MICROPROCESSORS

Ferdinand M. Gabriel, PECE, MSME

Lesson 1: Internal Structure of the Intel µPs
Objectives: To learn:
• How the microprocessors have developed
in the last few years
• The internal structures of the Intel
microprocessors
• The programming model and memory
addressing
Requisites:

• Knowledge of digital electronics and

memories
Evolution of the Microprocessors
• Microprocessor - incorporates most or all of the
functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU)
on a single integrated circuit (IC, or microchip).
• 1960s - computer processors are of small and medium-
scale ICs containing from tens to a few hundred
transistors
• Early 1970s - The first microprocessors emerged
uses: electronic calculators, using binary-coded
decimal (BCD) arithmetic in 4-bit words.
terminals, printers, various kinds of
automation etc., followed soon after.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
• mid-1970s - Affordable 8-bit microprocessors with 16-bit
addressing also led to the first general-purpose
microcomputers
• Intel 4004

The 4004 with cover removed (left) and as actually used (right).
• The Intel 4004 is generally regarded as the first
microprocessor
Evolution of the Microprocessors

• TMS 1000
• The first microcontroller (also called a
microcomputer) in 1971.
• Developed by TI and went commercial in
1974.
• 4-bit TMS 1000
Evolution of the Microprocessors

• Pico/General Instrument (PICO1/GI250 chip)

• introduced in 1971
• one of the first microprocessors or
microcontrollers having ROM,
RAM and a Reduced Instruction Set
Computing (RISC) instruction set on-chip.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
8-bit designs
• 1971 - Intel 8008, the world's first 8-bit µP
• 1974 – Intel 8080
• 1974 - IMP-8 (National Semiconductor)
• August 1974 - Motorola 6800 was released
• 1975 - MOS Technology 6502 similar to Motorola
6800
• 1976 - Zilog Z80
• 1978 - Motorola introduced the MC6809
Evolution of the Microprocessors
8-bit designs
• 1980s - The 6502 rivalled the Z80 in popularity
• 1982 - The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC)
introduced the CMOS 65C02 used as the CPU in
the Apple IIe and IIc personal computers as well
as in medical implantable grade pacemakers and
defibrilators, automotive, industrial and
consumer devices.
• Signetics 2650 - Another early 8-bit
microprocessor with its powerful instruction set
architecture.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
8-bit designs
• 1976 - RCA 1802 (aka CDP1802, RCA COSMAC) used
onboard the Galileo probe to Jupiter (launched 1989,
arrived 1995).
• The RCA 1802 had a static design, meaning that the
clock frequency could be made arbitrarily low, even to
0 Hz, a total stop condition. This let the Galileo
spacecraft use minimum electric power for long
uneventful stretches of a voyage.
• most 8-bit microprocessors used the more common,
smaller, and less expensive plastic 40-pin DIP.
Evolution of the Microprocessors

12-bit designs
• early 1980s - Intersil 6100 family consisted of
a 12-bit microprocessor (the 6100) and a
range of peripheral support and memory ICs.
• sometimes referred to as the CMOS-PDP8
• also known as the Harris HM-6100
• incorporated into some military designs
Evolution of the Microprocessors
16-bit designs
• early 1973 - The first multi-chip 16-bit
microprocessor (National Semiconductor IMP-16)
was introduced.
• 1975 - PDP 11/03 minicomputer
• 1976 - MicroFlame 9440 by Fairchild
Semiconductor
• 1975 - the first 16-bit single-chip microprocessor
(National Semiconductor PACE) was introduced
by National, which was later followed by an
NMOS version, the INS8900.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
16-bit designs
• Another early single-chip 16-bit
microprocessor was TI's TMS 9900
• The chip was packaged in a large ceramic 64-
pin DIP package.
• First PC used 8088 with internal 16-bit µP, 8-
bit external bus and 1 MB external memory.
• 80286 µP → 16 bits, with memory addressing
of up to 16 MB
Evolution of the Microprocessors
16-bit designs
• 1980 - The world's first single-chip fully-32-bit microprocessor
(AT&T Bell Labs BELLMAC-32A) was released
- it has 32-bit data paths, 32-bit buses, and 32-bit addresses
• in 1984 - The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC) introduced the
CMOS 65816
• Intel 8086, the first member of the x86 family powered most
modern PC type computers.
• The 8088, a version of the 8086 that used an external 8-bit data
bus, was the microprocessor in the first IBM PC, the model 5150.
• Intel released the 80186, 80286 following up their 8086 and
8088
Evolution of the Microprocessors
32-bit designs
• in 1979 - MC68000 was introduced as the most
significant of the 32-bit designs, with 32-bit registers
but used 16-bit internal data paths and a 16-bit
external data bus to reduce pin count, and supported
only 24-bit addresses and widely known as the 68K
• Motorola generally described it as a 16-bit processor,
though it clearly has 32-bit architecture.
• It combines a large (16 megabytes or 224 bytes)
memory space and fairly low cost made it the most
popular CPU design of its class.
Evolution of the Microprocessors

32 – bit design
• 1980 - The world's first single-chip fully-32-bit
microprocessor (AT&T Bell Labs BELLMAC-32A) was
released
- it has 32-bit data paths, 32-bit buses, and 32-bit
addresses

• 1981 - Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor (iAPX 432) was

introduced - not a commercial success.
Evolution of the Microprocessors

32-bit designs
• iAPX 432 - had an advanced capability-based
object-oriented architecture, but poor
performance compared to contemporary
architectures such as Intel's own 80286
• 1985 - with 80386, Intel cemented their PC
market dominance with the processor family's
backwards compatibility.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
32-bit designs
• 80386 µP → 32 bits, with memory addressing of
up to 16 MB also, allowed support for
multitasking (several programs are executed at
the same time) operation
• 80486 µP → composed of 80386 and 80387
mathematical coprocessor
• 1985 - ARM first appeared, which is a RISC
processor design and dominated the 32-bit
embedded systems processor
Evolution of the Microprocessors
32-bit designs
• 1985 - Motorola's MC68020 was introduced, which
added full 32-bit data and address busses.
• early to mid-1980s - National Semiconductor
introduced a 32-bit internal microprocessor called the
NS 16032 (later renamed 32016)
• Later the NS 32132 was introduced which allowed two
CPUs to reside on the same memory bus, with built in
arbitration.
• mid-1980s, Sequent introduced the first symmetric
multiprocessor (SMP) server-class computer using the
NS 32032.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
32-bit designs
• 1984 - MIPS R2000 and
• 1989 - R3000 were highly successful 32-bit RISC
microprocessors.
• Other designs included the interesting Zilog
Z8000, which arrived too late to market to stand
a chance and disappeared quickly.
• late 1980s - "microprocessor wars" started killing
off some of the microprocessors. Sequent-made
NS 32032 just faded out of existence, and
Sequent switched to Intel microprocessors.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
32-bit designs
• From 1985 to 2003, the 32-bit x86 architectures
became increasingly dominant in desktop, laptop,
and server markets, and these microprocessors
became faster and more capable.
• Intel had licensed early versions of the
architecture to other companies, but declined to
license the Pentium, so AMD and Cyrix built later
versions of the architecture based on their own
designs.
Evolution of the Microprocessors

32-bit designs
• From 1985 to 2003, these processors
increased in complexity (transistor count) and
capability (instructions/second) by at least
three orders of magnitude.
• Intel's Pentium line is probably the most
famous and recognizable 32-bit processor
model, at least with the public at large.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
64-bit designs
• 1993 – Intel introduced Pentium µP
(a development of 386, with 64-bit
bus and memory addressing of up
to 4 GB, and clock speeds of up to
Pentium D Front
66 MHz)
Pentium D Back
• September 2003 – AMD introduced
64-bit architecture backwards-
compatible with x86, x86-64 (also
called AMD64)
Evolution of the Microprocessors

64-bit designs
• 1993 – Intel introduced Pentium µP (a
development of 386, with 64-bit bus and
memory addressing of up to 4 GB, and clock
speeds of up to 66 MHz)
• September 2003 – AMD introduced 64-bit
architecture backwards-compatible with x86,
x86-64 (also called AMD64)
Evolution of the Microprocessors

Multicore designs
• This is a different approach to improving a
computer's performance is to add extra
processors
• Moore's Law - The number of transistors that
can be placed inexpensively on an integrated
circuit is doubled approximately every two years.
• A multi-core processor is simply a single chip
containing more than one microprocessor core
Evolution of the Microprocessors

Multicore designs
• This effectively multiply the potential
performance with the number of cores (as
long as the operating system and software is
designed to take advantage of more than one
processor).
Evolution of the Microprocessors
Multicore designs
• Some components, such as bus interface and
second level cache, may be shared between
cores.
• 2005 - the first personal computer dual-core
processors were announced
• as of 2009 dual-core and quad-core processors
are widely used in servers, workstations and PCs
• six and eight-core processors will be available for
high-end applications in both the home and
professional environments.
Evolution of the Microprocessors
Multicore designs
• High-end Intel Xeon processors that are on the
LGA771 socket are DP (dual processor) capable
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 also used in the
Mac Pro by Apple and the Intel Skulltrail
motherboard are DP capable.
• With the transition to the LGA1366 and LGA1156
socket and the Intel i7 and i5 chips, quad core is
now considered mainstream, but with the release
of the i7-980x, six core processors are now well
within reach.
Evolution of the Microprocessors

Other Microprocessors:
• AMD – Advanced Micro Devices
• Zilog
• Etc
Evolution of the Microprocessors

Terminologies:
uC: Micro-Controller
up: Micro-Processor
DSP: Digital Signal Processors
CPU: Central Processing Unit
RISC: Reduced Instruction Set Computer
ROSC: Reduced Operant Set Computer
Evolution of the Microprocessors
Terminologies:
CSIC: Customer-Specified Integrated Circuits
{Masked ROM}
ASIC: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
SPARC: Scalable Processor Architecture [a 32/64
bit RISC developed Sun Microsystems]
SoC: System On Chip
MIPS: Millions of Instructions Per Second
MIPS: A class of industry-standard processor core
developed by MIPS Technologies
Evolution of the Microprocessors

Terminologies
• AMD – Advanced Micro Devices
• AMD Phenom™ II Processors
• Unbeatable multi-core value with AMD Phenom™
II processors. They deliver The Ultimate Visual
Experience™ for high definition entertainment,
advanced multitasking performance, and power-
saving innovations for smaller, cooler machines
that are energy efficient.