On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, Jeremiah A Blatz wrote:
Dave Emery <die@pig.die.com> writes:
I have heard about thermite devices being used for this in the sort of applications that might warrent it. Granted that this is a royal fire hazard unless very carefully engineered, but at least it is not an explosive per se....
Thermite is probably overkill unless you're trying to dust something big like a hard drive. Just a bit of magnesium (which is often used as primer for thermite) should do the trick on a chip. I wonder if it's really essential to be so drastic, though? Would just getting the chip really hot be enough to wipe it? What about exposing it to a big arc? One might imagine a PCMCIA with a voltage doubling diode ladder and a small capacitor... would this be sufficient?
If you're trying to destroy a standard IC, why don't you just hook up the power and ground pins to a 120V AC outlet? No special equipment or substances required, just a couple of wires. Done it myself, and some chips make a really neat popping sound as the top blows off :-) Warning for the electronically challenged: don't use this method if you care about the rest of the board. Cynthia =============================================================== Cynthia H. Brown, P.Eng. E-mail: cynthb@iosphere.net | PGP Key: See Home Page Home Page: http://www.iosphere.net/~cynthb/ Junk mail will be ignored in the order in which it is received. Klein bottle for rent; enquire within.