Chip - Microprocessors

As chip designs try to squeeze more and more functionality into diminishing space, the effective use of silicon real estate becomes a primary concern. Just as cities require efficient transportation and communication routes among houses and industries, the design of silicon wafers requires extensive planning to determine where to situate the various functional units and where to place the pathways that connect them. The urban plans and architecture of cities are in many ways analogous to the circuit plans and architectures of silicon:

Molecular Expressions - Galleria - (high resolution photos of chips)
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/galleria/index.html

• Chip Shots - (circuit layouts of all significant microprocessors)
  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/chipshots/index.html)
• Silicon Maps - (the world's smallest maps)
  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/flagmapindex.html
• Silicon Zoo - (shots of silicon grafitti)
  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/index.html

The history of the Microprocessor is revealed in numerous accounts. Perhaps the most fascinating is the invention of the Intel 4004, the first one on the scene.

• Intel 4004 Microprocessor
  http://chrisbot.com/4004/
• Inventors Of The Modern Computer Intel 4004 The World's First Single Chip Microprocessor
  http://inventors.about.com/science/inventors/library/weekly/aa092998.htm
• Innovation: The World's first MPU 4004 Busicom Corp.
  http://www.dotpoint.com/xnumber/agreement0.htm
• Microprocessor Timeline - 25 Years of Microprocessor Evolution 1971-1996
  http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/microprocessors/index.page
• Intel Microprocessor Evolution
  http://www.thiinline.com/about/html/intel_evolution.html
• Microprocessors Over the Edge - (what's on the horizon)
  http://www.mdronline.com/mpf/