Discrete circuit Vs Integrated circuit

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Hello! Good day steemians.

Today I will post an article relating to electronics and circuits. It will discuss the difference between discrete circuit and integrated circuit. It is a unbiased post, what I am up to is to give information about this topic and I will not recommend which of this type is best to use. Expected that I will only contrast this two types and it is up to you what will you use.

What is the purpose?

1. Enlighten the readers on what type of circuit to use in their future projects.
2. Give advantages and disadvantages that serve as the guide for deciding circuit type.

What is Discrete Circuit?

Refers to the type of circuit construction in which the components are manufactured separately. The component are connected using a conducting wires, breadboard or a printed circuit board (PCB). These components can be resistor, diodes, transistors and inductors.

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Components of this circuit type are combined to performed a particular output. For example, we can use transistors to create a logic gates. Discrete circuits can be designed to use in low voltage or high voltage, it depends on the acceptability and compatibility of components. Nowadays, most of electronics devices are mixture of discrete component and integrated circuits.

Advantages of Discrete circuits

1. Handles high power input
2. Produces high power output
It can produce high power output that can drive the actuators diectly.
3. Achieves low temperature coefficient
4. Can change parameters of the circuit
Changing the parameter of the circuit can be achieved here as same as changing the components and values of components.

Disdvantages of Discrete circuits

1. Assembling and Wiring
Assembling and wiring of separate components will take time and it usually occupies space that makes the circuitry bulky.

2. Designing the Circuitry
In case of designing, it takes patience and creativity. Usually discrete circuits have many component to combining. So, this will test your patience in designing a circuit in which components and wires will not messed up.

3. Replacement of failed components
It is complicated to replace failed components in this type of circuit construction. Some components are connected to each other and the other components will be affect when removing the other. For the intention of making the circuit as compact as possible, replacing single component is fragile.

4. Less Relibility
Wires and components are usually connected with soldering process. Soldering process by hand affects reliability due to solder joint behavior, component damage and cleanliness. Solder joint behavior can affect because it can add resistances on the circuit specially when you had bad solder joint. Usually, soldering process would reached to 400 degrees celsius and this high temperature can damage the component.

What is integrated Circuit?

Integrated Circuit or IC is a very small array of electronic circuits and components like capacitor, resistor, transistor and diode which are diffused into the surface of semiconductor wafer such as silicon. Usually comes in chip package and it represents a circuit system (not single element) and a single IC can be represent as up to thousands of elements brought together into a single chip.

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IC's are enclosed with a solid outer cover made from insulating material with contact or terminals called as pins. Also, the solid outer cover was designed to have a high thermal conductivity for the devices not to melt during runtime.

These are the common packaging type of an IC.

• Dual In-line Package (DIP)
• Plastic Quad Flat Pack (PQFP)
• Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA)

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Advantages of IC

1. Small in size
IC's are small in size but, practically as equivalent as around 20,000 components that are incorporated in a single chip.

2. Simplifies Design
On the end, complex circuits are fabricated with in a single chip. Therefore, designing of a complex circuit will be simplified into a single chip.

3. High Reliability
Complex circuit are incorporated on a single chip making it with lesser number of connections. Thus, soldering process will be minimize to gain high reliability.

4. Low cost
Production of IC's are done in bulk or mass production. Therefore, the price of IC per unit will be reduce due to high supply. It will be much inexpensive rather than creating equivalent discrete circuit of an IC.

5. Low power consumption
Because IC's are made of semiconductor material wafer, it consumes very little power or less power. As we know that semiconductors draw lesser power than other elements.

6. Easy to replace component
In integrated circuit, a circuit system will be considered a single element. So, replacing the entire circuit is easy rather than finding the specific component and replace it in discrete circuit. Also, there is no need of repairing. Replacement is economical and reliable than repair.

7. Increase operating speed
Integrated circuits can increase the operation speed because parasitic elements such as capacitors are omitted.

8. Small Signal Suitability
IC components are designed with very compact arrangement within the wafer. So, these components are help close to each other and there is no chance of stray electrical pick ups.

Disadvantages of Integrated Circuits

1. Impossible to modify the parameters
After the IC was fabricated, it is impossible to modify its parameters in which it will operate.

2. Cannot be repair
When the component of an IC is damaged, the whole IC should be replaced and it is impossible the repair the component inside.

3. Cannot be integrated with high capacitance
With the capacitance value higher than 30pF, it is impossible to fabricate in the semiconductor chip. To make it possible, should have connected to discrete component externally.

4. Low power production
It is impossible for a IC to produce a high power output. Usually it can not produce power greater than 10W. So, it is impossible to feed directly the output from IC to actuators like motors. Discrete component is needed to drive the actuators.

5. Exterior connection of inductor and transformer
Discrete components such as inductors and transformers are impossible to fabricate in semiconductor chip. If the circuit needs inductor, connecting it external inductor is the only way.

For more on these, here are my resources. You can check it out.

1. https://www.elprocus.com/difference-between-discrete-circuits-integrated-circuits/
2. http://www.circuitnet.com/experts/86732.html
3. https://itstillworks.com/discrete-electronics-18905.html
4. https://electronicspost.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-integrated-circuits-ics/