Intel 4004

History

In 1969, Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation requested that Intel design 12 custom chips(定制芯片) for its new Busicom 141-PF printing calculator . Instead of creating a dozen custom chips specifically for the calculator, Intel's engineers proposed a new design: a family of just four chips, including one that could be programmed for use in a variety of products.

 

The set of four chips was called the MCS-4(Microcomputer System 4-bit) . It included a central processing unit (CPU) chip—the 4004, a supporting read-only memory (ROM) chip for the custom applications programs, a random-access memory (RAM) chip for processing data, and a shift-register chip for the input/output (I/O) port. Intel delivered the four chips and Busicom went on to sell some 100,000 calculators.

• the 4001 was a ROM (read-only memory) with four lines of output
• the 4002 was a RAM (random access memory) with four lines of input/output
• the 4003 was a static shift register to be used for expanding the I/O lines, for example, for keyboard scanning or for controlling a printer.
• the 4004 was a central processing unit (CPU) chip

Intel offered Busicom a lower price for the chips in return for securing the rights to the microprocessor design and the rights to market it for non-calculator applications, allowing the Intel 4004 microprocessor to be advertised in the November 15, 1971 issue of Electronic News . It's then that the Intel 4004 became the first general-purpose microprocessor on the market—a "building block" that engineers could purchase and then customize with software to perform different functions in a wide variety of electronic devices.

 

Features

The 4004 was a tiny 4-bit processor with an 8-bit wide instruction set . It was capable of running at speeds up to 740 kHz and could address up to 4K of ROM and 1280 x 4bits of RAM , although the accompanying MCS-4 chipset included a tiny 256 byte mask-programmable ROM and 340 byte RAM chip. It seems laughable by todays standards, but those meager specifications were enough to open up a brand new world of programmable logic capable of replacing extremely complicated and expensive electromechanical systems.

 

Today

Incidentally, original 4004 chips are now highly collectible and a rare gold-white-grey chip like the one shown here can change hands for well over $1000. That said, I'd much rather have been given $1000 of Intel stock in the early 1970s - it'd be worth over $500,000 today -- enough for a massive stack of vintage chips.

 

reference:

http://www.intel.com/about/companyinfo/museum/exhibits/4004/index.htm

http://www.cpu-zone.com/4004.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4004

http://www.retrothing.com/2007/03/the_first_singl.html
http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/Chip-Intel4004-1969.htm