What is a silicon integrated circuit?

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Silicon integrated circuit (IC) is a compact functional electronic circuit containing silicon-based semiconductors. Semiconductors have conductive properties that can be controlled in various ways. An integrated circuit, also known as a chip or microchip, is considered a small component with terminals ranging from eight pins or more. Very large scale integrated circuits are used in computing devices containing more than one million silicon transistors. A transistor is a three-terminal device that acts as a current-controlled current valve, similar to an electromagnetic relay, but with continuous current control instead of two-state or on/off control.

The semiconductors used in silicon integrated circuits are the main entities known as solid-state devices. Before the first solid-state device was put into commercial use, the method of controlling the flow of electrons was to use a vacuum tube with a heater, a cathode, an electrode plate, and at least one control grid. The size and power requirements of vacuum tubes make them popular only in special fields, such as ultra-high power amplifiers for audio and radio applications. Silicon integrated circuits are also very popular because silicon is a common silicon compound that can be found everywhere, just like ordinary sand. With proper heating under oxygen-free conditions, semiconductor manufacturers can produce pure silicon, which can be further processed into diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits.



Silicon integrated circuits are not used for radio signal applications because the limitations of silicon semiconductor devices are covered by the better signal performance of other semiconductors (such as germanium semiconductors). In mobile phones, silicon semiconductor ICs are used for audio and alternating current (AC)/direct current (DC) power supply circuits. Computers and other digital devices use many silicon integrated circuits. From a convenient socket, the power supply uses silicon diodes that can directly rectify the main AC voltage. These diodes are usually located in a packaged switching power supply that uses a silicon-based power regulator chip, which is usually of the pulse width modulation (PWM) type, which feeds back the output DC level as the duty cycle of the power pulse changes.

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