Embedded chips are found everywhere today, from cheap toys to billion-dollar communication networks. Once upon a time, theologians wondered how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.
Integrated circuits are mind-boggling.
A silicon chip about the size of a penny can do more than a mainframe computer once did. There may be more transistors in the chip than there are people in Los Angeles. Yet the effort to put in even more devices and functionality continues, and a cadre of Carnegie Mellon engineers are major players in this effort. CEDA is one of the foremost centers in the world for research and education in integrated-circuit design. No one can put 10 million transistors on a chip without computer-aided design tools.