Has anyone disassembled a CPU to get the wafer?

[phait]

Got an old useless CPU layin' aroud and I wanna get at what's inside.

Looks like it's gonna be tough without stabbing myself

Anyone done this?

 

[GrumpyMan]

I normally get my wafers at church on Sundays, but now that you mention it, it would be cool to have a look. But I'm sure many here have had a look since they are in the industry, I'm sure they'll chime in.

 

[PottedMeat]

a recent one? use a torch to take off the heat spreader. you're looking at the upside down die. keep heating the die and if you're lucky it will come off.

there was a poster that used some HF on the die too.

the best 'looking' die come from 486s or pentium pros that have a removable lid.

 

[phait]

It's an

Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz 512/533
7310A167-0194

from what I can read on it

 

[nonameo]

You mean delidding the processor? people do this all the time. Direct contact with the CPU die is supposed to help with cooling.

 

[faxon]

isnt incredibly common, but i have seen it done before for cooling reasons. there was a thread either here or on xtremesystems a while back where a guy used the razor around the edges + boil it in distilled water method to get the IHS off, and then he epoxied on a custom milled piece of acetal complete with an intake and outtake G1/4 thread for fittings. he had the water literally running over the CPU die sucking away heat. i think his load temps were somewhere in the high 30c low 40c range, and he got them down even lower with chilled water cooling, like 28c overclocked and overvolted, it was insane. it's also rather insane doing it in the first place since the slightest fuck up and you can literally split your CPU die in half, not to mention any possible risk from static damage or extreme heat.

 

[phait]

 

[aigomorla]

Got an old useless CPU layin' aroud and I wanna get at what's inside.

Looks like it's gonna be tough without stabbing myself

Anyone done this?

Yup... shows god is with Intel... ROFLROFL...

Wow...a discovery of a life time!
This is the fabled CPU of Turin!

It was a very nice photo shop by Tsavo.. so dont take it seriously...

But guess what cpu that is...

 

[Zap]

A Gulftown?

 

[aigomorla]

A Gulftown?

:thumbsup:

 

[phait]

Well I got the metal piece off and can see where the wafer would be, but THAT is a bitch and a half to get out. I've tried scraping around to pry, can't. I've held a lighter to melt the bonding, can't. Probably made it worse. I've just thrown it away.

 

[CTho9305]

Well I got the metal piece off and can see where the wafer would be, but THAT is a bitch and a half to get out. I've tried scraping around to pry, can't. I've held a lighter to melt the bonding, can't. Probably made it worse. I've just thrown it away.

I think you needed more heat. A LOT more heat. The solder may melt at a reasonably low temperature, but there's also "underfill" involved... I don't know if it ever melts. I do know a blowtorch does enough damage to the package that the die can be removed.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=28930136&postcount=6
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29213410&postcount=9

 

[jaqie]

to see the ACTUAL wafer it would be more of a question of removal of the layers covering it above and below by abrasion (super fine sanding almost like polishing). The actual silicon is protected by layers of things similar to epoxy.

To see the part under the metal lid, others have covered that. Another method is freezing it in a deep freezer and twisting the metal lid juuust right.

 

[jaqie]

Got an old useless CPU layin' aroud

What was it? Even a PII-300 isn't useless to me, I'm setting it up as an audio mixing box and FreeBSD console station.

Seriously.

 

[sxr7171]

People can we please use terms like IHS? If what we are talking about here is removing the IHS it has been done by quite a few who are into extreme O/C. But if the question is if someone has cut the IC packaging to actually see the silicon wafer - then I have no idea.

 

[ehume]

Pics. Let's see what it looks like with the IHS off.

 

[aigomorla]

Pics. Let's see what it looks like with the IHS off.

Unedited picture:


IHS OFF a i7 980X

Even if u were to polish that black die down, it still is very difficult to see.
Duh 32nm... your eyes better be superman level to see that.

 

[Rubycon]

You cannot see the lithographic paths discretely with the naked eye but the diffraction effect makes it all pretty.

 

[ehume]

Very nice, aig, but I would like to see what phalt got.

 

[aigomorla]

Very nice, aig, but I would like to see what phalt got.

its simular to what i showed you only with a smaller die.

And it has more resistors.

ive taken that ihs off.

Actually there isnt a generation after P4 that i havent taken the IHS off.

Well That gulftown isnt mine, so i havent taken it off gulftown, but i was going to soon, because i have a dead A0 Gulftown.

 

[ZimZum]

What was it? Even a PII-300 isn't useless to me, I'm setting it up as an audio mixing box and FreeBSD console station.

Seriously.

I just destroyed a perfectly good P4 to make a key chain.

 

[jaqie]

I just destroyed a perfectly good P4 to make a key chain.

IMO no P4 is good let alone perfectly good. Good job getting another netburst out of circulation.

 

[phait]

Very nice, aig, but I would like to see what phalt got.

As mentioned earlier, threw it away.

 

[punker]

isnt incredibly common, but i have seen it done before for cooling reasons. there was a thread either here or on xtremesystems a while back where a guy used the razor around the edges + boil it in distilled water method to get the IHS off, and then he epoxied on a custom milled piece of acetal complete with an intake and outtake G1/4 thread for fittings. he had the water literally running over the CPU die sucking away heat. i think his load temps were somewhere in the high 30c low 40c range, and he got them down even lower with chilled water cooling, like 28c overclocked and overvolted, it was insane. it's also rather insane doing it in the first place since the slightest fuck up and you can literally split your CPU die in half, not to mention any possible risk from static damage or extreme heat.

most people know what they are doing if they had Socket A chips before


the risk is Null