Microchip or microchip, or in other words, IC, is a compact piece that consists of electronic circuits. If you look at a microchip with a microscope, you will see complex, and well-ordered circuits inside that took months and years to design each part. Microchips are a necessary part of today’s advanced world, and in the absence of them or lack of supply, today’s world will face many problems. What is a microchip or microchip? The question that we intend to answer in this article is.
The history of microchips
By chance, you may have seen the circuit diagram of old radios or tube televisions. These devices, among the most advanced electronic products of their time, had many fans and formed a large part of people’s lives. However, since the invention of large tube televisions, scientists have pointed out a major drawback to these products: their size.
The circuits used in these devices were designed in a large size, and due to the technology of that time, it was impossible to integrate different parts of the circuit and shrink the screen. It would be very interesting if the circuits of a few centimeters could be placed in an integrated package at a size of a few millimeters or even a few micrometers. In this case, the hands of electronic engineers were more open to including more circuits and additional parts in an electronic device.
All these needs made electronics experts start designing integrated circuits in the 60s, which could be developed on a very small scale and used in devices. One of the engineers of Texas Instruments company designed and produced the first functional microchip in 1958, which was the starting point for the further development of microchips in today’s large volume.
What is the use of microchips?
What is the use of microchips is one of the first questions that will come to your mind. If you are reading about microchips for the first time, it is interesting to know that all advanced electronic devices contain microchips. Current mobile phones, portable computers, satellites, and television receivers are among the most important devices that have benefited from the existence of electronic integrated circuits and their processing power. Today, they can be found in every home.
Without microchips, it would be impossible to manufacture today’s smart TVs because you can’t put millions of transistors in a TV processor IC non-integrated. The design of the first microchip by Jack Colby led him to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000, and this was the starting point for the development and use of integrated circuits in electronic and mechanical devices.
Today, microchips and integrated circuits are made for various applications, and perhaps not all of their applications can be mentioned in a short article. The most important applications are processors, computer memories, and data converters, which are essential components for progress and development.
What are the different types of microchips?
Of course, a microchip is a general term to describe a large collection of electronic components, with many sub-categories in this list. Memory chips, processors, standard ICs, and system on the chip are different microchips used in computer and mobile devices.
Memory chips
Memory chips store information and data inside themselves, which may be temporary or permanent. Computer RAM is one of the best examples of this type of chip, and next to it, you will see a memory chip inside a flash memory. ROM memory chips are other products in this category that can only be read and cannot be changed.
Microprocessors
Microprocessors have different parts,, and there may be different processing cores in each of them. Apart from desktop and laptop computers, these products are also used in servers, and surely you have a mobile phone processor responsible for processing operations. 32-bit and 64-bit architecture are mentioned in these products, and with the advancement of technology, a significant increase in processing power and optimization can be seen in them.
Graphics processors
Graphic processors are an important part of mobile and desktop devices that are designed and produced differently. In a smartphone, you will see the GPU chip next to the main processor, an IC. In desktop computers, with more space, you can use a powerful graphics card on which multiple graphics processor chips are used. Before the release of graphics processors and graphics cards, the task of providing graphic output was the responsibility of the CPU itself. In this case, it was impossible to achieve high quality in a short time.
System on Chip
System on the chip is one of the new types of products in this category, where you will have all the systems and elements you need together. System-on-chip is a combination of processor, RAM, and required memories. The construction of these systems has led to the development and use of electronic systems quickly and with high efficiency.
Data converters
Data converter chips are one of the essential elements in circuits that you can use to convert data from digital to analog or vice versa. The output of the sensors is in one of two forms, analog and digital, and in different situations, it will be necessary to convert this output to another model. In this case, the importance of data converter chips will be determined. One of the best examples, in this case, is reading the output of a temperature sensor in analog form from its base, which must be converted to digital data in the next step.
Implantable chips in the body
Today, electronic science has advanced so that it is possible to design a microchip and place it under the body’s skin. With this, doctors can better control the conditions and health of the patients and take measures if necessary.
Who is involved in microchip manufacturing?
When it comes to manufacturing microchips, the names of companies in advanced countries may come to your mind. In general, companies such as Intel and AMD follow the manufacture of microchips, which can be considered their field of activity in a specific sector.
For example, a company like Qualcomm focuses more on the design and development of microchips for portable and mobile devices. It produces a large part of these types of microchips, and provides them to mobile phone manufacturers. A company like NVIDIA focuses a lot on designing graphics processor chips and has recently been looking to enter the mobile processor market.
In each of these companies, there are research and development and implementation departments that involve electronic, mechanical, and chemical engineers so that a powerful and high-speed microchip is available to you and has worked with good performance for years.
What are the ingredients of a microchip?
Silicon is the priority for making microchips, and due to its important and unique characteristics, today, the design and production of microchips are dependent on silicon. Unlike metals, which are considered electrical conductors, silicon is among the elements that fall into the semiconductor category. This is the main point for its use in an electronic chip.
The semi-conductivity of this element, in practice, will make it possible to combine it with other elements to obtain an electronic component that can switch on and off the current.
In this case, we have an important advantage,: the possibility of easy access to silicon in nature, which has led to silicon becoming a priority for designing microchips and making powerful processors. This element is abundant in nature and can be used in various applications through a process. Silicon is the second most abundant element in nature after oxygen.
Producing a silicon plate that can be used in microchips is a specialized and time-consuming process. The production of these plates is done using a material called silica sand in a step-by-step process. Finally, silicon wafers can be used for microchip design applications.
It is better to know that germanium is also used in various parts of microchips, but this application is not as much as silicon. The silicon element can work at a higher temperature than germanium, and this is one of the main reasons for its use in today’s ICs.
What are the advantages of microchip manufacturing?
At first glance, one can imagine an important advantage of a microchip: its small size and the possibility of designing complex circuits in micro and nano sizes. This is even though you cannot practically include several million transistors in a size of a few centimeters by a few centimeters. Technological progress in previous years has led to the creation of microchips that have several billion transistors, and in a small package, significant processing power can be expected from these microchips.
The next important advantage is that the possibility of producing microchips has made it possible to increase the performance and speed of processing and reduce the production costs to a great extent. An important feature that is available today is the possibility of achieving very low power consumption in microchips, and besides that, the manufacturing of microchips has also provided the possibility of developing robots and automatic control products.
If you look at electronic products produced before 2000 AD, you will see the importance and advantage of using electronic chips. With the excellent processing power provided by these parts, we can have a smartphone that will meet all the daily needs and provide excellent conditions for the progress of daily affairs.
What are the challenges of microchip manufacturing?
One of the biggest challenges in the field of manufacturing microchips is the need to connect external parts, which are difficult to build inside the integrated circuit. Many parts such as transformers cannot be installed inside an IC because it will occupy a large volume, and this has caused the need to connect external parts after making a compact IC package.
Among other challenges of this industry, we can mention the increase in demand for the use of chips, which can lead to a significant increase in prices and even create a shortage in the market. Recently, TSMC has faced the challenge of a shortage of chips, and it plans to overcome the crisis by providing solutions.
The need to increase processing speed at the same time with low power consumption is another challenge that engineers always face. With the passage of time, the current processing speed is not the answer and more powerful processors need to be designed and produced. The important thing is that the increase of transistors in a chip is directly related to its size, and this size must remain small.
What is the nanoscale for microchip manufacturing?
A microchip contains millions and perhaps billions of transistors, and this high number is determined by the processing power required and other factors. When we are talking about billions of transistors and it is necessary to fit them in a size of a few centimeters by a few centimeters, the solution is to make transistors and elements that are on a very small micro and even nano scale.
Note that a nanometer is one billionth of a meter. To better understand the situation, it is better to know that a red blood cell is 7000 nanometers and the average size of a virus can be 14 nanometers. This means that you have transistors built at the scale of a virus in 14nm chips. Right now, you have processors that are built on a 7nm scale, and that scale is getting smaller and smaller every day so that engineers can fit more transistors into a package.
The number of these transistors will have a direct relationship with the processing speed and chip performance, and with the development of new technologies, even transistors with a scale of less than 5 nanometers can be implemented. By looking at the list of nanometer chips, you can see processors that are made on a 5nm scale and provide the user with high power in terms of information processing.
Get to know the best processors
Microprocessors and chips are advancing, and 5nm processors are now being used practically in devices. In this field, Intel, Samsung, and Qualcomm are the three leading manufacturers whose processors are capable of working in different conditions and for a long time.
Intel Core i9-12900K processor
Intel is one of the best microchip manufacturing companies, whose 12900K product can be considered one of the best processors in the world. This product has 16 real cores and 24 threads that operate at a base frequency of 3.2 GHz. In boost mode, you can expect a frequency of 5.2 GHz from it, and the power consumption of this processor is estimated at 125 watts.
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X processor
The AMD Ryzen 5900X processor is made with more than 4 billion transistors and has 12 processing cores and 24 threads. The power consumption of this processor reaches more than 105 watts and its base frequency is 3.7 GHz. It is better to know that this processor is produced on a 7 nm scale and its final frequency will reach 4.8 GHz.
Samsung Exynos 1080 processor
The Exynos 1080 processor has eight processing cores, one core with a power of 2.8 GHz and three cores in it operate at a frequency of 2.6 GHz. In addition to these four cores, there are four other cores with a power of 2 GHz, which are closed using the Mali G78 graphics processor.
Samsung has also provided 5G capability in this processor and 4800 million transistors were used in its construction.
Samsung Exynos 2100 processor
In today’s advanced devices, you can see Exynos 2100, which is one of the most powerful elements in terms of operating frequency. One of the cores of this processor works at a frequency of 2.9 GHz, and three 2.8 and four 2.2 GHz cores are placed next to it.
Samsung has used the Mali G78 graphics processor in this processor and the use of new technologies has led to its power consumption being greatly reduced.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor
According to various reviews, Qualcomm designed and produced this product with 11.8 billion transistors, which is one of the most powerful processors for mobile devices. The final frequency of this processor reaches 2.84 GHz and new technologies such as 5G are used in it.
Apple A14 processor
Apple’s A14 processor is among some of the most powerful products in the world in terms of processing power, which the manufacturer designed and produced with 11.8 billion transistors. The structure of this processor is 5 nm and based on its performance, it can perform 11 trillion operations per second.
The most important microchip manufacturers in the world
There are various companies to manufacture microchips and microchips in the world, but this industry is in the hands of a few famous companies. A few famous global companies that you may have heard of have a very high share in the market and have taken over a huge part of the microchip production.
Texas Instruments Inc
Texas Instruments is one of the most well-known companies in the field of microchip production, and its products are used in mobile devices, signal processors, etc. This company is famous for designing and manufacturing calculators and these Texas Instruments products are very popular in the market. It is interesting to know that Texas Instruments started working in 1930 and its primary field of activity was oil and gas.
It was in 1958 that the company decided to produce electronic products and components, and this decision led Texas Instruments to become one of the largest and most famous manufacturing companies in this field. It may not be possible to easily provide a complete list of the number of patents registered by this company because thousands of patents have been registered by this company and produced in large volume.
In 1967, this company invented the portable calculator. Also, it is interesting to know that in 1970, this company designed and produced a single-chip controller that provided all the elements needed for processing in just one small silicon microchip. The number of patents registered by this company reached approximately 45 thousand by 2016, and its revenue in 2021 was more than 18 billion dollars.
NVIDIA Inc
NVIDIA, which is located in the United States, was founded in 1993, and compared to many companies, NVIDIA is considered a young company. This company had a revenue of 16.6 billion dollars in 2021 and we all know this company with powerful graphics processors. Perhaps the popularity of this company’s products is much more among gamers and graphic designers than among specialists in other fields.
Of course, in addition to the design and production of graphics processors, NVIDIA is also active in the field of API production and chip-based systems, and artificial intelligence software and hardware can be mentioned among other areas of the company’s activity. In recent years, with the emergence of mobile products, NVIDIA has been tempted to enter this field as well, and the company’s efforts to enter this field include the purchase of ARM Ltd., which failed in 2022.
The chips produced by NVIDIA are now so advanced that you can buy powerful and unique graphics cards that have the ability to perform heavy and unimaginable processing in a very short time. This has led to see interesting entertainment products and computer games that are being developed day by day and offer interesting moments to users.
Broadcom Inc
Broadcom is another American company that is active in the field of producing semiconductor components for various applications. This company produces its products for use in the fields of electronics, telecommunications and signal processing, and its establishment dates back to 1991.
The number of people working in this company and its sub-groups reaches 11,750 people, most of whom are electronic engineers. Broadcom was founded by two of the top professors of UCLA University in America, and its field of activity is in the production of digital and analog electronic components.
Among the products produced by this company, we should mention network interfaces and even simple electronic components such as LEDs. In fact, this company is a large group that focuses on the design of practical and professional electronic components.
Micron Technology Co
Micron Technology is one of the companies that most people know for its data storage products such as flash memory. Of course, Micron Technology has popular and quality products in the field of dynamic RAM, and users worldwide use these products widely. Micron Technology Company is a specialist in the field of Data Storage products and has provided these products to users for use in computers, laptops and even cars.
Micron Corporation went public in 1984 and its revenue in 2021 was over $28 billion. It should be noted that Micron is the market leader in the field of DRAM design and production, and its products have led to significant advances in the field of communication and the development of technologies such as 5G.
Qualcomm Inc
The QCOM company has seen a very high growth in the last few years, and one of the main reasons for this was the need for mobile chips, which Qualcomm was able to quickly respond to. Many large global companies were not successful in this field and some of them were even completely removed from the mobile chip market. In the meantime, it was Qualcomm that was able to stay strong in the market by designing and producing mobile microchip products, and its revenue reached more than 33.5 billion dollars in 2021.
It should be said that this company is active in the two fields of semiconductor and telecommunication, and among its most important products, we should mention the products that are used in telecommunications and communication. Qualcomm is known for its patents and royalties that are exclusively provided by the company’s engineers, one of the most important of which is CDMA, which is used in the field of wireless communications.
This company has more than 45,000 employees, and if we count the subsets and startups of this company, we will reach a long list. Snapdragon chips, which you may already have one of in your phone, are considered one of the most famous products of this company, which is the processing brain in many smartphones. Of course, apart from mobile phones, Snapdragon chips are also used in wearable gadgets and even in cars.
Intel Corporation
Intel is a company that we are all familiar with, and this company is one of the oldest and most experienced companies in the field of designing and manufacturing microchips. Intel was founded by two electronics experts named Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce in 1968, and these two people were influential people in the first years of the development of the electronics industry. Gordon Moore was the person who established Moore’s Law, which is still valid after many years.
Intel is a company known for its desktop and laptop processors and is one of the world’s two most important manufacturers in this field. Of course, you should know that Intel is not the only processor manufacturer and other chip products are also produced by this company. Graphics processors and embedded processors of this company are also very powerful and are widely used by electronic engineers.
Currently, there is high competition between the company and AMD, and each has an excellent market share in desktop microchips. According to the statistics of 2020, the income of this company reaches more than 79 billion dollars per year, and for this reason, Intel can be considered a technology giant in the world.
UMC Inc
The country of Taiwan may not be large, but if we estimate its share in the world of electronics and microchip production, we will reach strange statistics. This country hosts large companies, one of which is UMC or United Microelectronics Corporation. UMC currently has more than 20,000 employees and has 12 microchip design and production centers. Compared to other large companies, UMC may have a lower revenue, but its revenue of 7.7 billion dollars makes this company one of the largest companies in the production of microchips.
This company was established in 1980 and its research and development department is one of the largest and most equipped centers in the world. In 2019, the company was able to acquire Mie Fujitsu and develop its subsets professionally.
Samsung Co
Samsung Electronics is one of the most famous microchip manufacturers in the world, which is in a unique situation in terms of the size of the company and the number of employees. After the emergence of smart phones and smart electronic equipment, Samsung decided to enter this field professionally and now Samsung has become one of the most powerful companies in this field. The Samsung Electronics department of this company is active in 74 countries of the world, and approximately 290,000 employees work professionally in these branches.
A significant part of the chips needed by this company, which are used in TVs and other Samsung products, are produced by the company itself. Since 2006, this company has been the largest producer of televisions in the world, and in the field of smartphone production, the market power is in the hands of Samsung. Much of the innovation in smartphones has been done by Samsung, and today’s high-end mobile devices owe a lot to Samsung’s investment.
It should be noted that Samsung Electronics has a share of approximately 17% in the field of microchip production and its products are used in televisions, digital receivers, mobile phones and data converters.
TSMC Inc
Taiwanese company TSMC is the dominant force in the world of microchip design and manufacturing, and this company has the first market share for the supply of microchips. In 2021, TSMC’s revenue has reached more than 45 billion dollars and this revenue is increasing day by day. It is interesting to know, if there is a problem for the Taiwanese company TSMC, the whole countries will face problems and there may be big crises in the computer and electronic hardware sector.
This company was founded in 1987 by Maurice Chang, who is a graduate of MIT University and is now 91 years old. It is better to know that he retired after 31 years of founding the company and now this company has more than 11.6 thousand products that are used in electronic devices.
According to the latest statistics, more than 54% of electronic chips in the world are designed and produced by TSMC, and even the largest product manufacturing companies order the production of the chips they need from this company. The Taiwanese company TSMC is considered among the ten most valuable companies in the world, which has taken over the semiconductor market and has a decisive contribution in this field.
AMD Inc
AMD is one of the manufacturers of microprocessor CPUs and graphics processors, whose value has increased more than 5 times in the last five years. In 2021, the revenue of this company is estimated to be more than 16 billion dollars, and its main center of activity is in the United States. AMD is one of the pioneers of using new and innovative technologies in its chips, which you can see in the multi-core processors of this company.
This company has designed and produced the world’s first 64-core processor, which can now be used in desktop computers. Almost 53 years have passed since the establishment of this company in 1969, and in this period of time, AMD has become one of the technology giants in the world. Among the important products of this company, we should mention embedded processors, peripheral products of televisions, telecommunication products, all kinds of motherboard chips and graphic cards.
In addition to desktop processors, AMD has a high share in the production of server CPUs, and its products are widely used in data centers. It should be noted that this company was one of the centers that played an important role in the development and progress of today’s graphics cards, and now you can see products that have made significant progress compared to several years ago.
STMicroelectronics Inc
STMicroelectronics is one of the other famous companies in the world that is active in the field of IC and electronic microchips production. The company’s products are used in various industries, and it should be noted that the automotive industry and sectors where sensors are needed are among the most important areas of STM’s activity in the world. STM produces programmable microchips that can be used in various industries.
One of the important products of this company is semiconductor components such as power transistors, and besides that, STM has a very high share in the production of various sensors in the world. If you do a little searching, you’ll see this company’s high stakes in signal converter ICs.
Also, ST produces a wide range of ARM chips that are programmable and can be used based on the needs of different industries. This company started working in 1987 and its revenue will reach 12.8 billion dollars per year based on the statistics of 2021. Based on the size of the company, ST is one of the top companies because more than 48.2 thousand people are working in its different departments.
NXP Inc
NXP is a Dutch company that employs more than 31,000 people in its various factories. This company has a high share in the production of semiconductor parts and chips and its revenue is more than 11 billion dollars per year. It should be said that this company is one of the youngest companies in this field because its establishment dates back to 2006.
With a finger calculation, this company is almost 16 years old, but in this short period of time, it has managed to become one of the most advanced companies in the world. NXP manufactures a significant part of the microchips it needs in its factories, and its popular products include programmable controllers. Of course, general chips and semiconductor components are also produced by this company, and due to their quality, NXP has been able to gain a decent share of this lucrative market.
This company conducts research and development of its products in different countries and has different branches.
Conclusion
You must have obtained information about microchips up to this point of work, and to some extent, you have reached the answer to the question of what a microchip is. With a little precision, we can understand that in the absence of electronic microchips, we will face many problems, and various companies will not be able to provide their services to customers. Currently, most of the market share is in the hands of two or three companies, the most important of which are Taiwan’s TSMC and Samsung. If you have any questions or comments about this, you can send them below.