A chip having 150 gates will be classified as

Concept

Integrated circuits are grouped by scale of integration, using the approximate number of logic gates placed on one chip.

Under the historical gate-count convention used for this classification, SSI covers about 10–100 gates, MSI about 100–1,000 gates, LSI about 1,000–10,000 gates, and VLSI 10,000 or more gates.

Application

1. The chip contains 150 gates.

2. The number 150 lies in the 100–1,000 gate band.

3. That band is called medium-scale integration (MSI).

Contrast

• SSI describes the lower small-scale band, below the band containing 150 gates.

• LSI begins at the next higher large-scale band in this convention.

• VLSI is used for a much higher integration level.

Cross-check

Since 150 exceeds the SSI range but is far below the LSI threshold in this convention, the classification is MSI.