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I have read that 'regular' capacitor can store very little amount of charge in comparison to a electrolytic capacitor and that's the reason they are preferred over 'regular' or 'normal' capacitors. Is this really so? Please let me know. Thank you.
Try Wikipedia.
I offer my thanks for all the help, carbonzit, RCinFLA, MrAl.
Would you please help me a bit more?
1: I think in the linked image, the caps on the left side of the red 'line' are electrolytics, and on the right regular/normal ones, please correct me if I'm wrong:
https://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7758/capshn.jpg
2: In the linked image on the left side of ICs you have transistors:
https://img818.imageshack.us/img818/3044/semiconductors.jpg
Are ICs (integrated circuits) pre-fabricated circuits which work as a unit in a circuit in which they are used?
I didn't know that ICs also contain resistors and capacitors; I thought they contains in themselves only semiconductor components - i.e. diodes and transistors.
Not so much capacitors: those are seldom incorporated into ICs, and always are low values. Likewise inductors (does anyone know of any chips that actually contain an inductor?) Mostly Qs, Ds and Rs[\b].
1: Do ICs ever contain inductors?
2: Computer processors are also ICs. In the video in my previous post the presenter compares the size of an IC and its equilant circuit in 'normal' form. How large would an equivalent circuit of a modern day processor (IC), let's say Intel P4, be?
3: Almost every computer processor has its Hz rating. Nowadays processors come in GHz ratings. Wht does this frequency rating mean? A computer works in digital mode, i.e. on and off state. So, does this Hz rating tell how many times an invidual transistor can turn on and off without damaging itself? I don't want to get into technical details of this. So, please it involves some very technical details then you can skip this query. Thanks.
Don't know; that's why I asked.
The P4 contains about 55 million transistors. (Reference here.)
The frequency rating is just what you'd think it is: the maximum frequency that the chip as a whole can operate at.
It's not so much a matter of safety as it is of the speed limits of the chip's circuitry. At gigahertz frequencies, it's operating in the radio-frequency (RF) band, where electronic devices reach their limit as to how fast they can switch on and off. Unlike RF devices, though, microprocessors operate entirely on square waves (at least ideally), so the gates and other devices in the chip are mostly transitioning between two states, on and off. (Even this isn't strictly true, as some circuits, like Schmitt triggers, have a range of voltages which they operate within.) But for a first-order explanation, you can look at the chip as operating entirely in the digital realm, using only square waves.
When the speed limit of a circuit is exceeded, it starts behaving unreliably, which obviously is unacceptable in a digital computer. So chips like the P4 are specced to operate below their absolute upper speed limit so that there won't be any "lost bits" or other glitches.
How large would an equivalent circuit of a modern day processor (IC), let's say Intel P4, be?
Thank you, carbonzit. You reply was really helpful.
1: I should try to rephrase my original query to make it more clear:
PG1995 said:How large would an equivalent circuit of a modern day processor (IC), let's say Intel P4, be?
2: I think I should also rephrase the query about the frequency rating, MHz, GHz, etc. In my practical life I have never seen a square wave.
And if we try to run transistor at a frequency larger than the specified then it would get damaged.
3: In the linked diagram I have tried to show that how, in my opinion, an IC is made. It's only a very, very 'rough' attempt. Please let me know if I have it right.
Link: https://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4408/imgnow.jpg
I'm curious, though: why do you say you've never seen a square wave? Are you not very experienced with electronics?
In my previous post what I really meant was that I don't understand how square wave works because I haven't even seen on an o-scope in real life and I'm sure in nature no such thing exists as a square wave.