Fundamentals of

Microprocessor
Objectives:

• To understand the basics of microprocessors and its functionalities.

• To develop an in-depth understanding of the operation of microprocessors
its evolution.
 Microprocessor is the brain of a microcomputer, which does all

the work. It is a computer processor that incorporates all the

functions of CPU (Central Processing Unit) on a single IC

(Integrated Circuit) or at the most a few ICs. Microprocessors

were first introduced in early 1970s. 4004 was the first general

purpose microprocessor used by Intel in building personal

computers. Arrival of low cost general purpose microprocessors

has been instrumental in development of modern society the way

it has.
The Evolution of Microprocessor

The Invention of the Transistor

The invention of the transistor was an unprecedented development in the

electronics industry. It marked the beginning of the current age in the

electronics sector. After the transistor's invention, advances in technology

became more frequent, the most notable of which was computer technology.

The three physicists who invented the transistor; William Shockley, John

Bardeen, and Walter Brattain were awarded with the Nobel Prize. Considering

the inventions that the transistor paved the way for, one could argue that it

was the most important invention of the twentieth century.

How Does a Transistor Work?

One analogy that helps explain how a transistor operates is to think of it like

a water tap. In this case, electrical current works like water. A transistor has

three pins: the base, the collector, and the emitter. The base works like the tap

handle, the collector is like the pipe that feeds into the tap, and the emitter is

like the opening where water pours out. By turning the tap handle with a small

amount of force, we can control a powerful flow of water. This water flows

through the pipe and out of the opening. Turning the tap handle slightly can

dramatically increase the rate that water flows. If closed completely, no water

will flow. If opened completely, water will gush out as fast as possible!
The Invention of Integrated Circuit

The integrated circuit, sometimes called a ASIC, IC, or just a chip, is a

series of transistors placed on a small, flat piece that is usually made of

silicon. The IC is really a platform for small transistors that a small chip

which can operate faster than old-fashioned large transistors which

were used in previous generations. They are also far more durable and

significantly cheaper to produce which allowed them to become part

of many different electronic devices.

 The advent of the integrated circuit

revolutionized the electronics industry

and paved the way for devices such as

mobile phones, computers, CD players,

televisions, and many appliances found

around the home. In addition, the

spread of the chips helped to bring

advanced electronic devices to all parts

of the world.
Moore’s Law

In 1965, George Moore posited that roughly every two years,

the number of transistors on microchips will double. Commonly

referred to as Moore’s Law, this phenomenon suggests that

computational progress will become significantly faster, smaller,

and more efficient over time. Widely regarded as one of the

hallmark theories of the 21st century, Moore’s Law carries

significant implications for the future of technological progress—

along with its possible limitations.

4-bit Microprocessors

The first microprocessor was introduced in 1971 by Intel Corp. It was named

Intel 4004 as it was a 4 bit processor. It was a processor on a single chip. It could

perform simple arithmetic and logic operations such as addition, subtraction,

Boolean AND and Boolean OR. It had a control unit capable of performing

control functions like fetching an instruction from memory, decoding it, and

generating control pulses to execute it. It was able to operate on 4 bits of data

at a time. This first microprocessor was quite a success in industry. Soon other

microprocessors were also introduced. Intel introduced the enhanced version

of 4004, the 4040.

8-bit Microprocessors

The first 8 bit microprocessor which could perform arithmetic and

logic operations on 8 bit words was introduced in 1973 again by Intel.

This was Intel 8008 and was later followed by an improved version, Intel

8088. Some other 8 bit processors are Zilog-80 and Motorola M6800.

16-bit Microprocessors

The 8-bit processors were followed by 16 bit processors. They are Intel

8086 and 80286.

Intel 8086 Intel 8008 Intel 80286

Zilog-80 Motorola M6800

32-bit Microprocessors

The 32 bit microprocessors were introduced by several companies

but the most popular one is Intel 80386.

Pentium Series

Instead of 80586, Intel came out with a new processor namely

Pentium processor. Its performance is closer to RISC performance.

Pentium was followed by Pentium Pro CPU. Pentium Pro allows multiple

CPUs in a single system in order to achieve multiprocessing. The MMX

extension was added to Pentium Pro and the result was Pentium II.
Intel Pentium

Microprocessor

Series
History of Microprocessor
Generations of Microprocessor:

First generation (4 - bit Microprocessors)

From 1971 to 1972 the era of the first generation came which brought

microprocessors like INTEL 4004 Rockwell international PPS-4 INTEL 8008 etc.

Second generation (8 - bit Microprocessor)

The second generation marked the development of 8 bit

microprocessors from 1973 to 1978. Processors like INTEL 8085 Motorola

6800 and 6801 etc came into existence.

Third generation (16 - bit Microprocessor)

The third generation brought forward the 16 bit processors like INTEL 8086/80186/80286

Motorola 68000 68010 etc. From 1979 to 1980 this generation used the HMOS technology.

Fourth generation (32 - bit Microprocessors)

The fourth generation came into existence from 1981 to 1995. The 32 bit processors

using HMOS fabrication came into existence. INTEL 80386 and Motorola 68020 are some of

the popular processors of this generation.

Fifth generation (64 - bit Microprocessors)

From 1995 till now we are in the fifth generation. 64 bit processors like PENTIUM, celeron,

dual, quad and octa core processors came into existence.

Microprocessors Characteristics

Microprocessors are multipurpose devices that can be designed for

generic or specialized functions. The microprocessors of laptops and

smartphones are general purpose whereas ones designed for graphical

processing or machine vision are specialized ones. There are some

characteristics that are common to all microprocessors. These are the

most important defining characteristics of a microprocessor − Clock

speed, Instruction set and Word size.

Clock Speed

Every microprocessor has an internal clock that regulates the speed at which

it executes instructions and also synchronizes it with other components. The speed

at which the microprocessor executes instructions is called clock speed. Clock

speeds are measured in MHz or GHz where 1 MHz means 1 million cycles per

second whereas 1 GHz equals to 1 billion cycles per second. Here cycle refers to

single electric signal cycle. Currently microprocessors have clock speed in the

range of 3 GHz, which is maximum that current technology can attain. Speeds

more than this generate enough heat to damage the chip itself. To overcome

this, manufacturers are using multiple processors working in parallel on a chip.

Word Size

Number of bits that can be processed by a processor in a single instruction

is called its word size. Word size determines the amount of RAM that can be

accessed at one go and total number of pins on the microprocessor. Total

number of input and output pins in turn determines the architecture of the

microprocessor. First commercial microprocessor Intel 4004 was a 4-bit

processor. It had 4 input pins and 4 output pins. Number of output pins is

always equal to the number of input pins. Currently most microprocessors use

32-bit or 64-bit architecture.

Instruction Set

A command given to a digital machine to perform an operation on a

piece of data is called an instruction. Basic set of machine level instructions

that a microprocessor is designed to execute is called its instruction set.

These instructions do carry out these types of operations −

• Data transfer
• Arithmetic operations
• Logical operations
• Control flow
• Input/output and machine control
Microprocessor Components

Compared to the first microprocessors, today’s processors are very

small but still they have these basic parts right from the first model −

CPU, Bus and Memory

CPU

CPU is fabricated as a very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) and has

these parts: Instruction register − It holds the instruction to be executed,

Decoder − It decodes (converts to machine level language) the instruction

and sends to the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit), ALU − It has necessary circuits to

perform arithmetic, logical, memory, register and program sequencing

operations, Register − It holds intermediate results obtained during program

processing. Registers are used for holding such results rather than RAM

because accessing registers is almost 10 times faster than accessing RAM.

Bus

Connection lines used to connect the internal parts of the microprocessor chip is
called bus. There are three types of buses in a microprocessor −

• Data Bus − Lines that carry data to and from memory are called data bus. It is a
bidirectional bus with width equal to word length of the microprocessor.

• Address Bus − It is a unidirectional responsible for carrying address of a memory

location or I/O port from CPU to memory or I/O port.

• Control Bus − Lines that carry control signals like clock signals, interrupt signal or ready
signal are called control bus. They are bidirectional. Signal that denotes that a
device is ready for processing is called ready signal. Signal that indicates to a device
to interrupt its process is called an interrupt signal.
Memory

Microprocessor has two types of memory:

• RAM − Random Access Memory is volatile memory that gets erased

when power is switched off. All data and instructions are stored in
RAM.

• ROM − Read Only Memory is non-volatile memory whose data

remains intact even after power is switched off. Microprocessor can
read from it any time it wants but cannot write to it. It is
preprogrammed with most essential data like booting sequence by
the manufacturer.
References:
• anysilicon (2017) The History of the Integrated Circuit. Available at:
[Link]
• Microprocessor Concepts (no date). Available at:
[Link]
[Link]
• Tardi, C. (2021) Moore’s Law. Available at:
[Link]
• What is Microprocessor: Block Diagram, Evolution, Working, Features - javatpoint (no date).
Available at: [Link]

• (What is Microprocessor: Block Diagram, Evolution, Working, Features - javatpoint, no date,

Microprocessor Concepts, no date; anysilicon, 2017)
Summary of the Basic Terms used in Microprocessor

Here is a list of some basic terms used in microprocessor:

• Instruction Set - The group of commands that the microprocessor can

understand is called Instruction set. It is an interface between hardware and

software.

• Bus - Set of conductors intended to transmit data, address or control information

to different elements in a microprocessor. A microprocessor will have three

types of buses, i.e., data bus, address bus, and control bus.
• IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) - It is a measure of how many
instructions a CPU is capable of executing in a single clock.

• Clock Speed - It is the number of operations per second the

processor can perform. It can be expressed in megahertz (MHz)

or gigahertz (GHz). It is also called the Clock Rate.

• Bandwidth - The number of bits processed in a single instruction

is called Bandwidth.
• Word Length - The number of bits the processor can process at a
time is called the word length of the processor. 8-bit

Microprocessor may process 8 -bit data at a time. The range of

word length is from 4 bits to 64 bits depending upon the type of

the microcomputer.

• Data Types - The microprocessor supports multiple data type

formats like binary, ASCII, signed and unsigned numbers.
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