ELECTRONIC DESIGN

April 5, 1999
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Next time you're examining a chip through your microscope, take a good look around. You may be in for a surprise. Nowadays, designers are flexing the creative side of their brains by adding a little bit of artwork to their chip designs.

According to a recent article by Melanie Yeager in the Tallahassee Democrat, chip designers have been including artwork for years. Smaller than the width of a human hair, their signatures and doodles were never more than intricate inside jokes within the industry. But the director of the optical-microscopy program at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., discovered one on his own.

Michael Davidson was photographing some criss-cross computer chip circuitry when he encountered a micro-sized version of Waldo, star of the popular "Where's Waldo" children's book series. Investigating a little further, he found cartoon favorite Daffy Duck hiding out on the same chip. These shots were included in his 1996 calendar, "Chip Shots, a Calendar of Microprocessors."

The chip's designer, Kevin Kuhn, saw the calendar and contacted Davidson to confess to the microscopic graffiti. Davidson then realized that this wasn't an isolated occurrence, and he began to search for other examples of chip art. Since his quest began, he has collected an amazing group of examples. Pictures of these can be found on his Silicon Animals web site.

Interest in the web site has grown tremendously since its debut in late 1998. Its 60-image gallery includes sailboats, buffalos, cartoon characters, college mascots, and even Godzilla, king of the movie monsters. One of Kuhn's most original designs, pictured on the web site, is a reproduction of a colleague's wedding announcement, including a rendering of the happy couple! Who ever said that chip designers have no creativity?

You can find Silicon Animals at http://www.micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures.