Silicon Workshop

Engineers combine creativity and logic on microchips.
Whether it's in a car, cell phone, video game, or thermostat, every microchip has a unique design based on its function. Even a simple task, such as turning on the furnace when the house gets cold, requires complex writing on the chip. Powerful design software helps engineers innovate new ways to fit more and more tasks on each microchip. See how many features you can combine as you design chips to control toys in the Silicon Workshop.

Build a Smart Device

Sensors and microchips can make life easier. They can turn on sprinklers when it gets hot and start coffeemakers at certain times. Sensors detect a change, like the time on a clock reaching a preset point. Microchips use that information to make something happen, like turning on a coffeemaker. Try it! Connect the sensors and toys to make a smart fish feeder.

Program a Chip

This "smart" Mr. Potato Head can respond to changes in his surroundings. Sensors take in information, such as temperature, and a microchip processes the information to make things happen, like turning on the fan. Engineers design logic for a smart product by deciding how that product should respond to information. Then software helps them put that logic on a microchip. Try it! Write the logic sentences that will control Mr. Potato Head's simple microchip.

Hardwire a chip

Some cars have as many as 100 microchips that do everything from tune the stereo to adjust the seats. Each chip contains millions of tiny wires where electricity can flow. Logic gates open and close under certain conditions to control the flow of electricity. Millions of logic gates make a microchip complex enough to control a car's engine. Try it! Wire up a microchip and see what you can make this car do.

Design a Chip

Every microchip contains only the features it needs, like voice recognition or a timer. That's because each feature requires millions of tiny electrical switches, or transistors. Engineers have to position the transistors and figure out how to connect them with microscopic wires. This job would take a lot of time without software called Electronic Design Automation (EDA). Try it! Boss Dog and his cats need help designing a simple chip. You don't have EDA, so you'll need to do some of the work yourself.