IC Full Form - What is IC Full Form?

IC  full form is Integrated Circuit. An integrated circuit is a different semiconductor device such as a capacitor or diode, which can be integrated onto a chip. These integrated devices are used to create logic gates, memory elements or any other electronic components. But do you know there is a lot more to know about IC? Continue reading to find more interesting information on IC, their function , benefits and many more.

What is IC Full Form?

The full form of IC is Integrated Circuit. It is a microchip that consists of thousands of electronic components which are made of millions of components such as transistors, resistors and capacitors. Integrated Circuit(IC) consists of many components or units which are grouped together to conduct a specific function. ICs made up of different types of diodes, resistors, transistors, capacitors etc. IC is used in almost every electronic device where semiconductor components are used. Semiconductors are conduction in which there is a free flow of electrons in uniform direction through a wire, but not the other way around. IC is a tiny chip that adopts up the functions of an oscillator, amplifier, microprocessor, timer and even computer memory. Constructed with a semiconductor material, it holds an assortment of microscopic elements like diodes, transistors, resistors and capacitors. All these components are integrated to form a singular unit on the silicon IC.

A Brief Look into the History of the Integrated Circuit

The growth of the Integrated Circuit that is the full form of IC, dates back to 1958. Jack Kilby, in the year 1957, laid the proposal of the primitive idea to the US Air Force. He successfully demonstrated its functions and workings on the 12th of September 1958. It can be noted that the very first customer of the IC was the US Air Force. The invention of the Integrated circuit provided Kilby a Nobel Prize in Physics. Experimenting with advanced production methods, Robert Noyce came up with the first authentic monolithic IC chip, exactly six months after Kilby.

Functions of IC

In the present day, all the electronic appliances that we use daily in our homes contain integrated circuits attached to it. For example- Televisions, Laptops, Cell phones, Tablets etc.

The main function of an integrated circuit is to regulate the flow of electricity through different components in an electronic device. It can be smaller than a grain of rice in size and can hold more electronic components than any other older technology.

The first IC was invented by Jack Kilby in 1958. He also received a patent for his invention in 1960. In 1969, Robert Noyce from Texas Instruments, developed a provision to make multiple circuits on the same IC. He named his design an ‘integrated circuit’ based on Kilby's name for his invention.

Design of Integrated Circuit

There are two types of Integrated Circuits that are designed. They are:

1. Digital ICs- These are mainly in usage of all electronic appliances which have to do deal numbers or digits like computers or several machines that use digits for their major calculation.
2. Analog ICs- Analog ICs are mainly used in electronic devices that don't have to deal with numbers or digits, like a sound system that produces sound waves from an electrical signal. One of the basic examples of Analog IC is a microphone preamplifier circuit. This type of circuit has a high impedance which means it can detect a weak signal and amplify it without adding noise to the signal.

Various Applications of IC

There are a variety of applications for the functioning of integrated circuits. Some of the examples are cited below:

• Computers
• Cell Phones
• Television
• Laptops
• Tablets
• Cars
• Aircrafts
• Medical Devices

The Classification of Integrated Circuit

The Integrated Circuit has undergone various development procedures to finally get into the form of developed IC. Major classifications of IC are:

• Small Scale Integration (SSI): This variety consists of 100 transistors per chip. Early aerospace projects made use of the Small Scale Integration Circuits.
• Medium Scale Integration (MSI): This comes with more than hundreds of transistors. The number can rise even to a thousand. Undergoing a process of a lot of modifications, by the end of the 1960s, the chip arrived with hundreds of MOSFETs.
• Large Scale Integration (LSI): By the mid of 1970, large-scale integration (LSI) came into being with more than thousands of transistors per chip.
• Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI): The Very Large Scale Integration circuit came into existence around 1980, holding transistors numbering up to hundred thousand to one million per IC which is a vast expansion.
• Ultra-large Scale Integration (ULSI): These are the ICs with millions or billions of transistors per chip.

Further, it can be noticed that two more varieties, such as the Digital IC and the Analogue IC or even a combination of the two, makes the new 3rd variety. 

Advantages of IC

The usage of IC provides ease in the working and application process. Various advantages of IC are given below:

• You can rely on them easily
• It increases the operating speedily as the parasitic and the capacitance effect are absent in them
• Due to its compactness, it also operates on low power. 
• IC’s are light in weight
• These can be effectively used for small signal operations

Disadvantages of IC

Every good thing comes with a downside too. Some of the disadvantages of IC are mentioned as:

• Only a limited amount of power can be consumed by them
• One cannot engineer the indicators or the coils
• It does not exhibit low voltage in the current and low noise

Limitations of IC

The limitations of IC which effects its usage and functions are:

• It can only deal with a limited quantity of electricity.
• Creation of P-N-P High-Grade chamber is not possible.
• It is difficult to obtain the low-temperature coefficient effectively.
• Potency dissipation is restricted to 10 watts.
• Low noise and high voltage operation aren’t easily achieved.
• It is not so easy to repair in case of any damage.

Usage of ICs

Integrated circuits are used in various appliances such as voltage regulators, multiples, radio receivers, RF and IF amplifiers, voltage comparators, small-signal amplifiers, microwave amplifiers, operational amplifiers, power amplifiers etc. ICs are also used in Microprocessors, Microcontrollers, Clock chips, Counters, Calculator chips, Flip-flops, Multiplexers and used in Timers in stopwatch.