Information Art : Diagramming Microchips Cara Mccarty

Information art : diagramming microchips Cara McCarty

Author McCarty, Cara

Date 1990

Publisher The Museum of Modern Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams

ISBN 0870703102, 0810960001

Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2101

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists.

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Archive MoMA 1558 This exhibition is made possible by the Intel Corporation Foundation.

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cover:Intel 386™ microprocessor chip, detail opposite:IBM Product Development Laboratory. Control Panel for IBM305 (Random-AccessMemory Accounting Machine, RAMAC).1950. Aluminum, plastic-covered aluminum wires. TheMuseum of ModernArt, NewYork. Gift of IBM.

The Museum of Modern Art Library Information Art DIAGRAMMING MICROCHIPS

cara Mccarty

TheMuseum ofModern Art, New York

DISTRIBUTED BY HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC., NEW YORK Information Art DIAGRAMMING MICROCHIPS

The integrated circuit is one of the most sophisti al machine parts and tools as well. One of the cated and influential products of our technologi Museum's first design exhibitions, Machine Art, cal civilization. It is also among our most complex, organized in 1934, was dedicated to celebrating most powerful, and least expensive devices, and the beauty of machines and focused primarily on the smallest. Its invention in 1958 brought about mechanical objects and their inner components. the microelectronics industry, which today is the Propellers,springs, and ball bearings were among second largest in the United States. The impact of the objects selected for their pure, geometric the integrated circuit has been revolutionary. Not forms. They were not consciously "designed" or only has it established entirely new standards for "styled," but rather their beauty derived from mass production that require methods of fabrica their economy of design. Beauty was a byproduct tion and a degree of precision hitherto unknown of their function. Their unembellished forms in the industrial age, but it has led to the develop became a matter of aesthetic preference for many ment of many products that did not exist twenty artists and designers of this century, and set a years ago. It is the technology that made possible standard for the Museum's design collection. microwave ovens, pocket calculators, and pace In retrospect Machine Art representeda sum makers, as well as moon landings and satellites. mation of what had been the prevailing technolo Its archetypal product is the computer. gy, for at that time machines powered by electrici The integrated circuit is the result of one of ty were beginning to replace mechanical those rare, pivotal moments in history when dis machines.Today microelectronicsis central to our coveries in all the major sciences—chemistry, technology, and the integrated circuit is at the physics, mathematics, optics, and electrical engi heart of the microelectronicsindustry. It enables us neering—converged, and combined with a culture to process,store, and transmit massiveamounts of ready to implement the technology. Scientists information, quickly and reliably; and as a result pushed their researchto the limits, and in associa much of our information today, whether it be tion with entrepreneurs created an electronic mar numbers, letters, or images, exists in electrical vel that is radically changing our lives. The focal form and passesthrough these tiny devices. point of that knowledge is contained within a tiny The term "information" is being used in con sliver of silicon known as an integrated circuit, a nection with these diagrams to underscore our microchip, or chip, which is layered with patterns increasing dependence on this technology. The of circuits too small for the naked eye to see. complex network of lines channel the flow of The diagrams reproduced here are computer- data, and their configurations determine how it is generated plots of the electronic pathways that processed. Unlike painting, which is primarily an make up integrated circuits. People have dia emotional and aesthetic endeavor, these are grammed for millennia, but these diagrams reveal designs of rigorous efficiency guided by rules of a world that would otherwise be invisible to us. logic and laws of physics. Artifacts of rational Usuallywe think of diagrams as being representa thought, they do not allow for ambiguity. tions smaller than the final product, but these The consideration of the diagrams as art drawings are a few hundred times larger than the derives from their patterning. They are the most actual circuits; and they are so intricate that even complex patterns people have ever made, and when enlarged five hundred times they retain because of their intricacy they can be deciphered their density.They are unique in that, unlike draw completely only by a computer. But even if we ings of earlier logic machines,there is little distinc never understand them, we can delight in their tion between what is being represented and the marvelouslycomplex and variegated designs.Their representing.They are not symbolic, but are multi- dynamic patterns give us an intuitive notion of layered patterns of the actual circuitry, and what the technology is about and make the become the template of the chip. Each color cor microchipstangible to us. The sheer intricacy of the responds to a layer that is made into a stencil, configurations suggests the thousands of hours, which is ultimately reduced photographically and the effort and the precision, required by teams of etched into silicon. These designswere in fact not engineers to produce a single design. The pattern meant to be seen. relationshipsof these diagrams are providing inspi Since the Museum's founding it has recog ration and source material for artists. They are icons nized that beauty is not restricted to the fine arts of our time just as mechanicalcomponents were of or to useful objects, but can be found in function the first part of the twentieth century. Since the end of World War II developments in technology have produced objects, seldom seen by the public, very different in appearancefrom the geometric shapesthat have so far character ized Machine Art. The growing complexity of our machines has led to the miniaturization of parts; electronics has altered our concep tion of how things need to be shaped in order to work, and of how they must be related to each other. The new machine art is visually incomprehensible unless one knows about and believes in the existence of invisible forces. Geometric machine art suggested by its finite shapes the direct action of push and pull; the new machines, or parts of machines, consist often of patterns. Printed circuits in particular, and the use of wires colored for identification in the RAMAC control panel, suggest one change that technology is likely to make on many of our common artifacts: the dematerialization of solid forms into clusters of linear relationships.

Arthur Drexler Twentieth Century Design from the Museum Collection The Museum of Modern Art, 1958 imaginations roam, the grid patterns of these dia ties. Integrated circuits have changed from being grams resemble the warp and weft structure of costly devices for use almost exclusively in space and military equipment to forming the basis of woven textiles, aerial views of cities, agricultural fields, paintings, calendars. all modern electronics. Many of the benefits we enjoy and the conve nienceswe take for granted derive from these tiny Circuit Layout The design and pre-production planning of inte devices that are concealed in computer systems and in the products we use every day. As a culture grated circuits are considerably more expensive we are predisposed toward speed and efficiency, and time consuming than the manufacturing phase. Beginning with the functional require and microchips have greatly increased our expec tations. For example, we take for granted fast and ments for a design, engineers create a network of components capable of performing the desired thorough servicewhen making airline reservations or when using electronic cash dispensers,and we task. These components are then broken down expect our telephone calls to go through instantly. into progressively smaller pieces until the design Computers have assumed much of our routine has been reduced to basic elements, for example work and have alleviated many tedious tasks and transistors. The transistors are then assigned loca computations. When the first computers were tions on the surface of a chip and routes are cho invented after World War II, many scientists sen for the wires needed to connect them. Engineers often discuss the design of inte thought that only a handful would be sufficient for the entire world. Today they number in the grated circuits in terms of real estate. Their con millions and may soon become as commonplace cerns are those of a developer: crowding, density, economy, and efficiency. Like developers, they as televisions. Despite their ubiquity there is an element of want to optimize the use of space, fitting more mystery to integrated circuits. They are mysterious and more into smaller areas. Space is organized because they are sensorially inaccessible to us. hierarchically, and each line has a specific func They have no visible moving components, gears, tion. Currently computers are used for much of the placement and interconnection of compo or levers and they are silent, yet they perform operations and calculations at imperceivable nents. They insure that each of the millions of speeds. The only movement involves electrons, geometric features on a microchip is sufficiently which equally elude our senses.We press buttons separated from its neighbors. The proximity of the to interact with electronic devices and the results wires is crucial: if they are too close they interfere come immediately, but most of us do not have with each other electrically and produce short cir the knowledge to understand how it happened. cuiting. Becausethe thickness of the wires is one Since even on a computer screen the dia hundred times finer than a human hair, it is grams are too small and too dense to be legible, remarkable that engineers can still calculate for the plots are produced as tools for viewing the tolerances in manufacturing to prevent wires from design and verifying the circuit layouts. They are overlapping. like multilevel road maps, with the transistors and Before the actual fabrication, computers also circuits resembling highways, valleys, rivers, and perform extensive simulation of designs in order small back roads. They are indispensable: usually to verify that the microchips will operate correctly generated as three- to four-foot-square drawings, and at the desired speed. Some circuits now have they provide engineers with an overview of the approximately five million intersections, and a sin layout and the relation of its subdivisions, and gle error can render a chip useless.As engineers assist them in determining which areas of a chip gain a better understanding of the design process, can accommodate more components. Colors and ever larger portions of the procedure will be auto textures distinguish the various circuit layers and mated, allowing designers to concentrate on the the spatial relationships of elements. White areas more creative aspects of design such as develop indicate unused space—territory that is still avail ing alternative solutions. Microchips serve a wide range of purposes, able for development. The plots are laid out in a grid format, and and the character of their patterns varies accord each circuit component is located at a specific ingly. The diagrams illustrated here have been "address" on the coordinate system. The grid is a orqanized by type: memory, logic, microproces form we can understand, for it has been used for sors, application-specific (ASIC), and neural nets. centuries by many civilizations as a compositional The complexity of the plots is determined by the device to impose order, discipline, and structural number of components and by the functions they clarity. It is an ordering principle consistent with are to perform. A multiplicity of operations can be our way of thinking, reading, and organizing achieved by combining the basic building information. The most efficient construction we blocks—transistors and wires—in different ways. can make to store and retrieve information, it is Their diverse patterns convey the chip's function. also a visual aid to thinking. When we let our Memory chips store enormous quantities of The microelectronics industry was launched in nanoseconds—billionths of a second. In compari 1947 with the invention of the transistor, a son, snapping one's fingers takes approximately switching element used to control the flow of five hundred million nanoseconds. electricity. The transistor's small size, low power Miniaturization characterizes today's technol consumption, and in particular its reliability were ogy. In the machine age bigger was usually better, its greatest advantages over the bulky vacuum but in the electronic age the opposite is true. We tubes it replaced. However, its widespread com are moving away from the visible, the tactile, and mercial potential was not realized until the inven the directly manipulatable and toward the invisi tion of the microchip, which was a technological ble. For some time we marveled at the microcosm feat. It meant that for the first time transistors through the microscope, but this world is becom could be interconnected as flat patterns of micro ing increasingly accessibleand familiar to us. The scopic circuits within a single material, silicon. The microscopic level has already been penetrated by fabrication process eliminated the need for sepa biologists, chemists, and physicists,and now com rate components that were laboriously hand- puter scientists are actually designing for it. They wired and soldered together, making it possibleto are mapping technology, diagramming electronic manufacture many transistors simultaneously and circuits whose functions are embedded in the permitting the miniaturization of electronics. For minuscule structures of silicon crystals. Although the past thirty years much of the design effort and perceptually the chips are tiny, structurally they competition among companies has been devoted are vast and complex; they now consist of ten to to researchingways to pack an increasingnumber twenty-five layers. It is impossibleto design at that of electronic components into ever-tinier spaces. level and with such density without the aid of a The earliest silicon chips contained two transistors; computer. today ten million transistors can be integrated into Although it may appear that the ever-increas one microchip, and it is estimated that by the end ing miniaturization of technology is being pursued of the century a single chip could contain a billion for aesthetic reasons, it is motivated by practical transistors. considerations: it improves performance. Performance can mean many things—functionali ty, low power consumption, speed—and with integrated circuits these are all maximized by miniaturization. A basic rule in microelectronics is the smaller the better. The compact nature of integrated circuits allows them to operate at high speedsfor long periods without failure of compo nents. They work by "on" or "off" pulses of elec tric current, and the transistor is their basic switching element. The less distance electricity must travel the faster it moves, therefore more efficient chips are being achieved by increasing the number of components and by shortening the wires connecting them. By making transistors smaller, more can be accommodated in a given size chip. Furthermore, smaller transistors con sume less power and switch on or off faster. In an industry where time-saving is paramount, minute differences in time—often only fractions of sec onds—become decisive. Microelectronics represents the essence of mass production. Currently, even in small com panies tens of thousands of identical chips can ENIACComputer. 1946. A single Microchips are the core of the portable com be fabricated in a day for only pennies apiece. microchip today has significantly more puter, which can outperform the unwieldy room- Because the amount of material and the manu computing power than ENIAC,which was 18 feet high, 80 feet long, and size computers developed after World War II. A facturing procedure remain virtually the same required 18,000 vacuum tubes. The single chip no larger than a thumbnail is faster, regardless of the number of elements, the cost ENIAC'smain purpose was to calculate more reliable, lessexpensive, and has more power of the chip does not increase significantly with trajectories of artillery shells. than the first large electronic computer, ENIAC the number of transistors. And chips are contin (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator), uing to perform more complex electronic func developed in 1946. And it requires only the power tions at ever greater speeds and lower costs. In of a single lightbulb to operate. It can perform fact, prices have fallen so much that many elec millions of calculations per second and its small tronic products once considered luxury items are size accounts for its speed, which is measured in now less expensive than some of life's necessi- information. Laid out in tabular form, they are pri marily one cell repeated thousands of times in very dense, orderly arrays, or grids. The computer is ideal for replicating thousands of identical com ponents with very high speed and accuracy. Memory units are the densest of all integrated cir 4 cuits, often resembling impenetrable blocks. Logic chips calculate, compare, and control information or physical devices and their patterns vary considerably.Although some logic chips can be used for many applications, an increasingnum ber of them fall into a category that has been given the name application-specific integrated cir cuit (ASIC). ASICs are tailored to optimally meet the requirements of a particular application and are rarely usable for anything else. For example, an ASIC might provide a critical control function for an automobile or a laser printer. In most cases they have modest performance requirements and do not need particularly large numbers of compo nents; however, the goal is to design them quickly and cheaply. The circuit is often built using a library of pre-designed standard cells and gate arraysthat are laid out in rows and wired together entirely automatically. Their veil-like patterns are less regular than the tight configuration of cells that characterizesthe memory unit. Microprocessors are used for more general applications and combine both logic and memory functions in a single chip. They are a computer's central processing unit. Infinitely versatile, they can be programmed for many different applica tions. The circuitry is organized into distinct regions, creating many different pattern areas. Portions of the layout are still drawn on the com puter by hand to achieve more efficient place ment of critical elements. They are the most diffi cult and time-consuming of all chips to lay out: even with automation it can take teams of twenty to thirty engineers severalyears to design one. As computer technology and design become more refined, researchersare experimenting with neural nets, integrated circuits that emulate the functioning of the human nervous system. Both the hexagonal cell structures and the radial dia gram reproduced here have been modeled after the human retina. Each mirrors the eye's actual neural network. They are intended to be used as eyes in robots for object and pattern recognition. Originally circuit layouts were hand-drawn on paper, and then occasionally cut out from rubyliths, red cellophane-like sheets. Their net work of lines is a looser configuration than those drawn by computer, and the connections between points are often asymmetricaland diago v nal. They have a crafted look when compared with the precision associated with machine pro duction. Computers simplify laying out the diagrams in a more uniform way, creating grids with neat rows and columns. As plots have The cave of Lascaux,France, 15000 B.C. The grid Chinesecharacter for "field." Timgad (Thaumgadi, Algeria). 100 B.C. An aerial view symbol in the cave paintings of Lascauxis perhaps the of a Roman city laid out on a rigid orthogonal plan. earliest depiction of a grid.

Albrecht Durer. Melencolia I. 1514. Engraving(detail). Jan Vredeman de Vries. 1604-05. Engraving.This Jacquard Loom Card (detail), c. 1800. Punched paper National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., engraving shows the use of the grid structure to define card used to control the pattern woven by a Jacquard RosenwaldCollection. architectural perspective. loom.

Anni Albers. Design for tablecloth. 1930. Gouache. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. FriedrichstrasseSkyscraper, Piet Mondrian. Broadway Boogie Woogie. 1942-43. Oil The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Project. 1921. Elevation(east side). Charcoal, pencil on on canvas.The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the designer. brown paper. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously. Gift of Mary Callery. Using fabrication methods that differ radically Technology does not have a form we give it from traditional manufacturing techniques, one, and integrated circuits are among the most microchips are processed rather than assembled highly designed and exquisitely crafted artifacts of from discrete parts. The microscopic circuits are our civilization. When they were invented, few etched onto silicon wafers by photolithography, a realized the impact of the microchip on our soci technique borrowed from printing technology. ety. Not only is the technology responsiblefor the Integrated circuits are built from patterned layers change in many of our products, but it is dealing of different materials stacked one on top of with some of the most vital design concepts of another. During fabrication a mask or template is our time. It has encouraged researchersto pursue constructed for each of the ten to twenty-five the design of a number of products on a previ individual layers. By exposing various chemicals to ously unimaginable scale, in particular micro- light projected through the mask, a copy of the machinery. The same techniques used to design template can be created on the surface of the sili and fabricate integrated circuits may eventually con wafer. Hundreds of identical chips can be fab lead to the development of miniature electric ricated simultaneously on a single wafer. The motors, compact spacecraft hardware, microscop exact alignment of the patterns is critical. The fab ic surgical tools, and even "microbots," pro rication process represents the epitome of preci grammable flea-sized robots capable of perform sion: there is little room for error. In the end each ing microscopicrepair work. integrated circuit is tested and then sectioned into The microchips themselves are perhaps more interesting than the machines in which they lie individual chips. Defective chips must be discarded—it is phys buried. They are objects of wonderment, and the ically impossible to repair them. There are many diagrams illustrated here bring to life their con ways that chips become damaged; for example, cealed beauty. Although not designed for aes layers might be imprecisely aligned, or might be thetic appeal, the diagrams are beautiful and too thick or too thin. Even the tiniest dust parti powerful images in their own right and are influ cles, smaller than the eye can detect, can disrupt encing textile artists, graphic designers, and the delicate patterns being constructed on the painters. The texture of the lines, intrinsic spatial wafer. For this reason fabrication is performed in features, delicacy,repetitive detail, and colors cre "clean rooms," where the air is continually filtered ate sumptuous patterns that have the same to a purity far exceedingthat in hospital operating power to inspire and intrigue us as some of the rooms (many bacteria are larger than the features best paintings of our time. They are patterns for found in today's integrated circuits). Workers can delectation; we can take pleasure in them even if not wear makeup or jewelry and are required to we do not understand the technology. The dia put on protective clothing resembling space suits grams are, however, paradigms of technology, to prevent dust, lint, dandruff, and other bodily and their complex network of lines provide intu particles from falling onto the wafers. In the most itive clues to the precision and efficiency we have advanced facilities, workers are completely come to associate with microelectronics. They enclosed within suits equipped with breathing represent our most sophisticated form of industri apparatus. al design. Cara McCarty

Intel 386 microprocessorchip (shown actual size). 1985. Silicon. (Diagram illustrated on page 32.) A silicon wafer (shown actual size) etched with 142 identical 386 microprocessorchips. The two darker squaresat top and bottom serve as test chips.

become increasinglycomplex, the layouts have by Fabrication necessitybecome more rectilinear and regularized. Integrated circuits begin as tiny pieces of sand. The diagrams are so intricate today that it often Silicon, found in common beach sand, is the sec takes hours to print one. ond most abundant element in the earth's crust. The change in character from the early plots In its pure form silicon conducts very little electrici to the more recent ones resembles the change ty, but by altering its state with the addition of from ranch house to high-rise, from suburban minute amounts of other materials, it becomes a sprawl to city. Initially, silicon is like a vacant lot. semiconductor. In other words, it can function as Since the earliest integrated circuits had few com either an insulator or a conductor of electricity ponents, their configurations spread out much and is therefore an excellent material to use for like a ranch house. Today the dense compositions structuring pathways to control the flow of elec are built up in planes with severallayers consisting tricity. of detailed patterns of tens of thousands of tran The development of integrated circuits sistors and circuit structures. The bottom layers depends on our ability to control and manipulate are even buried within the silicon itself, forming the atomic structure of materials. The raw materi the foundation. al silicon is prepared by first purifying and heating Although the design of integrated circuits is it to its melting point. Molten silicon is then guided by principles of logic, there is leeway for grown from seed crystal into a large, cylindrical individual character. If five engineers were given crystal averaging four feet in length by six inches an identical set of instructions to design a chip no in diameter. Because misaligned atoms can two solutions would be alike. There are many dif obstruct electronic pathways, the material must opposite:A silicon crystal before it is sliced ferent styles of implementing a chip's structure to be flawless; by growing silicon synthetically in a into individual wafers. have it perform the same function. The design is highly controlled manner the required position of arbitrary in the sense that elements can be every atom can be achieved. The crystal is sliced arranged in innumerable ways. Color is an individ with a diamond saw into thousands of very thin ual preference, and every company has its own discs, called wafers, onto which the circuit layers distinct look. are etched. Logic

Texas Instruments c. 1976 122 transistors Logic Chip (experimental)

At the time this plot was hand drafted, it was still possibleto verify the design of individual componentsvisually. To repeat a circuit element multiple times, an engineerwould trace the initial drawing of the component, photocopy it onto mylar,then cut and glue it onto the diagram. The collagetechnique is referred to as "paper-doll layout." Intended for use in a military computer,this particular chip was designedto senselow-level memory signals,am- 12 plify the signalsto a specificsize, and then store them in a memory cell for later recall. Diagrams ^tniiti;^ j ii;::hi;i^"i;H!x;|i | uiKiiiji^^iiirxi' J Wi is iiiiliiliiii

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IBM, East FisHkill, New York 1986 15,000 transistors Logic Chip

The deviceson this chip are wired together to perform many different arithmetic and logic functions, and are usedto assista microprocessorin a personalcomputer. The uniform pat tern is achieved,not with the collage technique of the previousdiagram, but by using the computer to repeat one cell thousandsof times. The diagram on the right shows the last metal layer that goes on top of the chip illustrated above. The orange and blue patterns

14 representwires that are usedto distribute power to the components in the layersbelow. ;—-—— —

Memory

Intel Corporation 1974 Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory Chip (EPROM)

Beforecompanies used computers to assistwith the design of integrated circuits,the entire processof creating a chip was performed manually.After the design was hand drawn on paper,operators hand cut the circuit patterns into red cellophane-likesheets called rubylith. The designwas then reduced photographicallyThe diagram illustrated here representsthe 16 metal mask,the last significant layer in the fabrication process. kSSSStaj IBM, Burlington, Vermont 1982 288,000 transistors Dynamic Random-Access Memory Chip (DRAM)

There are different types of memory chips, but the most common are known as DRAM. Often consideredthe main memory,they are the largest storage area within a computer. The term "random access"refers to the ability to accessthe desired information directly, independentlyof other data in the storage unit. Unlike other memory chips, DRAMsstore data and programstemporarily, only for as long as the power remainson. ©iny.1974 IBM, Burlington, Vermont 1984 1 million transistors Dynamic Random-Access Memory Chip (DRAM)

Resemblinga solid block, this denseand regularpattern is characteristicof memory devices. It hasthe capacityto store approximatelyone hundred pagesof double-spacedtypewritten text, or one-sixth of a 250-page paperbacknovel. Today'schips are capable of storing the equivalentof severalnovels.

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Intel Corporation 1986 over 1 million transistors Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory Chip (EPROM)

An EPROMstores information essentialto a computer's operation. Unlike DRAM memory chips, EPROMsretain data evenwhen power to the computer is interrupted. Theycan hold information indefinitely,but the data can easilybe erasedand rewritten whenever new pro gramming is required.Opposite: detail of center circuitry.

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Texas Instruments 1985 over 1.2 million transistors Dynamic Random-Access Memory Chip (DRAM)

The data storageareas are located in the four uniform quadrants,and the intricate circuitry requiredto accessthe information is located at both ends of the device. On the following 24 page is a detail of the circuitry at one end of the chip. mmm III! IISlBill' pU'=iLV rr--^=Jjiik5= 1 1 i, ,ijji krjfSil its; 'irlsv:ilaaBBf -yiSf"

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Digital Equipment Corporation 1975 8,000 transistors Central Processing Unit Chip (microprocessor)

The brain of a computer is its central processingunit. Usedprimarily for medicalpurposes, this was the analyticalelement in an ultrasonic image-processor,which for exampledeter mines the status of a pregnancy without exposing the patient to potentially damaging X-rays.Other applicationsinclude those of controller for animated sign displaysand remote processorfor scientific experimentsin hazardousareas. mnmu Intel Corporation 1978 29,000 transistors Microprocessor (8086)

The 8086 was developedfor copiers,early robots, and numerousindustrial applications, but its primary use is in personalcomputers. Much of this diagram was designed by hand. if

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Intel Corporation 1985 229,000 transistors Microprocessor (386™) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Intel Corporation

Microprocessorshave the most varied pattern areasof all integrated circuits.Their web of circuitry is organized into distinct regionsthat perform a number of specializedfunctions. The diagramson these two pagesbelong to the samefamily of microprocessors.The chip on the right is a more sophisticatedand considerablyfaster version of the one above, ac commodating what previouslywould have required five to six chips. The 386 chip serves manyfunctions, and isfound in trains, planes,laser printers, and telephoneswitches, but the most common use is in personalcomputers. The 486 microprocessorwas designedto pro vide the computing power of a mainframe in a desktop computer.It is capableof executing 32 over 20 million instructionsper second. Ifc ;it ;. I,,

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AT&T Bell Laboratories 1986 172,000 transistors Microprocessor (CRISP)

During the 1980s the field of computer architecture was revolutionized by the invention of Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISCprocessors). Prior to this machines were capable of performing hundreds of different basic operations, most of which were rarely used and introduced complications that limited computer speeds. By reducing the number of dif ferent instructions, designers were able to make each one quickly. Although more instruc tions were now needed to perform any given task, the net time to execute them declined. Because instructions were very simple, it became easier to pipeline them, that is, to execute several instructions simultaneously, assembly-line fashion. Moreover, the entire processor could be integrated into a single chip. The overall result was a dramatic increase in speed and reduction of cost. Opposite: four details showing circuit components at various levels of 34 enlargement. isaadipi "'?

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Intel Corporation 1989 1.2 million transistors Microprocessor (486™) Hewlett-Packard Company 1987 80,000 transistors Central Processing Unit Chip (microprocessor)

This is the heart of the central processingunit for a low-cost computer. It containsthe com puter's intelligenceand control functions.The upper portion containsthe logic sections,and the lower blocks are the memory files. mm

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Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 1986 approximately 3,000 transistors Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),test chip

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>*if II IMiiiiii:lripi;j!Bli;a. LSI Logic Corporation 1988 250,000 transistors Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)

This was designedto improve image contrast in a variety of applications,including medical diagnosis,aerial reconnaissance, and automated inspectionsystems used in manufacturing. Developedas an application-specificproduct, it combinesmemory-cell and gate-arraytech nology in one chip. The details on the right are enlargementsof the two main pattern areas. The top diagram showsthe individualcells comprising the memory blocks,the bottom illus- 40 trates the gate arrays.

VLSI Technology, Inc. 1986 33,500 transistors Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)

This is an exampleof a gate array.It is a test chip usedto verify the fabrication processand performanceof chips. It hassince been supersededby more sophisticateddesigns.

Neural Nets

Synaptics, Inc. 1989 3,100 transistors Neural Net (experimental)

This chip is a photo sensorand was designedto mimic some of the functions of the human retina. Containing a core of 100 electronic processingcells that detect imageswhen light strikesthem, the chip performs two operations: it highlights details in an image, and it ori ents and locatesobjects or other features by their edges.The information receivedby all the cells is averagedand then passedon to a computer for further interpretation. The design is basedon hexagonal-gridproperties, as opposed to the rectangular-or square-gridformat found in the other diagramsin this publication.With the hexagonalshape each cell is equidi- 44 stant from its neighbors,which allows for smoother and more accurategathering of data. I j' ill i i|iiij|i iniiKi llif j!; jj|| IMEC and University of Pennsylvania 1989 Neural Net: foveated, retina-like sensor

The radial layout of this image sensoris loosely modeled on the human visual system,and consistsof two parts: a peripheraland a central area (fovea).The outer part consistsof 30 concentriccircles and 64 sensorsper circlewhose sizeincreases linearly with eccentricity.It is usedfor activevision, particularly in robots. mm Acknowledgments Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art

This catalog is dedicated to the late Dr. Robert N. William S. Paley Noyce, coinventor of the microchip. ChairmanEmeritus Mrs. John D. Rockefeller3rd On behalf of The Museum of Modern Art, I wish PresidentEmeritus first of all to thank the Intel Corporation Foundation for having supported this entire project. I am also DavidRockefeller particularly grateful to the following individuals at Chairmanof the Board Intel who were exceptionally good-natured and patient with my numerous requests: Mary Burt Mrs. HenryIves Cobb Gifford Phillips Baldwin, Jim Jarrett, Margie Kintz, Ann Lewnes, Pam ViceChairmen Pollace, Clif Purkiser, Connie Stewart, and Debra Ward. DonaldB. Marron The project clearly could not have been realized President without the cooperation of the following companies and individuals: Thomas Szymanski at AT&T Bell Mrs. FrankY. Larkin Laboratories; Jamie Pearson at Digital Equipment ExecutiveVice President Corporation; Ken Van Bree at Hewlett-Packard; Jerry AgnesGund Beyer at IBM; Diana Matley and Bruce Entin at LSI RonaldS. Lauder Logic Corporation; Tim Allen at Synaptics, Inc.; VicePresidents Sandy Christopher, Wah Kit Loh and Sally Merryman at Texas Instruments; Professor Jan Van der Spiegel John ParkinsonIII at University of Pennsylvania; Barbara Kalkis at VLSI VicePresident and Treasurer Technology, Inc.; and Linda Brandt at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. I also wish to thank Synergy, Inc. FrederickM. Alger III LilyAuchincloss for printing the diagrams by Synaptics. Clif Purkiser, EdwardLarrabee Barnes Jim Jarrett, and especially Thomas Szymanski scrupu CelesteG. Bartos lously read the manuscript and saved it from techni Sid R. Bass cal inaccuracies. The essay benefits from all their Photograph Credits H.R.H.Prinz Franz von Bayern** suggestions, and I am responsible for any remaining Gordon Bunshaft errors. Cover:Kate Kellerand Mali Olatunji ThomasS. Carroll* Two leading figures in the development of the MarshallS. Cogan RobertR. Douglass integrated circuit who graciously took time from 3: JamesWelling GianluigiGabetti their busy schedules and offered advice are the late p. 5: SmithsonianInstitution, LillianGish** Dr. Robert N. Noyce, president and chief executive of Washington,D.C. PaulGottlieb Sematech, Inc., and Dr. Carver Mead of California Mrs. MelvilleWakeman Hall Institute of Technology. p. 7, from left to right, top to bottom: GeorgeHeard Hamilton* BarbaraJakobson Within my own Department of Architecture and FromMario Ruspoli,The Cave of PhilipJohnson Design, I wish to thank Stuart Wrede for supporting Lascaux,The Final Photographs (New John L. Loeb* me in doing this project, and Christopher Mount for York: HarryN. Abrams,Inc., 1987), p. Mrs. John L. Marion his assistance with photographic research and 122 RobertB. Menschel preparation of the exhibition. Museum staff mem Calligraphyby LydiaChang; DorothyC. Miller** bers whose talent and commitment to the produc photographby Kate Keller J. Irwin Miller* tion of this publication I relied on and immensely FromSpiro Kostof, A Historyof S. I. Newhouse,Jr. appreciated are: Susan Weiley for giving editorial Architecture(Cambridge: Oxford PhilipS. Niarchos clarity and structure to the essay; Michael Hentges, UniversityPress, 1985), p. 222 JamesG. Niven for the elegant catalog design; Tim McDonough and RichardE. Oldenburg NationalGallery of Art, Washington, PeterG. Peterson Vicki Drake for overseeing the production; and D.C., RosenwaldCollection John Rewald** Harriet Bee, Managing Editor of the Department of FromJan Vredeman de Vries, DavidRockefeller, Jr. Publications. Kate Keller and Mali Olatunji, the Perspective(New York: Dover RodmanC. Rockefeller Museum's Fine Art Photographers, are responsible Publications,Inc., 1968) RichardE. Salomon for the superb photographs of the diagrams. This Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn* IBM Archives project also depended on the cooperation of several Mrs. BertramSmith other Museum staff members upon whose compe Kate Keller JerryI. Speyer tence one can always rely: Karl Buchberg, Mikki Mrs. Alfred R. Stern Rolf Petersen Mrs. DonaldB. Straus Carpenter, and Karen Meyerhoff. Rolf Petersen RobertL. B. Tobin Finally, I wish to acknowledge two colleagues, E.Thomas Williams, Jr. Pierre Adler and Robert Coates, who were of great RichardS. Zeisler importance to the project. Discussions with both All color photographsof diagrams helped shape and refine many of the ideas in this are by Kate Keller,Chief FineArts *TrusteeEmeritus essay. Robert Coates has been a collaborator in all Photographer,and Mali Olatunji, Fine **Honorary Trustee aspects of the exhibition, and his enthusiasm and Arts Photographer,The Museumof Modern Art ExOfficio personal encouragement as well as constructive criti cism have made all the difference. JoannK. Phillips Cara McCarty 386 and 486 are trademarksof Intel. Presidentof TheInternational Council DCOUT

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