NXP BC847B : Weekend die-shot

BC847B is one of the most common general purpose bipolar junction transistors (npn).
Die size 275x275 µm is so small, that thickness of the die is almost the same as width/height - it's almost a "silicon cube".
Probably it's one of these cases when dicing & packaging is the most challenging part of manufacturing :-)

1986VE91T: What's inside Russian ARM?

1986VE91T (1986ВЕ91Т in Russian) - is an ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontroller, designed by Russian company Milandr. It has 128 KiB of flash memory, 32 KiB of SRAM, hardware USB and 80Mhz core clock. Manufactured using 180nm technology with aluminum metalization.

As this chip was in ceramic package, no plastic etching was necessary - so all bonding wires are intact. Die size - 6.54x5.9 mm.

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Toshiba TB6560AHQ : Weekend die-shot

Toshiba TB6560AHQ is a widely used stepper motor driver.
You can immediately notice dual bond wires for power outputs. Die is attached to 2mm-thick solid copper heat spreader.

I keep thinking that it might have been easier to dissipate heat if only power transistors were not clumped up on the left side.

Die size if 5338x4828 µm.

Ti MAX3232 : Weekend die-shot

Ti MAX3232 is a RS232 transceiver with a charge pump on external capacitors for generating positive and negative supply voltages.
Die size 3113x1955 µm.

On Semiconductor MC33152 : Weekend die-shot

MC33152 is a dual MOSFET driver. Literally half of area is used by 4 large transistors (2 pull-up, 2 pull-down) able to deliver 1.5A with 14ns fronts.
Note how trace thickness changes near large transistors to match flowing current.

Die size 1765x1470 µm.

Simplest possible microchip - Ti SN74AHC1G00 : Weekend die-shot

Remember we said that the simplest possible microchip is 74AHC00? We were wrong.
Simplest possible microchip is it's 1-gate version, SN74AHC1G00 made by Texas Instruments. Die size 520x420 µm.



After etching 2(!) metal layers, we can see that chip area occupied mostly by pads, input protection, and output transistors. Funny rainbow things below pads - partially etched insulating dielectric masked by what's left from gold bond wires.

NXP 7555 : Weekend die-shot

7555 is a CMOS version of 555 timer.

There are number of interesting things on the chip: see "unused" via's on the folded resistors at the top and at the center of the chip? They are here to trim resistance by modifying only 1 metal layer mask. Also, note large multifingered "power" transistors.