22 Mask ROM Photography
Some chips store their program bits as markings on the masks that lithographically draw the microchip. We call this a mask ROM, to distinguish it from EEPROM, flash ROM, and other field-programmable technologies. In this chapter, we’ll go over the theory behind photographing these ROMs to extract their bits, and in the following chapters we’ll work out examples of real targets from beginning to end.
Mask ROMs come in three types: via, diffusion, and implant. These are quite different chemically and physically, but in extracting them, we just need to understand them well enough to make the bits visible. Table 22.1 lists a number of microcontrollers and their ROM processes.
Via or contact ROMs use a via between layers to ...
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