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Hardware

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

By Bill Detwiler October 11, 2005, 8:55 PM PDT on Twitter billdetwiler

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Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

This image of Waldo from the “Where’s Waldo” children’s book series was the first silicon artwork found by Silicon Zoo curator Michael Davidson.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

This image of Thor, god of thunder, appears in a Hewlett-Packard chip. It’s drawn with an unusual method: Tiny dots appear where “via” wires extend downward through the chip to connect different layers. This is the largest chip image in the Silicon Zoo.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

Marvin the Martian appears on an image sensor chip used on the Mars rovers.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

This cheetah appeared in a Hewlett-Packard memory controller chip. This art was problematic: The cheetah’s aluminum spots flaked off, causing short circuits elsewhere on the chip.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

A rendition of a Mickey Mouse watch is shown on a Mostek 5017 alarm clock chip.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

This sailboat, from a 1970s Texas Instrument chip, is the earliest example of chip artwork found so far.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

In a burst of symbolism, Intel engineers crafted an image of a shepherd looking after a two-headed ram. The real purpose of the Intel 8207 chip: a dual-port RAM (random access memory) controller.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

A chip used in Digital Equipment’s MicroVax 3000 and 6200 minicomputers carries a message in Russia’s Cyrillic alphabet: “VAX–when you care enough to steal the very best.” The message was intended for technicians on the other side of the Cold War who might try to reverse-engineer the VAX designs by looking closely at the originals.

Photos: Inside these chips, art awaits

A tiny train rides “tracks” that are used in charge-coupled devices to convert electrical signals into digital information.

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By Bill Detwiler
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show.
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