
A system on a chip (SoC; or
[This article uses the convention that SoC is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "an" for the ]indefinite article
Indefinite may refer to:
* the opposite of definite in grammar
** indefinite article
** indefinite pronoun
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun
In linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of language. It encompasses the ...
corresponding to SoC ("an SoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as and therefore use "a SoC".) is an
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuit
200px, A circuit built on a printed circuit board (PCB).
An electronic circuit is composed of indiv ...

(also known as a "chip") that integrates all or most components of a
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of operations known as Computer program, programs. These ...

or other
electronic system
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics
Electronics comprises the physics, engineering, technology and applications that deal with the emission, flow and control of electrons in vacuum and matter. It uses active devices to control electron flow b ...
. These components almost always include a
central processing unit
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuit
200px, A circuit built on a printed circuit board (PCB).
An electronic circuit is composed of individual electroni ...

(CPU),
memory
Memory is the faculty of the by which or is , stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If s could not be remembered, it would be impossible for language, r ...
,
input/output
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithm
of an algorithm (Euclid's algorithm) for calculating the greatest commo ...
ports and
secondary storage
A spindle of DVD-RW's.
Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perfor ...
, often alongside other components such as
radio modem
Radio modems are modems that transfer data wirelessly across a range of up to tens of kilometres.
Using radio modems is a modern way to create Private Radio Networks (PRN). Private radio networks are used in critical industrial applications, when r ...
s and a
graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized designed to rapidly manipulate and alter to accelerate the creation of in a intended for output to a . GPUs are used in s, s, s, s, and s.
Modern GPUs are very efficient at manipulating and ...
(GPU) – all on a single
substrate
Substrate may refer to:
Physical layers
*Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached
**Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism loco ...
or microchip. It may contain
digital
Digital usually refers to something using digits, particularly binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics
Digital electronics is a field of electronics
Electronics comprises the physics, engineering, technology a ...
,
,
mixed-signal
A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of sem ...
, and often
radio frequency
Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation
Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time
Time is the indefinite continued sequence, progress of existence and event (philosophy), events that occur in an apparently irreversible p ...
signal processing
Signal processing is an electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetis ...

functions (otherwise it is considered only an application processor).
Higher-performance SoCs are often paired with dedicated and physically separate memory and secondary storage (almost always
LPDDR
Low-Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR), also known as LPDDR SDRAM, is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory
Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (synchronous dynamic RAM or SDRAM) is any Dynamic RAM, DRAM where the operation of its ...
and
eUFS or
eMMC
The MultiMediaCard, officially abbreviated as MMC, is a memory card standard used for solid-state storage. Unveiled in 1997 by SanDisk and Siemens, MMC is based on a surface-contact low pin-count serial interface using a single memory stack subst ...

, respectively) chips, that may be layered on top of the SoC in what's known as a
package on package
Package may refer to:
Container
box.
File:Railroad car with container loads.jpg, A Flatcar#Spine car, spine car with a tank container and an open-top intermodal container, intermodal shipping container with canvas cover.
A container is any ...
(PoP) configuration, or be placed close to the SoC. Additionally, SoCs may use separate wireless modems.
SoCs are in contrast to the common traditional
motherboard
A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic compone ...

-based
PC architecture
upright=1.45, alt=Plan d'exécution du second étage de l'hôtel de Brionne (dessin) De Cotte 2503c – Gallica 2011 (adjusted), Plan of the second floor (attic storey) of the Hôtel de Brionne in Paris – 1734.
Architecture (Latin ''archi ...
, which separates components based on function and connects them through a central interfacing circuit board.
[This central board is called the "mother board" for hosting the "child" component cards.] Whereas a motherboard houses and connects detachable or replaceable components, SoCs integrate all of these components into a single integrated circuit. An SoC will typically integrate a CPU, graphics and memory interfaces,
[The graphics connections (]PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial
Serial may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media The presentation of works in sequential segments
* Serial (literatu ...

) and RAM historically constituted the northbridge of motherboard-backed discrete architectures. hard-disk and USB connectivity,
[The hard disk and USB connectivity historically comprised part of the southbridge of motherboard-backed discrete modular architectures.] random-access
Random access (more precisely and more generally called direct access) is the ability to access an arbitrary element of a sequence in equal time or any datum from a population of addressable elements roughly as easily and efficiently as any other ...
and
read-only memories
Memory is the faculty of the brain
A brain is an organ (anatomy), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for sense ...
and secondary storage and/or their controllers on a single circuit die, whereas a motherboard would connect these modules as
discrete components
An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
*Electronics (magazine), ''Electronics'' (maga ...
or
expansion card
Modern EEPROM chip suitable for storing expansion card configuration electronically
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentati ...
s.
An SoC integrates a
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'') is a small computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of ...

,
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip ...

or perhaps several processor cores with peripherals like a
GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit
File:PExdcr01CJC.jpg, 200px, A circuit built on a printed circuit board (PCB).
An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transis ...
,
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes.
Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installa ...

and
cellular network
A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network
A telecommunications network is a group of nodes
In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a Vertex (graph theory), vertex).
Node may re ...
radio modems, and/or one or more
coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuit
File:PExdc ...
s. Similar to how a microcontroller integrates a microprocessor with peripheral circuits and memory, an SoC can be seen as integrating a microcontroller with even more advanced
peripheral
A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of the computer. The term peripheral device refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the co ...
s.
More tightly integrated computer system designs improve
performance
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
and reduce
power consumption
Electric energy consumption is the form of energy consumption
Energy consumption is the amount of energy or power used.
Biology
In the body, energy consumption is part of energy homeostasis. It derived from food energy. Energy consumption in ...
as well as
semiconductor die area than multi-chip designs with equivalent functionality. This comes at the cost of reduced
of components. By definition, SoC designs are fully or nearly fully integrated across different component
modules
Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a syst ...
. For these reasons, there has been a general trend towards tighter integration of components in the
computer hardware industry, in part due to the influence of SoCs and lessons learned from the mobile and embedded computing markets. SoCs can be viewed as part of a larger trend towards
embedded computing
An embedded system is a computer system
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out Sequence, sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of operations known as Com ...
and
hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is the use of computer hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. ...
.
SoCs are very common in the
mobile computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of o ...
(such as in
smartphones
A smartphone is a portable device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can per ...

and
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations aut ...
s) and
edge computing
Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data. This is expected to improve response times and save bandwidth (computing), bandwidth. "A common misconception is that edge and ...
markets. They are also commonly used in
embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out Sequence, sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of operations known as Co ...
s such as WiFi routers and the
Internet of Things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—"things" or objects—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over ...

.
Types
In general, there are four distinguishable types of SoCs:
* SoCs built around a
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'') is a small computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of ...

,
* SoCs built around a
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip ...

, often found in mobile phones;
* Specialized
application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuit
File:PExdcr01CJC.jpg, ...
SoCs designed for specific applications that do not fit into the above two categories, and
*
Programmable SoCs (PSoC), where most functionality is fixed but some functionality is
reprogrammable in a manner analogous to a
field-programmable gate array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term ''Field-programmability, field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specifie ...
.
Applications
SoCs can be applied to any computing task. However, they are typically used in mobile computing such as tablets, smartphones, smartwatches and netbooks as well as
embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out Sequence, sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of operations known as Co ...
s and in applications where previously
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'') is a small computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of ...

s would be used.
Embedded systems
Where previously only microcontrollers could be used, SoCs are rising to prominence in the embedded systems market. Tighter system integration offers better reliability and
mean time between failure
Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failure
The 1895 alt=
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of S ...
, and SoCs offer more advanced functionality and computing power than microcontrollers. Applications include
AI acceleration, embedded
machine vision
Machine vision (MV) is the technology and methods used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance, usually in industry. Machine vision refers to ma ...

, data collection,
telemetry
Telemetry is the or other data at remote points and their automatic to receiving equipment () for monitoring. The word is derived from the roots ''tele'', "remote", and ''metron'', "measure". Systems that need external instructions and da ...
, vector processing and
ambient intelligence
In computing, ambient intelligence (AmI) refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence was a projection on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing t ...
. Often embedded SoCs target the
internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—"things" or objects—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over ...

,
industrial internet of things
The industrial internet of things (IIoT) refers to interconnected sensors, instruments, and other devices networked together with computers' industrial applications, including manufacturing and energy management. This connectivity allows for data c ...

and
edge computing
Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data. This is expected to improve response times and save bandwidth (computing), bandwidth. "A common misconception is that edge and ...
markets.
Mobile computing
Mobile computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of o ...
based SoCs always bundle processors, memories, on-chip
caches,
wireless networking
A wireless network is a computer network
A computer network is a group of computers that use a set of common communication protocols over digital signal, digital interconnections for the purpose of sharing resources located on or provided by ...

capabilities and often
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera
A camera is an optical
Optics is the branch of physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its Motion (physics), motion and behav ...

hardware and firmware. With increasing memory sizes, high end SoCs will often have no memory and flash storage and instead, the memory and
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics
Electronics comprises the physics, engineering, technology and applications that deal with the emission, flow and control of electrons in vacuum and matter. It uses act ...
will be placed right next to, or above (
package on package
Package may refer to:
Container
box.
File:Railroad car with container loads.jpg, A Flatcar#Spine car, spine car with a tank container and an open-top intermodal container, intermodal shipping container with canvas cover.
A container is any ...
), the SoC. Some examples of mobile computing SoCs include:
*
Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (; lit. "tristar electronics", sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational
Multinational may refer to:
* Multinational corporation, a corporate organization operating in ...
:
list
A ''list'' is any set of items. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)List or Liste is a European surname. Notable people with the surname include:
List
* Friedrich List (1789–1846), German economist
* Garrett List (194 ...
, typically based on
ARM
In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb
The upper Limb (anatomy), limbs or upper extremities are the forelimbs of an upright posture, upright-postured tetrapod vertebrate, extending from the scapulae and clavicles down to and incl ...
**
Exynos
Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM
In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb
The upper Limb (anatomy), limbs or upper extremities are the forelimbs of an upright posture, upright-postured tetrapod vertebrate, ...
, used mainly by Samsung's
Galaxy
A galaxy is a gravitation
Gravity (), or gravitation, is a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass
Mass is both a property
Property (''latin: Res Privata'') in the Abstract and concrete, abstract is what belongs to or ...

series of smartphones
*
Qualcomm
Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It ow ...

:
**
Snapdragon
''Antirrhinum'' is a genus
Genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic rank
Taxonomy (general) is the practice and science of classification of things or concepts, including the principles that underlie such classification. The term may also refer ...
(
list
A ''list'' is any set of items. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)List or Liste is a European surname. Notable people with the surname include:
List
* Friedrich List (1789–1846), German economist
* Garrett List (194 ...
), used in many
LG,
Xiaomi
Xiaomi Corporation (; ), registered in Asia as Xiaomi Inc., is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics
Electronics c ...

,
Google Pixel
Google Pixel is a brand of consumer electronic devices developed by Google
Google LLC is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include o ...
,
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) (High Tech Computer Corporation, literally ''Hongda International Electronics ...

and Samsung Galaxy smartphones. In 2018, Snapdragon SoCs are being used as the backbone of
laptop computers
A laptop or laptop computer is a small, portable personal computer
File:Crystal Project computer.png, upright=0.9, An artist's depiction of a 2000s-era desktop-style personal computer, which includes a metal case with the computing compone ...

running
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of the Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary
{{Short pages monitor
SOCC
Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE International SoC Conference
Baya
free SoC platform assembly and IP integration tool
Systems on Chip for Embedded Applications
Auburn University seminar in Very-large-scale integration, VLSI
Instant SoC
SoC for FPGAs defined by C++
{{Hardware acceleration
System on a chip,
Computer engineering
Electronic design
Microtechnology
Hardware acceleration
Computer systems
Application-specific integrated circuits