Project Overview

This project is less technical and was done more out of curiosity. I have always been curious to see what was in the tiny black boxes (ICs) that make up our electronic devices. Unfortunately, conventional methods (cutting, sanding, slicing etc.) of getting into the ICs to expose the dies do not work well. However, after coming across some high concentration nitric acid (HNO3), I was able to get a better look..

 

Nitric acid is one very few solutions capable of dissolving the epoxy encapsulation that holds most semiconductor devices. And even then, the process requires the acid to be at very high concentration (at least 70%) and high temperatures to speed up the process. It is safe to say this should not be done at home and without the proper safety equipment (gloves, googgles, fume hood etc.)

 

I've made a collection of photos of the semiconductors that I found to be the most interesting looking. Since most of the dies are only a few millimeters across, most of the pictures have been taken with optical microscopes. The collection includes devices ranging from tiny microphone chips, to advance RF ICs for cellular and GPS applications. 

2014

Skills Required

• Basic knowledge of chemistry and lab procedures

• Research skills

• Extreme curiosity