Introduction

Any electronic device that is capable of taking in input

data/instructions and converting them into information/actions as outputs is called a processor.

Building Blocks of a Processor

Logic Gates Transistors Processing Units Flip Flops

Transistor
The fundamental component of

any modern processing unit. Made by sandwiching layers of semi conductor substances. Has the important properties of being able to:
Work as an electronic switch.

Amplify signals.

Creators of the transistors

John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs, 1948.

Was given the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention.

Gates
Processors operate on binary signals.
Binary has only two states. On/Off Positive / Negative. 1 or 0 True or False This rigidness had to be implemented in a electronic

circuit.

Gates cntd.
Scientists found out that by using devices like

transistors, we could implement small units which will react like that. These were called logic gates. A typical gate has one or many inputs and one output. Depending on the signal type (1 or 0 ) given to its (input/inputs) and the internal design of it, the output will vary.

Example : Half Adder

Adds two 1 bit numbers

A (input 1) 0 1 0 1

B (Input 2) 0 0 1 1

S (Output) 0 1 1 1

Carry 0 0 0 1

Integrated circuits ,transistors and gates

Once the transistor was

developed, its small scale size made the possibility of creating many gates on a very small piece of semi conductor piece. So came the era of integrated circuits.

Typically we use silicon as the semi conductor substance

Flip Flops
Once the decision making ability was given to the

processor by use of gates, the need to store some of those results arose. Various research were carried out and it was seen that by arranging gates in special formats, it was possible to store these values or states in an IC. These were called flip flops (or sometimes as Latch circuits)

Timed flip flops

Flip flops had another special property other than simply storing a

value. It could be made to work with a timing signal or a clock signal. These were known as gated flip flops. These will only function when a specific value of the clock signal is present at its clock input. When that value is not present it will not produce any output; just retain the previous state till the desired clock signal is there.

Round Up
Transistors gave the switching ability in a compact

size. Gates gave the decision making ability. Flip flops gave the storing and working in a time sequence ability. All of these together give the processor to carry out various complex tasks in high speed.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

It has many names but whatever the name may be the

working principals are same. Some common names given to CPUs are:
The brain of the computer Processor or Computer Processor Microprocessor Central Processor
Note : Systems unit and CPU are two things. Systems unit is the whole box type enclosure with the motherboard, processor, hard disk etc. CPU is the processor itself.

 These names are given to the CPU because the CPUs

work is just Processing or calculating. It is called as the brain of the computer because it does all the arithmetic and logical operations.
Generally CPUs are small square chips of the size of

ones palm.
The processors are made up of thin layers of thousands

of transistors (even millions). Each transistor is of microscopic thickness.

Components of a CPU:
Arithmetic logical unit (ALU) Registers Control Unit (CU)

The ALU performs arithmetic and logical operations.

The Memory Unit receives and stores the instructions while the control unit extracts instructions from the memory and it decodes and executes them.

Block diagram of a CPU

ALU
In computing, an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) is

a digital circuit that performs arithmetic and logical operations. The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one for purposes such as maintaining timers. The processors found inside modern CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs) accommodate very powerful and very complex ALUs. A single processor may contain a number of ALUs.

History Behind the ALU

Mathematician John von Neumann proposed the ALU

concept in 1945, when he wrote a report on the foundations for a new computer called the EDVAC. Research into ALUs remains as an important part of computer science.

ALUs Logic Diagram

A,B = Operands F = Opcode D = Status R = Output

Opcode is short for Operation Code which is the instructions given to the ALU. Operands are the Data that is to be processed on.

Operations of a ALU
A basic ALU must be capable of carrying out the

following types of operations.

Mathematical Operations:

Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Comparisons Complementing

Logical Operations

ALU working example

Multiplication of numbers

 Same method is used in the ALU to get the answer. There are special Gates which can store, shift and add numbers. By

combining them the ALU gets the result.

Control Unit (CU)

The control unit coordinates the components of a

computer system. It fetches the code of all of the instructions in the program. It directs the operation of the other units by providing timing and control signals. All computer resources are managed by the CU. It directs the flow of data between the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the other devices (Memory, Graphics Cards, USB, LAN etc ) The control unit was historically defined as one distinct part of the 1946 reference model of Von Neumann architecture. In a way, it is the "brain within the brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor, which in turn controls the rest of the computer.

Registers
A processor register is a small amount of storage available as part

of a CPU or other digital processor. Such registers are (typically) addressed by mechanisms other than main memory and can be accessed more quickly. Almost all computers load data from a larger memory into registers where it is used for arithmetic, manipulated, or tested, by some machine instruction. Manipulated data is then often stored back in main memory, either by the same instruction or a subsequent one. A common property of computer programs is locality of reference: the same values are often accessed repeatedly and frequently used values held in registers improves performance. This is what makes fast registers (and caches) meaningful.

Memory hierarchy in a PC

Types of Registers in a CPU

We can find the following in a typical CPU. Data register Address Register Instruction register temporary register Input/Output register

Register size
The main property associated with registers is its size.
Size is measured in bits. The earlier processors had a mere 4bit registry.

At present we have the 64bit capacity.

This is why the terms such as 64bit applications, 64 bit

OSs, and 64bit processors came to be.

Advantage of having larger register sizes.

A large amount of data can

be fetched and executed in single clock cycle!!

Advantage Cntd.
A B C D Instruction decoded per cycle A C E G B D F H

E F
G H 32 bit 64 bit

CPU at work
1.

The control unit fetches and decodes (understands) the relevant instruction from memory registers.

2. The fetched instructions are performed by the ALU. 3. Then the results are send to the memory register for

permanent or temporary storage.

4. This goes on cyclically till the CPU is turned off.

CPU at work

CPU Vs Microprocessor
In the days before the transistor, the CPU used to span

over many cabinets (enclosures) since the vacuum tubes used were large in size. But once the transistor came to play, all of it was able to be shrunk into a very small area of silicon wafer. So all the supporting hardware of the CPU was integrated into a single chip and this was called the micro processor. The main processing unit or the processor in the PC is actually a microprocessor which contains a CPU inside of it.

Inside a microprocessor
Cache : is a volatile memory area created inside the microprocessor itself to store frequently used instructions and data. Has low capacity compared to a RAM or HDD.

Cache Hierarchy
First the CPU looks

for the relevant data/instructions in the L1 cache. If found it will start executions. If not it will go to the L2 and L3 so on. If neither holds the data it will look for it at the Ram and then finally the HDD.

The measure of delay between data request and delivery.

What is Multi core?

With the rapid development in silicon fabrication

technology, scientists have been able to densely pack together many components into a single IC. With this ability, designers began to experiment the idea of creating more CPUs in a single microprocessor chip. So actually it is actually a collection of two or more CPUs in a single microprocessor IC. The term core was used instead of the term CPU to identify them.

A closer look
Here is an enlarged

image of a quad core ( 4 CPUs) microprocessor by intel.

Advantages of Multi-Core
The CPU can only perform one Fetch Decode

instruction per clock cycle. When you have many CPUs (cores) in one microprocessor, you could run many Fetch-Decode instructions per clock cycle. Eg : A quad core CPU will execute 4 such instructions in one clock cycle while a single core can do only one.

Hertz Battle
CPUs need a clock signal to perform the instructions

sequentially. So a clock signal measured in Hertz is provided and this was the way the efficiency/speed of the CPU was measured. But scientists found out that there is a limit to this clock speed since increasing it caused components to :
Overheat and burn

Consume high energy

So they started focusing on the multi core concept and

thus the battle to increase the speed was ceased.

Manufacturers
Currently in the PC arena there are two main

manufacturers of CPUs.
Intel AMD

Other manufactures ( handheld devices etc.) Motorola ARM Via technologies

Intel Corporation
is an American multinational semiconductor chip

maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Intel is the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated electronics. Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.

Robert Noyce

Gordon Moore

Moores Law
Rate of increase in transistor

density on microchips doubles every 18-24 months with no increase in unit cost

AMD Corporation
Advanced Micro Devices was founded on

May 1, 1969 by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor, including Jerry Sanders III, Ed Turney. chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080 microprocessor. Intel and recently entered the GPU production arena by acquiring the Ati Company.
Jerry Sanders III

The company began as a producer of logic

It is currently the biggest competitor to

Ed Turney

AMD Vs. Intel

Intel has about 80% of the market in CPU sales.
When it comes to speed the fastest CPUs are from

Intel, yet their cost is too high. AMD provides cost effective processors but in the Mid range to low end performance. For a typical home user AMD processors are more economical but for high end users Intel wins the title.

Common terms of Microprocessors

Speed = MHz, GHz
Cores = Dual, Quad, Hexa Cache = L1, L2, L3

Socket type = Slot, PGA, LGA

FSB = Front Side Bus Speed (Not

Socket Type
We all know that the processor should be fixed to the

motherboard in order for the pc to function. This connection interface is known as a socket. It varies from model to model similar to a situation where you could only connect square pin plugs to a square plug base only. So the motherboard socket must be always matching to the processors connectivity area.

 The socket varies from its size, shape and the number

of pins it has. The early processors had the slot type and Pin Grid Array type sockets.The slot type has now become obsolete and the PGA type is also becoming to that state gradually. The latest processors belong to the LGA series (Land Grid Array) while the older models belong to PGA series (Pin Grid Array). The PGA socket is a female type one and the LGA socket is a male type one.

Slot Type Processor

Slot type motherboard socket

PGA Socket LGA Socket

Front Side Bus (FSB)

This is the main data

path between the processor and the rest of the system. So higher the bus speed, higher the efficiency of the processor. This is no longer used in the newer Core I series since they have ceased using of the North bridge Chip architecture.

Microcontrollers
A microcontroller is actually a computer.
The desktop computer you are using is a "general

purpose computer" that can run any of thousands of different programs. Microcontrollers are "special purpose computers." Microcontrollers do one thing well. There are a number of other common characteristics that define microcontrollers. If a computer matches a majority of these characteristics, then you can call it a "microcontroller":

Features of a Microcontroller
They are "embedded" inside some other device (often a

consumer product) so that they can control the features or actions of the product. Another name for a microcontroller, therefore, is "embedded controller. Eg : The controllers inside the mouse, keyboard, monitors, scanners etc. Microcontrollers are dedicated to one task and run one specific program. The program is stored in ROM(read-only memory) and generally does not change. Microcontrollers are often low-power devices. A desktop computer is almost always plugged into a wall socket and consume atleast 50 watts of electricity. A battery-operated microcontroller might consume 50 milliwatts.

Features cntd.
A microcontroller is often small and low cost. The components

are chosen to minimize size and to be as inexpensive as possible. A microcontroller is often, but not always, ruggedized in some way.
The microcontroller controlling a car's engine, for example, has to

work in temperature extremes that a normal computer generally cannot handle. A car's microcontroller in Alaska has to work fine in -30 degree F (-34 C) weather, while the same microcontroller in Nevada might be operating at 120 degrees F (49 C). When you add the heat naturally generated by the engine, the temperature can go as high as 150 or 180 degrees F (65-80 C) in the engine compartment. On the other hand, a microcontroller embedded inside a VCR hasn't been ruggedized at all.

Manufacturers
Some of the leading chip manufacturers Microchip technology Atmel Xilinx Texas Instruments Fujitsu

Why do we need microcontrollers?

The End.