IC Die Photos

[siliconGary]

Here a few shots of IC's taken from a ~2006 Apple webcam. The first is I think a voltage regulator chip that was on the back of the CCD board. The photo is a stitch of ~20 images the chip is ~3mm x1.5mm



I really like the symmetry on this die, Some detail is lost in the shrinking and compressing to fit. The full size image is here
http://vintageteardown.com/wp-content/u ... 43mm-1.jpg

This is a 20x objective image of an area showing the Bipolar transistors



This is a Sony D2450 the timing generator used for the CCD, the die is ~4mm on a side, and this was 46 images stitched



Full size version is here
http://vintageteardown.com/wp-content/u ... 3.85mm.jpg

and this is a image stack (5 images in Zerene PMax) taken with an 80x objective



I like looking at the different die and seeing different layout techniques, the processes used and trying to identify circuit functions. I recently started a blog to chronicle the stuff I am looking at www.vintageteardown.com (I hope its alright to mention it here, it is not a commercial blog).

[ChrisR]

I think I can guess transistors and resistors, but I for one would like to see a few components pointed out, to be sure, if that would be possible?
What's the diffusion used for resistors?

[Olympusman]

Nice.

Mike

[siliconGary]

I think I can guess transistors and resistors, but I for one would like to see a few components pointed out, to be sure, if that would be possible?
What's the diffusion used for resistors?

Here you go



There are several diffusions used to form the emitter, base, collectors regions of transistors, some are "re-used" to form resistors.

In the other chip this is a CMOS process and the image is an array of MOSFETS

[Jacek]

Very nice

[mawyatt]

Gary,

Outstanding images!!

You can certainly see the older bipolar technology with the angular emitters. Not many bipolar processes available today other than the exotic Silicon Germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technology.

Best,

Mike

[mawyatt]

Gary,

Sony has some of the fastest bipolar technology available 25 years ago, they had a fab in Austin, TX. They used it for DACs, ECL & CML logic. I used their DACs and ECL logic on a number of projects, very good technology!

Best,

Mike

[ChrisR]

Gary that's great thanks. They will go well, on the classroom wall, with some of Beatsy's recent big slice images .

Why are some of the emitters so big? Emitter-follower so that's where the power gets dissipated?

[Marek Mis]

Super ! Very interesting and high quality images !

Marek

[Sumguy01]

Interesting
Thanks for sharing.

[pwnell]

Very cool. These are large components... Nice to see them - unlike today's modern GP102 based systems (nVidia GPU) with 12 billion transistors - probably only an electron microscope can reveal any individual component details.

[siliconGary]

Very cool. These are large components... Nice to see them - unlike today's modern GP102 based systems (nVidia GPU) with 12 billion transistors - probably only an electron microscope can reveal any individual component details.

That's why I try to look at just vintage electronics. With any (digital) chip from the last 10 years in an optical microscope all you scan see is rows of Copper power/ground routing (Which these days is the 10th or even the 12th layer of metal!).
For a very modern die like the nVidia GPU, at the transistor level even a SEM can barely resolve the structures in plan view, In a cross-section to properly resolve the structure even a SEM is insufficient, a TEM is required to properly image the transistor structure (With some sophisticated/complicated processes to thin the sample to ~10um suitable for imaging)

[siliconGary]

Why are some of the emitters so big? Emitter-follower so that's where the power gets dissipated?

It's to do with current crowding phenomenom. The emitter doping layer is very thin, and conduction occurs at the edge of the junction, to maximize the current flow you need to maximize the emitter circumference. (Well that's what I think it is )