Image: Julien Goxe
This odd knob was not a cause of failure—it was actually created during a chip autopsy. For dissection, the top layer of the chip was bombarded with ions and etched away. By sheer chance, the ions carved out a small stump with an upside-down acorn on top.
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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