patterns, plus costs.[citation ne
eded]

When manufactured on a similar process, 8-bit microprocessors use less power whe
n operating and less power when sleeping than 32-bit microprocessors.[6]
However, some people say a 32-bit microprocessor may use less average power than
an 8-bit microprocessor when the application requires certain operations such a
s floating-point math that take many more clock cycles on an 8-bit microprocesso
r than a 32-bit microprocessor so the 8-bit microprocessor spends more time in h
igh-power operating mode.[6][7][8][9]
Embedded applications[edit]
Thousands of items that were traditionally not computer-related include micropro
cessors. These include large and small household appliances, cars (and their acc
essory equipment units), car keys, tools and test instruments, toys, light switc
hes/dimmers and electrical circuit breakers, smoke alarms, battery packs, and hi
-fi audio/visual components (from DVD players to phonograph turntables). Such pr
oducts as cellular telephones, DVD video system and HDTV broadcast systems funda
mentally require consumer devices with powerful, low-cost, microprocessors. Incr
easingly stringent pollution control standards effectively require automobile ma
nufacturers to use microprocessor engine management systems, to allow optimal co
ntrol of emissions over widely varying operating conditions of an automobile. No
n-programmable controls would require complex, bulky, or costly implementation t
o achieve the results possible with a microprocessor.
A microprocessor control program (embedded software) can be easily tailored to d
ifferent needs of a product line, allowing upgrades in performance with minimal
redesign of the product. Different features can be implemented in different mode
ls of a product line at negligible production cost.
Microprocessor control of a system can provide control strategies that would be
impractical to implement using electromechanical controls or purpose-built elect
ronic controls. For example, an engine control system in an automobile can adjus
t ignition timing based on engine speed, load on the engine, ambient temperature
, and any observed tendency for knocking allowing an automobile to operate on a ra
nge of fuel grades.
History[edit]
The advent of low-cost computers on integrated circuits has transformed modern s
ociety. General-purpose microprocessors in personal computers are used for compu
tation, text editing, multimedia display, and communication over the Internet. M
any more microprocessors are part of embedded systems, providing digital control
over myriad objects from appliances to automobiles to cellular phones and indus
trial process control.
The first use of the term "microprocessor" is attributed to Viatron Computer Sys
tems describing the custom integrated circuit used in their System 21 small comp
uter system announced in 1968.
Intel introduced its first 4-bit microprocessor 4004 in 1971 and its 8-bit micro
processor 8008 in 1972. During the 1960s, computer processors were constructed o
ut of small and medium-scale ICs each containing from tens of transistors to a few
hundred. These were placed and soldered onto printed circuit boards, and often
multiple boards were interconnected in a chassis. The large number of discrete l
ogic gates used more electrical power and therefore produced more heat than a more i
ntegrated design with fewer ICs. The distance that signals had to travel between
ICs on the boards limited a computer's operating speed.
In the NASA Apollo space missions to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, all onboar
d computations for primary guidance, navigation and control were provided by a s
mall custom processor called "The Apollo Guidance Computer". It used wire wrap c

ircuit boards whose only logic elements were three-input NOR gates.[10]
The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electroni
c calculators, using binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic on 4-bit words. Other
embedded uses of 4-bit and 8-bit microprocessors, such as terminals, printers,
various kinds of automation etc., followed soon after. Affordable 8-bit micropro
cessors with 16-bit addressing also led to the first general-purpose microcomput
ers from the mid-1970s on.
Since the early 1970s, the increase in capacity of microprocessors has followed
Moore's law; this originally suggested that the number of components that can be
fitted onto a chip doubles every year. With present technology, it is actually
every two years,[11] and as such Moore later changed the period to two years.[12
]
Firsts[edit]
Three projects delivered a microprocessor at about the same time: Garrett AiRese
arch's Central Air Data Computer (CADC), Texas Instruments (TI) TMS 1000 (1971 S
eptember), and Intel's 4004 (1971 November).
CADC[edit]
Question book-new.svg
This section relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve th
is article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (March 2010)
For more details on this topic, see Central Air Data Computer.
In 1968, Garrett AiResearch (which employed designers Ray Holt and Steve Geller)
was invited to produce a digital computer to compete with electromechanical sys
tems 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 (approximately 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 20-bit,
pipelined, parallel multi-microprocessor". The Navy refused to allow publicatio
n of the design until 1997. For this reason the CADC, and the MP944 chipset it u
sed, are fairly unknown.[13] Ray Holt graduated from California Polytechnic Univ
ersity in 1968, and began his computer design career with the CADC. From its inc
eption, it was shrouded in secrecy until 1998 when at Holt's request, the US Nav
y allowed the documents into the public domain. Since then people[who?] have deb
ated whether this was the first microprocessor. Holt has stated that no one has
compared this microprocessor with those that came later.[14] According to Parab
et al. (2007), "The scientific papers and literature published around 1971 revea
l that the MP944 digital processor used for the F-14 Tomcat aircraft of the US N
avy qualifies as the first microprocessor. Although interesting, it was not a si
ngle-chip processor, as was not the Intel 4004
they both were more like a set of
parallel building blocks you could use to make a general-purpose form. It conta
ins a CPU, RAM, ROM, and two other support chips like the Intel 4004. It was mad
e from the same P-channel technology, operated at military specifications and ha
d larger chips -- an excellent computer engineering design by any standards. Its
design indicates a major advance over Intel, and two year earlier. It actually
worked and was flying in the F-14 when the Intel 4004 was announced. It indicate
s that today s industry theme of converging DSP-microcontroller architectures was
started in 1971."[15] This convergence of DSP and microcontroller architectures
is known as a digital signal controller.[16]
Gilbert Hyatt[edit]
Gilbert Hyatt was awarded a patent claiming an invention pre-dating both TI and
Intel, describing a "microcontroller".[17] The patent was later invalidated, but
not before substantial royalties were paid out.[18][19]
TMS 1000[dubious

discuss][edit]

The Smithsonian Institution says TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran suc
ceeded in creating the first microcontroller (also called a microcomputer) and t
he first single-chip CPU in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS 1000, whi
ch went on the market in 1974.[20] TI stressed the 4-bit TMS 1000 for use in pre
-programmed embedded applications, introducing a version called the TMS1802NC on
September 17, 1971 that implemented a calculator on a chip.
TI filed for a patent on the microprocessor. Gary Boone was awarded U.S. Patent
3,757,306 for the single-chip microprocessor architecture on September 4, 1973.
In 1971 and again in 1976, Intel and TI entered into broad patent cross-licensin
g agreements, with Intel paying royalties to TI for the microprocessor patent. A
history of these events is contained in court documentation from a legal disput
e between Cyrix and Intel, with TI as inventor and owner of the microprocessor p
atent.
A computer-on-a-chip combines the microprocessor core (CPU), memory, and I/O (in
put/output) lines onto one chip. The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the "micr
ocomputer 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 mi
crocomputer is a computer using one or more microprocessors as its CPU(s), while
the concept defined in the patent is more akin to a microcontroller.