Whois & Analysis for datasheetcatalog.com

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon.

The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip resulted in circuits that are orders of magnitude smaller, cheaper, and faster than those constructed of discrete electronic components.

The IC's mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete transistors.

ICs are now used in virtually all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the world of electronics.

Computers, mobile phones, and other digital home appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the small size and low cost of ICs.

A datasheet, data sheet, or spec sheet is a document that summarizes the performance and other technical characteristics of a product, machine, component (e.g., an electronic component), material, a subsystem (e.g., a power supply) or software in sufficient detail to be used by a design engineer to integrate the component into a system.

Typically, a datasheet is created by the component/subsystem/software manufacturer and begins with an introductory page describing the rest of the document, followed by listings of specific characteristics, with further information on the of the devices.

In cases where there is relevant source code to include, it is usually attached near the end of the document or separated into another file.

Semiconductors are crystalline or amorphous solids with distinct electrical characteristics.

They are of high electrical resistance — higher than typical resistance materials, but still of much lower resistance than insulators.

Their resistance decreases as their temperature increases, which is behavior opposite to that of a metal.

Finally, their conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by the deliberate, controlled introduction of impurities ("doping") into the crystal structure, which lowers its resistance but also permits the creation of semiconductor junctions between differently-doped regions of the extrinsic semiconductor crystal.

The behavior of charge carriers which include electrons, ions and electron holes at these junctions is the basis of diodes, transistors and all modern electronics.

An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields.

Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not to be confused with electrical elements, which are conceptual abstractions representing idealized electronic components.

In electronics, a diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance to the current in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other.

A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material with a p–n junction connected to two electrical terminals.

A vacuum tube diode has two electrodes, a plate (anode) and a heated cathode.

Semiconductor diodes were the first semiconductor electronic devices.

The discovery of crystals' rectifying abilities was made by German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1874.

The first semiconductor diodes, called cat's whisker diodes, developed around 1906, were made of mineral crystals such as galena.

Today, most diodes are made of silicon, but other semiconductors such as selenium and germanium are sometimes used.