2007-11-01 11:45:07 · 3 answers · asked by Alexander 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Well, they are not so much "legs" as they are "pins" and those are not on the chip but on the package. The chip itself only has bonding pads which can be connected to the package with very thin aluminum or gold wires or, in case of modern chips, solder bumps.
I have seen chips/packages anywhere from two to roughly two thousand pins. But there is not hard limit. You could make one with ten thousand. It would be a fairly expensive chip and the cost for packaging would go into the k$ but if you needed it, I bet somebody could make it for you.
2007-11-01 11:53:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
It needs a minimum of two pins, since any electric circuit must have a return path.
Typical micro chips come in the follow package sizes.
3, 8, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 32, 40, 44, 68, 80, 100 pin.
There are higher end micro processors that come with some 200 + pins, Sorry, I don't use them that often to ramble the correct numbers off the top of my head.
2007-11-01 23:57:20 · answer #2 · answered by Josh B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Big chips don't have the "centipede" legs of 1980s technology. Instead, they have grids of vertical pins or solder bumps covering the whole underside of the chip's package.
I don't know the limit, but I know of commercial products that have over 1500 pins.
I expect the number to keep going up.
PS: Although standard techiques require at least two wires for a circuit, one-wire products exist.
2007-11-02 10:14:11 · answer #3 · answered by Tom V 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋