Open main menu

CDOT Wiki β

Changes

DPS921/ A Crash Course on Processors

119 bytes added, 01:18, 7 April 2021
no edit summary
Registers: Stores data, waiting for instructions for them to be executed. The main component of a processor is silicon and the second main component is the transistor. Silicon is a natural element found in the earth's crust and has the characteristics to make it a semiconductor. A transistor is an electrical component which can play two roles, an amplifier or a switch. The first step in the process of creating a processor is to melt silicon with electrical active elements such as arsenic, boron, phosphorus or antimony.
 
[[File:rocks.png]]
Next, once the desired temperatures are reached, a silicon seed crystal is inserted within the compound. Once the seed is in place, it begins to grow. As the seed grows exponentially it is also extracted simultaneously from the melt as an ingot. At this stage, many factors come to play to ensure sufficient electrical properties of the silicon such as concentration, temperature and speed of the melt. Once around 6 inches of ingot is extracted, it is cut to the proper diameter.
 
[[File:MoltenLiquid.png]]
They are then polished to produce a flat, mirror like surface. Lastly, the compound is inspected and heated if needed to remove any defects.
[[File:WeirdTool.png]]
Transistors are made from a complex chemical formula and step process that involves diffusing acceptor atoms (Boron) in silicon dioxide. These transistors are used in the microprocessors and memory.
[[File:technician.png]]
Nowadays, most of the process is automated under strict supervision of the technicians. The labs must be kept extremely clean as one spec of dust can ruin the entire chip. It may take up to three full months to completely create and test a processor.
In the modern day, when hearing of processors two big giants come to play: AMD & Intel. With the advanced modern technology and the highly complex needs of most applications, the CPU’s and GPU’s are being developed at its highest engineered levels. The newest line of chips from Intel named Comet Lake-S and from AMD Ryzen 5000 series provide an extremely high quality product which guarantees to tackle any task thrown at them. The new AMD Ryzen 9 3950X comes equipped with 16 cores, 32 threads, and a base clock of 3.5GHZ. While the Intero Core i9-10900k Series provides a 10 core, 20 thread 3.7 GHZ chip. It is everyone's goal to make the next processor faster. New technology is being researched with the use of fiber optics to replace capacitors. A photonic crystal is a slab of silicon with holes drilled in it which allows light to travel through the holes. So far, the researchers managed to reach speeds of data transmission at 40GB/S. With new developments always in the making, it is exciting to see what the future holds for computational processing.
[[File:BlueProcessor.png]]
39
edits