Tech basics: MICROPROCESSORS
The execution of every single program goes through several steps where the system has to execute every single line of instruction. From the knowledge of our earlier articles, you may able to know that a program is nothing but a set of instructions. And what need in the running of these programs is the execution of every single line of instructions. But how actually these instructions are executed? Well for the execution of instructions, the computer needs the help of both hardware and software. From our last article, we know that the operating system plays the most important role in the computer. Without it, a computer is of no work. In this article, we shall know apart from OS what is the most important thing inside a computer. So an operating system is basically a software. And a computer needs hardware which can execute the instructions. The operating system mainly manages all the process of going inside a computer. But what is there which actually run the program and executive all the instructions inside it? You may be heard about the CPU or Central processing unit. A central processing unit is basically a microprocessor-based on a single integrated circuit which does everything in a computer. It consists of millions of small units i.e diodes, transistors and resistors. So let's get into the topic and know the working of microprocessors.
Working
A microprocessor is the most important hardware in a computer system. Every single function that happens in a computer is carried out by the microprocessor. To know about the working of microprocessors it's better to know about the logic used to create one. Basically, a microprocessor is consist of millions of small units. But the microprocessor itself need to be programmed to make it work. It is done with the help of its native language called assembly language. A programmer gives various instructions to the computer which tells the system how to execute the program, the microprocessor assembles all the machine instructions that tell the processor what to do. There are three basic functions that the microprocessor do:
- ALU or arithmetic logic unit is a small unit in the microprocessor which operates mathematical or logical operations i.e addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Modern processors can perform extremely sophisticated tasks.
- Microprocessors move data from one location to others in the memory.
- Microprocessor makes decisions through the machine instructions and moves to a set of new instructions based on those decisions.
Advantages
- Low costs: Due to the development of integrated circuit technology, microprocessors are available at very low costs.
- Small size: As microprocessors are very small it can be integrated into small computers.
- Versatile: Single microprocessor can be used for a lot of programs.
- Low power consumption: Microprocessor is manufactured by metal oxide semiconductor technology due to which it consumes less power.
- Low heating: Due to the small size microprocessor don't generate much heat.
- High speed: Microprocessor can handle millions of instructions per second.
- Portable: Due to less power consumption, devices involved microprocessor can be made portable.
Manufacturing
The microprocessor is one of the most complicated hardware ever made. Its manufacturing is very much important to know its working. The process of manufacturing of microprocessors is called fabrication of microprocessors.
The base material that is used in all types of semiconductor is silicon. A very fine quality of silicon is used for making microprocessor as they are to handle millions of processes. The making of microprocessors goes through several steps:
- Begins with sand
Not every type of sand is useful in chip making. A special type of sand called silica sand is used which is comprised of silicon dioxide.
- Silicon filtering
Silicon from the sand is super filtered to get the silicon with the purity of 99.9% which can be used in semiconductors.
- Cut wafers
The pure silica is now sliced into wafers as thin as possible and then polished to be used in fabrication.
- Photolithography
A layer of photoresist is spread across the wafers. This layer is then exposed to UV light and then exposed photoresist layer is washed away by a solvent.
- Ions and doping
The wafers are now bombarded with ions to alter its electronic conductivity.
- Etching
By another photolithography step, a layer of hard material is coated over the silicon wafers. Then with the help of chemicals, unwanted silicons are removed to get the high-quality silicon ridges. Then more photolithography is used to fabricate transistors.
- Electroplating
With this process, copper ions are deposited over the transistors which form a layer of copper over the insulator. Then extra copper is polished off.
- Layering interconnects
With this process, all the transistors are connected in an architecture which makes the chip work like a microprocessor.
- Testing and slicing units
Now all the wafers are tested and sliced into units. Functional units are moved to the final step of fabrication.
- Packaging
All units are mounted with a substrate, heat sink and heat spreader. Heat spreader conducts the heat from the silicon to the heat sink. The chips are now moved through various steps and then packaged as a retail product.
Terms used in microprocessors
Bus
A set of conductors that transmit data, elements and commands to a different element in the microprocessor is called the bus. There are three types of the bus data bus, address bus and control bus.
Word length
It is the number of bits in the data bus of the microprocessor or it is the number of bits a microprocessor can process at a time.
Clock speed
It is the speed at which a microprocessor can execute instructions. Microprocessor usually has a clock signal to measure all their functions. Clock speed is usually measured in Hertz.
Cache memory
It is the memory from the ram that is integrated into the microprocessor so that it can access data quickly. Cache memory is used to store data during execution of an instruction.
Bandwidth
It is the number of bits that can be processed in a single instruction.
Number of cores
A microprocessor can have a single core or multiple cores. Multiple core processor comes with greater efficiency for multitasking as they can process several jobs at the same time.
Thickness
The thickness of the microprocessor plays a very important role in their working. Less thick the microprocessor is, more efficient for multitasking, consumes less power and generates less heat.
Image signal processor (ISP)
Image signal processor is a unit in the main processor that converts the raw image into a digital form by adjusting various aspects of the raw image.
Digital signal processor (DSP)
Digital signal processor is a type of microprocessor that converts analogue signals to digital while receiving various kinds of signals onto the computer.
Development
The development of microprocessors started in the 1970s when people thought of some efficient, versatile and portable kind of hardware which can make future computers more powerful and smaller in size. The first microprocessor to be released was Intel 4004 in 1971. Development of microprocessors went generation wise.
The first generation microprocessor was developed in the period of 1971 to 1973 as Intel 4004 which was only 4 bits as the word size. It would run at a clock speed of 4 kHz.
The first 2nd generation processor was developed in 1972 which was Intel 8008, an 8-bit processor. It could represent numbers from -127 to +128.
In 1978, Intel showcased their Intel 8086 which was a 3rd generation processor. It had a word count of 16 bit. It could represent numbers from -32,768 to +32,767.
In 1980s Intel came up with their new Intel 80386 which was a 4th generation processor. With a word size of 32 bit, it was possible to represent numbers in billions. At this time Motorola also came up with their 68020 processor which was a 32-bit processor. Intel Pentium 4 released in the 2000s had millions of transistors working together which makes it process 42 million instructions at a time.
From 1995 till now 5th generation processors are in use. They have a word count of 64 bit. Now computers based on these microprocessors can execute billions of instructions. For example, Intel Core i9 and AMD Ryzen 7 makes the computer extremely fast.
Types of processors
Computer processors
Computer processors are high power multi-core CPUs that handles every aspect of the functioning of the computer system. As they are high power processor, they consume more energy. They are designed to handle all the sophisticated jobs a user can do with its computer. AMD and Intel handle most of the computer processors market shares. Each company provides several lines of processors.
Intel
Intel is a multinational American company that holds most of the computer processors shares. Intel is the manufacturer of the world's largest and high-value semiconductor chips. The first microprocessor in the world was developed by Intel and till now the company have brought a line of powerful and high-quality processors.
Some releases:
- Intel 4004
- Intel 8008
- Intel 8088
- Intel 80286
- Intel Pentium
- Intel atom
- Intel Celeron
- Intel Pentium pro
- Intel Pentium II
- Intel Pentium III
- Intel Xeon
- Intel Pentium 4
- Intel core
- Intel core 2
- Intel core i3
- Intel core i5
- Intel core i7
- Intel core i9
AMD or advanced micro devices is an American multinational company that manufactures computer processors. Since Intel, AMD is the most popular processor manufacturing company known. AMD is also known for its high-quality GPU which is widely used in computers. AMD develops high-quality processors with great efficiency.
Some releases:
- APU A10
- APU A12
- APU A8
- Athlon
- Athlon II
- Duron
- Opteron 100
- Opteron 1000
- Phenom
- Ryzen 3
- Ryzen 5
- Ryzen 7
When it comes to mobile computers, well we can't just use any computer chip in them as they are designed for high performance which also uses high energy. Mobiles are designed for portability, so it makes it difficult for computer processors to work in them as a cellphone can't supply that much power to the processors to run. So mobile processors are designed to consume less power and run cooler than the desktop counterpart. In a desktop apart from the microprocessor, there are a lot of things that handle different aspects of the computer together comprises the CPU. But in mobiles, space is less and the processor has to do all the task, accessing the multimedia content, photos etc consumes a lot of power. So all the different components that make up the computer processor are supposed to condense in a single unit called as a system on a chip or SoC.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the manufacturer of the best lineup of mobile processors popularly known as its Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The company is located in California, United States. The company is best known for its semiconductors technology. Snapdragon chipsets hold most of the mobile processor's shares which use ARM RISC architecture with their own built-in Adreno GPU, Hexagon DSP and Spectra ISP used worldwide in various mobile platforms.
The company develops processors for all range of handset mobiles.
With their popular releases Snapdragon 200 series, Snapdragon 400 series, Snapdragon 600 series, Snapdragon 700 series, Snapdragon 800 series are ongoing chipsets that cover all range of smartphones.
Mediatek
Mediatek is a Taiwanese company that develops SoC and other semiconductor items. The company uses ARM architecture for its high-performance processors. It holds 21% of mobile processors market shares. Some of their major processors developed so far are helio g series, helio X series, helio a series, helio p series, dimensity series etc are some popular launches.
Apart from the two companies discussed above, the rest of the mobile processors market shares goes to Samsung's Exynos which holds 16% shares and Huawei's high silicon kirin which holds 14% market shares.
If you like the article, please share your feedback, share the post and subscribe to our blog to get latest updates.
Nice article
ReplyDelete