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Integrated Circuits:
An intagrated circuit (I.C.) is a group of components which may include resistors, low value capacitors and transistors printed on a silicon chip. The individual components of the I.C. make up a commonly used circuit. The circuits can range from simple voltage regulators to audio chips for a head unit to a microprocessor for a computer.
Op-amp:
The schematic diagram below shows all of the internal components printed on a tiny piece of silicon inside a popular operational amplifier. The pictures below the schematic show the actual package which contains all of the component parts shown on the schematic and a single small signal transistor. On the schematic diagram we can see that there are more than 20 small signal transistors which make up the op amp circuit. The package of the single transistor measures approximately .18" square. The measurements of the 8 pin I.C. are approx. .4" x .35". You can see that the I.C. is much smaller than 20 transistors would be. Inside of microprocessor for a computer, there are literally millions of transistors. I.C.s allow electronic devices to be much smaller and much less expensive than they would otherwise be.
This picture is to show you the difference in size between the actual piece of silicon and the size of the package. This is not an I.C., it is only a single transistor.
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