third generation computer marked yet another era in which the computers got smaller while their capacities got larger. integrated circuits on tiny silicon chips replaced transistors. the chips were the brainstorm of Jack S. Kilby of texas Instruments. Kilby discover that components of electronic circuits could be etched printed together, or integrated onto small chips rather than being wired together. Kilby's first circuit was primitive, but soon a single silicon chip less than one eighth inch square could hold sixty four complete circuits. This seems crude to us now since today's chips may contain as many as five hundred thousand transistors.
The new chips marked the third generation of computer, and they made it possible to design computers that used less power, cost less, and were smaller and more reliable than any previous machine. Although computers became smaller, their memories became larger, owing to placement of memory on tiny chips.