[psacawa]

Very interesting.

Anyone has any idea about the technology that could be used for imaging more dense ICs and multilayer PCBs? In a presentation elsewhere, Ken says that he used a metallurgical telescope and USB microscope. So the imaging is done with visible light and limited resolution. It is enough for old chips, e.g. the 8086 discussed in this article is made with a 3um process.

As I look around I see recent Intel chips haven't been reversed. [0] There are allusions to x-ray tomography and electron microscopes [1]. Anyway a plebs can get close for cheap?

[0] https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5878/...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOZqoTuAGKY

[kens]

There's a reason I mostly stick to chips from the 1970s. Moore's law makes reverse engineering (literally) exponentially harder for later chips. Multiple layers of metal on the make it much more difficult; you can remove layer-by-layer but it's very hard. An electron microscope helps, and you can get one for semi-hobbyist prices if you try. X-ray tomography looks like a cool technology but it is very cutting edge and extremely expensive. See: https://spectrum.ieee.org/chip-x-ray

[pcblues]

My Dad used to do and teach VLSI design from the 1970s on. Later in his life he designed environmental microphones and recording systems using Excel and assembly respectively because, "I don't need software tools because I know the equations" and "I don't need compiled languages because I know where the bits need to go."

Sorry for the thread-jack. Three years on since the passing of a true polymath.

[CyberRabbi]

Kudos to your dad, sounds like he was a great engineer.

[tifik]

I know this is an unecessarily long comment for what might just be a typo, but I'd like to know If I'm getting this right myself.

I believe 'a pleb' is short for 'a plebeian'. 'Plebs' would be plural of 'pleb', so 'a plebs' seems incorrect.

I could be wrong though. English is not my first language, and I'd love to be corrected if I indeed am wrong.

[BenjiWiebe]

English is my first language and I believe you are correct.

[bunabhucan]

I think a 486 is the last generation for which the feature size is flirting with the wavelength of visible light. Not sure how that translates to reverse engineering but not much road there.