Powers of 10: doxxed!

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Andy Resnick
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2023 3:08 pm

Powers of 10: doxxed!

#1 Post by Andy Resnick » Thu May 25, 2023 5:43 pm

This series examines a small chip from National Semiconductor, a LM3402, fabricated in 2004. I tried a few new techniques with this series. Here's the 1:1 reproduction:
DSC_3298.jpg
DSC_3298.jpg (160.35 KiB) Viewed 650 times
The chip is barely visible. One new thing I tried is the mounting method- taking a cue from the diatomists, I glued the chip to a coverslip with nail polish rather than mount it to the slide. This helps ensure the face of the chip is flat and perpendicular to the optical axis of the microscope. My first attempt was a little messy, but it worked well, so thanks, guys!

The trade-off is that most of my (Zeiss) objectives can't be used as they are designed to be used w/o a coverslip. So, the other new thing was to try and get reasonable images using Nikon and Olympus objectives on my Zeiss microscope. I did notice a decrease in overall contrast due to the coverslip, but I can live with it.

Here's the next image using an Olympus SPlan 4x/0.16 objective:
DSC_3776.jpg
DSC_3776.jpg (84.19 KiB) Viewed 650 times
And then using a Nikon 20x/0.75 Fluar:
DSC_3777.jpg
DSC_3777.jpg (179.62 KiB) Viewed 650 times
If you look closely, there a small line of text beneath the yellow squares, and that's what I am going to keep magnifying.

And then using an Olympus SPlan 40X/0.95 w/ correction collar:
DSC_3779.jpg
DSC_3779.jpg (161.04 KiB) Viewed 650 times
Huh... it's a name! Let's zoom in a bit more, using the Leica 100X/1.47 lens:
DSC_3308.jpg
DSC_3308.jpg (137.57 KiB) Viewed 650 times
This is a real person, raising interesting questions about privacy- I blocked out the last name because this is a public forum.... When I found this, I did an online search for the person, and he is still alive and living in the US. I believe he is retired. I haven't tried to contact him and wonder if I should.

Does he wonder if anyone discovered this? Was he in fact responsible for putting his own name on the design? Who else knew about this? So many questions!

ADi
Posts: 301
Joined: Fri May 05, 2023 4:05 pm

Re: Powers of 10: doxxed!

#2 Post by ADi » Thu May 25, 2023 6:14 pm

Hello!
Interesting story!
Do you mean this one? https://typeset.io/authors/perry-scott- ... 3iq2gr80r9
Best, ADi

SuiGenerisBrewing
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:39 pm
Location: Canada
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Re: Powers of 10: doxxed!

#3 Post by SuiGenerisBrewing » Thu May 25, 2023 7:38 pm

Decapping and imaging chips is a not uncommon hobby/thing. If he put his name on it, its unlikely he wasn't expecting others to find and/or post about it.

Regardless, amazing series of images. Well done!

Andy Resnick
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2023 3:08 pm

Re: Powers of 10: doxxed!

#4 Post by Andy Resnick » Fri May 26, 2023 6:13 pm

ADi wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 6:14 pm
Hello!
Interesting story!
Do you mean this one? https://typeset.io/authors/perry-scott- ... 3iq2gr80r9
Best, ADi
yes :)

Andy Resnick
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2023 3:08 pm

Re: Powers of 10: doxxed!

#5 Post by Andy Resnick » Fri May 26, 2023 6:13 pm

SuiGenerisBrewing wrote:
Thu May 25, 2023 7:38 pm
Decapping and imaging chips is a not uncommon hobby/thing. If he put his name on it, its unlikely he wasn't expecting others to find and/or post about it.

Regardless, amazing series of images. Well done!
Thanks!

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