At 10:52 AM 6/13/2003 +0100, you wrote:


>Hope that gives you some more ideas!  And I would disagree that it appears
>unprofessional, it's just an engineers version of art.  There is a website
>somewhere with assorted pictures which appear on IC silicon, IIRC there is
>even a software tool to add GIFs to your silicon layout!

I've heard of some of these things poorly designed so that they caused
failures in the chips. This would be a good way to shorten a lucrative
career as a chip designer.

Some of the tempting "open spaces" in my board designs are where there is
240VAC or higher clearance. If it's on the silk layer, no problem (unless=
 you
cover over pads accidentally), but on the copper layers you have to be more
careful.

>  Some of them were
>company logos etc, but there was definitely a Mickey Mouse or similar in at
>least one of the pictures.

Imagine $1M+ of 0.13umasks and millions of dollars worth of chips being
recalled because Disney=A9 complained about copyright violations.  ;-)

Best regards,

Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the=
 reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

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