The Cellar - View Single Post - 5/15/2002: micro-art hidden in circuits

tw · 05-15-2002, 11:52 PM

Microart in Integrated circuits was an article some months back in IEEE Spectrum. Before the law would protect designers, IC designers would etch unique letters or pictures into the IC so that a direct copy theft was obvious and illegal. Once we finally got real laws (such as those that defined reverse engineering), then IC art died - having no purpose.

At least it was suppose to die. Some still put some interesting pictures in their designs - which required passive cooperation with the entire design team.

Intel has a strict rule about no artwork in ICs.

But artwork gets more difficult. Artwork would be circuits that violate design rules. Silicon valley billboards advertise chip verification software. Artwork causes verification programs to cough up the design as failures. Some IC design houses have strict rules that there be no violation of those design verification rules - therefore artwork cannot exist.

But in the olden days: IEEE Spectrum before March had quite a number of artwork examples from ancient history.

05-15-2002, 11:52 PM	#10
tw Read? I only know how to write. Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,933	Microart in Integrated circuits was an article some months back in IEEE Spectrum. Before the law would protect designers, IC designers would etch unique letters or pictures into the IC so that a direct copy theft was obvious and illegal. Once we finally got real laws (such as those that defined reverse engineering), then IC art died - having no purpose. At least it was suppose to die. Some still put some interesting pictures in their designs - which required passive cooperation with the entire design team. Intel has a strict rule about no artwork in ICs. But artwork gets more difficult. Artwork would be circuits that violate design rules. Silicon valley billboards advertise chip verification software. Artwork causes verification programs to cough up the design as failures. Some IC design houses have strict rules that there be no violation of those design verification rules - therefore artwork cannot exist. But in the olden days: IEEE Spectrum before March had quite a number of artwork examples from ancient history.