chip

An electronic device made on a piece of siliconAn element (number 14 in the periodic table) that can be a semiconductor, making it the material of preference for circuits and micro-mechanical devices.. These days, it could also involve a mechanical chip, but, to the outside world, everything looks electronic. The chip is usually in some kind of package; that package might contain multiple chips. “Integrated circuit,” and “IC” mean the same thing, but refer only to electronic chips, not mechanical chips.