What is the function of an integrated circuit?

Answer 1

They are very small, yet they contain hundreds of millions of solid-state components. (Novanet)

The function of an IC (integrated circuit) chip is to replace many separate electronic components which could possibly have been used to build a particular electronic circuit. Most of those separate components are replaced by just one tiny IC chip that has been manufactured ("fabricated" is the correct technical word) to include extremely miniature circuits which imitate the behavior of all those separate components.

There are many reasons why ICs are being used more and more. Here are just a few of them:

• costs of manufacture: using an IC saves the labor of soldering together all the separate components to make the equivalent circuit
• space: using an IC saves the huge amount of space that the circuit would take up if it were built using separate components
• energy: using an IC saves a lot of electrical energy compared to the same circuit built using separate components
• speed: using an IC makes the circuit work much faster than it could ever do if it were built using separate components.

An IC chip can include tens, hundreds, thousands or many millions of components. ICs are commonly used nowadays to build computers and many other types of electronic devices.

Answer 2

An integrated circuit is the name for collections of electronic components imbedded onto a single piece of silicon. Silicon is the base for most transistors, diodes and other semiconducters. It can also be used as a resistor, capacitor and coil.

Each IC is designed to carry out certain tasks and the circuit is designed accordingly. The circuit is then printed or etched onto the silicon substrate and then into a plastic or ceramic enclosure. (Note: a very complex process has been reduced to a single sentence here!)

Applications for integrated circuits are as varied as the imagination of the designers. Within limits, anything that can be designed and built with discrete components can be put into an IC. Audio amplifier, video processors, logic, memory, switches, radio frequency encoders and decoders are just a few examples. The range of IC applications is vast and growing daily. One of the major applications is computing. Computers that once had thousands of transistors have been reduced to a handful of ICs. The early computers that were the size of a bulding are now outperformed in almost every way by laptops and even handheld computers because of the use if ICs

As ICs are developed, the design costs and production costs of equipment are reducing. Reliability increases as large parts of the final product are enclosed in single packages, reducing assembly errors, connection problems and size of circuit boards.

It is now rare to see any electronic equipment that does not have at least one IC. Indeed, some have only one IC and require no other components of any kind. The real answer to the question is to look around. Wherever electronics are used, there is probably an IC inside.

AnswerThere are many aplications your CPU on your PC is a integrated circuit and you can get a complete radio receiver on one IC, then you get TTL gates and timers etc.

Answer 3

Integrated circuits, often known as "chips" are packages that contain multiple components. They offer two obvious advantages.

First, the fact that they contain multiple components that are designed and tested to perform a specific task means that the electronic designer can use them as building blocks within a circuit instead of designing many separate components.

Second, and the more significant advantage is that they can reduce the size of components to allow a far higher component density. Processor and memory chips contain millions of components in a package that is only an inch or two across. The same circuit in discrete components would fill a room. We benefit by seeing tiny products such as cell phones or laptop computers that simply wouldn't exist without integrated circuits.

Integrated circuits also benefit us by using less power than discrete components and by operating at higher frequencies.

Answer 4

Integrated Circuits belongs to the 3rd generation of computer era. They were later developed into microprocessors which lead towards a more minute creation. Integrated Circuits provided the basic platform for the 4th generation computer of microchips which are in use today. So its clearly visible that because of the basic model which was created by integrated circuits, how it has clearly showed a pathway to develop and create computers to a greater standard.