A microprocessor is a computer processor where 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.[1] The microprocessor is a multipurpose, clock-driven,
register-based, digital integrated circuit that accepts binary data as input,
processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results
(also in binary form) as output. Microprocessors contain both combinational logic
and 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) fabrication processes, resulting in a relatively
low unit price. Single-chip processors increase reliability because there are fewer
electrical connections that could fail. As 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
boards with many medium- and small-scale integrated circuits, typically of TTL
type. Microprocessors combined this into one or a few 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.[2]

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 systems and
handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.

A microprocessor is related but distinct from a system on a chip, microcontroller,

and digital signal processor.

Structure

A block diagram of the architecture of the Z80 microprocessor, showing the

arithmetic and logic section, register file, control logic section, and buffers to
external address and data lines
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 dissipate. Advancing technology makes more complex and powerful chips
feasible to manufacture.

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 flags in a
status register, which indicate the results of the last operation (zero value,
negative number, 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, it was feasible to manufacture more and

more complex processors on a single chip. The size of data objects became larger;
allowing more transistors on a chip allowed word sizes to increase from 4- and 8-
bit words up to today's 64-bit words. Additional features were added to the
processor architecture; more on-chip registers sped up programs, and complex
instructions could be used to make more compact programs. Floating-point
arithmetic, for example, was often not available on 8-bit microprocessors, but had
to be carried out in software. Integration of the floating-point unit, first as a
separate integrated circuit and then as part of the same microprocessor chip, sped
up floating-point calculations.

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 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.

The ability to put large numbers of transistors on one chip makes it feasible to
integrate memory on the same die as the processor. This CPU cache has the advantage
of faster access than off-chip memory and increases the processing speed of the
system for many applications. Processor clock frequency has increased more rapidly
than external memory speed, so cache memory is necessary if the processor is not to
be delayed by slower external memory.

Special-purpose designs
A microprocessor is a general - purpose entity. Several specialized processing
devices have followed:

A digital signal processor (DSP) is specialized for signal processing.

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are processors designed primarily for realtime
rendering of images.
Other specialized units exist for video processing and machine vision. (See:
Hardware acceleration.)
Microcontrollers in embedded systems and peripheral devices.
Systems on chip (SoCs) often integrate one or more microprocessor and
microcontroller cores with other components such as radio modems, and are used in
smartphones and tablet computers.
Speed and power considerations

Intel Core i9-9900K (2018, based on Coffee Lake)

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.
[3] 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. Some people say that running 32-bit arithmetic on an 8-bit chip could end up
using more power, as the chip must execute software with multiple instructions.[4]
However, others say that modern 8-bit chips are always more power-efficient than
32-bit chips when running equivalent software routines.[5]

Embedded applications
Thousands of items that were traditionally not computer-related include
microprocessors. These include household appliances, vehicles (and their
accessories), tools and test instruments, toys, light switches/dimmers and
electrical circuit breakers, smoke alarms, battery packs, and hi-fi audio/visual
components (from DVD players to phonograph turntables). Such products as cellular
telephones, DVD video system and HDTV broadcast systems fundamentally require
consumer devices with powerful, low-cost, microprocessors. Increasingly stringent
pollution control standards effectively require automobile manufacturers to use
microprocessor engine management systems to allow optimal control of emissions over
the widely varying operating conditions of an automobile. Non-programmable controls
would require bulky, or costly implementation to achieve the results possible with
a microprocessor.

A microprocessor control program (embedded software) can be tailored to fit the

needs of a product line, allowing upgrades in performance with minimal redesign of
the product. Unique features can be implemented in product line's various models at
negligible production cost.

Microprocessor control of a system can provide control strategies that would be

impractical to implement using electromechanical controls or purpose-built
electronic controls. For example, an internal combustion engine's control system
can adjust ignition timing based on engine speed, load, temperature, and any
observed tendency for knocking�allowing the engine to operate on a range of fuel
grades.

History
See also: Microprocessor chronology
The advent of low-cost computers on integrated circuits has transformed modern
society. General-purpose microprocessors in personal computers are used for
computation, text editing, multimedia display, and communication over the Internet.
Many more microprocessors are part of embedded systems, providing digital control
over myriad objects from appliances to automobiles to cellular phones and
industrial process control. Microprocessors perform binary operations based on
Boolean logic, named after George Boole. The ability to operate computer systems
using Boolean Logic was first proven in a 1938 thesis by master's student Claude
Shannon, who later went on to become a professor. Shannon is considered "The Father
of Information Theory".

Following the development of MOS integrated circuit chips in the early 1960s, MOS
chips reached higher transistor density and lower manufacturing costs than 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.[6] 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,[2] the first
commercially produced microprocessor was the Intel 4004, released as a single MOS
LSI chip in 1971.[7] The single-chip microprocessor was made possible with the
development of MOS silicon-gate technology (SGT).[8] The earliest MOS transistors
had aluminium metal gates, which Italian physicist Federico Faggin replaced with
silicon self-aligned gates to develop the first silicon-gate MOS chip at Fairchild
Semiconductor in 1968.[8] 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.[9] 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. Intel introduced the first commercial microprocessor, the
4-bit Intel 4004, in 1971. It was soon followed by the 8-bit microprocessor Intel
8008 in 1972.
Other embedded uses of 4-bit and 8-bit microprocessors, such as terminals,
printers, various kinds of automation etc., followed soon after. Affordable 8-bit
microprocessors with 16-bit addressing also led to the first general-purpose
microcomputers from the mid-1970s on.

The first use of the term "microprocessor" is attributed to Viatron Computer

Systems[10] 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,[11][obsolete source] and as a result Moore later changed the
period to two years.[12]

First projects
These projects delivered a microprocessor at about the same time: Garrett
AiResearch's Central Air Data Computer (CADC) (1970), Texas Instruments' TMS 1802NC
(September 1971) and Intel's 4004 (November 1971, based on an earlier 1969 Busicom
design). Arguably, Four-Phase Systems AL1 microprocessor was also delivered in
1969.

Four-Phase Systems AL1 (1969)

The Four-Phase Systems AL1 was an 8-bit bit slice chip containing eight registers
and an ALU.[13] It was designed by Lee Boysel in 1969.[14][15][16] 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 formed part of a courtroom
demonstration computer system, together with RAM, ROM, and an input-output device.
[17]