In order to help the service technician locate faulty parts at a glance.
-- neelandan, Jan 24 2002

I mean, Rods, many a time I have seen dud chips with nary a mark on them but yet indubitably not performing whatever it was that their maker had intended them to do.
-- neelandan, Jan 24 2002


Large Scale Integration. Basically, a huge chip, with lots of transistors on it.
Would this display also indicate who is to become Pope?
-- angel, Jan 24 2002


How about adding a GaAs layer on top so as to provide built-in indicator lights?
-- supercat, Jan 25 2002


The larger chips get, the more difficult they are to test. Therefore modern LSI chips already have some extra circuitry devoted to improving their testability.

Added circuitry to test the chip on power-up and display the results on an attached LED or a dedicated display would not add much complexity.

Modern electronic appliances are fast becoming "single chip" designs, so all this may become redundant as replacement alone works.
-- neelandan, Jan 25 2002



random, halfbakery