File:Arduino Nano, ATMEL ATmega328p (Fake?) (PNG).png

English: [This may be a fake / cloned version of the mega328p, the logo at the bottom right is not visible in other die shots!]

This is the processor from an Arduino Nano. One of my Arduino boards was starting to act funny a few weeks ago so I tore it apart and did not expect the die to be inside the package at a 45 degree angle, so it snapped in half.

This one gave me some bad readings today so I used that as an excuse to myself to try opening another one. This time instead of using a vice and heat gun like normal, I cooked it on my 500W hotplate for about 20 minutes. The package was very brittle and crumbled away like a powder. I then used a razor blade to carefully remove the remaining plastic.

These chips like to keep a tight grip in the top plastic, which is unusual, usually once you melt the bonding wires the chip falls out.

This appears to be the top metal layers of the chip, I don't have acid yet so I cannot go any further.

Unfortunately my jank lighting setup causes some strange lighting effects when using the LED inside the eyepiece. I may get a metallurgical scope in the future.

Camera: SONY A6000 Number of Images: 35 Panorama Y Axis: 7 Images Panorama X Axis: 5 Images ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 1/13" Light Source: LED in Eyepiece Overlap: 50% Microscope Objective: 10X Microscope Eyepiece: DSLR Mount Grid Used: 4x4 (Panning Movement Aid) Capture Motion: ZigZag Stitching Software: Autopano Giga Other Software: GIMP for white balancing, sharpening and scaling. Image Type: PNG

Image Scale: 69.1%