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The integrated circuit is used in all electronic equipment today. It revolutionized the way we live by providing electronic equipment including: navigational systems, computers, cordless telephones, industrial monitoring and systems, digital watches, pocket calculators, word processors, communications networks, and innumerable others. Few of these devices could exist without the integrated circuit.
An IC chip is small, but, it plays a considerable role in modern technology. It is equivalent to thousands of electronic components all operating simultaneously. The properties that encourage the wide use of the IC are its small size, slim (next to nothing) weight, and reliable performance. Mass production and manufacturing advances have lowered the price of integrated circuits so that now they are used in all kinds of consumer products, from toys to home computers.
The IC allows advancements otherwise not possible. For example, the miniaturization made possible by the IC allows scientists to navigate a robot to mars and transport images back. People can extend their senses into hostile environments through the use of computer-controlled remote devices.
People can also learn from the computer. Computers are finding wide use in schools to teach reading, writing, spelling, geography, history, and foreign languages. In industry, computer simulators are used to provide specialized training in a number of areas from shop training to computer design.
In the field of medicine computers are used extensively. Even a device like the glass thermometer has know been replaced by a digital one. Increasingly complex systems are being developed to aid all aspects of medical diagnosis and treatment. Microelectronics are making it possible for the mute to talk and the deaf to hear. Recent advancements have allowed scientists to replicate DNA genes in a simulation which enabled them to clone sheep!
Computer chips have given the young, and not-so-young, video games and toys that seem strange to the previous generation. With present technology, appliances can be made to carry on simple conversations with consumers and carry out orders. A home owner can tell the television set to turn itself on. Doors open on command, lights turn on when a person enters the room and off when he exits, and automobiles announce by voice that fuel is low.
Through the integrated circuit, we will have powerful, versatile, electronic devices to guide technologies and our own lives more intelligently than ever before. For this reason we should get better aquinted with the technology behind how integrated circuits are made. The next series of pages present the key steps or processes invloved in creating a circuit capable of doing so many things. |
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