[sdiy] Messing with chips with light

[Scott Nordlund]

> Samppa,
> Can you explain how CMOS chips will fail over time? I have not heard
> of this happening anywhere. Flash memory degrades, yes, but this is
> something different entirely.

I thought he was alluding to bit rot of EPROM/EEPROM/Flash memories, since the stored charge gradually leaks out of the floating gates (this shouldn't damage the chips, just the data).  Some microcontrollers with internal ROMs may be at risk since the data is sometimes encrypted for security reasons and can't be read out by normal means. But these usually use PROMs or mask ROM (as far as I know), so they wouldn't be subject to this. There are still plenty of other ways for them to die, though.

> If I extract and drink the CMOS juice will I become an android? ;)

I once ground up a bunch of DRAM ICs in a coffee grinder.  I didn't brew coffee with the resulting substance, but it could be something to try...

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