Taped-out

The process of creating the optical mask for a semiconductor device was originally done by laying pieces of tape representing the various parts of the chip on large tables. These layouts, or masks, would then be photographically reduced and used to selectively expose various layers of a chip to light in the manufacturing process.

Long after the time of handmade masks, the creation of the datafiles for a chip's manufacture is still referred to as a "tapeout."