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Essay on Microprocessor
Microprocessor is an integrated circuit containing the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to interpret and execute instructions from a computer program . When combined with other integrated circuits that provide storage for data and programs, often on a single semiconductor base to form a chip, the microprocessor becomes the heart of a small computer, or microcomputer. Microprocessors are classified by the semiconductor technology of their design (TTL, transistor-transistor logic; CMOS, complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor; or ECL, emitter-coupled logic), by the width of the data format (4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit) they process; and by their instruction set (CISC, complex-instruction-set computer, or RISC, reduced-instruction-set computer. TTL technology is most commonly used, while CMOS is favored for portable computers and other battery-powered devices because of its low power consumption. ECL is used where the need for its greater speed offsets the fact that it consumes the most power. Four-bit devices, while inexpensive, are good only for simple control applications; in general, the wider the data format, the faster and more expensive the device. CISC processors, which have 70 to several hundred instructions, are easier to program than RISC processors, but are slower and more expensive (Berenbaum & Ditzel, 1987).
The microprocessor is the computer processor on a single silicon chip, introduced in 1971, that has revolutionised electronic circuit design, and promoted the use of microelectronics in areas well outside the traditional domain of application. This case study illustrates the initial deconcentrating effect of the introduction of the microprocessor, followed by the reconcentrating effect of continuing incremental innovation in eight- and sixteen-bit devices. Latterly, there is evidence that developments in the most advanced areas of thirty-two-bit microprocessors, and RISC chips, has again been somewhat deconcentrating, but unfortunately we lacked the data to examine this part of the market’s history in such detail (Martin, 1999)....
