Transistors

Building Blocks of Hardware: From Logic Gates to Modern CPUs Hardware starts with simple parts that handle binary information. The basic unit is the logic gate, a tiny switch that passes or blocks a signal. Even a simple calculator relies on hundreds of these gates working together. By arranging gates in different ways, engineers build circuits that can sense, decide, and control real devices. This is the backbone of every computer, phone, and appliance you use. ...

The Fundamentals of Computer Architecture: from Transistors to Systems Computer architecture is how a computer’s parts are chosen and arranged to work together. It starts with tiny switches called transistors and ends with full systems that run software daily. The journey from transistors to systems shows how physics, math, and engineering affect speed, power, and reliability in laptops, phones, and servers. At the lowest level, transistors form logic gates. These gates combine into circuits that perform basic tasks like adding numbers or storing a bit. Designers translate this physical world into a language computers understand through the instruction set architecture, or ISA, which names the commands software can use. ...

The Building Blocks of Hardware: From Transistors to Systems Hardware starts with tiny switches called transistors. A transistor can turn a current on or off, creating a binary 1 or 0. This simple idea powers almost every electronic device, from a watch to a server. Over time, engineers packed billions of these switches into a single chip, enabling more capable and energy-efficient devices. From transistors to logic gates, the next step is to build circuits. Digital logic uses gates such as AND, OR, and NOT to perform simple tasks. Put several gates together, and you get more complex behavior: adding numbers, comparing values, or storing a bit of data. These small blocks form the logic that runs software and controls hardware. ...

From Transistors to Servers Understanding Computer Hardware Computers start with tiny switches called transistors. Today, billions of these switches lie on a silicon chip, packed into tiny spaces. From transistors to servers, hardware is a stack of layers that work together to run software, store data, and connect people. At the core is the processor. A CPU sits on a chip, made of transistors arranged into logic blocks. Cores do work in parallel, caches speed up access to data, and the clock rate shows speed, though real performance also depends on design and data flow. Modern chips use smaller process nodes like 5nm, which means more transistors in the same space and lower power. ...