Glossary / Semiconductors
Integrated circuit
A circuit in which transistors and other components, together with the wiring between them, are all built into a single piece of semiconductor — a chip.
When components were made one by one and wired by hand, wiring faults multiplied with every part added, which capped the size of circuits. In 1958 Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments built a circuit with all its parts formed in one block of semiconductor[1]. The following year Robert Noyce at Fairchild showed a manufacturable version in which a flat-surface process formed the wiring too.
For decades afterwards the number of components on a chip doubled roughly every two years. Early integrated circuits were bought in bulk for the Apollo guidance computer, which helped the industry get started.
Related terms
- TransistorA semiconductor device in which a small signal controls a larger current, so it can amplify or switch. The basic component of all electronics.
- MOS transistorA transistor built from a metal electrode, an oxide layer and a semiconductor, in which a voltage on the electrode alone opens and closes the channel. Most of today's chips are made of these.
- YieldThe fraction of manufactured products that work. In semiconductors, the share of good chips obtained from a wafer.