Silicon Wafer - Computer Chip Art - Star Trek, USS Enterprise, Hitchcock, Microprocessor, Rockwell, 4 Inch

About this ArtworkThis artwork celebrates the tiny Chip Art that computer chip designers would sometimes place on chips. It includes a wafer, images of the chip, and closeups of the art found on the chip. Read more below for more detailed information. About Making Computer Chips and Chip ArtComputer chips start out as ordinary sand, which is silicon dioxide. However, the silicon must be made very, very pure. The first step is to melt the sand, in a furnace that reaches about 3200F, to separate the silicon. The silicon is further purified in a process that creates 99.9999% pure silicon called polycrystalline silicon. The polysilicon is broken up into chunks. These chunks are melted in a crucible at about 2500F. A silicon crystal seed is dipped in molten silicon and slowly drawn out to create a cylinder of silicon. These silicon cylinders are some of the purest crystals on the planet. Once the silicon cylinder is grown to the desired diameter, it is sawed into wafers. These wafers are po