

Reverse-engineering of KR580VM80A / i8080 is complete - xai3luGi
http://zeptobars.ru/en/read/KR580VM80A-intel-i8080-verilog-reverse-engineering

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userbinator
I can find the +5v, +12v, and ground connections, but the 8080 is supposed to
have a -5v supply which doesn't appear in the schematic.

It's interesting that Russians originally reverse-engineered the Intel 8080 to
produce this chip, and now it appears another Russian has reverse-engineered
the clone.

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tlb
The -5v goes to the substrate (the bulk silicon underneath all the
transistors) in order to increase the threshold voltage of the NMOS devices.
Many later chips dispensed with this because they were able to tune the
process to get acceptable speed without it.

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jarcane
I wonder how much it costs to do one of these jobs.

I grew up with the Tandy Color Computer 3, which was a fantastic machine, but
it is to this day still hampered somewhat in development by the fact that the
"GIME" chip that serves as the main video/sound/everything controller was a
shamefully ill-documented custom job which to this day still hasn't been fully
unraveled.

Ever since the first one of these popped up on HN, I've been curious about
whether that might at least help get a bit further in deconstructing the
thing.

~~~
AlyssaRowan
Depends heavily on the package, the process and the complexity/scale. Really
old processes and easily-opened packages can be done by hobbyists for pocket
change (opened with a vice/brute force or easily-purchasable chemicals;
examined with optical microscopes, you can get fancy USB ones for three
figures secondhand?).

Modern stuff absolutely needs high-end professional-grade labs, SEMs/TEMs,
polishers, all that stuff - and that will likely run you five, six or seven
figures. And then there's the analysis phase! It takes a significant amount of
time either way, it just depends how much the time (and equipment) will cost!

Since you're going for something pretty old, however, it may not be beyond
your grasp. Have some spares handy, though! There was a good talk at 31c3
about decapping preparation on a budget, which may get you started:
[https://youtu.be/RlQJHymiudc](https://youtu.be/RlQJHymiudc)

~~~
astrodust
Most of these projects I've seen done by hand, visual inspection. Is there
anything that helps with automatic analysis? A sort of OCR for transistors?

~~~
BarsMonster
[http://www.degate.org/](http://www.degate.org/)

There is also numerous proprietary/non-public tools. For example ChipWorks has
some advanced software.

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chsigi
Can somebody provide any insight about how this was accomplished?

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1801BM1
Somehow like that:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O4fMlOogh4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O4fMlOogh4)

~~~
chsigi
Very nice - thank you.

