Curiosity question for Electronic Engineers re: transistors ??
William Case
billlinux at rogers.com
Fri Aug 31 13:57:35 UTC 2007
Thank you very much Les;
On Thu, 2007-08-30 at 09:13 -0700, Les wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-08-30 at 07:02 -0400, William Case wrote:
[snip]
> Hi, Bill,
> Go to the INTEL website: www.intel.com. On the right side is a menu.
> Choose processors. From the list choose a processor of interest, and
> read the specification sheet (spec sheet is typically what techs call
> it. Marketeers often call it the Product Specification).
>
> Essentially the vdd is the voltage capability of the transistors. The
> speeds are dependent upon technology used in the design of the chip, the
> dopant, the quality of the silicon and various physical parameters
> related to packaging which limits the response speed of the I/O pins.
>
> The spec sheet will tell you all these things. What you are likely
> interested in is Rt or Risetime, Ft or fall time, and maximum clock
> speed. These parameters will give you the basics. Some additional
> information about processors that determine their response capability to
> external signals is what is called setup time (the time one signal must
> be present before another signal can strobe for it), hold time (the time
> after the strobe signal which is required for a reliable latch of the
> signal into the next stage or state), and relative timing of addressing
> or mode signals. All of this is in the specification.
>
> The same process will help you with TI or AMD products as well.
>
> Regards,
> Les H
Not only do I appreciate the directions, but your brief notes on symbol
interpretation as well. I have made it a 3 year personal project to
understand how computers work. I wanted to keep digging until I hit
bottom. I guess I have hit bottom. To go any further than these data
sheets would seem to require either more than my high school math and
physics, or a Phd in Quantum Mechanics. I don't want to get into
either.
So, I thank you with a great deal of satisfaction. My future plans are
not to dig the hole, as it were, any deeper but to start making it
wider.
Thanks again.
--
Regards Bill
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