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Microprocessor

Date: 5 Jan 2013

What is Microprocessor?

Intel Microprocessor

Microprocessor [Intel 80286]

A single chip processor is called microprocessor. It is also called Central Processing Unit (CPU). It is the brain of a computer system. It is also used in many electronic devices. Multiple CPUS can work together so that computing power of the system will increase.

Microprocessor is a semiconductor device consisting of electronic logic circuits manufactured by techniques such as large scale integration (LSI) or very large scale integration. It is capable of performing computing functions and making decisions to change the sequence of program execution. A computer built with a microprocessor is called micro computer.

CPU not only impacts overall computing power but also manages most of the operations of a computer system. On a personal computer, processor functions are usually on a single chip while mainframes and supercomputers the functions extend over many chips.



Examples

Intel 8086, Intel 80286, Pentium II

A microprocessor in which most instructions operate on n-bit data and its registers are of n-bit size is said to be a n-bit microprocessor.

Related Articles

Evolution of Microprocessor

Applications of Microprocessor

What is the language of computer?

  1. 18 Comments to “Microprocessor”

    1. […] first microprocessor was introduced in 1971 by Intel Corp. It was named Intel 4004 as it was a 4 bit processor. It was a […]

    2. […] wide range of application area of the microprocessor can be broadly classified into two groups: general purpose application and special purpose […]

    3. […] one will operate at the clock speed of 3.60GHz. Oracle proudly claims 17 world records for SPARC T5 microprocessor, including a TPC benchmark showing that the SPARC T5 is the fastest processor in the world for […]

    4. […] What is Microprocessor? Evolution of Microprocessor Applications of Microprocessor […]

    5. […] plays a major role in CPU operations. Microprocessor picks up data from one of the registers for doing arithmetic or logical operation. Once the […]

    6. […] control unit controls and synchronizes all the data transfer in microprocessor system. The control unit uses inputs from a master clock to drive timing and control signals that regulate […]

    7. […] instruction is a binary pattern designed inside the microprocessor to perform a specific function. In other words, it is a command to the […]

    8. […] and execution of instruction. The fetch state transports an instruction from memory into the microprocessor. The execute state executes instruction. These two stages are repeated sequentially until the […]

    9. […] register (SR) is used to store the status of the microprocessor resulting from any arithmetic and logic operation. The occurrence of overflow, sign, zero, carry, […]

    10. […] is a very important register for operations in microprocessor. It is used as source of one of the operands to the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU). It is also the […]

    11. […] However the operand and the address information may not be of the same size. For example, in 8-bit microprocessors, the data is 8 bit whereas the address is 16 […]

    12. […] store data and instructions. The content of memory is in binary form. Memory provides input to the processor to perform various operations. The processor then stores the results back into […]

    13. […] AND gates are enclosed inside a 14-oin dual-in-line package with dimension of 20*8*3 milimeters. A microprocessor can be enclosed within a 40-pin dual-in-line package with dimension of 50*15*4 […]

    14. […] microprocessor is a central component in a microcomputer system. The type of memory , memory size and the nature […]

    15. […] microprocessors are embedded inside other devices. Usually these processors are used as microcontrollers in devices such as automative ignition control, digital radio tuning, […]