The GalaxyChip design involves cutting up a traditional polymer chip, around one square centimeter in size, into tens of thousands of much smaller chips only 100 microns across-a tenth of the thickness of a human hair. These tiny chips are "as numerous as stars in the sky" -hence the name GalaxyChip.
星雲晶片的設計是將傳統約一平方公分的微陣列晶片切割成上萬粒的小晶片。每粒微晶片的寬度為一百微米，大小只有頭髮髮尖的十分之一，由於這種晶片細微，數量繁多如天上的星雲，故取名為「星雲晶片」。