IC (integrated circuit) chips are used extensively for building circuits. This tutorial will teach you how to identify them and how to use them in circuit design. The IC chips will be located by the solo computer station in the front of the room.

Use the following diagram to identify each chip and its pins.

Identify the type of chip you have by the number printed on the physical IC chip, compare it to the number below each chip in the diagram. Sometimes the printed text on the chip is faint and hard to read. Trying tilting the chip to view the text in a better angle of light. If you really can't read it, just get another chip.

The chip number is not so straightforward to find within the printed text, but it's not too difficult. The first two digits and the last two digits are separated and surround by letters that you can ignore. The following picture demonstrates where to find the chip number. This is a 7432 IC chip, the one with or gates in it.

Once you have the physical IC chip that you want to use, orient it according to the notch that is shown on the left side of each chip in the diagram above. A similar notch will be found on your physical chip. Then use the pins on each chip according to the diagram when hooking up your inputs and outputs.

Pin 14 is colored in red and is to be connected to +3.3 Volts (VCC) on every chip you use. Pin 7 in blue needs to be connected to ground (GND) on every chip. All the other pins can be used as needed.

When placing IC chips on the breadboard, only place them across the gutter, as explained in the Building Logic Circuits on a Breadboard tutorial.