Generation Three - Integrated Circuits

    The integrated circuit  placed transistors, resistors and diodes onto a single chip made of a semiconductor material of either Silicon or Germanium, and can hold thousands of them. The resistors are used to control the amount of current that can pass by limiting the flow of electricity. Capacitors collect, hold and release electricty in one giant burst of energy. Diodes are used to stop electricity under various conditions and then realease them when conditions change. The creation of the integrated circuit shrunk the size and cost of electronics. Furthermore instead of making transistors one by one, several can be made at the same time, and on the same piece of semiconductors, and not only transistors, but resistors, capacitors, and diodes.

Moore's Law

    Gordon E. Moore the co-founder of Intel wrote a paper stating that the number of transistors in integrated circuits has double every year since the invention of the integrated circuit, he predicted that this trend would only last ten years. Forty-five years later and the prediction is still somewhat true, and has become known as Moore's law. The prediction that the number of transistors will double has held true, but the prediction that the trend will end has not.