Collaborate Disseminate
You may have heard the phrase “flip-chip” before: it’s a broad term referring to several integrated circuit packaging methods, the common thread being that the semiconductor die is flipped upside down so the active surface is closest to the PCB. As opposed to the more traditional method in which the …read more
Continue reading Flip Chips and Sunken Ships: Packaging Trick for Faster, Smaller Semiconductors
What do you do when you’re working with some vintage ICs and one of the tiny legs pops off? That’s what happened to [Kotomi] when working with an old Super Nintendo. A single lead for the sound chip just snapped off, leaving [Kotomi] one pin short of a working system …read more
There’s a certain minimum set of stuff the typical Hackaday reader is likely to have within arm’s reach any time he or she is in the shop. Soldering station? Probably. Oscilloscope? Maybe. Multimeter? Quite likely. But there’s one thing so basic, something without which countless numbers of projects would be much more difficult to complete, that a shop without one or a dozen copies is almost unthinkable. It’s the humble 555 timer chip, a tiny chunk of black plastic with eight leads that in concert with just a few extra components can do everything from flashing an LED a couple …read more
Sixty years ago this month, an unassuming but gifted engineer sitting in a lonely lab at Texas Instruments penned a few lines in his notebook about his ideas for building complete circuits on a single slab of semiconductor. He had no way of knowing if his idea would even work; the idea that it would become one of the key technologies of the 20th century that would rapidly change everything about the world would have seemed like a fantasy to him.
We’ve covered the story of how the integrated circuit came to be, and the ensuing patent battle that would …read more
Continue reading Profiles in Science: Jack Kilby and the Integrated Circuit
In 1976, Texas Instruments came out with the TL084, a four JFET op-amp IC each with similar circuitry to Fairchild’s very popular single op-amp 741. But even though the 741 has been covered in detailed, when [Ken Shirriff] focused his microscope on a TL084, he found some very interesting things.
To avoid using acid to get at the die, he instead found a ceramic packaged TL084 and pried off the cover. The first things he saw were four stabilizing capacitors, by far the largest structures on the die and visible to the naked eye.
When he peered into his microscope …read more
Continue reading Ken Shirriff Found Butterflies In His Op-Amp
A few days ago we brought you news of [Sam Zeloof]’s amazing achievement, of creating the first home-made lithographically produced integrated circuit. It was a modest enough design in a simple pair of differential amplifiers and all we had to go on was a Twitter announcement, but it promised a more complete write-up to follow. We’re pleased to note that the write-up has arrived, and we can have a look at some of the details of just how he managed to produce an IC in his garage. He’s even given it a part number, the Zeloof Z1.
For ease of …read more
Continue reading More Details On That First Home-Made Lithographically Produced IC
It is now six decades since the first prototypes of practical integrated circuits were produced. We are used to other technological inventions from the 1950s having passed down the food chain to the point at which they no longer require the budget of a huge company or a national government to achieve, but somehow producing an integrated circuit has remained out of reach. It’s the preserve of the Big Boys, move on, there’s nothing to see here.
Happily for us there exists a dedicated band of experimenters keen to break that six-decade dearth of home-made ICs. And now one of …read more
Continue reading First Lithographically Produced Home Made IC Announced
The Ursa Major Space Station SST282 is a dinosaur of a digital reverb. Okay, so maybe 1978 isn’t ancient yet, but it is getting to the point where one has to worry about the possibility of component failure. At least that’s what [Obsoletetechnology] thought when they created a backup of its memory contents.
As can be seen from some of Hackaday’s previous articles, a part does not have to be an older one to fail. However, there is no such thing as being too paranoid when it comes to older parts reaching their lifetime. Especially when there is valuable …read more
Continue reading Blast From the Past with Space Station PROM Reader
Usually, repairing a device entails replacing a defective IC with a new one. But if you’ve got young eyes and haven’t had caffeine in a week, you can also repair a defective chip package rather than replace it.
There’s no description of the incident that resulted in the pins of the QFP chip being ablated, but it looks like a physical insult like a tool dropped on the pins. [rasminoj]’s repair consisted of carefully grinding away the epoxy cap to expose the internal traces leading away from the die and soldering a flexible cable with the same pitch between the …read more
Continue reading Get Down to the Die Level with this Internal Chip Repair
Hackers possibly linked to North Korea were able to successfully gain access to the corporate network of at least one U.S.-based energy company in recent months, according to multiple sources with knowledge of a recent intelligence report on the matter. Six sources tell CyberScoop the report notes that hackers were found actively targeting a handful of U.S. companies that rely on industrial control systems. Less than 10 companies were targeted with phishing emails as part of this apparent information gathering campaign — including one known breach — leading analysts to believe the effort is targeted and well-organized, a person with knowledge of the malicious cyber activity said. The activity was originally identified by at least two different private cybersecurity companies. The Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) is aware of the activity and in recent weeks shared information with some partners. NBC News obtained […]
The post Hackers linked to North Korea targeted U.S. ICS companies, breached energy firm appeared first on Cyberscoop.
Continue reading Hackers linked to North Korea targeted U.S. ICS companies, breached energy firm