November 1, 2020

Fairchild UA714HC - precision opamp : weekend die-shot

You can see some trimming action on the left side of the die: resistors adjusted via masks, fuses for trimming part-to-part variability.
Die size 2528x1541 µm.



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September 12, 2020
September 12, 2020

Behind the scene of Zeptobars - 2020Q3

You might have noticed, that there were extremely few posts in the blog over the last months. Well, it was COVID-related, but in slightly unexpected way.

As you know, I was in Moscow, Russia all these years. It was planned that in 2020 I will gradually relocate to Switzerland, move my whole lab, spend more and more time at new place closer to the end of the year.

Well, it did not happened this way. Daily coronavirus cases started to spike across Europe, and by May - all borders were closed. I ended up on 1-way evacuation flight from Russia with very short notice, organized by Switzerland embassy. Even 8 hours before departure - it was not certain if flight will happen at all. As we later learned - it was the last flight in the following 2.5 months.

I gathered 2 suitcases, and there was so much one can fit. I took shirts, 2 best microscope lenses, few decapsulated & previously imaged sample chips for first tests at new place, NVMe drive from my desktop - and that's mostly it.
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September 7, 2020

Motorola MWA120 - hybrid 0.4GHz RF amplifier : weekend die-shot

Ceramic substrate size 4265x4255 µm. Transistor die size 383x324 µm.


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September 1, 2020
August 1, 2020

Power Integrations INN2605K - ACDC without optocoupler : weekend die-shot

INN2605K is molded in fairly complex surface-mount package. FluxLink (internal magnetic feedback) seems to be made using leadframe & bondwires.

Primary side die:


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