Integrated Circuits (ICs) are the cornerstone of modern electronics technology. They serve as the heart and brain of most circuits, ubiquitous across nearly every circuit board. Therefore, understanding and familiarizing oneself with these chips may mark the beginning of moving beyond a novice level in electronics.

 

An integrated circuit (IC) is a collection of electronic components—resistors, transistors, capacitors, and others—packed into a small chip and interconnected to achieve a complex functional goal. They encompass numerous functional categories such as logic gates, operational amplifiers, timers, regulators, circuit controllers, logic controllers, microprocessors, memory, and more.

 

Inside the IC

When we imagine what a chip looks like, the first thing that may come to mind is a small black square, similar to the one in the diagram below. However, it's difficult to visualize what's inside this black box.

 

The inside of a chip is a complex circuit structure made of silicon wafers, copper, and other materials. These components are interconnected to create resistors, capacitors, transistors, and other circuit elements. Chips begin as circular silicon wafers, which are later cut into small pieces after the circuits are formed.

The chip is tiny, composed of thin semiconductor wafers and copper layers. The interconnections between the layers are intricate. Here is a zoomed-in depiction of part of the chip's interior:

 

After being manufactured, the chip becomes the smallest unit of an application circuit. Because of its small size, it cannot be soldered or connected directly. Chip packaging technology is used to make the process of connecting circuits to the chip easier. This technology transforms delicate silicon chips into the familiar black chips we all recognize.

 

IC Packaging

Packaging technology creates the chip's final product, enabling easier connections to other circuits. External connections on the chip are made through small gold wires to pads or pins on the package. These silver pins connect to other circuit components.

Many different types of packages exist, each with unique sizes, mounting methods, and/or pin counts. The diagram below shows dozens of chip package styles, each with its own name. Later, we will discuss some of the major package categories in detail.

 

Polarity markings and pin numbers

Chips have polarity markings for each pin, with the package indicating the function of each. Most use a notch or dot to show the first pin, sometimes both.

Once you identify the first pin, the numbering increases counterclockwise.

Installation

Chip package types differ in how they are mounted onto the circuit board. They are either through-hole (PTH) or surface mount (SMD or SMT). Through-hole packages are larger and easier to use, designed to pass through the circuit board and then be soldered on the other side.

Surface-mount packages are designed to be placed on the same side of the circuit board and soldered directly to the board's surface. SMD packages have two types of pins: one extends from the sides, perpendicular to the chip, while the other is arranged in a matrix on the bottom. These components are not ideal for manual assembly and usually require specialized tools.

 

Next, this article will provide detailed descriptions of common chip package types to help you remember their names and appearances.

 

Dual In-line Package(DIP)

DIP stands for Dual In-line Package and is the most common through-hole IC package. These small chips have two parallel rows of pins that extend vertically from a rectangular black plastic housing.

 

In addition to direct soldering to the circuit board, DIP ICs can also be used with chip sockets. Using a socket allows the DIP IC to be easily removed and replaced, making it convenient to replace the chip if it happens to fail.

Surface-Mount(SMD/SMT)

There are now various types of surface-mount packages. Typically, matching pads are created on the PCB, and the chip is soldered onto these pads. The installation of surface-mount components usually requires automated equipment.

 

Small Outline Package(SOP)

The SOP package is an evolved form of the DIP for surface-mount technology. By bending all the DIP pins outward and reducing the size, you get a single-sided SOP. This package is one of the easiest SMD components to hand solder. In the SOIC (Small-outline IC) package, the pins are typically spaced 0.05 inches (1.27 millimeters) apart.

SSOP (Shrink Small-Outline Package) is a smaller version of the SOIC package. Similar IC packages include TSOP (Thin Small-Outline Package) and TSSOP (Thin-Shrink Small-Outline Package).

Quad Flat Packaging(QFP)

The IC leads extend in all four directions, similar to a Quad Flat Package (QFP). QFP ICs can have 8 to 70 pins per side, totaling 32 to over 300 pins. The pin pitch usually ranges from 0.4mm to 1mm. Variations of the standard QFP include Thin QFP (TQFP), Very Thin QFP (VQFP), and Low Profile QFP (LQFP).

Quad Flat No-leads(QFN)

When you remove the pins from a QFP IC and shrink them to the edges, you get something that looks like a Quad-Flat No-leads (QFN) package. The connection pads on QFN packages are much smaller, exposed at the bottom edge of the IC.

 

Thin (TQFN), Very Thin (VQFN), and Micro Leadframe (MLF) packages are variants of the standard QFN package. There are also Dual Flat No-leads (DFN) and Thin Dual Flat No-leads (TDFN) packages, which have pins on only two sides.

Many microprocessors, sensors, and other modern ICs use QFP or QFN packages. The popular ATmega328 microcontroller comes in TQFP and QFN (MLF) forms, while miniature accelerometers/gyroscopes like the MPU-6050 use a micro QFN package.

 

Ball Grid Arrays(BGA)

Finally, for truly advanced integrated circuits, there is the Ball Grid Array (BGA) package. This is a highly intricate package where small solder balls are arranged in a two-dimensional grid on the bottom of the IC. Sometimes, the solder balls are directly attached to the chip!

 

BGA packages are typically used in advanced microprocessors.

If you can manually solder a BGA package IC, you can consider yourself a master-level soldering technician. Typically, placing these packages on a PCB requires an automated process, including pick-and-place machines and reflow ovens.

 

Commonly used IC

Integrated circuits are widely present in electronic devices in various forms, making it challenging to cover them all comprehensively. Below are some of the more common ICs you may encounter in electronic products.

 

Logic gates, timers, shift registers, etc

As building blocks for more complex integrated circuits, logic gates can be packaged into their own integrated circuits. Some logic gate ICs may contain a small number of gates within a single package, such as this four-input AND gate:

 

Logic gates can be interconnected within an integrated circuit to create timers, counters, latches, shift registers, and other basic logic circuits. Most of these simple circuits can be found in DIP packages, as well as SOIC and SSOP.

Microcontrollers, microprocessors, FPGAs, etc

Microcontrollers, microprocessors, and FPGAs are all integrated circuits that pack thousands, millions, or even billions of transistors into a tiny chip. These components are highly complex and vary greatly in size. From 8-bit microcontrollers like the ATmega328 used in Arduino boards to advanced 64-bit multi-core microprocessors, these elements are widely used in computing systems.

These components are typically the largest integrated circuits in a circuit. Simple microcontrollers can be found in packages ranging from DIP to QFN/QFP, with pin counts between 8 and 100. As the complexity of these components increases, so does the complexity of their packaging. FPGAs and advanced microprocessors can have over a thousand pins and are only available in sophisticated packages like QFN, LGA, or BGA.

 

Sensor

Modern digital sensors, such as temperature sensors, accelerometers, and gyroscopes, are all integrated into a single integrated circuit.

These ICs are typically smaller than microcontrollers or other ICs on the circuit board, with pin counts ranging from 3 to 20. Nowadays, many large control chips also integrate numerous sensors directly within them.