Chapter 6 Flashcards
Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months.
Moore’s law
The part of the computer that executes the instructions of a computer program.
Microprocessor
The fast, chip-based volatile storage in a computing device.
Random-Access Memory (RAM)
Storage (such as RAM chips) that is wiped clean when power is cut off from a device.
Volatile memory
Storage that retains data even when powered down (such as flash memory, hard disc, or DVD storage).
Nonvolatile memory
Nonvolatile, chip-based storage, often used in mobile phones, cameras, and MP3 players. Sometimes called flash RAM, flash memory is slower than conventional RAM, but holds its charge even when the power goes out.
Flash memory
Semiconductor-based devices. Solid state components often suffer fewer failures and require less energy than mechanical counterparts because they have no moving parts. RAM, flash memory, and microprocessors are solid state devices. Hard drives are not.
Solid state electronics
A substance such as silicon dioxide used inside most computer chips that is capable of enabling as well as inhibiting the flow of electricity. From a managerial perspective, when someone refers to semiconductors, they are talking about computer chips, and the semiconductor industry is the chip business.
Semiconductors
A high-speed glass or plastic-lined networking cable used in telecommunications.
Optical fiber line
The rate at which the demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change. Goods and services that are highly price elastic (e.g., most consumer electronics) see demand spike as prices drop, whereas goods and services that are less price elastic are less responsive to price change (think heart surgery).
Price elasticity
A vision where low-cost sensors, processors, and communication are embedded into a wide array of products and our environment, allowing a vast network to collect data, analyze input, and automatically coordinate collective action.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Semiconductor fabrication facilities; the multibillion-dollar plants used to manufacture semiconductors.
Fabs
A thin, circular slice of material used to create semiconductor devices. Hundreds of chips may be etched on a single wafer, where they are eventually cut out for individual packaging.
Silicon wafers
Microprocessors with two or more (typically lower power) calculating processor cores on the same piece of silicon.
Multicore microprocessors
Computers that are among the fastest of any in the world at the time of their introduction.
Supercomputers
