- Also called:
- microelectronic circuit, microchip, or chip
- Key People:
- Lynn Conway
- Jack Kilby
- Robert Noyce
- Morris Chang
- Robert H. Dennard
integrated circuit
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What is an integrated circuit?
An integrated circuit (IC) is a small chip made of semiconductor material, typically silicon, that contains miniaturized electronic components like transistors, diodes, capacitors, and resistors. These components and their interconnections are built on a thin substrate, creating a monolithic circuit that can be as small as a few square millimeters.
ICs were independently invented in 1958 by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and in 1959 by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. The invention of the IC made the technologies of the Information Age feasible and are now used extensively in cars, toasters, and many other applications.
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What are the basic components found inside an integrated circuit?
An integrated circuit (IC) is a small chip made from a thin piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon, that contains an assembly of electronic components. These components include miniaturized active devices like transistors and diodes, as well as passive devices such as capacitors and resistors.
These components are interconnected by thin metal paths made of aluminum or copper, which act as wires. The silicon is doped with impurities like arsenic and boron to create regions with extra negative charges (n-type) and positive "holes" (p-type). These doped regions form p-n junction transistors, allowing electrons and holes to migrate through the silicon and conduct electricity.
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How are integrated circuits different from traditional circuits made with separate parts?
Integrated circuits (ICs) integrate miniaturized components like transistors, diodes, capacitors, and resistors onto a thin semiconductor chip, typically silicon. Unlike traditional circuits with discrete parts wired together, ICs pack hundreds of thousands of transistors on a single chip.
ICs were independently invented in 1958 by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor. Kilby created circuit components out of germanium, while Noyce used silicon to build the components and wiring on a single chip. The invention of ICs made technologies of the Information Age feasible.
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What are some common uses of integrated circuits in everyday electronic devices?
Integrated circuits (ICs), also known as microchips, are essential to modern electronics. They are widely used in numerous everyday electronic devices.
ICs are found in:
* Smartphones They enable web browsing, email, music, video, and other applications.
* Computers As CPUs and RAM, ICs process data and perform calculations.
* Household appliances They make devices like microwave ovens, thermostats, washing machines, and dryers "smart".
* Automobiles ICs facilitate electronic controls.
* Consumer electronics They are used in devices such as television sets, cameras, videocassette recorders, video games, telephones, answering machines, musical instruments, watches, and security systems.5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How are integrated circuits made or manufactured?
Integrated circuits (ICs) are made by building multiple layers (0.000005 to 0.1 mm thick) on a semiconductor substrate, like silicon, one at a time. These layers consist of various electronic components, including diodes, transistors, capacitors, and resistors.
The process involves outlining where n- and p-type materials should be on each layer and then etching each layer with precise geometric shapes to deposit the material. A wafer is modified through deposition (adding a layer), etching (removing a layer), or implantation (altering a layer’s composition). After fabrication, the ICs are cut and separated.
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Why are integrated circuits important for modern technology and electronics?
Integrated circuits (ICs) are vital to modern technology because they miniaturize electronic components into a small "chip," integrating active and passive devices with their connections on a semiconductor substrate. The invention of ICs by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce in 1958 enabled the creation of circuits with hundreds of thousands of transistors on a single chip.
ICs are now extensively used in various applications, including cars, toasters, and smartphones, making the technologies of the Information Age feasible. They are essential in computers for handling large amounts of data, controlling mechanical systems, and embedding intelligence in everyday appliances.
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integrated circuit (IC), an assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit, in which miniaturized active devices (e.g., transistors and diodes) and passive devices (e.g., capacitors and resistors) and their interconnections are built up on a thin substrate of semiconductor material (typically silicon). The resulting circuit is thus a small monolithic “chip,” which may be as small as a few square centimetres or only a few square millimetres. The individual circuit components are generally microscopic in size.
Integrated circuits have their origin in the invention of the transistor in 1947 by William B. Shockley and his team at the American Telephone and Telegraph Company’s Bell Laboratories. Shockley’s team (including John Bardeen and Walter H. Brattain) found that, under the right circumstances, electrons would form a barrier at the surface of certain crystals, and they learned to control the flow of electricity through the crystal by manipulating this barrier. Controlling electron flow through a crystal allowed the team to create a device that could perform certain electrical operations, such as signal amplification, that were previously done by vacuum tubes. They named this device a transistor, from a combination of the words transfer and resistor. The study of methods of creating electronic devices using solid materials became known as solid-state electronics. Solid-state devices proved to be much sturdier, easier to work with, more reliable, much smaller, and less expensive than vacuum tubes. Using the same principles and materials, engineers soon learned to create other electrical components, such as resistors and capacitors. Now that electrical devices could be made so small, the largest part of a circuit was the awkward wiring between the devices.
In 1958 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Inc., and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation independently thought of a way to reduce circuit size further. They laid very thin paths of metal (usually aluminum or copper) directly on the same piece of material as their devices. These small paths acted as wires. With this technique an entire circuit could be “integrated” on a single piece of solid material and an integrated circuit (IC) thus created. ICs can contain hundreds of thousands of individual transistors on a single piece of material the size of a pea. Working with that many vacuum tubes would have been unrealistically awkward and expensive. The invention of the integrated circuit made technologies of the Information Age feasible. ICs are now used extensively in all walks of life, from cars to toasters to amusement park rides.
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Basic IC types
Analog versus digital circuits
Analog, or linear, circuits typically use only a few components and are thus some of the simplest types of ICs. Generally, analog circuits are connected to devices that collect signals from the environment or send signals back to the environment. For example, a microphone converts fluctuating vocal sounds into an electrical signal of varying voltage. An analog circuit then modifies the signal in some useful way—such as amplifying it or filtering it of undesirable noise. Such a signal might then be fed back to a loudspeaker, which would reproduce the tones originally picked up by the microphone. Another typical use for an analog circuit is to control some device in response to continual changes in the environment. For example, a temperature sensor sends a varying signal to a thermostat, which can be programmed to turn an air conditioner, heater, or oven on and off once the signal has reached a certain value.
A digital circuit, on the other hand, is designed to accept only voltages of specific given values. A circuit that uses only two states is known as a binary circuit. Circuit design with binary quantities, “on” and “off” representing 1 and 0 (i.e., true and false), uses the logic of Boolean algebra. (Arithmetic is also performed in the binary number system employing Boolean algebra.) These basic elements are combined in the design of ICs for digital computers and associated devices to perform the desired functions.
