Image: Tong Yan Tee
Using a high-powered microscope to inspect a wafer revealed the pattern in the third-place image, shown on the right. The analyst realized that it bore a striking resemblance to the most massive flower in the world, the rafflesia.
Sometimes art is accidental. At IEEE's 18th International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits, held 4 to 7 July in Incheon, South Korea, participants submitted pictures of surreal and spectacular close-ups of microchips, competing for the most affecting image. This is the fourth year IEEE Spectrum has featured the finalists from IPFA's "Art of Failure Analysis" contest. Click on the links for winners from 2010, 2009, and 2008.
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