CMOS

CMOS stands for “Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor”, which is used for

constructing integrated circuit chips including microprocessors,
microcontrollers, memory chips, and more. But today, CMOS has different
meanings in different areas. CMOS refers to a sensor type in the
photography field. But for computers, it is commonly used for the chip
stores the BIOS information.
CMOS is a chip that stores BIOS configuration data, such as
CPU voltages, RAM latencies, integrated peripheral states,
hard disk boot priorities, and more, located on the
motherboards. CMOS also handles the clock for the
computer. It uses a volatile, low-power complementary
metal-oxide-semiconductor.
 CMOS is volatile, which means when it loses power, it loses all of its data. It relies
on a CMOS battery to keep its data even if the power was cut off. This design also
serves as a safety measure. When a user changes a setting that may cause the
computer to not boot at all, the user can just unplug the PC as well as the CMOS
battery to apply a factory reset to whole BIOS settings. Some motherboards also
have jumpers or buttons to cut the battery power from the CMOS chip.

 In the modern motherboards, BIOS has been replaced with its more advanced
version, UEFI. Both BIOS and UEFI must be kept in non-volatile memory because if
their data is lost, the computer will not work. The configuration data is kept in an
NVRAM, non-volatile RAM, alongside the UEFI itself. However, even if the
configuration is kept in non-volatile memory, it still deletes itself for the
aforementioned safety measure when the power is cut.
 Why do we use CMOS?
We use CMOS to keep the BIOS settings in it. All of the configurations that
we change in the BIOS are kept in the CMOS chip.
 Where is the CMOS battery located?
The CMOS battery is located on the motherboard. It is generally kept close
to the middle of the board. However, it may also be slightly to right-bottom
or can be completely covered with cooling/styling components of the
motherboard.