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PL-2303HX : weekend die-shot
PL-2303HX is a USB-to-Serial bridge controller, widely used to connect various electronic devices to PC.Note how wide traces are sectioned so that current does not 'clump up' in the corners.Die size...
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74HC595 : weekend die-shot
ON Semiconductor 74HC595 is a 8-bit shift register (serial-in parallel-out).That's incredible: 47 years passed since 7400 TTL logic introduction - it is still manufactured and used in new products.
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Multiclet MCp0411100101 : weekend die-shot
Multiclet - basically is a superscalar processor (4-wide at present) with out-of-order execution. 100 Mhz clock, 180nm tech. node, designed in Russia.Die size - 10.2x10.2 mm. After metallization etch...
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Moscow's metro MIFARE/RFID chip : weekend die-shot
Since February 2013 you can find Sitronics-Mikron's RFID chips inside Moscow's metro tickets, instead of NXP ones which were used before.Mikron chip is 20% smaller. Die size 610x526 µm.We've found...
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K565RU5 : weekend die-shot
K565RU5 (pin-compatible to 4164 DRAM chip) - 64 Kib DRAM chip, heart of most of amateur computers made in late soviet times and early 90's. There was also RU7 chip (256 Kib) but it was hard to buy.Die...
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MSP430F122 : weekend die-shot
MSP430F122 - 16-bit microcontroller made by Texas Instruments. What's interesting is that die is marked as MSP430F123, with larger flash size.
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PIC12C508 : weekend die-shot
PIC12C508 - one of the "old" PIC's. Manufacturing technology - 1200nm, the oldest we've seen in microcontrollers being sold at the moment.
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Part II: How to «open» microchip and what's inside? Z80, Multiclet, MSP430,...
In this article we'll continue cracking microchips open. If you've missed first article - it's here.«Canonical» way of opening microchips:Cut a small hole in the center of the chip with a...
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GLONASS module Geos-3 : weekend die-shot
Geos-3 - GLONASS module, designed by R&D Center "GeoStar navigation" Ltd..PCB has 3 chips: K1905VM1JA, designed by NPO Progress, SiGe RF-frontend GEOS2RF designed by Saphyrion and 4-mbit serial...
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NXP 7555 : weekend die-shot
7555 is a CMOS version of 555 timer.There are number of interesting things on the chip: see "unused" via's on the folded resistors at the top and at the center of the chip? They are here to trim...
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Simplest possible microchip - Ti SN74AHC1G00 : weekend die-shot
Remember we said that the simplest possible microchip is 74AHC00? We were wrong. Simplest possible microchip is it's 1-gate version, SN74AHC1G00 made by Texas Instruments. Die size 520x420 µm. After...
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On Semiconductor MC33152 : weekend die-shot
MC33152 is a dual MOSFET driver. Literally half of area is used by 4 large transistors (2 pull-up, 2 pull-down) able to deliver 1.5A with 14ns fronts. Note how trace thickness changes near large...
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Ti MAX3232 : weekend die-shot
Ti MAX3232 is a RS232 transceiver with a charge pump on external capacitors for generating positive and negative supply voltages.Die size 3113x1955 µm.
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Toshiba TB6560AHQ : weekend die-shot
Toshiba TB6560AHQ is a widely used stepper motor driver. You can immediately notice dual bond wires for power outputs. Die is attached to 2mm-thick solid copper heat spreader.I keep thinking that it...
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1986VE91T: What's inside Russian ARM?
1986VE91T (1986ВЕ91Т in Russian) - is an ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontroller, designed by Russian company Milandr. It has 128 KiB of flash memory, 32 KiB of SRAM, hardware USB and 80Mhz core clock....
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NXP BC847B : weekend die-shot
BC847B is one of the most common general purpose bipolar junction transistors (npn). Die size 275x275 µm is so small, that thickness of the die is almost the same as width/height - it's almost a...
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KT315 and KT361 transistors : weekend die-shot
KT315 (npn) and KT361 (pnp) - are the first planar epitaxial transistors manufactured in Soviet Union. Manufacturing started at the end of 60's. The oldest KT315A we were able to find was manufactured...
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K553UD1A : weekend die-shot
K553UD1A is one of the first Soviet integrated operational amplifiers. This one is manufactured in June 1978. It is a functional analog of µa709, though, it is not it's per-layer copy:Image from...
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Avalon - specialized Bitcoin processor : weekend die-shot
Yifu Guo (designer of Avalon) agreed to send us several chips for decapsulation, but while they were slowly traveling around the world - needbmw gave us damaged chip from his working Avalon mining...
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