Introduction to Information Technology in Business
Information Technology: How It Works
Microprocessors
What is a Microprocessor?
A microprocessor is a special computer chip (an integrated circuit) that
contains a very large number of transistors that can serve as the Central
Processing Unit (CPU) in a computer.
There are many companies that manufacture
microprocessors. Two of the biggest microprocessor
makers are ________ and _______ (Advanced Micro Devices). A CPU
made by either of these chip makers is most likely what is in your PC at
home. There are many others such as Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, Micron,
Motorola, NVIDIA, Philips, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments,
Toshiba, VIA, Zilog and many more. These microprocessors are more
likely to be in your cell phone, calculator, TV, DVD player and so on.
AMD “Barton” core
What is in a Microprocessor?
Today's microprocessors are very complex
integrated circuits.
The Pentium 4 from Intel
(introduced in 2000) has ________________
transistors on a chip just the size of your thumbnail.
Today the Intel Core i7 has _____________
transistors. The newest CPUs from Intel and AMD
are competing with "dual” and “quad” core
microprocessors that are really two or four CPUs in
one. Some of these have almost one billion transistors
on a silicon wafer not much bigger than the original
Pentium chip.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core
So what does a CPU do? Complete this diagram of what is inside the core
A Simplified Block Diagram of a CPU
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The Control Unit:
The ALU:
Registers:
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Learning Activity
 Visit our class Webpage at http://www.rbvweb.net/
 Click on the BTT 1O1 link
 Under the heading
Introduction to Computer Hardware,
click the link to The Journey Inside
 Select the Microprocessor tab

 Explore each of the lessons and complete these learning activities:
Microprocessors: Enter a World Where Small Is Powerful
Your computer uses a microprocessor to do its work. Smaller
and thinner than a ________, this tiny silicon chip contains
______________ of transistors that work together to help
you do everything from write a school report to search the
Web for the current population of the Svalbard Islands..
Word Watch
Microprocessor:
The main processing unit of a computer or information processing device; the
"brains" of the machine carrying out instructions, performing calculations, and
interacting with the components used to operate the computer. The microprocessor
handles the fetch, decode, and execute steps of the computer.
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Lesson 1: The Robotic Arm
For you, reaching out and picking up an object requires little thought. But for a
microprocessor, such actions require lots of precise instructions. Programming a robotic arm
to make something like a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich could take __________________
of instructions. That is why in factories using robotic devices, each device is usually designed
and programmed to do just several steps of the manufacturing process over and over again.
The item being manufactured goes from one robotic station to the next until it is completed.
 Complete Activity 1: The Robotic Arm
Show the teacher when you are finished
teacher’s initials
Lesson 2: Fetch, Decode and Execute
Whether you're playing a game, writing a report, or surfing the Web, the microprocessor in a
computer processes your data using the same three steps over and over again. It does these
three steps at incredible speed—millions of times a second. Here are the three steps and a
short explanation of each:
1.
2.
3.
Complete Activity 1: Fetch, Decode, and Execute
Complete Activity 2: Fetch, Decode, and Execute in a chip
Complete Activity 3: Make Rover Fetch
Show the teacher Activity 3 when you are finished
teacher’s initials
Lesson 3: The Best Things Come in Small Packages
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Pluck a hair from your head. (Really.) Now look at it. It isn't very thick, is it? Well, to a
microprocessor manufacturer, that hair looks like a telephone pole. That's because a hair is
more than ____________ times wider than a transistor on a microprocessor. Wires between
transistors are even thinner. They're more than ____________ times thinner than a hair.
How big is a human hair? About _________ microns in diameter. That means a transistor is
just 0.045 microns wide.
What's a micron? It's a very small metric measurement. You're probably familiar with
centimeter marks on a ruler. (If not, go look at one.) A micron is __________ of a
_____________.
A microprocessor transistor then is 0.0000045 centimeters wide. (Want that in inches? It's
0.00000177 of an inch.)
Activity 1:
And the answer is…
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 Complete Activity 2: Journey to the Center of a Microprocessor
It is impossible to see the incredibly small transistors and circuits in a
microprocessor with your eyes, but with a microscope you can.
Use the different magnification powers of the virtual microscope in
this activity to see the inner workings of a microprocessor. At the
highest magnifications, you see actual circuit paths.
 Complete Activity 3: Microscopic Dust
A lot of dust is so small we cannot even see it. But with a microscope, you can. Use the
different magnification powers of the virtual microscope in the activity to see how big a
microscopic speck of dust can be compared to circuits in a microprocessor. Since a single
speck of dust can ruin a microprocessor, you can see how important it is to manufacture
microprocessors in virtually dust-free facilities.
To protect chips from dust during the manufacturing process, they are made in ________
_______. Clean rooms are ______________ times cleaner than a hospital operating
room.
Lesson 4: How Do They Make Chips So Small?
Before a microprocessor can be manufactured, it has to be _______________. This is no
easy task. It takes a team of up to 600 engineers. The engineers face a task equivalent to
trying to design a __________ __________. from the ground up. How much area of the
chip should be set aside for temporarily storing information? How much area should be set
aside for maintaining instructions currently being used? How much area should be dedicated
to accepting information?
Once the areas of the chip have been _______________. out by purpose, the circuitry has
to be designed down to the individual transistor. With over _______________ million of
them in modern microprocessors, that's a lot to keep track of. It's like building a city by
designing every room in every home and building before you even pick up a brick.
Lesson 5: Recipe for a Microprocessor
While the process of designing and manufacturing a microprocessor is extremely complex,
the ingredients are rather simple. In the most elemental terms, microprocessors are
composed of _______________, _______________, _______________ and
_______________. Think about that the next time your computer is spell checking your 12page report on Patagonia cavies and other South American quadrupeds.
 Complete Activity 1: Microscopic Ingredients
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Lesson 6: Building Skyscrapers on a Wafer
Ever hold a 20-story building in the palm of your hand? That's what it's like holding a dimesized microprocessor with millions of transistors.
silicon wafer
microprocessor core
A single microprocessor is like a miniature skyscraper with stairway-like circuits between
each floor. Hundreds of these "skyscrapers" can be produced on a silicon wafer at a time.
From start to finish, a microprocessor takes about _____ months to produce. ___________
begins with a very thin slice of silicon. Over 300 manufacturing steps later, this silicon
__________ holds hundreds of microprocessors. If you could enlarge the wafer to the size
of a swimming pool, the surface would look like a miniature city.
 Complete Activity 1: Making a Circuit on a Wafer
Read each step in the process of making a computer chip (an Integrated Circuit or IC) and
explain what each of these terms mean:
wafer
photoresist
mask
ultraviolet light
etching
layering
 Complete Activity 2: Exploring a Microprocessor
 Complete Activity 3: Exploring Chip Layers
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Smaller, Faster, & More Powerful
How Transistors Became So Small
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