Chip art

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image of a buffalo, trailing buffalo chips, etched on a digital filter chip from the HP3582a audio spectrum analyzer. Buffalo by Kathy Mazzotta, Yvette Norman, and Sandy Shertzer. Image from the Molecular Expressions Silicon Zoo of Florida State University, courtesy of Michael W. Davidson

Chip art, also known as silicon art, chip graffiti or silicon doodling, refers to microscopic artwork built into integrated circuits, also called chips or ICs. Since ICs are printed by photolithography, not constructed a component at a time, there is no additional cost to include features in otherwise unused space on the chip. Designers have used this freedom to put all sorts of artwork on the chips themselves, from designer's simple initials to rather complex drawings. Given the small size of chips, these figures cannot be seen without a microscope. Chip graffiti is sometimes called the hardware version of software easter eggs.

Prior to 1984, these doodles also served a practical purpose. If a competitor produced a similar chip, and examination showed it contained the same doodles, then this was strong evidence that the design was copied (a copyright violation) and not independently derived. A 1984 revision of the US copyright law (the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984) made all chip masks automatically copyrighted, with exclusive rights to the creator, and similar rules apply in most other countries that manufacture ICs. Therefore an exact copy is now automatically a copyright violation, and the doodles serve no useful purpose.

[edit] Creating chip art

Easter egg inside an ADSP-2181 chip: an etching of video game character Sonic the Hedgehog

Integrated Circuits are constructed from multiple layers of material, typically silicon, silicon dioxide (glass) and aluminum. The composition and thickness of these layers give them their distinctive color and appearance. These elements created an irresistible palette for IC design and layout engineers.

The creative process involved in the design of these chips, a strong sense of pride in their work, and an artistic temperament combined compels people to want to mark their work as their own. It is very common to find initials, or groups of sets of initials on chips. This is the design engineer's way of "signing" his/her work.

Often this creative artist's instinct extends to the inclusion of small pictures or icons. These may be images of significance to the designers, comments related to the chip's function, inside jokes, or even satirical references to their corporate masters in the cartoonists tradition (e.g. the mythical, never seen "bill sux" comment on a Pentium chip).

The mass production of these works of art as parasites on the body of a commercial IC goes unnoticed by most observers and is discouraged by semiconductor corporations as a frivolous waste of resources. Their existence is a tribute to human resourcefulness and creativity surfacing from deep within a complex process.

[edit] External links

• The Silicon Zoo - A portion of the Molecular Expressions web site from Florida State University, containing pictures of hundreds of discovered chip artworks. The buffalo shown here is from this website.
• The Secret Art of Chip Graffiti IEEE Spectrum article on chip artwork, by H. Goldstein, Volume: 39, Issue: 3, Mar 2002, pp. 50-55.
• Yahoo directory of chip art pages and articles.
• Chipworks An entire silicon art gallery found on the chips analysed by Chipworks.