What are the Advantages of Integrated Circuits (ICs)?

Advantages of Integrated Circuits:

The major advantages of integrated circuits over those made by interconnecting discrete components are as follows:

1. Extremely small size – Thousands times smaller than discrete circuits. It is because of fabrication of various circuit elements in a single chip of semiconductor material.
2. Very small weight owing to miniaturised circuit.
3. Very low cost because of simultaneous production of hundreds of similar circuits on a small semiconductor wafer. Owing to mass production of an IC costs as much as an individual transistor.
4. More reliable because of elimination of soldered joints and need for fewer interconnections.
5. Lower power consumption because of their smaller size.
6. Easy replacement as it is more economical to replace them than to repair them.
7. Increased operating speed because of absence of parasitic capacitance effect.
8. Close matching of components and temperature coefficients because of bulk production in batches.
9. Improved functional performance as more complex circuits can be fabricated for achieving better characteristics.
10. Greater ability of operating at extreme temperatures.
11. Suitable for small signal operation because of no chance of stray electrical pickup as various components of an INC are located very close to each other on a silicon wafer.
12. No component project above the chip surface in an INC as all the components are formed within the chip.

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