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PART 2

Task 1. Learn the following words and word combinations:
Subsequent advances, capacitors, retrospectively, small-scale
integration (SSI), medium-scale integration (MSI), large-scale
integration (LSI), Very-large-scale integration (VLSI), ultra-large-
scale integration (ULSI), calibrate various levels, render such
distinctions moot, semiconductor fabrication, to lay out the
transistors, radical miniaturization, NEMS technology.

Task 2. Create your own sentences using the above mentioned
words and phrases.

TEXT 2
VLSI
Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating
integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single
chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and
communication technologies were being developed. The
microprocessor is a VLSI device.
The first semiconductor chips held two transistors each.
Subsequent advances added more and more transistors, and, as a
consequence, more individual functions or systems were integrated
over time. The first integrated circuits held only a few devices,
perhaps as many as ten diodes, transistors, resistors and capacitors,
making it possible to fabricate one or more logic gates on a single
device. Now known retrospectively as small-scale integration (SSI),
improvements in technique led to devices with hundreds of logic
gates, known as medium-scale integration (MSI). Further
improvements led to large-scale integration (LSI), i.e. systems with
at least a thousand logic gates. Current technology has moved far
past this mark and today's microprocessors have many millions of
gates and billions of individual transistors.

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