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The transistor count is the number of transistors in an electronic device (typically on a single substrate or silicon die).It is the most common measure of integrated circuit complexity (although the majority of transistors in modern microprocessors are contained in cache memories, which consist mostly of the same memory cell circuits replicated many times).
The first integrated circuits contained only a few transistors. Early digital circuits containing tens of transistors provided a few logic gates, and early linear ICs such as the Plessey SL201 or the Philips TAA320 had as few as two transistors. The number of transistors in an integrated circuit has increased dramatically since then.
An electronic circuit can usually be categorized as an analog circuit, a digital circuit, or a mixed-signal circuit (a combination of analog circuits and digital circuits). The most widely used semiconductor device in electronic circuits is the MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor ).
[c] Therefore, in every technology generation transistor density would double, circuit becomes 40% faster, while power consumption (with twice the number of transistors) stays the same. [141] Dennard scaling ended in 2005–2010, due to leakage currents.
The MOSFET is by far the most widely used transistor for both digital circuits as well as analog circuits, [103] accounting for 99.9% of all transistors in the world. [101] The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) was previously the most commonly used transistor during the 1950s to 1960s.
A digital circuit is typically constructed from small electronic circuits called logic gates that can be used to create combinational logic. Each logic gate is designed to perform a function of Boolean logic when acting on logic signals.
The MOSFET is by far the most common transistor in digital circuits, as billions may be included in a memory chip or microprocessor. As MOSFETs can be made with either p-type or n-type semiconductors, complementary pairs of MOS transistors can be used to make switching circuits with very low power consumption, in the form of CMOS logic .
Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (metal oxide semiconductor) chips were developed and then widely adopted, enabling complex semiconductor and telecommunications technologies.