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Chip 101

All lessons

36 short lessons in 6 parts. Each one answers one question with a few pictures. Read them in order, or jump to the one you need today.

Start with lesson 1

Part 1

Chips from zero

What a chip is, what it is made of, and the main kinds of processors.

  1. What is a chip?A chip is a tiny slice of silicon packed with switches, up to billions of them, that work together to compute, store or move data.
  2. What is a transistor?A transistor is a tiny switch that a voltage turns on or off. Billions of them work together in a big chip to compute and store data.
  3. How are chips made?Chips are printed in layers on a silicon wafer, tested, cut into dies, packaged and tested again.
  4. What is a CPU?A CPU is the part of a computer that follows a program's instructions in order, billions of tiny steps every second.
  5. How does a CPU work?A CPU repeats a simple loop: fetch an instruction, decode it, do it, save the result, billions of times each second.
  6. What is a GPU?A GPU is a chip, or part of one, with thousands of small cores. They do the same simple math at once, for pictures and AI.
  7. What are TPUs and NPUs?TPUs and NPUs are chips or chip parts built just for AI math, so they run AI faster and with less energy than a CPU.

Part 2

Inside a modern processor

The parts, signals and software that every power feature depends on.

  1. What is a system on a chip?A system on a chip puts the CPU, graphics and most other parts of a computer onto one chip, like a small city.
  2. What is a clock signal?A clock is the chip's drumbeat. Each tick tells the circuits to take one step; faster ticks mean faster work and more power.
  3. What are voltage and power rails?Voltage is the push that moves electricity; rails are the supply lines that carry it. More push allows more speed but costs much more power.
  4. What are BIOS, firmware and drivers?Firmware is software built into hardware. The BIOS starts the computer; drivers let the operating system (OS), such as Windows, talk to each part.
  5. What controls power inside a chip?A tiny computer inside the chip watches temperature, power and work, and keeps choosing the best speed and voltage.
  6. Why is one chip design sold as many models?Factories test every chip and sort it by speed and power, then sell each group as a different model. That is binning.

Part 3

How chips save power

The main tricks a chip uses to spend less energy without feeling slow.

  1. Why do chips need power management?Power management makes a chip use only the energy it needs, so batteries last, fans stay quiet and the chip stays cool.
  2. Where does a chip's power go?Chips use power in two main ways: each time switches flip (switching power), and by leaking current even when idle (leakage).
  3. What is DVFS?DVFS (dynamic voltage and frequency scaling) raises a chip's speed and voltage for work and lowers them at rest.
  4. What are P-states and boost?P-states are a CPU's speed settings. Boost runs it above its base speed while power, current and temperature stay within limits.
  5. What are clock gating and power gating?Gating saves power in idle parts: stop a part's clock to pause it, or cut its power to switch it off.
  6. What are C-states?C-states are power states for each core of a CPU. C0 is awake; deeper naps save more power but take longer to wake from.

Part 4

Sleep and safety limits

How a computer sleeps, and how limits keep a chip cool and safe.

  1. How does a computer sleep?When you close a laptop, the chip enters sleep: most of it turns off, while just enough stays on to wake up quickly.
  2. What are TDP and power limits?TDP (thermal design power) is the heat a cooler is built to remove. Power limits set the most watts a chip may use, so it stays cool and safe.
  3. What is thermal throttling?When a chip nears its top safe temperature, it slows down so it gets no hotter. That is thermal (heat) throttling. It protects the chip.
  4. Which limit wins when several apply?Power, current, temperature and the operating system each allow a top speed. The lowest one wins, and that limit is in control.

Part 5

The test lab

The machines, settings and tools used to test a new chip.

  1. What is chip validation?Validation checks that a real chip does what it was promised to do, by testing it in real computers, with real software.
  2. What does a chip test setup look like?A test setup is a computer with the new chip (the system under test) plus a helper computer that controls and watches it.
  3. How do you install an operating system?Put an installer for Windows or Linux on a USB stick, start the computer from it, and follow the steps on screen.
  4. How do you change BIOS settings?The BIOS is the first program the main processor runs. Testers use its setup menu to turn chip features on or off and compare.
  5. How do you measure what a chip is doing?Chips report their own speed, power, temperature and sleep time. Tools record these numbers while the chip runs a test, busy or idle.
  6. How do engineers peek inside a running chip?JTAG is a standard test port on most chips. Through it, engineers' debug tools can pause the chip, look inside and find bugs.

Part 6

Working in chip validation

How a power validation team turns all of this into daily work.

  1. How does a new chip get from lab to store?New chips come back from the factory as early samples, get debugged and tested in rounds, then finally ship in products.
  2. What does it mean to enable a feature?A feature (one thing the chip can do, such as sleep) is enabled when every layer it needs turns it on, and it really works.
  3. What is a test plan?A test plan lists what to test, how, on which systems and what result counts as a pass, so anyone can repeat it.
  4. What is a feature quick check?A feature quick check, often called a smoke test, is a short test of every main feature. It runs on each new release to find big problems fast.
  5. What is debugging?Debugging means finding why something went wrong: make it happen again, find where it happens, and find the real reason (the root cause).
  6. What is bug triage?Triage means sorting problems quickly: how bad is it, is it real, and which team should fix it.
  7. What does a power validation team do?A power validation team proves new chips manage power well: fast when busy, within power and heat limits, asleep when not in use.