Microchips, also known as integrated circuits (ICs) or simply chips, are essential components of modern computers.These microchips are made up of silicon material due to its semi-conductor properties. It contains thousands to billions of electronic components such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. These are found in the motherboard and other circuit boards.

What is a Computer Microchip?

A microchip in a computer is a small piece that acts as the Computer’s brain. It has millions of even smaller parts called transistors arranged in circuits. The transistors and resistors are arranged in layers to make circuits that are all connected. These tiny circuits can follow instructions and process information. Despite its very small size, a microchip is extremely powerful and essential for a computer to function. In 2021 The IBM company made a microchip with parts only 2 nanometers wide – that is smaller than a DNA strand With the parts that are this small, they could fit in 50 billion transistors on a microchip the size of our fingernail.

How are Microchips made?

Microchips are made from a very special material called the silicon. Silicon is used because it is easy to find in the market and easy to work with. To make the microchip, very small parts are carefully placed on the silicon in the small layers.

• Transistors: These are like so small switches that can turn the electricity on and off inside of the microchip circuits. They can control the flow of the electricity.
• Resistors: These act like a gate that makes the electricity flow slower or faster through the circuits. They control how much electricity passes through.
• Capacitors: The Capacitor are small buckets that can store a small amount of electricity for a very short time. They help the microchip temporarily remember the information.
• Diodes: These act like a gate that only lets electricity flow in one direction through the circuit. They prevent electricity from going the wrong way.

Types of microchips

1. Logic Chips

These chips do the thinking and follow the instructions given to the device. The most common logic chip is called the CPU (central processing unit). It’s like the brain that makes decisions. There are also other logic chips that handle specific tasks, like graphics or artificial intelligence.

2. Memory Chips

These chips store information and data. Some memory chips need power to keep the data in between them, while others can store data even without the power or electricity. The chips that need the power are called the volatile memory like (DRAM), and the ones that don’t are called non-volatile memory like (flash memory).

Besides these two main types of Chips there are some microchips combine logic and memory together on only one single chip. These are called the below chips.

• 1. System-on-a-Chip (SoC) : These chip has a CPU, memory, and other functions of all in one chip. These chips are used in the smartphones and some computers.
• 2. Application-Specific Chips (ASICs) : These are custom made chips designed for the special purpose, like medical equipment and car parts. They can have logic memory, memory, and other features are built-in.

Conclusion

Microchips are so small but extremely powerful components that allow all of our electronic devices to work. There are two main types of logic chips that process instructions like a small brain, and memory chips that store data and information. More advanced microchips can combine both logic and memory abilities into a single chip. No matter what type, microchips are essential for making our modern technology function.

Frequently Asked Questions on Microchip – FAQs

What is a microchip made of?

Microchips are maded from special material called the silicon. Silicon is used because it is easy to find and work on it.

How small are the parts inside a microchip?

The Small parts like transistors and the resistors inside the microchips are so small that they are measured in the nanometers which makes them very much smaller than the width of our single human hair.

What do the different parts in a microchip do?

Transistors are act like the small switches controlling electricity flow. Resistors control how much electricity flows. Capacitors can store small amounts of electricity to help the chip remember the things. Diodes will allow the electricity to flow in the only one direction.

What are the main types of microchips?

There are the two main types of logic chips first one act as the “brain” processing instructions and the second memory chips that store data and information for our device.

Can one microchip do both logic and memory?

Yes. The advanced microchips like Systems-on-a-Chip (SoCs) can combine with the both logic processing and memory storage abilities into the single tiny chip.