Instrumentation V: ICs: From sensors to displays: Instrument performance is up, costs are down. It's done, not with mirrors, but with integrated circuits

From small simple digital panel meters to large sophisticated test systems, integrated circuits continue to have a vast impact on improvements in instrument performance. Entire generations of new instruments have come into existence, thanks to monolithic ICs. Sophisticated logic analyzers, low-cost frequency synthesizers and counters, wide-band oscilloscopes, and truly portable instruments of all types are a few of the more obvious examples. The driving force behind all this has been the continuous increase in IC-device volumetric efficiency — putting down more electronic circuits on smaller IC chips. Starting with the first ICs of the early '60s, solid-state monolithic technology has continued to evolve from SSI to MSI to today's LSI ICs. LSI microprocessors, for example, are creating a new generation of “smart” instruments.