“Tyranny of numbers” was the phrase used to
describe used a problem which arose during World War II, when vacuum tubes were
the components which humanity used for computational purposes. The problem: to
perform more complex tasks, more tubes were required and more tubes meant
increased complexity, and beyond certain adding more vacuum tubes slowed down
operations instead of speeding them up.
The breakthrough happened in 1948. It was
called a transistor. But as with any new technology – the face of progress hit
a wall soon. As the complexity and number of transistors grew in circuits,
things became increasingly difficult to manage. The seeds of integrated
circuits (IC) were sown in 1949, but it took almost 10 years before the fruits
were reaped. Built from four transistors, the first IC replaced 8 transistors,
26 diodes and 27 resistors. We've not looked back since.
So why do we count ICs as one of mankind’s
greatest inventions? Because it makes the Electronics Industry what it is
today. Be it the TV, mobile phone, laptop, supercomputer or telescope fitted on
a satellite- ICs have changed the world our forefathers imagined for us. For
the uninitiated, the latest processor chips from Intel house more than 2.2
billion transistors on a die which is merely 52.5 X 45 mm in area! Courtesy:
Integrated Circuits.
