science

Integrated device manufacturer

Integrated device manufacturer is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Integrated device manufacturer rather than just read about it. In short: An integrated device manufacturer (IDM) is a semiconductor company which designs, manufactures, and sells integrated circuit (IC) products. IDM is often used to refer to a company which handles semiconductor manufacturing in-house, compared to a fabless semiconductor company, which outsources production to a third-party semiconductor fabrication plant.

Key takeaways

Integrated device manufacturer belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Integrated device manufacturer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Integrated device manufacturer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

An integrated device manufacturer (IDM) is a semiconductor company which designs, manufactures, and sells integrated circuit (IC) products. IDM is often used to refer to a company which handles semiconductor manufacturing in-house, compared to a fabless semiconductor company, which outsources production to a third-party semiconductor fabrication plant. Examples of IDMs are Intel, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Infineon and STMicroelectronics. Fabless companies include AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Zhaoxin, and examples of pure play foundries are GlobalFoundries, TSMC, and UMC. Due to the dynamic nature of the semiconductor industry, the term IDM has become less accurate than when it was coined.

OSATs The term OSATs means "outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers". OSATs have dominated IC packaging and testing.

Fabless operations

The terms fabless (fabrication-less), foundry, and IDM are now used to describe the role a company has in a business relationship. For example, Freescale owns and operates fabrication facilities (fab) where it manufactures many chip product lines, as a traditional IDM would. Yet it is known to contract with merchant foundries for other products, as would fabless companies.

Manufacturers Many electronic manufacturing companies engage in business that would qualify them as an IDM:

Reading Understanding fabless IC technology By Jeorge S. Hurtarte, Evert A. Wolsheimer, Lisa M. Tafoya 1.4.1 Integrated device manufacturer Page 8

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Integrated device manufacturer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Integrated device manufacturer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Integrated device manufacturer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Integrated device manufacturer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Integrated device manufacturer

In research: Integrated device manufacturer appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Integrated device manufacturer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Integrated device manufacturer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Semiconductor device fabrication, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Integrated device manufacturer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Integrated device manufacturer” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Integrated device manufacturer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Integrated device manufacturer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Integrated device manufacturer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Integrated device manufacturer in simple terms?

Why does Integrated device manufacturer matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Integrated device manufacturer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Integrated device manufacturer.