A chip is a small piece of semiconductor material, typically silicon, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Silicon chips are the most common type of chip. They are made by slicing a single crystal of silicon into thin wafers and then adding various electrical components to the surface of the wafer.
The first chips were developed in the early 1950s and were used primarily for military applications. In the 1960s, chips began to be used for commercial purposes such as calculators and computers. Today, chips are an essential part of almost all electronic devices, from cell phones to automobiles.
The term “chip” can also refer to other types of semiconductor materials besides silicon, such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide. These materials are sometimes used for specialized applications where silicon cannot be used or where higher performance is required. For example, gallium arsenide is often used in lasers and solar cells while indium phosphide is commonly used in fiber-optic communications systems.
Chips are produced using a process called lithography. In this process, a patterned mask is placed over a wafer and light is shone through the mask onto the wafer. The light exposes areas of the wafer that will become part of the circuit on the chip. The exposed areas are then coated with a layer of conductive material such as copper or aluminum which forms the interconnections between different parts of the circuit on the chip. Finally,the entire wafer is covered with an insulating material such as glass or plastic which protects the circuitry on the chip from damage during handling or use.