what if I remove ATmega328 from Arduino UNO R3?

If you use a naked Atmega328P and burn the fuses for 8MHz using the internal oscillator, then you can create an entire Arduino with only the microcontroller:

Add a crystal and a couple of crystal load capacitors a bypass capacitor for V+ and you can run at 16MHz:

more pix here: http://www.hackster.io/rayburne/flat-duino

Ray