Development in the Integrated Circuits

Basic Concept of IC

Werner Jacobi a German engineer in 1949 introduced first IC in the form of semi conductor amplifier. The initial idea of integrated circuit was to develop minute ceramic wafers, each one comprising of mini electronic components.  These components were then integrated into bi and tri dimensional compacted grids. This idea gained wise spread popularity and it was in 1957 when Jack Kilby presented his germanium IC to the US army. Afterwards many developments overtime led to the series of generations in the field of integrated circuits.

Series of Generations in ICs

There were many developments in the field of IC which led to the sequence of generations in the IC. These generations include SSI, LSI, MSI, VLSI, ULSI, 3D IC, SOC and WSI. The first generation of integrated circuits called small scale integration contained only very few transistors. The examples of SSI include Plessey SL 201 and TAA320. The first large scale integration was introduced by IBM where a scientist called Rolf Landauer presented the concept of LSI. In the late 1960 the next generation of the integrated circuit came forward known as MSI. MSI was made up of many hundreds of transistors on a single chip. MSI were little costly than SSI but they were more efficient in terms of quality and performance. The costs of producing these integrated circuits help in further development. The aim of the manufacturers was to lower the cost and increase the efficiency. Hence the third generation was of the large scale integrated circuits. LSI was made up of millions of thousands of transistors on a single chip. LSI was introduced in 1970. The development continued and in 1980 very large scale integration aroused. This development is still on the move bedsides the addition of million transistors on a single chip. The ultra large scale integration was introduced afterwards for showing the complicated assembly of million transistors. This system was extended to wafer scale integration. Wafer scale integration involved the use of single silicone wafer for incorporating million of transistors into one. A system on chip is another addition these remarkable inventions which is capable of integrating the transistors of entire system on a single chip. Last but not least the three dimensional is made up of two or three layers of electronic parts which are installed in horizontal or vertical singled circuit.

Future Development in IC

This development in the integrated circuits enabled many manufactures to excel in the field of electronics and extend their businesses. However the growth in the same field brought to surface micro processors. These microprocessors are the base of almost all the electronic devices today like microwaves, smart phones and computers. Some important examples include memory chips and ASICs. The cost associated with developing and designing a complicated LSI is an expensive target. However economies of scale can be achieved whem segregated along many production units. The performance of IC is very high whereas the size has shifted to puny packaged circuits. The increase in capacity led to decrease cost and increased efficiency. Therefore for the development of IC we can say that as the size of the integrated chips increase the power consumption lowers down and the speed of processing is increased.