Evolution of Microprocessor

Ameri buns University CSIS 550 floor of Computing prof Tim Bergin Technology Research Paper little of importframes Beatrice A. Muganda AU ID 0719604 May 3, 2001 -2- EVOLUTION OF THE MICROPROCESSOR INTRODUCTION The collegial Webster dictionary describes micro mainframe as a reck integrity and save(a)r central mainframe be cleargond on an combine- hitch detach. In the mid-s dismantleties, a microprocessor was defined as a primeval processing unit ( mainframe) realized on a LSI ( bounteous-scale integration) moment, ope tread at a time frequency of 1 to 5 MHz and constituting an 8-bit governance (Heffer, 1986).It was a wholeness component having the strength to bring ab bulge a wide variety of divergent aims. Beca practice session of their comparatively pitiful cost and sm altogether size, the microprocessors permitted the ingestion of digital computers in some(prenominal) beas where the go for of the preceding mainframeand even minicomputers would non be p ractical and affordable ( estimator, 1996). many an(prenominal) an(prenominal) non-technical people associate microprocessors with altogether PCs notwithstanding thither be thousands of appliances that relieve oneself a microprocessor embedded in them telephone, dishwasher, microwave, quantify radio, and so on In these items, the microprocessor acts in the first off place as a controller and whitethorn not be kn profess to the drillr.The Breakthrough in Microprocessors The turn units in computers that were employ in the archeozoic 1940s were the automatic relays. These were gubbinss that opened and unopen as they did the calculations. Such mechanical relays were occasiond in Z habituates machines of the 1930s. -3- Come the 1950s, and the void tubes took over. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) use vacuum tubes as its switching units rather than relays. The switch from mechanical relay to vacuum tubes was an wholly- meaning(a)(a) expert advance as vacuum tub es could achieve calculations considerably faster and to a greater extent beliefive than relay machines.However, this technological advance was transient because the tubes could not be do little than they were being do and had to be lay adjacent to keyly opposite because they generated fondness (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Then came the electronic electronic transistor which was ack right offledged as a varietyary development. In onslaught in the V anyey, the authors describe the transistor as a thingummy which was the placelet of a series of developments in the applications of physics. The transistor changed the computer from a heavyweight electronic brain to a commodity desire a TV company.This innovation was awarded to cardinal scientists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. As a go pop of the technological breakthrough of transistors, the introduction of minicomputers of the sixties and the personal computer revolution of the seventies was made executable. However, researchers did not stop at transistors. They wanted a turn that could coif to a greater extent Byzantine t consumesa turn of events that could integrate a count of transistors into a to a greater extent than complex rophy. Hence, the borderinology, integrate circuits or ICs.Because physic totallyy they were tiny verifications of atomic number 14, they came to be withal referred to as check marks. Initially, the demand for ICs was naturally the army and aerospace -4- in studries which were great users of computers and who were the only industries that could afford computers (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Later, Marcian Ted Hoff, an employ scientist at Intel, developed a civilise chip. This chip could extract entropy from its storehouse and interpret the data as an information. The boundary that evolved to describe such a device was microprocessor. at that placefore, the term microprocessor first came into use at Intel in 1972 (Noyce, 1981). A microprocessor was naught much than an extension of the arithmetical and logic IC chips corporating much functions into one chip (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Today, the term still refers to an LSI unmarried-chip processor capable of carrying out many of the raw material trading operations of a digital computer. Infact, the microprocessors of the deep eighties and premature nineties argon full-sclae 32-bit and 32-bit visit systems, operating at measure cycles of 25 to 50 MHz (Heffer, 1986).What led to the development of microprocessors? As stated above, microprocessors essentially evolved from mechanical relays to integrated circuits. It is important to illustrate here what aspects of the act out intentness led to the development of microprocessors. (1) digital computer engineering science In the History of Computing class, we studied, throughout the semester, how the computer industry learned how to make large, complex digital computers capable of p rocessing more data and overly how to build and use smaller, little(prenominal) -5- big-ticket(prenominal) computers.The digital computer engineering had been growing steadily since the late 1940s. (2) Semiconductors metreized the digital computer technology, semiconducting materials had likewise been growing steadily since the invention of the transistor in the late 1940s. The 1960s saw the integrated circuit develop from just a few transistors to many complicated tasks, all of the homogeneous chip. (3) The data processor industry It appears as if this industry grew overnight during the seventies from the truthfulst of quartette-function calculators to really complex broadcastmable scientific and financial machines.From all this, one image became obviousif on that point was an inexpensive digital computer, there would be no need to retain figure different, specialized integrated circuits. The inexpensive digital computer could simply be re architectural planmed to hump whatever was the latest brainstorm, and there would be the bran- peeled product (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). The development of microprocessors disregard be attri justed to when, in the primordial 1970s, digital computers and integrated circuits r from apiece oneed the required trains of capability.However, the early microprocessor did not meet all the goals it was too expensive for many applications, especially those in the consumer market, and it -6- could not hold enough information to perform many of the tasks being handled by the minicomputers of that time. How a microprocessor works According to Krutz (1980), a microprocessor plays a collection of machine book of breedings that order the processor what to do. Based on the instructions, a microprocessor does three basic things Using its ALU (Arithmetic/ logic Unit), a microprocessor nookie perform numeral operations ilk attachment, subtraction, generation and division.Modern microprocessors contain comp lete float foretell processors that terminate perform extremely sophisticated operations on large floating point adds. A microprocessor eject move data from one computer remembering localisation of function to another. A microprocessor dismiss make decisions and jump to a refreshing garnish out of instructions ground on those decisions. There may be very sophisticated things that a microprocessor does, but those be its three basic activities. gear up simply, it fetches instructions from retention, interprets (de graves) them, and and consequently executes whatever functions the instructions direct.For pattern, if the microprocessor is capable of 256 different operations, there must(prenominal) be 256 different instruction reciprocations. When fetched, separately instruction word is interpreted otherwise than any of the other 255. Each instance of microprocessor has a unique instruction constitute (Short, 1987). -7- Archictecture of a microprocessor This is about as simple as a microprocessor gets. It has the fol first-class honours degreeing characteristics an address autobus (that may be 8, 16 or 32 bits wide) that s repeals an address to memory a data bus (that may be 8, 16 or 32 bits wide) that after partful send data to memory or receive data from memory RD (Read) and WR (Write) line to tell the memory whether it wants to set or get the addressed location a clock line that lets a clock pulse sequence the processor and a reset line that resets the platform counter to zero (or whatever) and restarts death penalty. A typical microprocessor, therefore, consists of logical componentsenable it to function as a computer programmable logic processor program counter, stack, and instruction register leave alone for the anxiety of a program the ALUprovide for the function of data and a decoder & quantify and control unitspecify and consecrate the operation of other components.The connection of the microprocessors to other uni tsmemory and I/O devicesis make with the Address, Data, and control buses. -8- Generation of microprocessors Microprocessors were categorized into vanadium measures first, minute of arc, ternary, fourth, and fifth contemporariess. Their characteristics are described on a lower floor First-generation The microprocessors that were introduced in 1971 to 1972 were referred to as the first generation systems. First-generation microprocessors graceful their instructions seriallythey fetched the instruction, decoded it, thusly executed it.When an instruction was completed, the microprocessor updated the instruction pointer and fetched the adjacent instruction, performing this sequential cut for each instruction in turn. aid generation By the late 1970s (specifi call offy 1973), enough transistors were ready(prenominal) on the IC to usher in the second generation of microprocessor sophistication 16-bit arithmetic and channeld instruction processing. Motorolas MC68000 micropro cessor, introduced in 1979, is an example. Another example is Intels 8080. This generation is defined by overlapped fetch, decode, and execute perverts (Computer 1996).As the first instruction is treat in the functioning unit, the second instruction is decoded and the ordinal instruction is fetched. The distinction surrounded by the first and second generation devices was primarily the use of newer semiconductor technology to reach the chips. This new -9- technology resulted in a five-fold increase in instruction, execution, amphetamine, and luxuriously gearer chip densities. Third generation The third generation, introduced in 1978, was represented by Intels 8086 and the Zilog Z8000, which were 16-bit processors with minicomputer-like performance.The third generation came about as IC transistor counts approached 250,000. Motorolas MC68020, for example, incorporated an on-chip amass for the first time and the depth of the pipeline change magnitude to five or more stages. This generation of microprocessors was different from the previous ones in that all major workstation manufacturers began developing their witness reduced instruction set computing-based microprocessor architectures (Computer, 1996). Fourth generation As the workstation companies converted from commercial microprocessors to in-house designs, microprocessors entered their fourth generation with designs majestic a one meg meg one thousand million transistors.Leading-edge microprocessors such as Intels 80960CA and Motorolas 88100 could issue and render more than one instruction per clock cycle (Computer, 1996). Fifth generation Microprocessors in their fifth generation, employed decoupled super scalar processing, and their design currently surpassed 10 million transistors. In this 10 generation, PCs are a low-margin, high-volume- craft henpecked by a unmarried microprocessor (Computer, 1996). Companies associated with microprocessorsOverall, Intel Corporation dominated the microprocessor area even though other companies like Texas Instruments, Motorola, etc also introduced some microprocessors. Listed below are the microprocessors that each company created. (A) Intel As indicated previously, Intel Corporation dominated the microprocessor technology and is generally ack nowadaysledged as the company that introduced the microprocessor successfully into the market. Its first microprocessor was the 4004, in 1971. The 4004 took the integrated circuit one step further by ocating all the components of a computer (CPU, memory and input and getup controls) on a minuscule chip. It evolved from a development effort for a calculator chip set. Previously, the IC had had to be manufacture to discipline a special purpose, now only one microprocessor could be construct and then programmed to meet any chip of demands. The 4004 microprocessor was the telephone exchange component in a four-chip set, called the 4004 Family 4001 2,048-bit ROM, a 4002 320-bit RAM, a nd a 4003 10-bit I/O shift register. The 4004 had 46 instructions, utilise only 2,300 transistors in a 16-pin DIP.It ran at a clock rate of 11 740kHz (eight clock cycles per CPU cycle of 10. 8 microseconds)the trus tworthy goal was 1MHz, to allow it to compute BCD arithmetic as fast (per digit) as a 1960s era IBM 1620 (Computer, 1996). Following in 1972 was the 4040 which was an intensify version of the 4004, with an additional 14 instructions, 8K program space, and interrupt abilities (including shadows of the first 8 registers). In the same year, the 8008 was introduced. It had a 14-bit PC. The 8008 was intended as a terminal controller and was quite a similar to the 4040.The 8008 increased the 4004s word length from four to eight bits, and two-baggerd the volume of information that could be process (Heath, 1991). In April 1974, 8080, the successor to 8008 was introduced. It was the first device with the invigorate and occasion to make the microprocessor an important t ool for the designer. It quickly became accepted as the standard 8-bit machine. It was the first Intel microprocessor announce in comportment it was actually available. It represented such an emolument over existing designs that the company wanted to supply customers adequate lead time to design the part into new products.The use of 8080 in personal computers and small business computers was initiated in 1975 by MITSs Alt oxygenate microcomputer. A kit selling for $395 enabled many individuals to dupe computers in their own homes (Computer, 1996). Following closely, in 1976, was 8048, the first 8-bit bingle-chip microcomputer. It was also designed as a microcontroller rather than a microprocessorlow cost and small size was the main goal. For this reason, data was stored on-chip, tour program code was external. The 8048 was eventually re located by the very hot but bizarre 8051 and 8052 12 (available with on-chip program ROMs).While the 8048 used 1-byte instructions, the 8 051 had a more pliant 2-byte instruction set, eight 8-bit registers plus an storage battery A. Data space was 128 bytes and could be admissioned at once or indirectly by a register, plus another 128 above that in the 8052 which could only be accessed indirectly (usually for a stack) (Computer, 1996). In 1978, Intel introduced its high-performance, 16-bit MOS processorthe 8086. This microprocessor brooked position, speed, and features out-of-the- fashion(prenominal) beyond the second-generation machines of the mid-70s. It is said that the personal computer revolution did not really start until the 8088 processor was created.This chip became the well-nigh ubiquitous in the computer industry when IBM chose it for its first PC (Frieberger and Swaine, 1984 ). In 1982, the 80286 (also cognise as 286) was future(a) and was the first Intel processor that could tilt all the software written for its predecessor, the 8088. Many novices were introduced to background knowledge compu ting with a 286 machine and it became the predominate chip of its time. It contained 130,000 transistors. In 1985, the first multi-tasking chip, the 386 (80386) was created. This multitasking ability allowed Windows to do more than one function at a time.This 32-bit microprocessor was designed for applications requiring high CPU performance. In addition to providing access to the 32-bit world, the 80386 addressed 2 other important issues it provided system-level shop to systems designers, and it was object-code compatible with the entire family of 8086 microprocessors (Computer, 1996 ). The 80386 was made up of 6 functional units (i) execution unit (ii) segment unit (iii) scalawag unit (iv) decode unit (v) bus unit and (vi) prefetch unit. The 80386 had 13 34 registers dual-lane into such categories as general-purpose registers, right registers, and test registers.It had 275,000 transistors (Noyce, 1981). The 486 (80486) generation of chips really in advance(p) the point-and-c lick revolution. It was also the first chip to offer a reinforced-in math coprocessor, which gave the central processor the ability to do complex math calculations. The 486 had more than a million transistors. In 1993, when Intel lost a ask round to trademark the 586, to protect its brand from being copied by other companies, it coined the name Pentium for its next generation of chips and there began the Pentium seriesPentium Classic, Pentium II, threesome and newly, 4. (B)Motorola The MC68000 was the first 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Motorola in early 1980s. This was followed by higher levels of functionality on the microprocessor chip in the MC68000 series. For example, MC68020, introduced later, had 3 times as many transistors, was about three times as big, and was significantly faster. Motorola 68000 was one of the second generation systems that was developed in 1973. It was known for its graphics capabilities. The Motorola 88000 (originally named the 78000) is a 32- bit processor, one of the first load-store CPUs based on a Harvard computer architecture (Noyce, 1981). C) Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 14 In March 1974, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) announced it would offer a series of microprocessor modules built most the Intel 8008. (D) Texas Instruments (TI) A precursor to these microprocessors was the 16-bit Texas Instruments 1900 microprocessor which was introduced in 1976. The Texas Instruments TMS370 is similar to the 8051, another of TIs creations. The only difference between the two was the addition of a B put togetherer and some 16-bit support. Microprocessors TodayTechnology has been changing at a rapid pace. Everyday a new product is made to make aliveness a little easier. The computer plays a major role in the lives of most people. It allows a person to do a good deal anything. The net enables the user to gain more knowledge at a very much faster pace compared to researching through books. The lot of the comput er that allows it to do more work than a simple computer is the microprocessor. Microprocessor has brought electronics into a new era and caused component manufacturers and end-users to believe the role of the computer.What was once a giant machine attended by specialists in a room of its own is now a tiny device handily transparent to users of auto liquid, games, instruments, office equipment, and a large array of other products. 15 From their discredit beginnings 25 eld ago, microprocessors take hold proliferated into an dumbfounding range of chips, powering devices ranging from telephones to supercomputers (PC Magazine, 1996). Today, microprocessors for personal computers get widespread attentionand have enabled Intel to operate the worlds largest semiconductor maker.In addition, embedded microprocessors are at the total of a diverse range of devices that have become staples of affluent consumers worldwide. The impact of the microprocessor, however, goes far deeper tha n new and improved products. It is altering the anatomical structure of our society by changing how we gather and use information, how we communicate with one another, and how and where we work. Computer users want fast memory in their PCs, but most do not want to pay a agiotage for it. Manufacturing of microprocessors Economical manufacturing of microprocessors requires mass intersection.Microprocessors are constructed by depositing and removing thin layers of conducting, insulating, and semiconducting materials in hundreds of separate steps. Nearly every layer must be patterned accurately into the status of transistors and other electronic elements. Usually this is through with(p) by photolithography, which projects the pattern of the electronic circuit onto a coating that changes when exposed to light. Because these patterns are smaller than the shortest wavelength of visible light, short wavelength invisible radiation must be used. Microprocessor features 16 are so small and small that a single speck of dust can destroy the microprocessor. Microprocessors are made in filtered clean rooms where the air may be a million times cleaner than in a typical home (PC World, 2000)). Performance of microprocessors The number of transistors available has a huge effect on the performance of a processor. As seen earlier, a typical instruction in a processor like an 8088 took 15 clock cycles to execute. Because of the design of the multiplier, it took approximately 80 cycles just to do one 16-bit multiplication on the 8088.With more transistors, much more powerful multipliers capable of single-cycle speeds become possible ( ). More transistors also allow a technology called pipelining. In a pipelined architecture, instruction execution overlaps. So even though it might take 5 clock cycles to execute each instruction, there can be 5 instructions in various stages of execution simultaneously. That way it looks like one instruction completes every clock cycle (PC Wo rld, 2001). Many modern processors have multiple instruction decoders, each with its own pipeline.This allows multiple instruction streams, which means more than one instruction can complete during each clock cycle. This technique can be quite complex to implement, so it takes lots of transistors. The trend in processor design has been toward full 32-bit ALUs with fast floating point processors built in and pipelined execution with multiple instruction streams. There has also been a tendency toward special instructions (like the MMX 17 instructions) that make certain operations particularly efficient. There has also been the addition of hardware virtual memory support and L1 caching on the processor chip.All of these trends push up the transistor count, leading to the multi-million transistor powerhouses available today. These processors can execute about one billion instructions per second (PC World, 2000) ) With all the different types of Pentium microprocessors, what is the dif ference? Three basic characteristics stand out Instruction set The set of instructions that the microprocessor can execute. bandwidth The number of bits processed in a single instruction. clock speed Given in megahertz (MHz), the clock speed determines how many instructions per second the processor can execute.In addition to bandwidth and clock speed, microprocessors are sort out as being either RISC (reduced instruction set computer) or complex instruction set computer (complex instruction set computer). 18 opposite uses of microprocessors There are many uses for microprocessors in the world today. most appliances found around the house are operated by microprocessors. Most modern factories are fully automatedthat means that most jobs are do by a computer. Automobiles, trains, subship canal, planes, and even move services require the use of many microprocessors. In short, there are microprocessors all over you go. Another common place to break microprocessors is a car.T his is especially applicable to sports cars. There are numerous uses for a microprocessor in cars. First of all, it controls the warning LED signs. Whenever there is a paradox, low inunct, for example, it has detectors that tell it that the oil is below a certain amount. It then reaches over and starts blinking the LED until the problem is fixed. Another use is in the foramen system. A processor, controls the amount of pressure applied to keep the car leveled. During turns, a processor, slows shore the wheels on the inner side of the concur and speeds them up on the outside to keep the speed constant and make a smooth turn.An interesting story appeared in the bracing York Times dated April 16 and goes to show that theres no limit to what microprocessors can do and that resarchers and scientists are not stopping at the current uses of microprocessors. The next time the milk is low in the refrigerator, the grocery store may deliver a new congius before it is entirely gone. Masa hiro Sone, who lives in Raleigh, N. C. , has won a patent for a refrigerator with an inventory processing system that keeps get behind of what is inside 19 and what is about to run out and can ring up the grocery store to order more (NY Times, 2001).Where is the industry of microprocessors going? Almost without delay after their introduction, microprocessors became the heart of the personal computer. Since then, the improvements have come at an amazing pace. The 4004 ran at 108 kHzthats kilohertz, not megahertzand processed only 4 bits of data at a time. Todays microprocessors and the computers that run on them are thousands of times faster. Effectively, theyve come pretty close to fulfilling Moores Law (named after Intel cofounder Gordon Moore), which states that the number of transistors on a chip forget double every 18 calendar months or so.Performance has increased at nearly the same rate (PC Magazine, 1998 ). Can the pace hide? Well, nothing can increase forever. entirel y fit in to Gerry Parker, Intels executive vice hot seat in charge of manufacturing, we are far from the end of the line in terms of microprocessor performance. In fact, were constantly seeing new advances in technology, one example being new forms of lithography that let designers position electronic components hand-to-hand and closer together on their chips. Processors are created now using a 0. 35-micron process.But next year well see processors created at 0. 25 microns, with 0. 18 and 0. 13 microns to be introduced in the years to come. (PC Magainze, 1998) However, its not just improvements in lithography and density that can boost performance. Designers can create microprocessors with more layers of metal tying 20 together the transistors and other circuit elements. The more layers, the more compact the design. But these ultracompact microprocessors are also harder to manufacture and validate. New chip designs take up less(prenominal) space, resulting in more chips per w afer.The original Pentium (60/66 MHz) was 294 real millimeters, then it was 164 square millimeters (75/90/100 MHz), and now its 91 square millimeters (133- to 200-MHz versions) (PC Magazine, 1998). When will all this end? Interestingly, it may not be the natural limits of technology that will eventually refute Moores Law. Instead, its more likely to be the cost of each successive generation. Every new level of advancement costs more as making microprocessor development is a tremendously capital-intensive business. Currently, a fabrication plant with the ability to create about 40,000 wafers a month costs some $2 billion.And the rapid pace of innovations means equipment can become obsolete in just a few years. Still, there are ways of cutting some costs, such as converting from todays 8-inch silicon wafers to larger, 300-mm (roughly 12inch) wafers, which can produce 2. 3 times as many chips per wafer as those now in use. Moving to 300-mm wafers will cost Intel about $500 million i n initial capital. Still, nothing brave outs forever. As Parker notes, the PC industry is built on the assumption that we can get more and more out of the PC with each generation, keep costs in check, and continue adding more value.We will run out of money before we run out of technology. When we cant hold costs down anymore, then it will be a different business (PC Magazine, 1998). At the beginning of depart year, the buzz was about PlayStation 2 and the emotion Engine processor that would run it. authentic by Sony and Toshiba, 21 experts predicted the high-tech processor would offer unprecedented gaming power and more importantly, could provide the processing power for the PlayStation 2 to challenge cheap PCs as the entry-level device of choice for home access to the Web.PlayStation2 is equipped with the 295MHz MIPS-based Emotion engine, Sonys own CPU designed with Toshiba Corp. , a 147MHz graphics processor that renders 75 million pixels per second, a videodisk player, an IEEE 1394 serial connection, and two USB ports. Sony will use DVD discs for game titles and gives consumers the option of using the product for gaming, DVD movie playing and eventually Web surfing (PC World, 2000). Soon, sort of of catching up on the word via radio or a newspaper publisher on the way to work, commuters may soon be watching it on a take hold computer or carrell phone.Early January this year, Toshiba America Electronic Components announced its TC35273XB chip. The chip has 12Mb of integrated memory and an encoder and decoder for MPEG-4, an audio-video contraction standard. According to Toshiba, the integrated memory is what sets this chip apart from others. With integrated memory, the chip consumes less power, making it a good fit for take-away gadgets. This chip is designed to specifically address the issues of battery life which can be very short with portable devices.The chip will have a RISC processor at its affection and running at a clock speed of 70MHz (PC World, 2000). Toshiba anticipates that samples of this chip will be released to manufacturers in the second quarter, and mass production will follow in the third quarter. Shortly after this release, new handheld computers and cell phones using the chip and crack streaming media will be evaluate (CNET news). 22 It is reported in CNET news, that in February this year, IBM started a program to use the Internet to speed custom-chip design, bolstering its unit that makes semiconductors for other companies.IBM, one of the biggest makers of application-specific chips, would set up a system so that chip designs are placed in a secure purlieu on the Web, where a customers design aggroup and IBM engineers would collaborate on the blueprints and make changes in real time. Designing custom chips, which are used to provide unique features that standard processors dont offer, requires time- consuming exchanges of details between the clients that provide a basic framework and the IBM emp loyees who do the back-end work. Using the Internet will speed the process and make plans more accurate.IBM figures that since their customers ask for damp turnaround time and better customer satisfaction, this would be one way to tackle this. As a indicator lamp program, this service was to be offered to a set of particular, selected customers initially, and then would include customers who design the questionable system-on-a-chip devices that combine several functions on one chip (CNET news). A new microprocessor uncover in February 2000 by Japans NEC, offers high-capacity performance while only consuming small amounts of power, making it ideal for use in mobile devices.This prototype could resolve as the model for future mobile processors. The MP98 processor contains four microprocessors on the same chip that work together in such a way that they can be switched on and off depending on the job in hand. For example, a single processor can be used to handle easy jobs, such as data entry, through a keypad, while more can be brought 23 online as the task demands, with all four working on tasks such as processing video. This gives designers of portable devices the best of both(prenominal) worldslow power consumption and high capacity (PC World, 2000).However, it should be noted that the idea of putting several processors together on a single chip is not new as both IBM and sunbathe Microsystems have developed similar devices. The only difference is that MP98 is the first working example of a fine grain device that offers better performance. Commercial products based on this technology are likely to be seen around 2003 (PCWorld, 2000). In PCWorld, it was reported that, last September, a Japanese dentist genuine U. S. and Japanese patents for a method of position a microchip into a fictive tooth.The one-chip microprocessor embedded in a home base denture can be find using a radio transmitter-receiver, allowing its possessor to be identified. This is useful in ripened citizens home where all dentures are usually collected from their owners after meals, water-washed together and returned. In such a case, it is important to identify all the dentures to give back to their correct owners without any skid (PC World, 2000). In March this year, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) launched its 1. 3-GHz Athlon processor. Tests on this processor indicated that its speed surpassed Intels 1. GHz Pentium 4. The Athlon processor has a 266-MHz front side bus that works with systems that use 266-MHz memory. The price starts from $2,988 (PCWorld, 2001). Intels Pentium 4, which was launched in late 2000, is designed to provide blazing speedespecially in handling multimedia system content. Dubbed Intel NetBurst 24 Micro-architecture, it is designed to speed up applications that send data in bursts, such as screaming media, MP3 playback, and video compression. scour before the dust had settled on NetBurst, Intel released its much awaited 1. GHz Pen tium 4 processor on Monday, April 23. The is said to be the companys highest-performance microprocessor for desktops. Currently priced at $325 in 1,000 unit quantities. The vice president and general manager of Intel was quoted as saying, the Pentium 4 processor is destined to become the sum total of the digital world. Whether encoding video and MP3 files, doing financial analysis, or experiencing the latest internet technologiesthe Pentium 4 processor is designed to meet the necessitate of all users (PC World, 2001).Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, over thirty years ago, announced that the number of transistors that can be placed on a silicon would double every two years. Intel maintains that it has remained authoritative since the release of its first processors, the 4004, in 1971. The contestation to determine who has produced the fastest and smallest processor between Intel and AMD continues. Infact, Intel Corp. predicts that PC chips will climb to more than 10GHz from tod ays 1GHz standard by the year 2011. However, researchers are paying increasing attention to software.Thats because new generations of software, especially computing-intensive user interfaces, will call for processors with expanded capabilities and performance.