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Slideshow: Unique look at 'micro' electronics
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Steve Bitton
EE Times
(07/17/2009 3:03 PM EDT)
When I was choosing a university major after high-school, I chose
engineering. I won't get into that decision but I happened to go to a
school where the first year of engineering was general, and we were
allowed to choose our discipline around 3/4 of the way through the
first year. At this point I was torn--I had an interest in many of the
disciplines including Civil, Geological, and Electrical. In the end, my
preference to math over physics, and the general upturn in the
electronics industry nudged me towards the Electrical and Computer
Engineering department.
I've had no major regrets since then--electronics is a fascinating
field--but one thing I probably miss is really seeing the product of my
work. For instance, as a civil engineer, there's nothing like showing
people the building you worked on. A mechanical engineer can show how
their latest machine works. As electronics engineers our products do
not have big moving parts (unless you're in robotics--but that's really
an amalgamation of mechanical and electrical). To compare with other
disciplines, it would be nice to have a visual representation of our
work beyond schematics and layout diagrams. Perhaps images of these
micro-structures would be a good start. And hence the end of my long
preamble to the slideshow of images titled "A unique look at 'micro' electronics".
We create electronics, so let's see what these microscopic structures
really look like. Personally, I have always enjoyed scanning
electron microscope (SEM) images. They showcase tiny structures
that the human eye or optical cameras cannot see. The
grayscale images create an almost science fiction effect--it's a view
of another world. Speaking of other worlds, we hope you enjoy
the
special Apollo digital edition. The capabilities of Semiconductor
Insights (modern SEMs, X-ray machines, transmission electron
microscopes or TEM, chemical laboratories, and high resolution digital
cameras, not to mention the technical expertise) can provide some
interesting views of the semiconductor world. And we've brought
some of these interesting images to you in this image gallery.
 See the full slideshow here.
This particular gallery contains images from the semiconductor level to
the system level, giving a broad view of electronics. Look for more of
these galleries in the future, as we look to explore the evolution of
certain technologies, all in visual form.
Want to see more images and test your engineering knowledge?
Check out TechOnline's Image of the Week to
see if you can guess what certain technical images truly represent for
prizes.
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