Hardware Hacking Stage - Lab Demo: Reading ROM Optically (Virtual ToorCamp 2020)

Taking an IC (ST16CF54A smartcard chip) and decapsulating it using fuming nitric acid to expose the bare die then delayering it using hydrofluoric acid to strip away metal and oxide layers to expose the silicon below, taking a look under microscope to see the progress and eventually identify the binary 1’s and 0’s embedded in ROM memory. From the Hardware Hacking Stage of Virtual ToorCamp 2020.