Re: Info on Clipper chip and fabrication of it

tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May) quoted someone else saying:

VLSI progammable logic (EEprom based?) is used to both store the keys, and provide some other logic functions, so you can't read anything if you take the chip apart. I don't think any other exotic technologies are used. Mykotronix designs the mask- they're fabricated at VLSI.

What about triple layer metal interconnect? If they're serious about making it reverse-engineering-resistant, they'd do that even if it weren't functionally needed, simply to make it STM-opaque. I think (but am not sure) that VLSI has that technology in their current fab lines. I suppose that it's not quite "exotic" by now; maybe that's just assumed as obvious? Doug