August 18, 2015
August 10, 2015
July 11, 2015
Mikron 1663RU1 - first Russian 90nm chip : weekend die-shot
Mikron is currently the most advanced microelectronic fab in Russia, located in Zelenograd. In 2010 they have licensed 90nm technology from STMicroelectronics, and equipment setup was somewhat ready by the end of 2012. Technology transfer was hindered by very small manufacturing volume and scarce funding. Nevertheless, 1663RU1 has became their first 90nm product reached commercial customers. It's 16 Mibit SRAM chip.There are no redundancy or ECC correction on this chip, bulk-Si technology ("civilian" technology). There are no radiation-hardening tricks implemented. This chip is apparently intended for industrial/military applications, use in space is only possible with great care.
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June 29, 2015
BFG135 - NPN 7GHz RF BJT transistor : weekend die-shot
BFG135 - 7GHz RF NPN transistor with integrated emitter-ballasting resistors. Transistor is so sparse to lower thermal (mainly) and collector resistance.Die size 668x538 µm, transistor fin halfpitch - 800nm.
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June 24, 2015
nRF51822 - Bluetooth LE SoC : weekend die-shot
nRF51822 is a widely used Bluetooth LE SoC with Cortex-M0 core and on-chip buck DC-DC (LC are external).Die size 3833x3503 µm, ~180nm technology.
June 3, 2015
RGB flicker LED : weekend die-shot
Unlike previous LED, this one is completely deterministic: diodes differ slightly only in RC oscillator frequency (~±10%). Regular structure at the lower-left side suggests that it's some sort of microcode-driven design.
Die size 553x474 µm, 1.5µm technology.
Thanks for this interesting chip to ASIP department of Gomel State University.
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June 3, 2015
Flicker LED : weekend die-shot
Some might have seen candle flicker LED - their brightness is modulated randomly to mimic real candle. It is achieved by using digital die copackaged with red LED die in standard 5mm transparent case.This design is apparently using phase difference between 2 RC oscillators as source of random data. There are multiple designs in the wild, some other apparently based on LFSR with single oscillator. More on the topic: siliconpr0n.org, cpldcpu.wordpress.com, hackaday.com.
Die size 580x476 µm, 3µm technology.
Thanks for this interesting chip to ASIP department of Gomel State University.
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