Page 25 - A Practical Guide from Design Planning to Manufacturing

Chapter
1

The Evolution of the
Microprocessor

Overview
This chapter describes the development of the transistor, how transistors
evolved into integrated circuits and microprocessors, and how scaling
has driven the evolution of microprocessors.

Objectives

Upon completion of this chapter, the reader will be able to:
1. Describe N-type and P-type semiconductors.
2. Understand the operation of diodes and transistors.
3. Understand the difference between different types of transistors.
4. Describe Moore’s law and some of its implications.
5. Be aware of limits to scaling transistors and wires in integrated circuits.
6. Describe different schemes for scaling interconnects.
7. Explain the difference between “lead microprocessors” and “compactions.”
8. List possibilities for future transistor scaling.

Introduction
Processors are the brains of computers. Other components allow a com-
puter to store or retrieve data and to input or output data, but the
processor performs computations and does something useful with the data.

1
Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Publishing Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.