Integrated circuits - Introduction

INTRODUCTION:

ICs were made possible by experimental discoveries showing that semiconductor devices could perform the functions of vacuum tubes. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistor into a small chip was an enormous improvement over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized integrated circuits in place of designs using discrete transistors.

There are two main advantages of IC’s over discrete circuits:

-Cost is low because the chips, with all their components, are printed as a unit by photolithography rather than being constructed one transistor at a time.

-Performance is high because the components switch quickly and consume little power as a result small size and close proximity of the components.