A Quick Guide to Integrated Circuit

An integrated circuit (IC) is a semiconductor wafer on which thousands or millions of tiny resistors, capacitors, and transistors are made, often referred to as a chip or microchip. An IC may act as a microprocessor, oscillator, timer, counter, computer memory, or amplifier. Depending on its intended use a specific IC is classified as either linear (analog) or digital.

A small chip that can act as an amplifier, oscillator, timer, microprocessor, or even computer memory is an integrated circuit or IC. An IC is a small wafer, typically made of silicon, that can carry transistors, resistors, and capacitors anywhere from hundreds to millions. Using either digital or analog technology, these incredibly small electronics can perform calculations and store data. You can get the best-integrated circuit services at SMARTX Electronic. 

A quick guide to logic gates

Logic gates are used by digital ICs, operating only with values of ones and zeros. On a digital IC, a low signal sent to a component will result in a value of 0, whereas a high signal will generate a value of 1. In computers, networking equipment, and most consumer electronics, digital ICs are the kind that you can normally find.

With continuous values, analog, or linear ICs function. This implies that a variable can take a value of any kind on a linear IC and generate another value. The word “linear” is used since a linear function of the input is the output value. For example, a linear IC variable will multiply the incoming value by a factor of 2.5 and produce the result. In audio and radio frequency amplification, linear ICs are usually used.

More on the integrated circuits 

Linear ICs have a continuously variable output that depends on the input signal level (theoretically capable of reaching an infinite number of states). The output signal level is as the term suggests, a linear function of the level of the input signal. Ideally, the plot behaves like a straight line when the instantaneous output is graphed against the instantaneous input. Audio-frequency (AF) and radio-frequency (RF) amplifiers are used as linear integrated circuits. In these applications, the operational amplifier(op-amp) is a typical unit.

Instead of operating over a continuous spectrum of signal amplitudes, digital ICs operate at just a few specified levels or states. In computers, computer networks, modems, and frequency counters, such devices are used. Logic gates, which operate with binary data, are the fundamental building blocks of digital ICs, i.e. signals that have only two distinct states, called low (logic 0) and high (logic 0) (logic 1).