What are the characteristics of integrated circuits

Integrated circuit or microcircuit, microchip, chip in electronics is a way to miniaturize the circuit (mainly including semiconductor devices, also including passive components, etc.) and is usually manufactured on the surface of semiconductor wafer.

The integrated circuit which makes the circuit on the surface of semiconductor chip is also called thin film integrated circuit. Another kind of thick film hybrid integrated circuit is a miniaturized circuit composed of independent semiconductor devices and passive components integrated into the substrate or circuit board.

This paper is about monolithic integrated circuit, that is, thin film integrated circuit.

The integrated circuit has the advantages of small volume, light weight, less outgoing lines and welding points, long service life, high reliability, good performance, low cost and easy mass production. It is not only widely used in industrial and civil electronic equipment such as tape recorders, televisions, computers and so on, but also widely used in military, communication, remote control and so on. Using integrated circuits to assemble electronic equipment, its assembly density can be increased by tens to thousands of times than that of transistors, and the stable working time of the equipment can also be greatly improved.