Microprocessor: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:42, 10 January 2025

Revision as of 02:51, 6 February 2025

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[[File:C4004 (Intel).jpg|thumb|Intel's first microprocessor, the [[4004]], with cover removed (left) and as actually used (right)]]

[[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 journal | title=History in the Computing Curriculum | url=http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/CompHist_9812tla6.PDF | access-date=2009-12-23 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719211222/http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/CompHist_9812tla6.PDF | archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> priced at {{US$|60|1971|round=-1}}.<ref>{{cite web |first=Peter |last=Bright |title=The 40th birthday of—maybe—the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 |publisher=arstechnica.com |date=November 15, 2011 |url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2011/11/the-40th-birthday-ofmaybethe-first-microprocessor/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106233202/http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/11/the-40th-birthday-ofmaybethe-first-microprocessor/ |archive-date=January 6, 2017 }}</ref> The first known advertisement for the 4004 is dated November 15, 1971, and appeared in ''[[Electronic News]]''.<ref>{{citationCite neededweb|dateurl=Aprilhttps://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/history/museum-story-of-intel-4004.html#:~:text=1971:%20Era%20of%20integrated%20electronics,wide%20variety%20of%20electronic%20devices.|title=intel's 2023first microprocessor|access-date=2025-02-05}}</ref> The microprocessor was designed by a team consisting of Italian engineer [[Federico Faggin]], American engineers [[Marcian Hoff]] and [[Stanley Mazor]], and Japanese engineer [[Masatoshi Shima]].<ref>{{cite journal | title=The History of the 4004 | last1=Faggin | first1=Federico | last2=Hoff | first2=Marcian E. Jr. | last3=Mazor | first3=Stanley | last4=Shima | first4=Masatoshi | journal=IEEE Micro | date=December 1996 | volume=16 | issue=6 | pages=10–20 | doi=10.1109/40.546561 }}</ref>

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.