Eli5 How do integrated circuits work?
In: Technology
The basic concept is ultra small silicon chip with tiny field effect transistors. The magic of an integrated circuit is the transistors. There’s a long discussion about what those are, how they work, and how we manufacture them. But think of it as a gate. You can organize them in clever ways by linking their inputs and outputs in such a manner that they perform a handful of simple functions. When you put billions of them together you can combine lots of simple functions into higher level complicated functions and now you have the basis for the complexity of most modern computing.
There’s a statue of the guy that patented it outside the building he worked in when integrated circuits were invented. It’s still Texas Instruments property but it’s operated by a defense contractor right now on a lease. They’ve taken that integrated circuit design and advanced it enormously to create circuitry components that are the basis of advanced radar and communications equipment.
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