What Does Integrated Circuit (IC) Mean?
An integrated circuit (IC) is a small semiconductor-based electronic device consisting of fabricated transistors, resistors and capacitors. Integrated circuits are the building blocks of most electronic devices and equipment.
An integrated circuit is also known as a chip or microchip.
Techopedia Explains Integrated Circuit (IC)
A integrated circuit is built with the primary objective of embedding as many transistors as possible on a single semiconductor chip with numbers reaching in the billions as of 2012.
According to their design assembly, integrated circuits have undergone several generations of advancements and developments such as:
- Small Scale Integration (SSI): Ten to hundreds of transistors per chip
- Medium Scale Integration (MSI): Hundreds to thousands of transistors per chip
- Large Scale Integration (LSI): Thousands to several hundred thousand transistors per chip
- Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI): Up to 1 million transistors per chip
- Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI): This represents a modern IC with millions and billions of transistors per chip
An IC can be further classified as being digital, analog or a combination of both. The most common example of a modern IC is the computer processor, which consists of billions of fabricated transistors, logic gates and other digital circuitry.