The Intel 4004 is a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) released by Intel Corporation in 1971. The 4004 is the first complete CPU on one chip, the first commercially available microprocessor, a feat made possible by the use of the new silicon gate technology allowing the integration of a higher number of transistors and a faster speed than was possible before. The 4004 employed a 10 ?m silicon-gate enhancement load pMOS technology and could execute approximately 92,000 instructions per second (that is, a single instruction cycle was 10.8 microseconds).
Read More