Common Kinds of Integrated Circuits

Voltage Regulator � A voltage regulator IC is a three-terminal linear IC which is

capable of providing extremely stable voltage supply. Many different voltage
regulator ICs that can supply load currents from 100mA to 3A are available
commercially. This type of ICs commonly has a feature called thermal shutdown.
When the internal temperature of the IC reaches a certain temperature (typically
+175 deg. Celsius), the regulator shuts down and prevents the chip from getting
any hotter. This protects the IC from excessively high value of heat which may
destroy it and damage the connected circuit or load. The LM340 series is a popular
series of voltage regulator ICs. They provide regulated voltages of 5, 6, 8, 10,
12, 15, 18, and 24V. Common applications of voltage regulator ICs include power
supplies.

Operational Amplifier (OP Amp) � OP Amps are the most commonly used type of linear
IC. It is a type of amplifier with a high gain, which means that the ratio of the
output to input voltage is in high percentage. Aside from being amplifiers, OP
Amps can also be used as voltage comparators.

Logic IC � This type of integrated circuit is the commonly used of all digital
ICs. These ICs contain gates which correspond to the logic functions of AND, OR,
NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR, and NOT. Other types of digital ICs are created by creating
different combinations of these logic gates.

Multiplexer � A multiplexer is a type of digital IC which contains combinational

circuit that selects binary information from one of many inputs and directs it to
a single output line (many to one). Multiplexer ICs have select pins that
determine which of the many inputs should be selected as the output.

Demultiplexer � Demultiplexer IC is the counterpart of multiplexer IC. It accepts

one input and directs the input to many output lines (one to many).

Decoder � Decoder ICs are kinds of digital ICs that are capable of converting
binary information to a format which is understandable by humans. For example, the
binary digit 0101 can be decoded by a decoder IC and be displayed as a numeric
number 5 in a 7-segment display component.

Adder/Subtractor � These are digital ICs that perform the basic operation of
binary addition and subtraction. There are no ICs which can perform multiplication
and division operations but these mathematical functions can be performed by using
Adder and Subtractor ICs along with other ICs like counters.

Flip-flop � Flip-flops are the basic elements of a sequential logic circuit. They
are digital devices which produces outputs in reaction to a series of inputs.
Unlike logic gates, they do not have predetermined output values because their
output depends on the sequence of inputs. Flip-flops are contained in different IC
packages.

Counter � Counters are created through the combination of different flip-flops.

Counters produces a string of outputs which follows a specific pattern. For
example, the output of a counter IC may be from 0000 to 1111 (that is a count from
0 to 15).

Registers � Registers serves a storage of bits of information. They are often

associated with clocks and mainly composed of flip-flops. Register ICs come in
different packages which have different storage capacities.

Clocks/Timers � These are ICs which are capable of producing signals which could
serve as inputs to other ICs or gates. Clock signals are commonly used to
synchronize the operations of a sequential circuit.