Shear zone. A shear zone is a very important structural discontinuity surface in the Earth's crust and upper mantle. It forms as a response to inhomogeneous deformation partitioning strain into planar or curviplanar high-strain zones. Intervening (crustal) blocks stay relatively unaffected by the deformation.
A computer-on-a-chip combines the microprocessor core (CPU), memory, and I/O (input/output) lines onto one chip. The computer-on-a-chip patent, called the microcomputer patent at the time, U.S. Patent 4,074,351, was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael J. Cochran of TI.
Part of the Microprocessors glossary: 1) Chip is short for microchip, the incredibly complex yet tiny modules that store computer memory or provide logic circuitry for microprocessors. Perhaps the best known chips are the Pentium microprocessors from Intel.