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At one time, there was an effort to name and calibrate various
levels of large-scale integration above VLSI. Terms like ultra-large-
scale integration (ULSI) were used. But the huge number of gates
and transistors available on common devices has rendered such fine
distinctions moot. Terms suggesting greater than VLSI levels of
integration are no longer in widespread use.
As of early 2008, billion-transistor processors are
commercially available. This became more commonplace as
semiconductor fabrication advanced from the then-current generation
of 65 nm processes. A notable example is Nvidia's 280 series GPU.
This GPU is unique in the fact that almost all of its 1.4 billion
transistors are used for logic, in contrast to the Itanium, whose large
transistor count is largely due to its 24 MB L3 cache. Current
designs, unlike the earliest devices, use extensive design automation
and automated logic synthesis to lay out the transistors, enabling
higher levels of complexity in the resulting logic functionality.
Certain high-performance logic blocks like the SRAM (static
random-access memory) cell, however, are still designed by hand to
ensure the highest efficiency. VLSI technology may be moving
toward further radical miniaturization with introduction of NEMS
technology.

Task 3. Do you remember the English equivalents of the
following words and word combinations?
Наступні досягнення, конденсатори, заглядаючи у минуле,
інтеграція малого рівня, інтеграція середнього рівня, інтеграція
високого рівня, інтеграція надвисокого рівня, інтеграція
ультрависокого рівня, градуювати різні рівні, зробити такі
відмінності спірними, виробництво напівпровідників,
компонувати транзистори, радикальна мініатюризація,
нанотехнології.

Task 4. Discuss the following ideas:
1. What is VLSI?

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