The Basics --- IC Classification...

May peace and blessings of the Almighty be upon you all…

Having seen in the last article that VLSI is the technique that deals with ICs, let’s go ahead with IC classification. 

Whatever may be the ICs that we see in the modern world, they are classified into two major categories, ASICs and Standard Products, as shown in the figure below, 

1. ASIC means Application Specific Integrated Chip. 

Name tells the story. These kinds of ICs are used only for specific applications. For example, let us take the ICs used in a particular model of a mobile phone. You can’t use that ICs in any other model or in any other manufacturer’s phone. These ICs are made only for that particular model of the mobile phone.

In other words, these ICs are application specific; you can’t use them for other applications.  

2. On the other hand, STANDARD PRODUCTS are the one which can be used for different applications. 

For example, take the 74 series ICs. The 7486 ex-or gate IC which is used to construct a Half Adder is also used is construct different circuits like fulladder, parity generator etc., It is not limited to one particular application. 

Similarly, take the FPGA, if you write the program for half adder and dump it in the FPGA, it will work as a half adder. The same FPGA will work as a full adder, parity generator etc.. if you write corresponding programs. Thus FPGAs are not limited to one particular application and they are used for different applications. 

3. The major difference between the Standard ICs and Programmable devices is that, standard ICs are used for different applications but they can not be re-programmed (can we re-program a 7486?) whereas programmable devices are used for different applications and they can be re-programmed also.   

For our easy understanding in learning VLSI, we will categorize the above figure into two parts, which we will see in the next article. Insha Allah.   

May the Almighty guide us in the right path always…aamin. 

Allah(swt) Knows best…

Your brother,

Aashiq Ahamed A