According to the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary, “Microchips are small wafer of semiconductor materials, usually silicon, forming the base on which an integrated circuit is laid out, or such a wafer together with its integrated circuit”. It is a tiny silicon component made for incorporation into devices for increased functionality.
2.2 DESCRIPTION
Several types of microchips are made today. Microprocessors are logic chips that perform the computations inside most commercial computers. Memory chips store information. Digital signal processors convert between analog and digital signals. Application-specific integrated circuits are special-purpose chips used in things such as cars and appliances. A microchip is a tiny, totally inert electronic transponder about the size of a grain of rice. Microchips are powered and read by scanners using a low frequency radio band. Scanners generate a magnetic field that is intercepted by the microchip. The microchip uses the energy from this field to power itself and transmit a return signal to the scanner that converts it into the microchip's identification code. The resulting alphanumeric identification code is displayed. The invention of the tiny microchip has succeeded in bringing the globe to us inside our homes and offices. One little microchip, something that didn't exist 30 years ago, has changed, influenced and altered our world.
2.3 TYPES OF MICROCHIPS: Some important microchips technologies are listed below:
1. CMOS, in computer science, acronym for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. A semiconductor device that consists of two metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), one N-type and one P-type, integrated on a single silicon chip. Generally used for RAM and switching applications, these devices have very high speed and extremely low power consumption. They are, however, easily damaged by static electricity.
2. Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an integrated