Silicon Wafer with Computer Chips - 5 inch, SCSI Terminators

About this Artwork: This is a silicon wafer made by GMT just before the turn of the century in 1999. This wafer is 5" in diameter and has about 2,000 computer chips on it. It was made by GMT Microelectronics. These chips we used in equipment that attached to a SCSI data storage bus. These chips helped mediate the high-speed data communications needed to transfer data from SCSI hard drives and the computer. GMT was the final incarnation of the chip company that started out as MOS, who created the 6502 microprocessor, and later became Commodore Semiconductor Group, and finally GMT. About Making Computer Chips: Computer chips start out as ordinary sand, which is silicon dioxide. However, the silicon must be made very, very pure. The first step is to melt the sand, in a furnace that reaches about 3200o F, and mix with carbon. This first purification process creates 99% pure Silicon, a common output is Silicon Carbide. The Silicon Carbide is processed in a trichlorosilane distillation met