25 Microchips That Shook the World - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Zyvek
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2011, 06:17:33 pm
content: http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/processors/25-microchips-that-shook-the-world

author: apex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 03, 2011, 10:01:24 pm
content: Thank you for sharing this!Kinda great, but I didn't know many of them.Maybe I'm too youngapex

author: williefleete
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2011, 03:10:01 am
content: good to see the triple 5 gets a mentionits IMO the most versatile chip next to a PICAXE

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2011, 10:21:28 am
content: A little sad that Atmel ATmega8 is not there, it was the first to have flash on a micro and was many people's first chip including me in high school class. And of course the heart of the Arduino.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2011, 11:41:57 am
content: Quote from: Hypernova on January 04, 2011, 10:21:28 amATmega is a relatively recent part - the first AVRs were the 90S series, can;t remember the relative chronology but I believe the PIC16C84 was the first mainstream non-OTP part, (although technically EEPROM rather than flash, this didn;t really matter). Microchip already had a growing user base from their earlier OTP parts, so the 84 got a flying start.Atmel had low mainstream visibility back then, and were only interested in high volume users, whearas Microchip have always supported low-volume users. Atmel also had some disasterous leadtime problems for over a year around the time Microchip were getting an increasing foothold in the market.I'd actually argue that the PIC16C5x series was even more influential than the C84, as it was undoubtedly the first chip that was designed specifically to use OTP EPROM for production, and opened up MCUs to a whole new market lower volume customers, and the first that was targetted heavily to low and mid volume users - before that, EPROM and OTP parts were very expensive and seen as only useful for prototyping mask-ROM parts. At the time, the cheapest non-mask MCU solution was something like an 8031 with external EPROM.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2011, 11:59:00 am
content: Quote from: Hypernova on January 04, 2011, 10:21:28 amI agree with Mike, being flash based isn't really important, the 16C84 (and 16C5x) was game changing. The AVR's were just yet another architecture that jumped on the non-OTP bandwagon. Microchip are ones that created the new market.Dave.

author: apex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 01:46:25 pm
content: Maybe the forum should do such a chip ranking.apex

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 02:02:50 pm
content: Quote from: apex on January 16, 2011, 01:46:25 pmThese are quite good if you are in a hurryhttp://www.mccain.co.uk/our-food/chips/micro-chips-crinkle-cut/why-its-good.aspx

author: Boloop
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 02:33:35 pm
content: noob alert: What does OTP stand-for/mean? Tired to do a little searching but With it being a TLA, well it's going to be hard to find which meaning it has out of the 100s assigned to it.

author: DaveW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 02:45:35 pm
content: Quote from: Boloop on January 16, 2011, 02:33:35 pmIt stands for one time programmable, so you put your program in, but then cannot modify/reprogram it ever again

author: Boloop
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 02:54:21 pm
content: Quote from: DaveW on January 16, 2011, 02:45:35 pmThanks, makes sense now.

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 03:49:41 pm
content: Those chips you get from country pubs are best, not small fries but big chunky chips that kinda steam themselves. Covered in nice gravy.What? Oh they didn't mean that sort of chips? Tch.There is a follow-up article here about chips that didn't make it to the final list, and I have to say I can see why. Very few of them are game changers. Most are just some extra level of integration that the end user just wouldnt know or care about. I think the only 2 I would agree with are:Intel 1702 2048-bit EPROM Chip (1971)Texas Instruments SN7400 Logic Chips (1966)http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/the-runnersup-more-earthshaking-chips/0

author: apex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2011, 04:55:43 pm
content: Don't you think the 74xx logic IC's had to be in the top 10?They was a massive use in computers (see EEVBlog #32) and they are still used today!apex

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2011, 12:06:11 pm
content: thankx a lot! nice read..