The Last Transistor

The Last Transistor

The CVAX microprocessor was used in the Digital MicroVAX 3000 and VAX 6200 series of computers. This chip was the target of some nice artwork by Digital circuit designers and includes the Dream and the "Steal the Best" slogan. We are also told that the star (illustrated in the photomicrograph above) represents the last transistor laid out by the designers and was accompanied by the slogan "This is the very last one", although the slogan is absent on this particular specimen. The star, which appears in the memory management section of the chip, seems to be located in an area devoid of transistors, so we are not exactly sure which transistor is really the last one.


© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
Last modification: Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004 at 03:30 PM
Access Count Since August 6, 1999: 29671