The CMDµ G65SC02 is a 8-bit microprocessor using the silicon gate CMOS process. This die was found inside a remarked chip (MOS 6502) from aliexpress.

This was my first decap and first panorama. I made this first decap after seeing this video from Deus Ex Silicium, a french youtube channel. I decaped a few chips using the torch method (but without using any acid), then I discovered you can just crack open chips using hot air.

The torch method yield very bad results with delaminated layers, discolored silicon and will damage chips severely. It’s also releasing a lot of very toxic smoke, and even outside with an appropriated respiratory protection it’s painful to do (your clothes will stink for days).

The photography was made under a metalographic Olympus BH2 microscope, taking 3x3 pictures afocally from a 10x eyepiece using a Nikon Coolpix S600 and stitched using Microsoft ICE running on VirtualBox (still have to find a native solution that run under Linux).