How do chips work in computers

There are several basic classifications of computer chips, including analog, digital and mixed signal varieties. These different classifications of computer chips determine how they transmit signals and handle power. Their size and efficiency are also dependent upon their classification, and the digital computer chip is the smallest, most efficient, most powerful and most widely used, transmitting data signals as a combination of ones and zeros.

Today, large-scale integration chips can actually contain millions of transistors, which is why computers have become smaller and more powerful than ever. Not only this, but computer chips are used in just about every electronic application including home appliances, cell phones, transportation and just about every aspect of modern living. First of all, we'll need to build a "half adder," or one that takes in two bits and adds them, ultimately outputting two bits.

So, if the two bits are both 0, it will output 00, if only one of them is 1, it will output 01, and if both are 1 it will output Let us think one bit at a time and take the first bit first.

After some time, we figure out "Oh! That bit is 1 only if both of the input bits are 1. So that we can get by an AND gate. Only one bit remaining. Now we sit down to think again. Hmm, this other bit seems tougher.

It is almost like an OR gate, but does not output 1 if both of the inputs are 1. Ok, let us not think about this more and just decide to call it a new type of gate, an Exclusive OR gate. But now you say, "We can add only 1 bit numbers.

Our rival company can add numbers over 1 billion. How do we do that? You see, our current design can only add two one bit numbers, and the output is a sum and a "carry", which now needs to be added to the next higher bit. This needs the addition of three bits, which our little guy can't do. So after another full day of wracking our heads over this, we figure out this will be a good circuit to do this and call it a "full" adder.

Now we have all the adding power of the world in our hands. You see, now we can just chain 32 of these little guys together like the following and we have in our hands a monster that can add numbers more than 1 billion, in the blink of an eye. And here is the wonderful news: You can just go on making better and better gates, and your circuit will become better and better.

That's the power of abstraction. Of course, as it turns out, our way of adding things is not really that great. You can do better—much better, in fact. But because of our friend abstraction, that can be done independent of the gates.

If your newer circuit is two times better than the old one, and you have two times faster gates, you have a four times better circuit! That's one of the major contributors to how we got thousands of times better in a few decades. We built smaller, faster, less power consuming gates. And we figured out better and better ways of doing the same calculation. And after joining them together, it worked like magic! We now slog for a year in our garage and build circuits that can multiply, add, subtract, divide, compare, and do all kinds of arithmetic, all within 1 nanosecond.

We even make a tiny circuit which can "store" a value, i. Let's call it a flip-flop. But, you see, one thing all our circuits have in common is that they just take in inputs and do the same operation over them to give the output. What if I wanted to multiply something, or another time, to add? In this case, we need to not consider bits as just numbers. Let us try to represent the "actions" themselves in bits.

Let us say 0 means "add", 1 means "multiply". Now, let us build a tiny circuit that sees a bit as a "command", and selects between two inputs, I0 and I1, and outputs I0 if the command is 0, and I1 if it is 1. This is a multiplexer. In fact, we can have lots of these multiplexers to choose between so many outputs—then we've got ourselves a truly amazing machine.

Hundreds of identical processors are created in batches on a single silicon wafer. Once all the layers are completed, a computer performs a process called wafer sort test. The testing ensures that the chips perform to design specifications. After fabrication, it's time for packaging.

The wafer is cut into individual pieces called die. The die is packaged between a substrate and a heat spreader to form a completed processor. The package protects the die and delivers critical power and electrical connections when placed directly into a computer circuit board or mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet.

Intel makes chips that have many different applications and use a variety of packaging technologies. Intel packages undergo final testing for functionality, performance, and power. Chips are electrically coded, visually inspected, and packaged in protective shipping material for shipment to Intel customers and retail.

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