INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Integrated circuits were developed to shrink the size of electronic devices. They contain hundreds of transistors, capacitors, and resistors printed on a chip the size of a fingernail. Every IC has a certain function. Some count, add, subtract, display numbers, oscillate, and even remember instructions. They are printed on a silicon base chip by lasers. Hundreds of coats of semiconducting material is placed on the silicon base. After every coat, a laser burns away the unwanted material to slowly form a circuit. The IC that we are using is an oscillator. It puts out a frequency according to the external components we use. When looking at an IC you might wonder how to tell what pins to use. Looking at the picture in the top left, you start at the top left and count around. You can tell it is the top by the notch impressed in the case.

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