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Fundamentals of Electronics: What are ICs, chips, semiconductors, and wafers?
After photolithography, engineers add iron to the wafer to control conductivity and fabricate transistors and diodes on the wafer. Then they pour copper into the grooves for wiring. Finally, there is IC packaging and testing.
There is a shortage of ICs, wafers, and semiconductors in the market, leading to increased manufacturing costs for almost all high-end electronic products. As an advanced printed circuit board manufacturer, we also notice that some ICs are rare in the market when we purchase ICs for PCB assembly. This is due to the reduced wafer supply. So, how to distinguish IC, chip, semiconductor and wafer? In this article, I will explain what they are so that you understand their differences.
What is a semiconductor?
First, let's start with semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials with conductivity values higher than insulators (such as stone) and lower than conductors (such as metals), including silicon and germanium. Because silicon has a larger gap into which other materials can be inserted, silicon is used to manufacture transistors, which can amplify current signals.
What is an IC?
An IC (integrated circuit) is an integrated circuit with hundreds of millions of transistors assembled on a miniature chip of approximately 0.5mm × 0.5mm in size. Depending on the function, ICs can be divided into four categories:
1. Memory IC - Used to store data, commonly used in computers, electronic dictionaries, etc. DRAM, SRAM, and NAND Flash all belong to memory ICs.
2. Logic IC - Used to process digital signals (0 and 1). Logic ICs are used in CPUs, MPUs, and GPUs.
3. Micro IC - Mainly used to process digital and text data. Micro ICs are used for communication between CPU peripherals and other components.
4. Analog IC - Used to process analog signals. Analog ICs are used in power supplies and digital-to-analog converters because of their high voltage and high current tolerance.
What is a Chip?
A chip is another name for an IC, or a chip is the carrier of an IC.
What is a wafer?
A wafer is the basis of an IC. Unlike the above three, a wafer is slightly more complex. The material of a wafer is silicon. After the silicon is purified and melted into a liquid, the manufacturer pulls it into a crystal column. The crystal column has a specific arrangement of crystal lattices designed by the manufacturer. The manufacturer then uses a diamond knife to cut the crystal column into thin slices, which are then polished to become wafers.
How are integrated circuits manufactured?
Now, you can understand what semiconductors, ICs, chips, and wafers are. The manufacturing method of ICs is as follows:
First, an electron beam is used to etch the pattern of the IC onto a quartz wafer. The etched quartz wafer is called a "mask." Then, a layer of photoresist is applied to the wafer. Then, the circuit pattern on the quartz wafer is printed onto the wafer through ultraviolet light irradiation and a convex lens. This is the photolithography process.
After the photolithography process, engineers add iron to the wafer to control conductivity and fabricate transistors and diodes on the wafer. Then they pour copper into the grooves for wiring. Finally, there is IC packaging and testing.
ICs need to be mounted on a PCB to function. We are a leading advanced PCB manufacturer serving advanced engineers and electronic solution companies. Even if customers only order one board, we manufacture it following the same process as bulk orders to ensure its high quality and provide free excellent design and one-on-one engineering support. For bulk orders, we provide free complete PCBA samples and functional testing.
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