[W/K] :: integrated circuit

  integrated circuit
       n : a microelectronic computer circuit incorporated into a chip
           or semiconductor; a whole system rather than a single
           component [syn: microcircuit]

  integrated circuit
       
           (IC, or "chip") A microelectronic
          semiconductor device consisting of many interconnected
          transistors and other components.  ICs are constructed
          ("fabricated") on a small rectangle (a "die") cut from a
          Silicon (or for special applications, Sapphire) wafer.  This
          is known as the "substrate".  Different areas of the substrate
          are "doped" with other elements to make them either "p-type"
          or "n-type" and polysilicon or aluminium tracks are etched in
          one to three layers deposited over the surface.  The die is
          then connected into a package using gold wires which are
          welded to "pads", usually found around the edge of the die.
       
          Integrated circuits can be classified into analogue, digital
          and hybrid (both analogue and digital on the same chip).
          Digital integrated circuits can contain anything from one to
          millions of logic gates - inverters, AND, OR, NAND
          and NOR gates, flip-flops, multiplexors etc. on a few
          square millimeters.  The small size of these circuits allows
          high speed, low power dissipation, and reduced manufacturing
          cost compared with board-level integration.
       
          The first integrated circuits contained only a few
          transistors.  Small Scale Integration ({SSI) brought
          circuits containing transistors numbered in the tens.  Later,
          Medium Scale Integration ({MSI) contained hundreds of
          transistors.  Further development lead to Large Scale
          Integration ({LSI) (thousands), and VLSI (hundreds of
          thousands and beyond).  In 1986 the first one megabyte RAM
          was introduced which contained more than one million
          transistors.
       
          LSI circuits began to be produced in large quantities around
          1970 for computer main memories and pocket calculators.  For
          the first time it became possible to fabricate a CPU or even
          an entire microprocesor on a single integrated circuit.  The
          most extreme technique is wafer-scale integration which uses
          whole uncut wafers as components.
       
          [Where and when was the term "chip" introduced?]
       
          (1997-07-03)