Development and classification of integrated circuits

Development of integrated circuits

The most advanced integrated circuits are the "cores" of microprocessors or multicore processors that control everything from computers to mobile phones to digital microwave ovens. Memory and ASIC are examples of other IC families, which are very important for modern information society. Although the cost of designing and developing a complex integrated circuit is very high, the cost of each IC is minimized when it is spread over products usually in the millions. The performance of IC is very high, because small size brings short path, so low power logic circuit can be applied in fast switching speed.

Over the years, IC continues to develop to smaller size, making each chip can package more circuits. This increases the capacity per unit area, reduces costs and increases functionality - see Moore's law, the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles every two years. All in all, with the reduction of the overall size, almost all indicators have improved - unit cost and switching power consumption have decreased, and speed has increased. However, the IC integrated with nano devices is not without problems, mainly leakage current. As a result, the increase in speed and power consumption for end-users is significant, and manufacturers face sharp challenges in using better geometry. This process and the expected progress in the next few years are well described in the semiconductor international technology roadmap (ITRS).

More and more circuits appear in the hands of designers in the form of integrated chips, which makes the development of electronic circuits tend to be miniaturization and high speed. More and more applications have been transformed from complex analog circuits to simple digital logic integrated circuits.

Popularization of IC

Only half a century after its development, integrated circuits have become ubiquitous, and computers, mobile phones and other digital appliances have become an indispensable part of the modern social structure. This is because modern computing, communication, manufacturing and transportation systems, including the Internet, all rely on integrated circuits. Even many scholars believe that the digital revolution brought by integrated circuits is the most important event in human history.

Classification of IC

There are many ways to classify integrated circuits, which can be divided into analog integrated circuits, digital integrated circuits and mixed signal integrated circuits (analog and digital are on one chip).

Digital integrated circuits can contain anything from thousands to millions of logic gates, triggers, multitasking and other circuits on a few square millimeters. The small size of these circuits leads to higher speed, lower power consumption and lower manufacturing cost compared with board level integration. These digital ICs, represented by microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSP) and single-chip microcomputers, use binary systems to process 1 and 0 signals.

Analog integrated circuits, such as sensors, power control circuits and operational amplifiers, process analog signals. Frequency mixing, demodulation, etc. Through the use of analog integrated circuits with good characteristics designed by experts, the burden of circuit designers is reduced, and it is unnecessary to design everything from one transistor to another.

IC can integrate analog and digital circuits on a single chip to make devices such as a / D converter and D / a converter. However, the smaller the size of the circuit and the lower the cost must be careful.