Microcircuits: The Brain and the Brawn

For years the semiconductor industry has been building more and more circuits that are faster and faster. To do the processing job, the computer industry has used these tools to develop bigger and faster computers. The limitations of input and output as well as cost have prevented the small user from taking a computer approach to solving a wide range of commercial and industrial problems. This paper will discuss three new developments in microcircuits which enable the small user to approach these problems in a computer-like fashion. These ciruits are the microprocessor, the pressure transducer, and the temperature sensor.