Chips for die photography

[Birdman.]

Hello all!

As you can see at http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21226 I'm really interested in taking die shots and I'm collecting them instead of chips. However, now that I have a nice method to take die shots I'd like to have more chips for die photography. I've found some old enough chips myself, but it's pretty difficult nowadays, so I really hope that you could help me.

I'm interested in taking die shots of at least these chips:
- Some 386 and 387 versions, especially Cyrix Cx486DLC (or similar chip with other brand) and most common 387 compatibles, but not Intel 80386DX IV, AMD Am386 and Intel 80387
- Some 486 versions, especially Intel DX4 (or overdrive with the same core), Intel SX (both large and smaller core without FPU) and UMC versions, but not Intel DX, Intel DX2, AMD DX2-66, AMD DX4 with write-back cache, AMD Am5x86 and Cyrix/TI/ST ones including 5x86
- AMD K5 with P/PR75-100 (very important) but not PR120-200
- Most AMD 29k versions, especially Am29000, Am29030 and Am29050 (very important) but not Am29040
- ARM610, ARM710 and StrongARM SA-110 (ceramic packages if those exist and are common enough, but I should be able to open plastic packages later)
- All Fairchild Clippers
- UltraSPARC I and all older SPARC CPUs like MicroSPARC, SuperSPARC and HyperSPARC (very important)
- HP PA-RISC CPUs, especially 7000, 7100, 7100LC, 7200, 7300LC (very important)
- Intel i860 (not XP) and i960 (not CA, CF) versions
- MIPS R2000, R3000, R3010, R4000, R4200, R4300, R4645, RM7000, R8000, R8010 (I hope Vlasta or some other with those wafers can take good R3000, R3010, R4000 and RM7000 die shots so that I wouldn't need those chips.)
- Motorola 6809, 68010, 68882, 88100, 88110 (I hope Peter at CPU-Galaxy could just send high-res version of his 68010 die so that I wouldn't need any 68010.)
- Zilog Z8000

Also these are nice to have but not so important:
- Alpha 21064 (EV4) and some NMOS/CMOS VAX chips (not MicroVAX) if not too rare
- Cyrix 6x86, 6x86MX, IDT WinChip, but these won't give so beautiful die shots before delayering
- Other chips may also be interesting if they aren't too rare and I don't have a good die shot yet. Even rare ones are OK if they're too broken for collection or someone wants to donate them for die shots.

I'm looking for the most affordable ones that are preferably common versions and/or in bad condition. Every condition is OK for me as long as the lid area is OK or dies of opened chips aren't cracked, scratched or too difficult to clean so that I can still get nice die shots. Dies should be in wirebond ceramic packages (if possible) because I haven't tried opening other package types yet. To keep shipping costs low I hope to get many different chips in one letter and just one chip with each die type without heatsinks.

Donations are preferred because every chip with different die will give all of us a new die shot, and I'll try to take die shots of every donated chip as soon as possible. I can also buy chips at lowest possible price, but I'll likely wait for better offers for some time and I'm not yet ready to buy more rare and expensive chips that are collectible items. Of course, die shots are also OK for me if you can take them yourself instead of donating/selling chips for me.

I hope that you'll let me know which chips you can donate or sell me as soon as possible. I'll then look for the best offers, hopefully donations or very affordable broken ones. I'll update this list after I get good die shots or find, get as donation or buy some chips.

I really hope for some donations of common, broken or interesting chips as soon as possible so that we all can get more beautiful die shots, and any chip in wirebond ceramic package is really OK for that except the ones I've already photographed. However, be ready to wait the longer the higher the price is because I don't really need all those chips soon at high price.

I really hope that you can help me to take beautiful die shots available and usable for all of us!
- Birdman.

P.S. I can ship the chips back after taking good enough die shots if you want. However, then they'll be non-working with open lids and possibly some visual damage (like bent pins, brown markings due to the heat while opening the lid and some paint in edges) but with flawless dies ready to be looked at that.

[hardwarecop]

Hi,

I have some chips you are looking for. I can send them to you for free, you are absolutely welcome to crack them open and take die shots (if you can do without damaging their markings (optically))

I don't care about bent pins as long as I can straighten them in their original position.

Then you can send me these back so that I can enjoy watching my chips under the microscope too

But where are you from? If you are from Europe/Germany I can consider paying the shipping costs

[CPUShack]

I have some Cyrix I would like to hav die pics of
5x86 and 486

[Birdman.]

OK, Thank You! PMs sent.

[Birdman.]

I updated the list of interesting chips after I got quite many from HARDWARECOP and CPUShack, Thank You a lot!

However, I still want to continue taking more die shots and thus hope to get some more interesting chips. There are still some common CPUs without high-res die shot available yet, so I hope you can help me get those die shots.

Does anyone have some of the listed chips in not good enough condition for collection?

[Birdman.]

I see there are some Intel 486SX and DX4 for sale, so does anyone have broken ones (scratches, broken corners, missing pins, damaged markings etc.) for me instead of those good ones?

[Neon_WA]

Where abouts are you located?
I probably have a few you maybe interested in

Do you have a google doc of chips you already have for die photography.. if not probably worth do

[Birdman.]

OK, Thank You! I sent a PM and updated my profile.

I have taken die shots of all ceramic wirebond chips I have or had, so they are listed in my die shot thread. The most important missing chips are listed in the first post here.

[hardwarecop]

Hi,

I'm still collecting for new CPUs to send them to you all together

Do you actually know how to delayer?

[Birdman.]

I have found many of these chips already, so this list is now outdated. I've posted a new updated list at http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22149 that includes only the most important missing ones.

Many of the chips I've found are still waiting for shipping, but I should also get quite many soon. Thus, stay tuned for many new die shots soon.

Thank You a lot for all the help that allowed me to get most of these chips! I hope that you'll still help me to take more complete set of die shots for all of us.