A microchip, also known as an integrated circuit (IC) or chip, is a small electronic device made from a semiconductor material, usually silicon, that contains thousands to millions of tiny components like transistors, resistors, and diodes. These components are interconnected to perform various electronic functions and are fabricated on a single, thin substrate. Microchips are fundamental to modern electronics, enabling the miniaturization and performance enhancement of many products like computers, smartphones, appliances, and medical devices. The design and complexity of microchips can vary widely, from simple logic circuits to highly complex microprocessors and memory chips. Their invention in the 1950s revolutionized technology, leading to the digital age and continuing to drive advancements in computing power, telecommunications, and automation.
New microcapacitors developed by scientists show record energy and power densities, paving the way for on-chip energy storage in electronic devices. Researchers are striving to…
Physicists at Delft University of Technology have created a microchip using a unique combination of two Nobel Prize-winning techniques, optical trapping and frequency combs. This…
Over the course of almost 60 years, the information age has given the world the internet, smart phones, and lightning-fast computers. This has been made…
A new approach to controlling magnetism in a microchip could open the doors to memory, computing, and sensing devices that consume drastically less power than…
Engineers at MIT have developed a new material that can be repeatedly stretched and flexed without losing its optical properties. Researchers at MIT and several…
Researchers from MIT have designed a system that reallocates cache access on the fly, increasing processing speed by 20 to 30 percent while reducing energy…
Using a self-assembly technique in which materials known as block copolymers are covered by a second polymer, scientists have found a long-awaited, simple method for…
A newly published study demonstrates how complex cognitive abilities can be incorporated into electronic systems made with neuromorphic chips. Novel microchips imitate the brain’s information…
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have created a new type of microchip that allows information to move in three dimensions, left to right, back…
As computer chips continue to shrink, developers are reaching the limits on how small they can make patterns for wires. A team of researchers at…
By allowing for occasional errors, prototype “inexact” computer chips are more efficient than today’s technology, improving power and resource efficiency. Researchers have unveiled an “inexact”…
As the demand for faster computers continues to rise, so does the demand for microchips that will power those computers. While the idea of adding…
Researchers at MIT developed a MEMS device that enables 3-D sensing on a single chip by using a new design approach. Their new design method…
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT have designed a compact cell sorter that requires no additional parts or steps. Their cell-sorting microchip takes…
Researchers have announced that a wirelessly-programmed implant, which has been successfully tested in human trials, could save patients the pain of daily injections. The trials…
Proteus Biomedical’s smart pills, which are pills that include embedded microchips, are set to launch this year in the United Kingdom, with the collaboration of…