Реферат: Development Of Computers And Technology Essay Research

like than assembly. Higher level languages allow programmers to give more

attention to solving problems rather than coping with the minute details of the

machines themselves. Disk storage complimented magnetic tape systems and

enabled users to have rapid access to data required.

All these new developments made the second generation computers easier

and less costly to operate. This began a surge of growth in computer systems,

although computers were being mostly used by business, university, and

government establishments. They had not yet been passed down to the general

public. The real part of the computer revolution was about to begin.

One of the most abundant elements in the earth is silicon; a non-metal

substance found in sand as well as in most rocks and clay. The element has

given rise to the name ?Silicon Valley? for Santa Clara County, about 50 km

south of San Francisco. In 1965, Silicon valley became the principle site of

the computer industry, making the so-called silicon chip.

An integrated circuit is a complete electronic circuit on a small chip

of silicon. The chip may be less than 3mm square and contain hundreds to

thousands of electronic components. Beginning in 1965, the integrated circuit

began to replace the transistor in machines was now called third-generation

computers. An Integrated Circuit was able to replace an entire circuit board of

transistors with one chip of silicon much smaller than one transistor. Silicon

is used because it is a semiconductor. It is a crystalline substance that will

conduct electric current when it has been doped with chemical impurities shot

onto the structure of the crystal. A cylinder of silicon is sliced into wafers,

each about 76mm in diameter. The wafer is then etched repeatedly with a pattern

of electrical circuitry. Up to ten layers may be etched onto a single wafer.

The wafer is then divided into several hundred chips, each with a circuit so

small it is half the size of a fingernail; yet under a microscope, it is complex

as a railroad yard. A chip 1 centimeter square it is so powerful that it can

hold 10,000 words, about the size of an average newspaper.