Blogs CPUs under the microscope - literally

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/03/30/cpus-under-the-microscope-literally/

 

Very interesting but could some of those not have been done with just the macro mode on the camera without the need for a microscope ?

 

Be nice if I had even the slightest idea what I was looking at. Some are obvious, but that is some serious zoom.

 

very nice high quality photos, but to actually look at the gates, you got to take off the protective silicon cap, pretty much impossible, best to just get a custom one manufactured.

BBC's Invisible World by Richard Hammond will be on tonight or tomorrow. it will feature our Southampton University's clean room and electronics under microscope. have a look, should be good, it's filed in the best university in the world

 

Naah, you back polish the silicon, it's not that hard.
You can poilsh away the contact side as well, seeing every layer seperately, taking EDX materialsamples while you do it...
Does the term "reverse Engineering" mean anything to you?

For home use: then polish up and look into it sideways.

 

didn't knew that, always gone "forward engineering" way.

 

look at the scratches on the tip of that pin.... that's some nice super ZOOM there

 

Kewl, going to have a check at it

 

It's not as easy as it sounds.
Sure you get the design and what it's made of, the real problem is how the material got where it is in the state it's in

 

BBC's Invisible Worlds

The start is where Richard goes to Uni. of Southampton New Mountbatten Building clean rooms, with (from what i can hear) Prof. Darren Bagnall, in Nano research group.

it's a shame no electronics, just used the powerful microscope. guess everyone knows what electronics look like at gates level, so they didn't bother to show it.

 

Nice, I'll check that out!

 

Ugh, good lord, please don't watch that series. Yes, there's some great shots and really interesting footage, but the explanations are a little on the "Daily Mail" side. I.e., dumbed down way beyond the BBCs usually low standards. Plus, it's really misleading and overhyped. Richard Hammond is really starting to get on my nerves now.

The Wonders of the Solar System was a big win. Invisible Worlds was not.

EDIT: Those photos are quite cool though