Integrated Circuit (Ic)
| An integrated circuit, or IC, is a small chip that contains a complete circuit. These chips are used in almost all modern electronic devices, from computers and cell phones to digital cameras and MP3 players. An IC is made up of two parts: the substrate and the active region. The substrate is the base material of the IC, and the active region is where the transistors and other electronic components are located. The active region is usually made up of three layers: the emitter, base, and collector. The transistors in an IC are connected to each other and to the power supply by a network of metal wires called interconnects. The interconnects are made up of two parts: the metal trace and the via. The metal trace is the part of the interconnect that carries the electrical signal, and the via is the part that connects the different layers of the IC. ICs are classified by the number of transistors they contain. The first ICs contained only a few transistors, but today's ICs can contain millions of transistors. The most common type of IC is the microprocessor, which is used in computers and other digital devices. Microprocessors typically contain millions of transistors. |
Share this glosssary
