Acronym · General Industry
IC (Integrated Circuit)
A circuit in which transistors, resistors, capacitors and interconnect are formed together in one piece of semiconductor rather than wired from discrete parts. Integration is what removed assembly cost and wiring parasitics from electronics at the same time.
- Also known as
- Monolithic integrated circuit
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- General Industry, Silicon and form factors
Notes
Independently invented by Jack Kilby at TI in 1958 and Robert Noyce at Fairchild in 1959; Noyce's planar version is what the industry actually builds.
Overview
An IC (integrated circuit) is an electronic circuit whose transistors, resistors, capacitors and wiring are all formed together in one piece of semiconductor, instead of being made separately and wired together. Integration removes most of the assembly cost and wiring of a circuit built from separate parts, and lets millions or billions of devices work together on one die. IC is the formal term; chip is the everyday word for the same thing.
How it works
An IC is built by processing the surface of a wafer through repeated steps of patterning, deposition, etching and doping. Transistors are formed in and on the silicon, and layers of metal wiring above them connect the devices into a circuit. The finished wafer holds many identical ICs, which are tested, cut apart and packaged.
The idea was proved in 1958, when Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments built a working circuit in a single piece of germanium, work later recognised with a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000. The following year Robert Noyce at Fairchild conceived the monolithic silicon IC, in which the parts are joined by metal laid over an insulating oxide, the basis of every IC since.
ICs are usually grouped by what they do. Digital ICs process ones and zeros: processors, memories and logic. Analogue ICs handle continuous signals: amplifiers, regulators and references. Mixed-signal ICs combine both, as data converters do, and radio frequency ICs handle wireless signals. Older terms such as SSI, MSI, LSI and VLSI described how many gates fitted on one chip; VLSI survives as a name for chip design in general.
Examples
- A digital logic IC, such as a processor or FPGA, built from billions of transistors.
- An analogue IC, such as an operational amplifier or a voltage regulator.
- A mixed-signal IC, such as an analogue-to-digital converter that feeds a digital processor.
- A radio frequency IC in a phone that handles the transmit and receive signal chain.
- A discrete power transistor, which is a semiconductor device but not an integrated circuit.
Why it matters
Almost everything the industry makes and sells is an IC, so the term appears in contracts, customs codes, standards and job titles across design, manufacturing and sales. Its formal use matters where precision does, for example in export rules or in distinguishing ICs from discrete devices such as single transistors and diodes.
Related terms
Part of the General Industry glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 161 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
Lifecycle stages and gates
Roles
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Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary