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{{Short description|Computer processor contained on an integrated-circuit chip}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2022}}[[File:C4004 two lines.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|4-bit [[Intel 4004]] (1971) ]]
[[File:KL IBM PowerPC 601.jpg|thumb|32-bit [[PowerPC 601]] (1993)]]
[[File:Scan des AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X 20240407 075.jpg|thumb|[[64-bit]], 32-core (64-threads), AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X based on [[x86-64]] [[Zen 4]] (2023)]]A '''microprocessor''' is a [[computer]] [[processor (computing)|processor]] for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single [[integrated circuit]] (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to perform the functions of a computer's [[central processing unit]] (CPU). The IC is capable of interpreting and executing program instructions and performing arithmetic operations.<ref>{{cite web |last=Orion |first=Veritas |date=2024-08-23 |title=What distinguishes a microprocessor from a microcontroller? |url=https://www.ampheo.com/blog/microprocessor-vs-microcontroller-comparison |website=Ampheo Electronics |publisher=Orion Veritas}}</ref> The microprocessor is a multipurpose, [[Clock signal|clock]]-driven, [[Processor register|register]]-based, [[digital integrated circuit]] that accepts [[binary code|binary]] data as input, processes it according to [[instruction (computing)|instruction]]s stored in its [[computer memory|memory]], and provides results (also in binary form) as output. Microprocessors contain both [[combinational logic]] and [[sequential logic|sequential digital logic]], and operate on numbers and symbols represented in the [[binary number]] system.▼
The integration of a whole CPU onto a single or a few integrated circuits using [[Very-Large-Scale Integration]] (VLSI) greatly reduced the cost of processing power. Integrated circuit processors are produced in large numbers by highly automated [[metal–oxide–semiconductor]] (MOS) [[semiconductor device fabrication|fabrication processes]], resulting in a relatively low [[unit price]]. Single-chip processors increase reliability because there are fewer electrical connections that can fail. As [[Processor design|microprocessor designs]] improve, the cost of manufacturing a chip (with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the same size) generally stays the same, according to [[Rock's law]].▼
▲[[File:C4004 two lines.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Intel 4004]] ]]
▲[[File:Motorola XC6800A 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Motorola 6800]] (MC6800)]]
Before microprocessors, small computers had been built using racks of [[circuit board]]s with many [[medium-scale integration|medium-]] and [[small-scale integration|small-scale integrated circuits]]
▲A '''microprocessor''' is a [[computer]] [[processor (computing)|processor]] for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single [[integrated circuit]] (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to perform the functions of a computer's [[central processing unit]] (CPU). The IC is capable of interpreting and executing program instructions and performing arithmetic operations.<ref>{{cite web |last=Orion |first=Veritas |date=2024-08-23 |title=What distinguishes a microprocessor from a microcontroller? |url=https://www.ampheo.com/blog/microprocessor-vs-microcontroller-comparison |website=Ampheo Electronics |publisher=Orion Veritas}}</ref> The microprocessor is a multipurpose, [[Clock signal|clock]]-driven, [[Processor register|register]]-based, [[digital integrated circuit]] that accepts [[binary code|binary]] data as input, processes it according to [[instruction (computing)|instruction]]s stored in its [[computer memory|memory]], and provides results (also in binary form) as output. Microprocessors contain both [[combinational logic]] and [[sequential logic|sequential digital logic]], and operate on numbers and symbols represented in the [[binary number]] system.
▲The integration of a whole CPU onto a single or a few integrated circuits using [[Very-Large-Scale Integration]] (VLSI) greatly reduced the cost of processing power. Integrated circuit processors are produced in large numbers by highly automated [[metal–oxide–semiconductor]] (MOS) [[semiconductor device fabrication|fabrication processes]], resulting in a relatively low [[unit price]]. Single-chip processors increase reliability because there are fewer electrical connections that can fail. As [[Processor design|microprocessor designs]] improve, the cost of manufacturing a chip (with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the same size) generally stays the same according to [[Rock's law]].
▲Before microprocessors, small computers had been built using racks of [[circuit board]]s with many [[medium-scale integration|medium-]] and [[small-scale integration|small-scale integrated circuits]], typically of [[Transistor–transistor logic|TTL]] type. Microprocessors combined this into one or a few [[large-scale integration|large-scale]] ICs. While there is disagreement over who deserves credit for the invention of the microprocessor, the first commercially available microprocessor was the [[Intel 4004]], designed by [[Federico Faggin]] and introduced in 1971.<ref name = "IEEE">{{cite web | url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-microprocessors | title=The Surprising Story of the First Microprocessors | date=30 August 2016 | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=4 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004011825/https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-microprocessors | url-status=live }}</ref>
Continued increases in microprocessor capacity have since rendered other forms of computers almost completely obsolete (see [[history of computing hardware]]), with one or more microprocessors used in everything from the smallest [[embedded system]]s and [[handheld device]]s to the largest [[mainframe]]s and [[supercomputer]]s.
A microprocessor is distinct from a [[microcontroller]] including a [[system on a chip]].<ref name="Warnes 2003 pp. 443–477">{{cite book | last=Warnes | first=Lionel | title=Electronic and Electrical Engineering | chapter=Microprocessors and microcontrollers | publisher=Macmillan Education UK | publication-place=London | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-333-99040-7 | doi=10.1007/978-0-230-21633-4_23 | pages=443–477 | quote=microprocessor is not a stand-alone computer, since it lacks memory and input/output control. These are the missing parts that the microcontroller supplies, making it more nearly a complete computer on a chip
==Structure==
[[File:Z80 arch.svg|thumb|upright=1.7|
The complexity of an integrated circuit is bounded by physical limitations on the number of [[transistors]] that can be put onto one chip, the number of package terminations that can connect 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 [[Thermal management (electronics)|dissipate]]. Advancing technology makes more complex and powerful chips feasible to manufacture.
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A minimal hypothetical microprocessor might include only an [[arithmetic logic unit]] (ALU), and a [[control logic]] section. The ALU performs addition, subtraction, and operations such as AND or OR. Each operation of the ALU sets one or more [[Bit field|flag]]s in a [[status register]], which indicate the results of the last operation (zero value, negative number, [[Integer overflow|overflow]], or others). The control logic retrieves instruction codes from memory and initiates the sequence of operations required for the ALU to carry out the instruction. A single [[operation code]] might affect many individual data paths, registers, and other elements of the processor.
As integrated circuit technology advanced
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 [[parallel computing|in parallel]] processed subsets of each word. While this required extra logic to handle, for example, carry and overflow 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.
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* Other specialized units exist for [[video processing]] and [[vision processing unit|machine vision]]. (See: [[Hardware acceleration]].)
* [[Microcontroller]]s in [[embedded system]]s and [[peripheral device]]s.
* [[Systems on chip]] (SoCs) often integrate one or more microprocessor and microcontroller cores with other components such as [[radio
===Speed and power considerations===
Microprocessors can be selected for differing applications based on their word size, which is a measure of their complexity. Longer word sizes allow each [[clock cycle]] of a processor to carry out more computation, but correspond to physically larger integrated circuit dies with higher standby and operating [[power consumption]].<ref name="cmicrotek">CMicrotek.
[http://cmicrotek.com/wordpress_159256135/?p=22 "8-bit vs 32-bit Micros"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714123158/http://cmicrotek.com/wordpress_159256135/?p=22 |date=2014-07-14 }}.</ref> 4-, 8- or 12-bit processors are widely integrated into microcontrollers operating embedded systems. Where a system is expected to handle larger volumes of data or require a more flexible [[user interface]], 16-, 32- or 64-bit processors are used. An 8- or [[16-bit]] processor may be selected over a 32-bit processor for [[system on a chip]] or microcontroller applications that require extremely [[low-power electronics]], or are part of a [[mixed-signal integrated circuit]] with noise-sensitive on-chip [[analog electronics]] such as high-resolution analog to digital converters, or both.
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Following the development of [[MOS integrated circuit]] chips in the early 1960s, MOS chips reached higher [[transistor density]] and lower manufacturing costs than [[bipolar junction transistor|bipolar]] [[integrated circuits]] by 1964. MOS chips further increased in complexity at a rate predicted by [[Moore's law]], leading to [[large-scale integration]] (LSI) with hundreds of [[transistors]] on a single MOS chip by the late 1960s. The application of MOS LSI chips to [[computing]] was the basis for the first microprocessors, as engineers began recognizing that a complete [[computer processor]] could be contained on several MOS LSI chips.<ref name="ieee">{{cite journal|last1=Shirriff|first1=Ken|date=30 August 2016|title=The Surprising Story of the First Microprocessors|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-microprocessors|journal=[[IEEE Spectrum]]|publisher=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]]|volume=53|issue=9|pages=48–54|doi=10.1109/MSPEC.2016.7551353|access-date=13 October 2019|s2cid=32003640|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124080014/http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-microprocessors|archive-date=2017-11-24}}</ref> Designers in the late 1960s were striving to integrate the [[central processing unit]] (CPU) functions of a computer onto a handful of MOS LSI chips, called microprocessor unit (MPU) chipsets.
While there is disagreement over who invented the microprocessor,<ref name = "IEEE" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Laws |first=David |date=2018-09-20 |title=Who Invented the Microprocessor? |url=https://computerhistory.org/blog/who-invented-the-microprocessor/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Computer History Museum |language=en |archive-date=19 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119023250/https://computerhistory.org/blog/who-invented-the-microprocessor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the first commercially available microprocessor was the [[Intel 4004]], released as a single MOS LSI chip in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |title=1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip |website=The Silicon Engine |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=12 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812104243/https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The single-chip microprocessor was made possible with the development of MOS [[silicon-gate]] technology (SGT).<ref name="silicon-gate">{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/silicon-gate-technology-developed-for-ics/|title=1968: Silicon Gate Technology Developed for ICs {{!}} The Silicon Engine {{!}} Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=2019-10-24|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729145834/https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/silicon-gate-technology-developed-for-ics/|url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest MOS transistors had [[aluminium]] [[metal gate]]s, which Italian physicist [[Federico Faggin]] replaced with [[silicon]] [[self-aligned gate]]s to develop the first silicon-gate MOS chip at [[Fairchild Semiconductor]] in 1968.<ref name="silicon-gate"/> Faggin later joined [[Intel]] and used his silicon-gate MOS technology to develop the 4004, along with [[Marcian Hoff]], [[Stanley Mazor]] and [[Masatoshi Shima]] in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/|title=1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip {{!}} The Silicon Engine {{!}} Computer History Museum|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=2019-10-24|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812104243/https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/|url-status=live}}</ref> The 4004 was designed for [[Busicom]], which had earlier proposed a multi-chip design in 1969, before Faggin's team at Intel changed it into a new single-chip design.
Other [[embedded system|embedded]] uses of 4-bit and 8-bit microprocessors, such as [[computer terminal|terminal]]s, [[computer printer|printer]]s, various kinds of [[automation]] etc., followed soon after. Affordable 8-bit microprocessors with [[16-bit]] addressing also led to the first general-purpose [[microcomputer]]s from the mid-1970s on.
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The first use of the term "microprocessor" is attributed to [[Viatron|Viatron Computer Systems]]<ref>[http://bitsavers.org/pdf/viatron/ViatronSystem21Brochure.pdf Viatron Computer Systems. "System 21 is Now!"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321143159/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/viatron/ViatronSystem21Brochure.pdf |date=2011-03-21 }} (PDF).</ref> describing the custom integrated circuit used in their System 21 small computer system announced in 1968.
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,<ref>{{
===First projects===
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====Four-Phase Systems AL1 (1969)====
The [[Four-Phase Systems AL1]] was an 8-bit [[bit slice]] chip containing eight registers and an ALU.<ref>{{cite book | page=121 | chapter=When is a Microprocessor not a Microprocessor? The Industrial Construction of Semiconductor Innovation | author=Basset, Ross | title=Exposing Electronics | editor=Finn, Bernard | publisher=Michigan State University Press | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-87013-658-0 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsRJTiu1h9MC | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330235547/http://books.google.com/books?id=rsRJTiu1h9MC | archive-date=2014-03-30 }}</ref><!-- UK ed. same page scheme--> It was designed by [[Lee Boysel]] in 1969.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1971-MPU.html | publisher=Computer History Museum | website=The Silicon Engine | title=1971 - Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip | access-date=2010-07-25 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608102128/http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1971-MPU.html | archive-date=2010-06-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://home.comcast.net/~gordonepeterson2/schaller_dissertation_2004.pdf | title=Technological Innovation in the Semiconductor Industry: A Case Study of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors | author=Shaller, Robert R. | date=15 April 2004 | publisher=George Mason University | access-date=2010-07-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219012629/http://home.comcast.net/~gordonepeterson2/schaller_dissertation_2004.pdf | archive-date=2006-12-19 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/histsci/silicongenesis/moore-ntb.html | title=Interview with Gordon E. Moore | date=3 March 1995 | ___location=Los Altos Hills, California | author=RW | publisher=Stanford University | website=[[LAIR]] History of Science and Technology Collections | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045916/http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/histsci/silicongenesis/moore-ntb.html | archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref> At the time, it formed part of a nine-chip, 24-bit CPU with three AL1s. It was later called a microprocessor when, in response to 1990s litigation by [[Texas Instruments]], Boysel constructed a demonstration system where a single AL1 with a 1969 datestamp formed part of a courtroom demonstration computer system, together with RAM, ROM, and an input-output device.<ref>Bassett 2003. pp. 115, 122.</ref> The AL1 wasn't sold individually, but was part of the System IV/70 announced in September 1970 and first delivered in February 1972.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web| title=Four-Phase System IV Series | url=https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/datapro/datapro_reports_70s-90s/Four_Phase/M11-435-10_7908_Four-Phase_System_IV.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231053554/https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/datapro/datapro_reports_70s-90s/Four_Phase/M11-435-10_7908_Four-Phase_System_IV.pdf | archive-date=2024-12-31}}</ref>
====Garrett AiResearch CADC (1970)====
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{{Further|F-14 CADC}}
In 1968, [[Garrett AiResearch]] (who employed designers [[Ray Holt (computer scientist)|Ray Holt]] and Steve Geller) was 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 [[MOSFET|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, [[Pipeline (computing)|pipelined]], [[Parallel computing|parallel]] [[multiprocessor|multi-microprocessor]]". The Navy refused to allow publication of the design until 1997. Released in 1998, the documentation on the [[Central Air Data Computer|CADC]], and the [[MP944]] chipset, are well known. Ray Holt's autobiographical story of this design and development is presented in the book: The Accidental Engineer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://firstmicroprocessor.com/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106143912/http://www.firstmicroprocessor.com/|url-status=dead|title=First Microprocessor|archivedate=January 6, 2014|website=First Microprocessor | 50th Anniversary of the Microprocessor 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=World's First Microprocessor Chip Set | last=Holt | first=Ray M. | url=http://www.firstmicroprocessor.com | publisher=Ray M. Holt website | archive-date=January 6, 2014 | access-date=2010-07-25 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106143912/http://www.firstmicroprocessor.com/ }}</ref>
====Gilbert Hyatt (1970) ====
In 1990, American engineer Gilbert Hyatt was awarded U.S. Patent No. 4,942,516,<ref>{{Cite patent|country=US|number=4942516|title=Single chip integrated circuit computer architecture|gdate=1990-07-17|invent1=Hyatt|inventor1-first=Gilbert P|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US4942516A}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525061939/http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=cNcbAAAAEBAJ |date=25 May 2012 }}</ref> which was based on a 16-bit serial computer he built at his [[Northridge, California]], home in 1969 from boards of bipolar chips after quitting his job at [[Teledyne]] in 1968;<ref name = "IEEE" /><ref name= "LAT" /> though the patent had been submitted in December 1970 and prior to [[Texas Instruments]]' filings for the TMX 1795 and TMS 0100, Hyatt's invention was never manufactured.<ref name ="LAT"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/20/business/for-texas-instruments-some-bragging-rights.html | title=For Texas Instruments, Some Bragging Rights | newspaper=The New York Times | date=20 June 1996 | last1=Markoff | first1=John | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=28 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928210935/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/20/business/for-texas-instruments-some-bragging-rights.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-birth-of-the-microprocessor | title=The Birth of the Microprocessor | date=16 December 2014 | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=4 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004020435/https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-birth-of-the-microprocessor | url-status=live }}</ref> This nonetheless led to claims that Hyatt was the inventor of the microprocessor and the payment of substantial royalties through a [[Philips N.V.]] subsidiary,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-07-fi-1581-story.html | title=Microprocessor Patent Holder Signs Contract : Invention: La Palma inventor signs with Dutch electronics giant, the first company to accord validity to his patent | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=7 November 1991 | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=4 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004023903/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-07-fi-1581-story.html | url-status=live }}</ref> until Texas Instruments prevailed in a complex legal battle in 1996, when the U.S. Patent Office overturned key parts of the patent, while allowing Hyatt to keep it.<ref name = "IEEE" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/dec/21/inventors-fight-recognition-ongoing-not-all-consum/ | title=Inventor's fight for recognition ongoing but not all-consuming - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper | date=21 December 2014 | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=20 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020013849/https://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/dec/21/inventors-fight-recognition-ongoing-not-all-consum/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Hyatt said in a 1990 ''Los Angeles Times'' article that his invention would have been created had his prospective investors backed him, and that the venture investors leaked details of his chip to the industry, though he did not elaborate with evidence to support this claim.<ref name ="LAT">{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-fi-4400-story.html | title=Chip Designer's 20-Year Quest : Computers: Gilbert Hyatt's solitary battle to patent the microprocessor appears to have paid off, if it can withstand legal challenges. Here's his story | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=21 October 1990 | access-date=4 October 2022 | archive-date=4 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004020434/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-fi-4400-story.html | url-status=live }}</ref> In the same article, ''The Chip'' author [[T.R. Reid]] was quoted as saying that historians may ultimately place Hyatt as a co-inventor of the microprocessor, in the way that Intel's Noyce and TI's Kilby share credit for the invention of the chip in 1958: "Kilby got the idea first, but Noyce made it practical. The legal ruling finally favored Noyce, but they are considered co-inventors. The same could happen here."<ref name = "LAT"/> Hyatt would go on to fight a decades-long legal battle with the state of California over alleged unpaid taxes on his patent's windfall after 1990, which would culminate in a landmark Supreme Court case addressing states' [[sovereign immunity]] in ''[[Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt (2019)]]''.
====Texas Instruments TMX 1795 (1970–1971)====
====Texas Instruments TMS 1802NC (1971)====
The TMS1802NC
====Pico/General Instrument (1971)====
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====Intel 4004 (1971) ====
{{Main|Intel 4004}}
[[File:C4004 (Intel).jpg|thumb|
[[File:Intel_4004_ad.jpg|thumb|Intel advertisement in [[Electronic News]] magazine from 1971 emphasizing the 4004's affordability, compactness, ease of programming, and flexibility.]]
The [[Intel 4004]] is often (falsely) regarded as the first true microprocessor built on a single chip,<ref>{{cite web | title=The Microcomputer Revolution | first=Pamela E. | last=Mack | date=30 November 2005 | url=http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec122/micro.htm | access-date=2009-12-23 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114160413/http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec122/micro.htm | archive-date=14 January 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite
The project that produced the 4004 originated in 1969, when [[Busicom]], a Japanese calculator manufacturer, asked Intel to build a chipset for high-performance [[desktop calculator]]s. Busicom's original design called for a programmable chip set consisting of seven different chips. Three of the chips were to make a special-purpose CPU with its program stored in ROM and its data stored in shift register read-write memory. [[Ted Hoff]], the Intel engineer assigned to evaluate the project, believed the Busicom design could be simplified by using dynamic RAM storage for data, rather than shift register memory, and a more traditional general-purpose CPU architecture. Hoff came up with a four-chip architectural proposal: a ROM chip for storing the programs, a dynamic RAM chip for storing data, a simple [[I/O]] device, and a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU). Although not a chip designer, he felt the CPU could be integrated into a single chip, but as he lacked the technical know-how the idea remained just a wish for the time being.
While the architecture and specifications of the MCS-4 came from the interaction of Hoff with [[Stanley Mazor]], a software engineer reporting to him, and with Busicom engineer [[Masatoshi Shima]], during 1969, Mazor and Hoff moved on to other projects. In April 1970, Intel hired Italian engineer [[Federico Faggin]] as project leader, a move that ultimately made the single-chip CPU final design a reality (Shima meanwhile designed the Busicom calculator firmware and assisted Faggin during the first six months of the implementation). Faggin, who originally developed the [[silicon gate]] technology (SGT) in 1968 at [[Fairchild Semiconductor]]<ref>{{cite conference | title=Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor Integrated Circuits with Silicon Gates | last1=Faggin | first1=F. | last2=Klein | first2=T. | last3=Vadasz | first3=L. | conference=International Electronic Devices Meeting | publisher=IEEE Electron Devices Group | date=23 October 1968 | url=http://www.intel4004.com/images/iedm_covart.jpg | format=JPEG image | access-date=2009-12-23 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219143313/http://www.intel4004.com/images/iedm_covart.jpg | archive-date=19 February 2010 }}</ref> and designed the world's first commercial integrated circuit using SGT, the Fairchild 3708, had the correct background to lead the project into what would become the first commercial general purpose microprocessor. Since SGT was his very own invention, Faggin also used it to create his new methodology for [[random logic]] design that made it possible to implement a single-chip CPU with the proper speed, power dissipation and cost. The manager of Intel's MOS Design Department was [[Leslie L. Vadász]] at the time of the MCS-4 development but Vadász's attention was completely focused on the mainstream business of semiconductor memories so he left the leadership and the management of the MCS-4 project to Faggin, who was ultimately responsible for leading the 4004 project to its realization. Production units of the 4004 were first delivered to Busicom in March 1971 and shipped to other customers in late 1971.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}
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The Power4 won "''Analysts’ Choice Award for Best Workstation/Server Processor of 2001", and'' it broke notable records, including winning a contest against the best players on the Jeopardy!<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/watson/|title = IBM100 - A Computer Called Watson|website = [[IBM]]|date = 7 March 2012|access-date = 19 July 2021|archive-date = 19 July 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210719124129/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/watson/|url-status = live}}</ref> U.S. television show.
Intel's [[Yonah (microprocessor)|codename Yonah]] CPU's launched on Jan 6, 2006, and were manufactured with two dies packaged on a [[multi-chip module]]. In a hotly
By 2012 ''dual and quad-core'' processors became widely used in PCs and laptops, newer processors - similar to the higher cost professional level Intel Xeon's - with additional cores that execute instructions in parallel so software performance typically increases, provided the software is designed to utilize advanced hardware. Operating systems provided support for multiple-cores and SMD CPU's, many software applications including large workload and resource intensive applications - such as 3-D games - are programmed to take advantage of multiple core and multi-CPU systems.
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[[Category:Digital electronics]]
[[Category:Microcomputers]]
[[Category:1971 introductions]]
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