Three major new exhibits at the Intel Museum in Santa Clara, Calif. immerse visitors in the chip manufacturing environment; describe new types of digital devices that are altering how we work, learn, play, and communicate; and show how Intel changed the nature of high-tech marketing with its Intel Inside? brand program.

The new exhibits"which occupy about half of the museum's exhibit space " represent the second major change at the museum within a year. "Technology keeps advancing and exhibits at the museum change to keep pace," says Curator Tracey Mazur. "We updated about 40 percent of the museum's exhibits late last year, so with these changes, 90 percent of the museum's exhibits are now new. Whether you are visiting for the first time or returning to the museum, you will see and experience exhibits you haven't encountered before."

In the new "Manufacturing" exhibit, visitors experience what it's like inside the clean room of an Intel "fab," or wafer fabrication facility, where computer chips are made in layers atop 300mm (12-inch) silicon wafers. Several of the exhibit's features simulate aspects of a real fab, the floor tiles visitors walk on, an example of how the air moves as it is continuously filtered to keep it ultra-clean. Visitors can try on the "bunny suits" worn by chip manufacturing employees and take in live views of the chip manufacturing process delivered via cameras inside a real Intel fab. An interactive multimedia display allows visitors to participate in a step-by-step simulation of how Intel builds a single 90nm transistor, one of hundreds of millions of transistors on a single chip.

"Convergence," the second of the Intel Museum's new exhibits, explores how silicon technology is allowing computing and communications to converge in powerful new devices that will allow people to stay connected whenever and wherever they go. Visitors learn how technologies are enabling portable digital devices that pack more functions into smaller sizes, have long battery lives, and enable wireless network access.

The "Intel Inside Brand" exhibit shows how the face of high-tech advertising changed in 1991 with the start of a unique Intel marketing program?a program studied extensively in graduate business education programs and chronicled in product branding literature. The history behind the Intel BunnyPeople? dancers is detailed along with other fun facts relating to the world of high-tech consumer advertising.

The museum has over 30 interactive, hands-on exhibits that describe how computer chips are made, how they work and what they do and is designed as a self-guided experience with free audio handsets in English, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Spanish, French, German, and Korean will be added in January.

The Intel Museum and Intel Museum Store are off U.S. 101 (Montague Expressway exit) at 2200 Mission College Blvd. in Santa Clara, Calif. The museum and store are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, excluding holidays. Admission and parking are free. More information can be found at www.intel.com/go/museum or by calling (408) 765-0503. For the Intel Museum Store, call (408) 765-9026.