The CPU: From Conception to Birth

CrzyP writes "Most of us have seen flowcharts and heard lectures on how a CPU functions in a computer. What a lot of us do not know, however, is how a CPU is created. Sudhian describes the step-by-step process of how a CPU is made, from grains of sand to a wafer of circuits. Ahhh sand, the building block of life...in the tech world!"

well..

[Anonymous Coward]

It's slashdotted already so here's the poop:

1 Write out chip functions.
2 Emulate on high end computers.
3 Tape out prototypes.
4 Port Linux to new chip.
5 Send SCO US$699 per core.

Slashdotted already...

[Anonymous Coward]

but here's the scope:

When a daddy CPU and a mommy CPU really loves each other, they get together reeeal close and...

The real question is ...

[Laser Lou]

did computation begin at conception, or at birth?

The CPU/Computer Paradox

[Seventh Magpie]

So what came first? The CPU? Or the computer that built the CPU?

Decisions, decisions...

[Dorsai65]

Use the silicon for processors, or implants... processors, or implants...

Ob. Simpsons

[themoodykid]

So the next time you're walking on the beach, enjoying an hourglass, or making cheap, low-grade windshields, think where we'd be without ... SAND!

Re:A little on the short side, but with pretty pic

[Anonymous Coward]

And of course there is always the Britney spears guide to semiconductor physics... http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm [britneyspears.ac]

Sand? Cornerstone?

[xgecko]

Isn't that supposed to be a bad thing?

Re:DNA microarrays

[nomadic]

So technology developed for CPU is helping to find cures for diseases, increase our knowledge of life... etc. Isn't cool?

That depends. Can you overclock it?

Obv. Raising Arizona

[da3dAlus]

Ahhh sand, the building block of life...

[an old convict and H.I. lying on their prison bunks, passing the time]
Ear-Bending Cellmate : ...and when there was no meat, we ate fowl and when there was no fowl, we ate crawdad and when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand.
H.I. : You ate what?
Ear-Bending Cellmate : We ate sand.
[pause]
H.I. : You ate SAND?
Ear-Bending Cellmate : That's right!

Krispy Kreme!

[Moos3d]

Now all Intel needs is stores where you can watch the chips being made. Like a Krispy Kreme!

Crystal Silicon Ingot

[JThundley]

Did anybody else's butthole start to hurt when they saw the Crystal Silicon Ingot [sudhian.com]?

Re:Slashdotted already...

[isny]

When a daddy CPU and a mommy CPU really loves each other, they get together reeeal close and...
A bunch of slashdotters imagine a beowulf cluster?

Re:Slashdotted already...

[paul248]

When a daddy CPU and a mommy CPU really loves each other, they get together reeeal close and...

reduce the effective surface area of the cooling system?

Re:Slashdotted already...

[endx7]

...now you have a dual processor system!

When CPUs divorce

[hyrdra]

Unforunatly, some processors don't work well toegther. It usually ends up as one processor is doing all the work, while the other one sits in the background doing not a damn thing. Day in and out, this processor sits on it's ass complaining about all the heat the other one is generating, when all he is trying to do is process these stupid little single thread applications, which are usually the result of the other processor (compiling is often a multi-processing task).

Eventually if things continue as they are, the two processors split in an ever growing trend in electronics of single processor systems and live in their own cases on their own motherboards. Sure, applications at times suffer, but it's for the best and they can still have visitation with both processors via a shared wireless network.

Re:well..

[master_p]

You forgot some other very important steps:

1. design a CPU in just 5 days for a market opportunity you suddently saw (*cough* 8086 *cough*).
2. pray that this CPU will not dominate the market since it is really crap and you have better designs anyway.
3. watch said CPU dominate the market for the next 20 years.
4. twist your arm to find ways to speed it up.
5. buy and burry other much better CPU architectures (*cough* Alpha *cough*) because the beast you created does not die in any way.