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INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION &

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Lecture 11

IICT By Muhammad Hussain

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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

MICROPROCESSOR &
MEMORY
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

MICROPROCESSOR
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

MICROPROCESSOR
A microprocessor is a computer processor on a microchip. Its sometime called logic chips.

A microprocessor is designed to perform all calculations, decision making and control

functions.

Todays state of the art processors including Pentium, Athalon, powerpc, etc, they are very
complex circuits, it has tens of millions of transistors.

They work at ultra fast speed, many can perform more than 1 billions operations per second.

These all microprocessors are made up of same material, which is semi-conductor means they
are made up of silicon.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

A microprocessor is designed to perform:

Arithmetic calculations
Logic operations
Use small number-holding areas called registers.

Microprocessor operations include:

Adding
Subtracting
Comparing two numbers
Fetching numbers from one area to another.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

When computer in turned on, the microprocessor is designed to get the

first instruction from the basic input/output system (BIOS) that comes
with the computer as a part of its memory.

BIOS loads operating system into computer memory.

A microprocessor is made from miniaturized transistors and other

circuit elements on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC).
These are made up of semiconductor and silicon.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
A microprocessor is an integrated circuit made up of silicon.

A chip is also called IC (aka microchip or just chip).

An IC is collection of several electronic components and these all

components are miniaturized.

One electronic component is millionth of a meter, means it is in

microns. The thickness of human hair is 100 um (microns).
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The components of IC

Transistors
Resistors
Diodes
Capacitors
Wiring

In any IC the most area covered is by its wiring(means that part of

conductor who carry signal from one point to another).
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

TRANSISTORS
The transistor is solid state semi-conductor device used for amplification and switching.

It has three terminals.

A small current or voltage applied to one terminal, controls current through the other two.

Hence, the term transistor; a voltage or current controlled resistor.

In digital circuits, transistors are used as very fast electrical switches, and arrangements
of transistors can function as logic gates.
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MATERIALS
The materials used in IC are:

Silicon semiconductor
Copper conductor (wires, the connecting path are made up
of coppers)
Silicon Dioxide - insulator
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

SILICON
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MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEM
Microprocessor System is different then microprocessor as the body is
different then the brain.

If we have the brain, but do not have hands, feet, then what is the benefit
of this brain.

Similarly, if we have microprocessor but do not have input, output and

storage devices then this microprocessor is useless.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

So in Microprocessor system, the major component is microprocessor,

other components are input, output, storage and memory. Collectively
it become Microprocessor system.

Personal computer is one very popular example of Microprocessor

System, another example of Microprocessor system is Micro-
controllers.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

MICRO-CONTROLLERS
Micro-controller is a type of microprocessor system.

The special thing is in micro-controller system these are all components i.e.
microprocessor, memory of the program (ROM), memory of the data (RAM), I/O
lines to communicate with peripherals & complementary recourses is on one chip.

Means a complete computer on a chip.

Micro-controllers are found in almost any electrical device e.g. washing machines,
microwave ovens and in toaster etc
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

MAIN MEMORY BOTTLENECK

Microprocessor speed as compare to memory are quite faster. Todays
microprocessors can perform 1 operation in 1 nanosecond ((10-9) or 1 billionth
of a second), but the memory is respond in 100 nanosecond.

It means if microprocessor say to memory it needs data, it can say it in 1

nanosecond, but he will get the response from memory in 100 nanoseconds or
more. It means todays slow memory making efficiency of a microprocessor less.

It means microprocessor who are capable to perform at high speed due to slow
memory are performing at low speed.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

To fully efficiently perform the speed of microprocessor, then we have

to search a method through which microprocessor quickly access the
memory.

Solution: Invent that memory who work at the speed of microprocessor,

if microprocessor respond in 1 nanosecond, then memory also respond in
one nanosecond. There exist such memory. But the key issue in proposed
solution is they are very expensive.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

Alternate solution is on the same chip we put very high speed memory,
means 1 nanosecond response time memory. The benefit of this is data will
be available on same speed at which microprocessor work. To make this
solution effective, the memory we put on the same chip, insert those data
and instructions, which microprocessor need so often. 90 % of time
microprocessor need same data and instructions.

So, 90 % of time, microprocessor will not fetch data & instructions from
outside, in-fact the memory which is located near it, 90 % of time it get
data & instruction from the memory which is near it on the same chip.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

ON-CHIP(L1) CACHE MEMORY

So, the 90 % of time microprocessor is working at full speed.

So, this small, super fast memory that we locate on the same chip is called On-
Chip(L1) Cache Memory. The frequently used data and instructions reside on the on-
chip cache memory.

So, whenever microprocessor needs data or instructions, its check in cache

memory, if they dont find those data & instructions then it checks the main memory.

The size of cache memory is small and its one of the building blocks that is located on
a microprocessor.
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Microprocessor
IICT By Muhammad Hussain

Data
Cache
Memory
Bus Control Arithmetic
RAM Bus Unit & Logic
Interface Unit
I/O Unit
Instruction Registers
System Decoder
Bus
Floating
Point
Unit
Instruction
Cache Registers
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CACHE MEMORY
L2, cache memory, which is on a separate chip from the microprocessor.

It is the small size and proximity to the microprocessor makes access times
short, resulting in a boost in performance.

It is an extremely fast, small memory between CPU and MAIN MEMORY

whose access time is closer to the processing speed of the CPU.

Cache is pronounced as cash.

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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

Buses
What is a bus?
Channel that allows devices inside
computer to communicate with each
other

System bus connects processor

and RAM
Bus width determines number
of bits transmitted at one time
Word size is the number of
bits processor can interpret
and execute at a given time
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

INSTRUCTION DECODER
Instruction decoder analysis the instruction, which comes from
instruction cache and decide these instructions will be send to ALU or
FPU.

It also simplify the instructions so that ALU or FPU understand it easily.

Means it converts complex instructions into simple instructions.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

ARITHMETIC & LOGIC UNIT(ALU)

Also known as Integer Unit.

In this building block mostly computations of microprocessor took place for

example add, subtract, divide & multiply.

Comparison is also took place here for example A is greater than B or A is

less than B.

Logical operations also took place.

e.g. A AND B, A OR B.
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Three types of operations took place here:

Arithmetic
Logic
Comparison.

Modern microprocessors have two and more ALU, the benefit of it two
instructions can compute simultaneously.
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FLOATING POINT UNIT (FPU)

Another computation unit that found in modern microprocessor is FPU. Also
known as Numeric Unit. ALU only deals with integers, the FPU deals with
floating point numbers.

Floating point numbers are those numbers which involved decimals or fractions.

Through FPU you can store very very large and small numbers in compact form.

So, FPU work is to multiply, divide, subtract or add fraction numbers.

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NOTE
FPUs have importance when you are doing graphics calculations, design
engineering software or scientific software.

All those work which FPU perform, ALU also perform the difference is if
FPU do it 1 cycle, then ALU can perform same job in 100 cycles.

So, without FPU, your processor can work, but it really slow down the
speed.

In previous generations many microprocessors do not have FPU.

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REGISTERS
The registers are attached with ALU & FPU, they are super fast memory
like cache.

When ALU & FPU are doing some calculations, then they store their
intermediate calculations in registers on a temporary basis. Those
calculation, which results you need after some time.

When the calculation is finished, then this processed data from registers
goes to data cache and then to bus interface unit from there either it goes
out to memory or I/O devices.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

Registers are part of the CPU (not main memory) of a computer.

The length of a register, sometimes called its word size, equals the
number of bits it can store.
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COMMONLY USED REGISTERS

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CONTROL UNIT
Control unit is like a brain or heart of any microprocessor.

Its most complex element of any microprocessor.

Control unit is like, in war a field marshal or general is.

If instructions come, the CU generate its order.

If data have to come, the CU generate its order.

It manages whole process of microprocessors.

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MACHINE CYCLES
Each time the CPU executes an instruction. It takes a series of steps.
The completed series of steps is called a machine cycle.

A machine cycle itself can be broken down into two smaller cycles:
Instruction cycle
Execution cycle
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During the instruction cycle, the CPU takes two steps:

Fetching: Before the CPU can execute an instruction, the CU

must retrieve (or fetch) a command or data from computers
memory.
Decoding: Before a command can be executed, the CU must
break down (or decode) the command into instructions that
correspond to those in the CPUs instruction set.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

At this point, the CPU is ready to begin the execution cycle:

Executing: When the command is executed, the CPU carries

out the instructions in order by converting them into
microcode.
Storing: The CPU may be required to store the results of an
instruction in memory.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

WORD SIZE
The length of register equals the number of bits it can store. Hence, a
register that can store 8 bits is normally referred to as 8-bit register.

The size of registers is sometimes called the word size.

The biggest the word size, the fastest the computer can process a set of
data.
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The Intel 4004 dealt with data in chunks of 4-bits at a time.

Pentium 4 deals with data in chunks (words) of 32-bit length.

Modern processor deals with 64-bits, and 128-bits.

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MOORES LAW
Gordon Moore who was the co-founder of Intel published a paper in
1965.

Stating in effect that at our rate of technological development and

advancement in industry the complexity of integrated circuits double
every year.

Their prediction is still valid.

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MEMORY
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RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)

Primary storage of a computer is often referred to as RAM because of its random access
capability.

RAMs are volatile memory.

A computers motherboard is designed in a manner that the memory capacity can be

enhanced by adding more memory chips.

RAM is the place in computer, where

OS, application programs and data
in current use are kept. So that they
can be quickly reached by processor.
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RAM is considered random access because you can access any memory
cell directly.

Every byte in RAM has an address.

00000000 00000000
00000000 00000001

00000000 00000010

11111111 11111111
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RAM is further divided in to two types

SRAM (Static Random access Memory)

DRAM (Dynamic Random access Memory)
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SRAM
SRAM stands for Static RAM.
SRAM is a type of memory that is faster and more reliable than the more
common DRAM (dynamic RAM).
The term static is derived from the fact that it doesn't need to be refreshed
like dynamic RAM
Access time around 10 nanoseconds
Note: a nanosecond is one billionth of a second!
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DRAM
DRAM stands for Dynamic RAM.
The term dynamic indicates that the memory must be constantly
refreshed or it will lose its contents.
Contents are constantly refreshed 1000 times per second
Access time 60 70 nanoseconds
Dynamic RAM is slower than Static RAM.
But it requires less power and is less expensive.
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain

SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) is much faster than DRAM

because they are synchronized to system clock..
DDR SDRAM (Double Date Rate SDRAM) are faster than SDRAM
because they transfer data twice the system cycle.
The processor relies on a small quartz crystal circuit called the system
clock to control the timing of all computer operations. Just as your heart
beats at a regular rate to keep your body functioning, the system clock
generates regular electronic pulses, or ticks, that set the operating pace of
components of the system unit
The pace of the system clock, called the clock speed, is measured by the number of ticks per second. Current personal
computer processors have clock speeds in the gigahertz range. Giga is a prefix that stands for billion, and a hertz is one cycle

per second. Thus, one gigahertz (GHz) equals one billion ticks of the system clock per second .
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More RAM = Better Performance!

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READ ONLY MEMORY (ROM)

ROM a non-volatile memory chip.
Data stored in ROM can only be read.
ROM memory typically stores the instructions which is known as
BIOS/system boot program.

BIOS loads operating system into computer memory, check system

hardware, like memory, I/O
devices etc are functioning
properly.

TYPES OF ROMs
Type
Manufactured-Programmed ROM
User-programmed ROM or
Programmable ROM (PROM)
Erasable PROM (EPROM)
Ultra Violet EPROM (UVEPROM)
Electronically EPROM (EEPROM)
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IICT By Muhammad Hussain
Usage.
Data is burnt by the manufacturer of the electronic
equipment in which it is used.
User can load and store read-only programs and data in
it.
User can erase information stored in it and the chip can
be reprogrammed to store new information.
A type of EPROM chip in which information is erased by
exposing the chip for some time to ultra-violet light.
A type of EPROM chip in which the stored information is
erased by using high voltage electric pulses.
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Thank you