Reading Silicon: How to Reverse Engineer Integrated Circuits

Ken Shirriff has seen the insides of more integrated circuits than most people have seen bellybuttons. (This is an exaggeration.) But the point is, where we see a crazy jumble of circuitry, Ken sees a riddle to be solved, and he's got a method that guides him through the madness.

In his talk at the 2016 Hackaday SuperConference, Ken stepped the audience through a number of famous chips, showing how he approaches them and how you could do the same if you wanted to, or needed to. Reading an IC from a photo is not for the faint of heart, but with a little perseverance, it can give you the keys to the kingdom. We're stoked that Ken shared his methods with us, and gave us some deeper insight into a handful of classic silicon, from the Z80 processor to the 555 timer and LM7805 voltage regulator, and beyond.

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[franklydude]

I'm a (retired) analogue IC designer and have many happy (?) memories studying other companies IC's using optical microscopes in our engineering laboratory, to reverse engineering them. It was a good way to learn tricks of the trade. I hope some engineers have studied some of my creations! We also used manual micro-manipulators to electrically probe connections when studying a powered up die. We sometimes used a laser to cut tracks in the lab. We also occasionally used an ion-beam milling machine to slice into the depth of an IC so we could modify the silicon experimentally. Oh what fun we had!

[HariWiguna]

I've always been impressed with those who could read disassembled code. but at minute 11:43, Ken is disassembling SILICON and THEN disassembling the code that is in that ROM in that silicon! Oh as if that is not enough, he also wrote a simulator of the calculator he reverse engineered BY LOOKING AT THE SILICON!? WOW...

[chiragsinghyadav]

I studied automation engineering and almost everything here was a part of the curriculum. I wish it was taught like this!
Had so much difficulties in understanding the implementation of gates on chip that I couldn’t visualize it so had to learn them and I hated ‘just learning’ part. There’s no fun without seeing it practically. Great video

[TangodownNZ]

I need the laser pointer when you zoom in please! Because we have no idea where he is pointing to.

[LumocolorARTnr]

Good talk but what are they doing with the camera taking shots from the back of the room and switching to the talker when he is showing something on the screen. Whoever filmed and edited this, watch some defcon talks.

[jeremiefaucher-goulet]

If you guys like Ken Shirriff, I suggest watching the CuriousMarc channel. Ken is often there tagging along and working with the others in restoring and understanding these old computers.

[zlac]

FFS, somebody give this guy a glass of water!

[johnnyprimavera]

Simply put: Great overview of silicon features and excellent approach on chip decapping.

[edinfific]

Very nice and interesting to see how those basic components and circuits are made. Great work!

[AIXG]

Early Mostek calculator devices (1970s) had fake contacts that would mess with reverse engineering and swiping the circuit. The fake contacts were not able to be detected under optical microscopy unless you were good at noting the direction of focus

[richardhead]

*_THAT_* was freaking cool!!!

_So much better_ than textbook cartoons!

[MorganEarlJones]

I chuckled when I saw the instruction "waitno"

[davidmaiolo]

Thanks, had fun getting a better look into the transistor designs that actually make their way into an ic.

[Stallnig]

crazy how much stuff is on these tiny pieces, and its getting even crazier by the day. I can't even imagine how much engineering hours and knowlege went into any of these things.

[dkaye]

If you have an archive of the raw footage from all of the cameras, it would greatly helpful to have the wide angle shot showing you pointing is really helpful. However, the slides are better resolution, but where he is pointing is lost. The lecture is very interesting, but when you don't see where he is pointing makes much more difficult to follow Thanks.

[fixing_stuff]

man you have to give the name of the music played at the end... so good

[MadsonOnTheWeb]

It could've been even longer presentation and I still would watch it.

[whiteburr]

Phenomenal presentation! I want to thank that guy (and get him a bottle of water!)

[herebtheend]

Absolutely brilliant. Thank you very much.

[kevinhevans]

Currently in school for comp E and we're slowly going over the topics presented, so this talk is really fascinating (to see this stuff in practice!)

Does anybody know how large were the teams that were designing these chips?