Term of the Moment

high-definition resolutions


Look Up Another Term


Definition: single chip


One integrated circuit (one chip). As you trace the evolution of all electronic devices (computers, calculators, phones, etc.), more circuits are combined into one chip all the time. What took hundreds, even thousands, of chips in years past fits on a single chip today. See chip.




Five Years Apart
The larger network adapter (NIC) was made in 1997, and the smaller one in 2002.






One Transistor Per Chip
In the 1960s, IBM's "advanced" solid state technology placed three transistors (three chips) on a module. Today, several billion transistors fit on a single chip. (Image courtesy of IBM.)