Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, Sixth Edition, 6th Edition

23

CHAPTER

Integrated Circuits

MOST INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICS), ALSO CALLED CHIPS, LOOK LIKE GRAY OR BLACK BOXES WITH protruding metal terminals called pins. In schematic diagrams, engineers represent ICs as triangles or rectangles, usually with component designators printed inside, and with emerging lines (representing the pins in the actual device) leading to external components.

Advantages of IC Technology

Integrated circuits have advantages over discrete components (individual transistors, diodes, capacitors, and resistors). The most important considerations follow.

Compactness

An obvious asset of IC design is economy of space. An IC is far more compact than an equivalent circuit made from discrete components. Integrated circuits allow for ...