▷ What is a soc and what are its characteristics

Over the past few years we have read and heard a lot about SOCs or also known as System on a Chip, a chip design that has become very popular for the great benefits it brings to the electronics industry. In this article we explain what a System on a Chip is and what its most important characteristics are. Prepared? Let's start!

Index of contents

What is a System on a Chip

A System on a Chip (SoC) is an electronic circuit that integrates all the necessary components in a computer and other electronic systems. These comprise a GPU (graphics processor), CPU (a central processing unit), memory controller, power management circuits, a USB controller, wireless connectivity (WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio, 2G / 3G / 4G LTE) and more. These components are permanently soldered on the motherboard and as such differ from ordinary computers whose parts can be replaced at any given time.

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Thanks to miniaturization capabilities, a System on a Chip is a functional computer that has been downsized to fit a single silicon chip. SoCs are very common in mobile computing (smart phones), single board computers (eg Raspberry Pi) and other embedded systems.

The CPU is just one of the many components that make up a System on a Chip. On its own, a CPU is not very useful while a SoC is complete and includes everything you need. As much as people normally mistake a CPU for a SoC, the two are very different in form and function.

Components of a SoC

SoCs come with various components as appropriate to their purpose. For the most part, we will focus on SoCs in smartphones, something that we are most familiar with. Here is a list of some of the most commonly integrated components:

• CPU: The Central Processing Unit. A CPU is the brain in the SoC, it has the task of doing the calculations and, in general, controlling all the other components. A CPU can be dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, octa-core, and more, depending on the degree of fitness you want for multiple processing power. GPU: The graphics processing unit is basically the graphics card. Unlike the CPU that does calculations for general instructions, a GPU is quite unique, it is delegated the responsibility of processing visual transitions in the user interface, such as animations and 3D games. Popular GPUs include Imagination PowerVR, Qualcomm Adreno, Arm Mali, and Nvidia GeForce RAM - Random Access Memory may not require presentation. RAM is the memory on the computer where program / application processes are loaded before they can be used. The more RAM you have, the more applications you can run simultaneously without any noticeable lag. Modem: All SoCs require connectivity in the form of wireless radio networks. Some of these forms of connectivity include WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio, 2G / 3G / 4G LTE, and others. Northbridge / Southbridge: These components act as bridges and we assume that was the idea behind their names. Northbridge for Beginners acts as an interface between the CPU and other components in the SoC. Southbridge, meanwhile, handles input / output functions such as audio and USB.

Advantages of a SoC

The use of a SoC supposes a greater integration of the components in a single piece of silicon, this has several benefits such as a reduction in the final manufacturing cost of the device that implements it, as well as a lower energy consumption. The latter is very important in smartphones, since the capacity of its battery is quite limited. Another advantage of the SoC is that all the components it integrates are very close to each other, which means a higher speed when communicating with each other, offering better performance.

Disadvantages of a SoC

But not all are advantages in a SoC, one of the main disadvantages is that since all the components are integrated and the SoC soldered to the motherboard, the repairs become very complicated and even impossible in many cases. This means that if one of the elements integrated in a SoC fails, it is necessary to change the entire assembly of the motherboard and the SoC itself, so the repair is often almost as expensive as buying a new product. Another drawback is the space, since it is limited, it is not possible to integrate a very large and powerful processor, as is the case with the GPU and the amount of memory for example.

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