ASICs and ICs

ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit): [pronounced “A-sick”]  an integrated circuit (IC) customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use.

ASICs have from 5,000 gates to over 100 million gates. Modern ASICs often include entire microprocessors, memory blocks including ROM, RAM, EEPROM, flash memory and other large building blocks. Such an ASIC is often termed a SoC (system-on-chip). Designers of digital ASICs often use a hardware description language (HDL), such as Verilog or VHDL, to describe the functionality of ASICs.

IC (integrated circuit): (also referred to as a chip or a microchip) a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon; can be made very compact, much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent components. ICs today can have up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a fingernail with the width of each conducting line in a circuit being made smaller and smaller (under 100 nanometers in 2008, now down to tens of nanometers). Digital IC design uses the general approach of specifying the desired behavior in a textual programming language and letting the tools derive the detailed physical design.