Integrated Circuit Overview


    Integrated circuit, English is Integrated Circuit, abbreviated as IC; as the name implies, a certain number of commonly used electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc., and the connections between these components are integrated with specific functions through semiconductor technology The circuit.

Why are integrated circuits produced? We know that there is a driving force behind any invention, and the driving force often comes from problems. So what were the problems before the production of integrated circuits? Let’s take a look at the world’s first electronic computer, which was born in the United States in 1946. It is a behemoth that covers an area of 150 square meters and weighs 30 tons. The circuit inside uses 17,468 tubes, 7,200 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 500 thousand lines, power consumption 150 kilowatts [1]. Obviously, large occupied area and inability to move are the most intuitive and prominent problems; if these electronic components and connections can be integrated on a small carrier, how great would it be! We believe that many people have thought about this issue and put forward various ideas. A typical example is Dammer, a scientist from the British Radar Research Institute. He proposed at a meeting in 1952: The discrete components in the electronic circuit can be concentrated on a semiconductor chip, and a small chip is a complete circuit. As a result, the volume of the electronic circuit can be greatly reduced, and the reliability is greatly improved. This was the idea of the initial integrated circuit. The invention of the transistor made this idea possible. In 1947, the first transistor was manufactured in Bell Labs in the United States. Before that, the current amplification function could only rely on large size and power consumption. A tube with a large amount of electricity and a fragile structure. The transistor has the main function of the electronic tube and overcomes the above-mentioned shortcomings of the electronic tube. Therefore, after the invention of the transistor, the idea of a semiconductor-based integrated circuit soon appeared, and the integrated circuit was invented soon. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented germanium integrated circuits and silicon integrated circuits between 1958 and 1959, respectively.

Now, integrated circuits have played a very important role in all walks of life and are the cornerstone of the modern information society. The meaning of integrated circuits has far exceeded the scope of its definition when it was first born, but its core part has not changed, that is "integration", and the various disciplines derived from it are mostly centered on "integration". The three issues of "what", "how to integrate", and "how to deal with the pros and cons of integration". Silicon integrated circuits are the mainstream, that is, all the various components needed to realize a certain function of the circuit are placed on a silicon chip, and the whole formed is called an integrated circuit. For "integration", it may be easier to understand the house we have lived in: many people have lived in rural houses when they were young. At that time, the main body of the house might be three or two bungalows, which played the function of bedroom, and the small courtyard at the entrance was placed. A pair of tables and chairs serves as a living room, and there is a small smoke-cooking house next to it. It is a kitchen, and a toilet with a unique function needs to be isolated to a certain extent. It may be more than ten meters behind the house. ...Later, in cities, or rural urbanization, everyone moved into buildings or suites. In a suite, there are living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and balconies. It may only be tens of square meters, but it has the original land area. The various functions of rural houses of several hundred square meters are integration.

Of course, today’s integrated circuits are far more integrated than a suite. Perhaps a modern building can be used as a better analogy: there are shops, offices, canteens, and hotel-style apartments on the ground, and several floors underground are parking lots. , There is a foundation under the parking lot-this is the layout of the integrated circuit, the analog circuit and the digital circuit are separated, the sensitive circuit that handles small signals is separated from the control logic that frequently flips, and the power supply is placed in a separate corner. The layout of the rooms on each floor is different, and the corridors are also different. There are back-shaped, I-shaped, and several-shaped—this is the design of integrated circuit devices, and low-noise circuits can use folded shapes or "interdigital" structures. Transistor to reduce junction area and gate resistance. Each floor is directly accessible by high-speed elevators. For efficiency and functional isolation, there may be multiple elevators. The floors that each elevator can reach are different-this is the wiring of integrated circuits. The power and ground wires are routed separately and the load is heavy. The line is also wide; the clock and the signal are separated; the wiring between each layer is vertical to avoid interference; the high-speed bus between the CPU and the storage is equivalent to an elevator, and the through holes between the floors are equivalent to an elevator car...


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