Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context electronics English) a thin chip consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors
WordNet
n. a microelectronic computer circuit incorporated into a chip or semiconductor; a whole system rather than a single component [syn: microcircuit]
Wikipedia
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent electronic components. ICs can be made very compact, having up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a human fingernail. The half-pitch between nodes in a circuit has been made smaller as the technology advances; in 2008 it dropped below 100 nanometers, and was reduced to around 14 nanometers in 2014.
ICs were made possible by experimental discoveries showing that semiconductor devices could perform the functions of vacuum tubes and by mid-20th-century technology advancements in semiconductor device fabrication. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip was an enormous improvement over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized integrated circuits in place of designs using discrete transistors.
ICs have two main advantages over discrete circuits: cost and performance. Cost is low because the chips, with all their components, are printed as a unit by photolithography rather than being constructed one transistor at a time. Furthermore, packaged ICs use much less material than discrete circuits. Performance is high because the IC's components switch quickly and consume little power (compared to their discrete counterparts) as a result of the small size and close proximity of the components. As of 2012, typical chip areas range from a few square millimeters to around 450 mm, with up to 9 million transistors per mm.
Integrated circuits are used in virtually all electronic equipment today and have revolutionized the world of electronics. Computers, mobile phones, and other digital home appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the low cost of ICs.
Usage examples of "integrated circuit".
For example, an integrated circuit mounted on ordinary ceramic will turn a very warm 87 degrees centigrade when its surroundings are at room temperature.
You can create a more interesting innovation out of an integrated circuit that contains 42-million transistors today - a Pentium 4 - than you could out of a few single discrete transistors 30 years ago.
It's an acronym for, let's see, Man-made Non-something, Nondiscriminatory Tactical Integrated Circuit Smasher.
Three solder points were shorted and one of the integrated circuit elements seemed to be out also.
There was plenty of stress among the engineers assigned to boosting the power of some Earth transmitters, just in case a reply was authorized, but Matthews had heard not one word of worry about integrated circuit inadequacies.
The larger ones, the kind with actual motors and manipulators and transistors, screws, scrapers, memories, armswhat used to be called microbots when they were first made with the same technologies that produced primitive integrated circuit chipsthese congregated at specified sites and performed grosser tasks.
To a free electron the pathways of an integrated circuit must be as vast as a transit tunnel.