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The aim of this course is to teach students about the power and efficiency of Microelectronics and how they are used in every days modern electronics applications whereby the integrated circuits are embedded and silently achieving tremandous amount of work inside systems in which they are hosted. In fact ,in early 1960s, a new field of microelectronics was born primarily to meet the requirements of the Military which wanted to reduce the size of its electronic equipment to approximately one-tenth of its then existing volume. This drive for extreme reduction in the size of electronic circuits has led to the development of microelectronic circuits called integrated circuits (ICs) which are so small that their actual construction is done by technicians using high powered microscopes.
ICs are produced by the same processes as are used for manufacturing individual transistors and diodes etc. In such circuits, different components are isolated from each other by isolation diffusion within the crystal chip and are interconnected by an aluminum layer that serves as wires.
A discrete circuit, on the other hand, is one that is built by connecting separate components. In this case, each component is produced separately and then all are assembled together to make the electronic circuit.
To put it very briefly, an integrated circuit (IC) is just a packaged electronic circuit.
An IC is a complete electronic circuit in which both the active and passive components are fabricated on a tiny single chip of silicon. Active components are those which have the ability to produce gain.