The document provides an overview of microprocessors and microcontrollers, detailing their evolution from the early vacuum tube computers to modern personal and supercomputers. It highlights the development of the Intel microprocessor family, the distinction between microprocessors and microcontrollers, and the emergence of various computer generations. Additionally, it discusses advancements in processing architectures, including parallel processing, RISC and CISC processors, and digital signal processors.

1. Lecture 01
Introduction to Microprocessors
Microcomputers and Microprocessors
By: John Uffenbeck
ECE @Saint Louis University, Baguio City
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Prepared by: Engr. Jeffrey Des B. Binwag

2. Microprocessor
• Defined as an entire central processing unit of a computer
constructed on a single piece of silicon chip.
• The microprocessor concept was developed in 1969 by INTEL
engineers Ted Hoff and Stan Mazor but its implementation was
undertaken by INTEL process engineer Federico Faggin in a chip set
that became to be known as the INTEL 4000 family.
• The INTEL 4004 version was followed by the 8 bit 8008 in 1972 and
an improved version called the 8080 in 1974.
• Similar chips to the 8080 were developed by Motorola (MC 6800)
and Zilog (Z-80). These chips had 8-bit data bus widths, and 16-bit
address buses.
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3. 1979 Issue of
Byte Magazine
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4. Evolution of the INTEL Microprocessors
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5. Microcontroller
• An entire computer on a chip
• A microprocessor with an on-chip memory and
input/output (I/O) capability.
• Typically designed into embedded systems with a
“canned program” or a program that never changes.
• Modern microcontrollers allow reprogramming in the
field to fit specific customer requirements.
• Dataquest, a market research firm in the United States,
reports that microcontrollers outsell microprocessors
by as much as 10 to 1.
• Popular applications are in HVAC, Car controls, and
Consumer appliances.
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6. Computers
• An electronic machine designed to perform
general to specific purpose computations
involving logical and arithmetic computations.
• A Stored-Program Computer is a computer that
executes programs that must first be saved into
the computer’s memory unit.
• PARTS OF A COMPUTER
– Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Microprocessor
– Memory Unit
– Input/ Output Devices or Peripherals
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7. Evolution of Computers
• Vacuum-tube Era (First Generation)
• Transistor Era (Second Generation)
• Integrated Circuit Era (Third Generation)
• Microprocessor Era
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8. Vacuum Tube Era
• Characterized by massive machines made up of
thousands of vacuum tubes occupying entire
rooms and requiring an air-conditioned
environment to operate reliably.
• Based on the vacuum-tube technology,
Remington Rand delivered the first Universal
Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I) in 1951.
• In 1952, International Business Machines (IBM)
came up with its Model 701 Data Processing
System.
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9. Transistor Era
• Initiated by the invention of the Bipolar Transistor in
1948 by Bell Laboratory scientists William Shockley and
John Bardeen for which they were given the Nobel
Physics Prize in 1956.
• TRADIC, the first fully transistorized computer was
invented by another Bell Laboratory team in 1954.
TRADIC produced less heat than its vacuum tube
counterpart making it more reliable and less costly.
• In 1958, IBM announced its first transistorized computer,
the 7070/7090 followed by the business oriented 1401 in
1959. These machines were built on circuit boards
mounted into rack panels and frames. Thus the term
“mainframe.”
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10. Integrated Circuits Era
• Spurred by the most significant invention of the 20th
century (the integrated circuit) in 1959, by Robert
Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation and Jack
Kilby of Texas Instruments.
• Integrated circuits made it possible for all circuit
components like resistors and transistors to be
fabricated on one piece of semiconductor material.
• In 1964, IBM announced one of the most famous
computers using IC technology, the 32-bit 360 series.
This computer was known to be capable of 375,000
computations per second.
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11. Minicomputers and Microcomputers
• In 1965, Edson De Castro of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
spearheaded the completion of the first minicomputer (or a scaled
down mainframe) costing $25,000 and called the Programmed Data
Processor (PDP-8).
• A microcomputer is a computer whose CPU is on a single
microprocessor chip.
• Today, the distinction between a minicomputer, a mainframe, and a
microcomputer is not so clear. The term supermini was also coined
for minicomputers that rival the performance of mainframes.
• Minicomputers of today are used primarily by small environments in
a time-shared environment with 50-100 users. However, with the
advent of LAN and WAN environments, even this distinction is fading.
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12. Personal Computers
• Personal computers were coined in 1982 by IBM
to market a computer that featured a system
board designed around the INTEL 8088 8-bit
microprocessor, 16kB memory, and five
expansions slots that allowed third-party vendors
to supply video, printer, modem disk drives, and
RS-232 serial adapter cards.
• The IBM personal computer led to the
development of the generic PC , a computer with
interchangeable components manufactured by a
variety of companies.
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13. IBM Personal Computer Ad
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14. Supercomputers
• A supercomputer is the most powerful computer
available at any given time.
• These machines are used to solve a complex
problem to such as the design of a supersonic
aircraft, the modeling of global climates, and the
prediction of complex financial behavior is
securities markets.
• The first supercomputer, the Cray-I is generally
acknowledged to have been developed by
Seymour Cray in 1976 using high-speed emitter-coupled
logic (ECL).
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15. Cray-1 Supercomputer
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16. Supercomputers
• ECLs were the fastest logic circuits at the time.
• Each circuit board on the Cray-I had each circuit
board mounted on a copper heat exchanger
through which liquid Freon was circulated.
• The Cray-I consumed 128 KW of power, had a
processing speed of 130 million floating-point
operations per minute (MFLOPS), and was sold at
$ 5.1 million each.
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17. Parallel Processors
• Most computers are single-processor,
sequential machines that leveled off in their
performance due to the finite length of time
required for an electrical signal to propagate
through a piece of wire.
• To overcome single-processor limitations,
multiple processors were wired together via
common bus, with each processor given a
problem to solve. This was called Parallel
processing.
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18. Parallel Processors
• Parallel processing increased computer performance
levels from single-processors operating at MFLOPS
levels to tens of GFLOPS and even at TFLOPS levels
today.
• Early parallel processor architecture used hypercubes
made up of an arrangement of processors in the form
of n-dimensional cubes each connected by a high-speed
data channel.
• More recently, supercomputer designers have opted for
a two-dimensional rectangular mesh architecture with
multiple processors at each connecting node.
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19. Parallel Processor Hypercube
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20. RISC and CISC Processors
• Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISCs) are
computers with a small number of instruction
sets (less than 128) as compared to Complex
Instruction Set Computers (CISCs).
• CISCs are characterized by:
– Large number of variable length instructions
– Multiple addressing modes
– Small number of internal processor registers
– Instructions require multiple clock cycles for
execution
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21. DSP
• Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) are microprocessors
used to perform complex mathematical computations
on converted analog data at real time speeds.
• DSPs are different from conventional microprocessors
in the following aspects:
– Use Harvard Architecture
– Use multipliers and adders built into the processor
optimized to perform a calculation in a single cycle
– Use arithmetic pipelining
– Use DO loops to speed up repetitive operations
– Provided with multiple I/O ports for communication with
other processors
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22. Thank You
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