Break IC, Recover MCU, Microcontroller Reverse Engineering

Posts Tagged ‘smartcard program extract’

Extract IC program execution has greater complexity, some of them can be done without expensive laboratory equipment.

Low-budget MCU breakers are likely to get a cheap solution on the second-hand market for semiconductor test equipment. With patience and skill, it should not be too difficult to assemble all the required tools for under ten thousand pounds by buying a second-hand microscope and using self-designed micropositioners.

Invasive IC crackers start with the removal of the chip package. Once the chip is opened it is possible to perform probing or modifying microcontroller. The most important tool for invasive IC code extraction is a microprobing workstation. Its major component is a special optical microscope with a long working distance objective lens.

Micropositioners are installed on a stable platform around the chip test socket and allow the movement of probe arms, with submicron precision, over a chip surface. A probing needle with an elastic hair at the end is installed on each arm and allows electrical contact to on-chip bus lines without damaging them.