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. Microprocessors and
memory chips are VLSI devices.
Before the introduction of VLSI technology, most ICs had a limited set of
functions they could perform. An electronic circuit might consist of a CPU,
ROM, RAM and other glue logic. VLSI enables IC designers to add all of these
into one chip.
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