The first microprocessor was the 4-bit Intel 4004 released in 1971, with the Intel 8008 and other more capable microprocessors becoming available over the next several years. However, both processors required external chips to implement a working system, raising total system cost, and making it impossible to economically computerize appliances.
The Smithsonian Institution credits TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael Cochran with the successful creation of the first microcontroller in 1971. The result of their work was theTMS 1000, which became commercially available in 1974. It combined read-only memory, read/write memory, processor and clock on one chip and was targeted at embedded systems.[1]
Partly in response to the existence of the single-chip TMS 1000,[2] Intel developed a computer system on a chip optimized for control applications, the Intel 8048, with commercial parts first shipping in 1977.[2] It combined RAM and ROM on the same chip. This chip would find its way into over one billion PC keyboards, and other numerous applications. At that time Intel's President, Luke J. Valenter, stated that the microcontroller was one of the most successful in the company's history, and expanded the division's budget over 25%.
Most microcontrollers at this time had concurrent variants. One had an erasable EPROM program memory, with a transparent quartz window in the lid of the package to allow it to be erased by exposure to ultraviolet light, often used for prototyping. The other was either a mask programmed ROM from the manufacturer for large series, or a PROM variant which was only programmable once; sometimes this was signified with the designation OTP, standing for "one-time programmable". The PROM was of identical type of memory as the EPROM, but because there was no way to expose it to ultraviolet light, it could not be erased. The erasable versions required ceramic packages with quartz windows, making them significantly more expensive than the OTP versions, which could be made in lower-cost opaque plastic packages. For the erasable variants, quartz was required, instead of less expensive glass, for its transparency to ultraviolet—glass is largely opaque to UV—but the main cost differentiator was the ceramic package itself.
In 1993, the introduction of EEPROM memory allowed microcontrollers (beginning with the Microchip PIC16x84)[citation needed] to be electrically erased quickly without an expensive package as required for EPROM, allowing both rapid prototyping, and In System Programming. (EEPROM technology had been available prior to this time, but the earlier EEPROM was more expensive and less durable, making it unsuitable for low-cost mass-produced microcontrollers.) The same year, Atmel introduced the first microcontroller using Flash memory, a special type of EEPROM.[3] Other companies rapidly followed suit, with both memory types.
Cost has plummeted over time, with the cheapest 8-bit microcontrollers being available for under 0.25 USD in quantity (thousands) in 2009,[citation needed] and some 32-bitmicrocontrollers around US$1 for similar quantities.
Nowadays microcontrollers are cheap and readily available for hobbyists, with large online communities around certain processors.
In the future, MRAM could potentially be used in microcontrollers as it has infinite endurance and its incremental semiconductor wafer process cost is relatively low.
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