Recent Teardowns

Inside the ASUS AMD 7970 graphics card – TSMC 28 nm!

February 2nd, 2012

The latest beast in the graphics card industry Tearing down a graphics card is not our normal ballywag because images of the board are often available on any number of popular review sites like Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech. In this case, after spending some time looking at the card, we determined that there are some impressive silicon stories that would interest our readers in the semiconductor and electronics space.

For those more casually interested in teardowns, first a bit of back story on graphics cards. If you don’t pay much attention to this type of technology, these things are typically used by high-end gamers who consider speed and quality to be a visceral and competitive advantage when gaming. They take glory in the fact that they can now play games like Metro 2033 at 85 frames-per-second (fps) when before they were limited to 78 fps. By way of comparison, many games on a PlayStation 3 have “de-tuned” graphics quality which are locked to 30 fps.

If you have been gaming on an iPad2, then this world, where products come packaged in a box featuring a picture of some kind of death knight mounted on a horse against a background of orange lightning bolts, might be weird and scary. There is no “less is more” mentality among the hard core. But the innovation is interesting too – so read on.

The silicon story We’re going to skip over the story about the huge power requirements and the need for advanced cooling and get to the silicon story, where we will touch a bit on the massive processing capabilities in this latest AMD 7970 chip. But first, some of the design wins, starting with some of the peripheral chips cataloged:

Silicon Laboratories SL16010DC clock generator

CHiL Semiconductor power management controller

Fairchild NC7SZ74K8X MOSFET

Fairchild FDMC8200 N-channel FET

OnSemiconductor MC74VHCT125H MOSFET

Coiltronics 1007R3-R15 inductors (6)

The silicon story (cont.)OnSemiconductor MC78M05CDTG voltage regulator

Programmable Microelectronics Corp Pm25LD010 serial flash memory

The Hynix DRAM The core functionality is in the memory and processor. Surrounding the graphics chip are 12 256 MB GDDR5 chips, for a total of 3 GB graphics RAM memory. The part number is the Hynix H5GQ2H24MFR GDDR5, which is a 2 Gb device rated at 6 GBps at 1.6 V. Twelve of them are used to give a 384 bit memory bus and memory bandwidth of 264 GB/s. The x-ray shows that they are single die 2 Gb chips, as opposed to 2 x 1 Gb, which would have been common a few months ago.

At the right we are showing the full die. Die size indicates that it is fabbed in Hynix’ 44-nm process, and it has the usual square block-layout format and double row of bond pads typical of a graphics DRAM, to give the higher data rates. If you are a DRAM manufacturer then you may want the full resolution version available for free here in the Chipworks Store (but you do need to go through a check out process).

Data rates are critical in a graphics board like this, so we have also shown a board image adjusted to show the tracks between the Radeon GPU and the memory chips; you can see the various routes laid out to keep the parasitic values equivalent for each separate chip so that they perform equally.

The AMD Radeon 7970 The AMD Radeon 7970 (Tahiti) is a flagship device by AMD because it is the first commercially available graphics processor fabricated at 28 nm by TSMC. At the right, we are showing the top metal (not too much to see there) and a polysilicon die photo, where you can make out the digital and analog blocks. For the higher resolution required to do layout analysis, you will need to visit the Chipworks Store and order the 35 MB version.

Using the latest 28 nm technology lets AMD squeeze 2084 shaders, organized in 32 compute units, on to the die, for a total of 4.3 billion transistors in 365 sq. mm. The chip is clocked at 925 MHz, giving a theoretical performance of ~3.8 TFLOPS, compared with ~2.7 of the previous generation Radeon 6970.

The AMD 7970 – more than meets the eyeIn order to deliver serious performance, AMD also had to consider some innovative packaging. The x-ray shows what looks like a 20 layer substrate. You can see from the board images above that the heat spreader is unusual, with cavities to allow direct contact to the cooler. The flip-chip solder ball connection to the die is also a little different – the SEM shot at right shows the extra-thick under-bump metal of the solder has been removed. Look out for a package report on this one!

Reports available on the AMD 7970

AMD Radeon 7970 215-0821060 GPU TSMC 28 nm Functional Analysis Report

AMD Radeon 7970 215-0821060, GPU, TSMC 28 nm Process SRAM Analysis

AMD Radeon 7970 215-0821060 GPU TSMC 28 nm Package Analysis Report


AMD ATI Radeon 7970 GPU Package Analysis Report – Package Analysis Report

Posted in Uncategorized

Silicon Inside the Asus eeePad Transformer Prime

January 10th, 2012

The Silicon Story
The Asus Transformer Prime presents an interesting story from many angles. The first look inside showed a general look at the chips where we saw a fairly simple circuit board with a focus on the newest and greatest in only a couple of the sockets. You could conclude that it was those with the highest performance impact to the user.

There is also an interesting IP story of sorts because Hasbro, the makers of the Transformers Optimus Prime robot toy are suing Asus for trademark infringement. We wonder if there is a functional Optimus Prime Robot that we can reverse engineer to look for electronics patent hits on IP that Asus owns.

And finally, the silicon itself. And there are at least four interesting stories to be discussed: the processor, the touch screen controller, the WiFi chip, and the primary camera.

The Processor
The processor in question is none other than the first proven commercial use of the nVIDIA Tegra 3. For a mobile chip this processor is very large and 60% bigger than the prior Tegra 2, at the same process generation. Making room for more cores, room for what one nVIDIA CES 2012 presenter calls the “ninja” core, and of course all the power management and I/O. This die is interesting in that there are 4 digital regions in the middle of the chip that are separated from the rest of the digital logic by an array of (what appears to be) capacitors. There is also a physical separation from the I/O region and the main logic and memory.

We don’t tend to speculate on what blocks are what without providing specific evidence so we’ll be looking more closely at this chip in a Functional Analysis Report. When compared to the Tegra 2 (at right), we see a lot of differences in layout, although the ratio of the die allocated to analog and digital blocks is very similar. (low resolution provided)

Broadcom Wi-Fi Chip
One of the places where perhaps money was saved, or perhaps the timing for the original specification is revealed, is in the Wi-Fi module on the Asus Transformer Prime. Broadcom’s latest flagship product is the BCM 4330, and this devices uses the BCM4329. From our cataloging, the BCM4329 is the most successful WiFi chip in recent history, so from a functionality standpoint it is not really a compromise. Just a choice.

The BCM4329 when compared the the BCM4330, is a larger die and does not use Bluetooth 4.0.

Touch Screen Controller
The new flagship MXT768E from Atmel. Certainly new package markings versus the MXT540E we analyzed previously, but inside we see the exact same die right down to the ‘cut here’ markings.

Atmel’s marketing bumph calls the mXT768E, “the industry’s first 32–bit single–chip touch controller for tablets and other large screen applications up to 12–inches. Based on Atmel’s ultra–low–power 32-bit AVR architecture, the mXT768E meets the increased demand on signal processing needed for rejecting unintended touches and maintaining responsiveness on large screens. The mXT540E and mXT384E devices, also based on the advanced 32–bit AVR architecture, offer system designers the right price–to–performance selection for their touchscreen designs, and are appropriate for smaller tablets, e–book readers and high–performance smartphones.”

So the same die performing to different specifications. This does not look like a case of binning because when you examine the bond pads in the die photos, the 768E has a number of pads with wire bonds that are not bonded in the 540E. This approach lets Atmel incur only one set of design and die manufacturing costs, while delivering different price-performance parameters to clients. It makes good sense in many cases.

OmniVision BSI2 Hits the Street
The Asus Transformer Prime’s primary image sensor is the first design win that we have found for OmniVision’s BSI2 technology. This is an 8 Mp back illuminated sensor with die markings AEQGG6 OV2B8B0 and according to the specifications the device is the OmniVision 8830.
Features that show it to be BSI2 include the suspected TSVs located on either side of the bond pads (shown at right) and the copper metallization found during SEM analysis (EDS spectrum not shown). We have launched a full Imager Process Review on this device.

OmniVision BSI 2 found in Transformer Prime

OmniVision BSI 2 foung in Transformer Prime

List of reports related to devices in this teardown blog:

Atmel MXT 540 Circuit Analysis Report

Posted in Computer / Tablet

Asus eeePad Transformer Prime full of goodies

January 6th, 2012

The latest and greatest Android tablet has arrived

This is the first of a 2-part article on the Asus Transformer Prime. Part 2 will look at some of the new silicon found inside, including a detailed look at the new Tegra 3 processor. Follow us on twitter @ChipworksGary, via RSS, or subscribe today.

The Android tablet that many have been salivating for has finally arrived. Just a tad too late for really good Christmas specials on the original Transformer, but probably with the right timing for Asus (and their retailers) margins. The Transformer Prime has upped the ante by not only competing on its nifty keypad docking feature but on an elegant design, and a powerhouse of specifications. It may be that the tablet market has finally matured to the point where, like the PC, what matters is how fast the processor is and how much memory it has. Many of the early generation devices are now choking on the latest games and the basic form factor is no longer evolving.

Combined, this is good news for companies like Asus, who are used to competing in an environment where application demands require routine upgrading. And this device is a clear demonstration of that. Asus appears to have spent the money where it matters the most because our very brief user testing revealed it to be a very solid contender. If you were an early adopter to Android tablets, then it may just be time to give the kids the ‘old’ tablet and upgrade yourself.

Peeking Inside
Before we took it apart, we noted that it is a little thinner (8.3 vs 8.8 mm) than the iPad 2. With the back off, we see the usual large battery, but once you start pulling things apart you can see a main board and a number of subsidiary boards – the touch screen controller, some switches, and the camera flash LED are all on separate boards.The main circuit board has the components all on one side, and judging by the number of smaller ICs distributed amongst the passive components the power management functions are not as highly integrated as we would expect in a phone or that we have seen in some tablets. The larger board means less potential space for batteries, but with the docking station angle, maybe the absolute maximum battery life wasn’t what they were after. Besides, the battery is the same capacity as in the iPad (25 Wh), so depending on usage, battery life should be similar.

In comparison, the iPad 2 board is half the size, but the chips are on both sides, presumably at a higher manufacturing cost. Given that thinner seems to be seen as better in the tablet arena, the cheaper single-sided board could be a smart choice without any real sacrifice.

Transformer Prime Teardown - Back Removed

Transformer Prime Teardown - Back Removed 2

Asus Transformer Prime Circuit Board Covered

Asus Transformer Prime Circuit Board Back

Main Circuit Board
The main circuit board shows off the major design wins (at the zoom level shown). Highlights include the fact that we are not seeing a PoP for the processor, but that the nVidia Tegra 3 processor and the 1-GB Elpida B8132B2MA memory are physically distinct. This is a departure from what we have been seeing lately. With the top off the nVidia chip, we can see that this is one big piece of silicon. nVidia has decided to not put any markings on the back of this device. We expect to be publishing more architectural details about this chip in the next day or two.

The Atmel MXT768E touch screen controller is on a dedicated board, presumably sourced as a single touchscreen component. The device was launched at CES in 2011 and promotes an 80% power reduction versus competing solutions and support for up to 12″ screens. Also shown is the Winbond 25X408BV16 4Mb serial flash.

Asus Transformer Prime Main Circuit Board

Transformer Prime Teardown - nVidia Tegra 3

The nVidia Tegra 3
While the device is still still in the labs undergoing delayering, there is still some interesting stuff to look at on the front side and in the x-ray. The device actually has 5 cores, with 4 dedicated to normal operation and one for a low power mode. And it is one serious piece of mobile silicon. When compared to the Tegra 2 that had a die size of 7.11 x 7.15 mm (50.3 mm2), the Tegra 3 is over 60% larger and measures 9.58 x 8.55 mm (81.91 mm2). For comparison, both are manufactured at 40 nm.

For high resolution photos you’ll need to visit the Chipworks Store for that detail.

Communications
This is a WiFi only device and so there is less to talk about on the communications side than with a 3G tablet. The WiFi module is the AzureWave NH615. The device is not listed on their website, but we presume that it is also taking care of Bluetooth communication – it is going in for decapsulation.

One of the interesting parts, and one that has caused a bit of a hiccup on the tablets release, is the Broadcom BCM4751 single-chip GPS receiver fabricated in 65 nm CMOS. Tablets are notoriously poor GPS performers when they don’t include the 3G functionality for aGPS. The issue is not with the chips, but with the form factor and how the antennae perform. WiFi only tablets typically need to rely on tethering to a gps-enabled phone for a good experience.

Asus isn’t to be blamed for this because even the market leading WiFi iPad2 doesn’t offer GPS as part of its listed functionality (despite some clever engineering described over at Anandtech to overcome issues). However, after pre-announcing this capability, and even designing-in a chip, Asus had to retract that feature from the published specification. We suppose that as long as the user and the tablet know approximately where they are, together they can figure out exactly where they are.

Other design wins noted include:

- Hynix H26M64002BNR 32 GB NAND Flash
- Invensense MPU3050 Three Axis Gyroscope
- Kionix KXTF9 Accelerometer
- Nuvoton NPCE795 Keyboard Controller (for docking station)

- Fairchild FDMC4435BZ Power MOSFET

- Fairchild FPF2700 Power Switch

- International Rectifier IRFHS834PbF Power MOSFET

- Orise Technology OTC3106A LCD Driver

- Realtek ALC5631 Audio CODEC

- STMicroelectronics 428RP EEPROM

- Texas Instruments bq2475 Li-ion Management

- Texas Instruments TPB62361 DC-DC Converter

- Texas Instruments TPS61181A LED Driver

- Texas Instruments TPS62122 DC-DC Converter

- Texas Instruments TPS6591102 Power Management

Reports referenced in this blog

nVidia Tegra 3 Processor Functional Analysis Report

Posted in Computer / Tablet

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Note (N7000)

December 20th, 2011

What is the Samsung Galaxy Note?

It’s a tablet . . . it’s a phone . . .

It’s Super Phonablet!!!

Has the smartphone/tablet market finally gone too far now that Samsung has launched a new phone that features a massive 5.3″ screen? At first we thought so, but after a few minutes with the Samsung Galaxy Note, we realized that for some people, a device like this made sense.

It didn’t have the wide appeal of the more traditional designs, but with an application like GPS, for instance, the device had a reasonably large screen that delivered a reasonably good app experience, and could still fit inside a reasonably sized jacket pocket. When you need to do real computing, you pull out your Ultrabook and leave the tablets to the children/rest of us.

In terms of a 5″ screen, we’ve been in this territory before, with companies like Dell and Archos making mid-sized devices targeted at the tablet space. By all accounts, they haven’t been resounding successes. Maybe in a phone, Samsung has the right combination of timing and functionality to pull it off.

On the functionality side, it’s time to get that back cover off and start cataloging some design wins.

The main circuit board for the Samsung Galaxy Note

The board is laid out in a typical two-sided fashion, and there are some of the usual suspects winning the sockets (click to zoom). However, like any of these devices, there is always one or two new and interesting design wins. So let us investigate further. First, the applications processor is a flip-chip DRAM on app processor. In this case, we have the K3PE7E700B-XXC1 low power DDR2 and the S5PC210 Exynos 4210 from Samsung.

The primary camera hasn’t been looked at yet. The lab is busy, so we’ll post an update in this blog when we get it. We historically see Samsung and/or Sony design wins inside Samsung phones, and we would expect the same here.

Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Circuit Board

Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Circuit Board Back

Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Processor

Communications Chips

Murata has the comm’s module in this phone. In this case that means the Broadcom BCM4330 WiFi/Bluetooth/FM chip, but also included is a Broadcom BCM47511IUB2G GPS chip. The addition of a Broadcom GPS makes the chip combination competitive with others, like the TI WiLink7 that includes GPS on-die. Rounding out the communications portion of the device, we find a couple of devices that have package markings from companies that have since been acquired. Namely, Intel’s acquisition of Infineon’s wireless solutions and Skyworks’ acquisition of SiGe. You can see how quickly things are changing in this market.

At right, because it is so incredibly sophisticated, we have included a (low res) polysilicon image of the Infineon transceiver for your interest.

Here is the list:

Infineon PMB5712 RF transceiver (shown at right)
Infineon PMB9811 baseband processor
SiGe 5015T – this part number is not on their website but is presumably an amplifier
Silicon Image SiI9244BO RF transmitter
Silicon Laboratories Si4709 FM receiver
Skyworks SKY77604-11 power amplifier

Other devices cataloged (not all are shown at right):

WacomW8501 LCD driver
Yamaha YMU823 audio CODEC
STMicroelectronics L3G4200D gyroscope (at right)
STMicroelectronics LIS3DH accelerometer
Maxim MAX8997 power management
Audience eS305 audio processor
Asahi Kasei AK8975 electronic compass (at right)

We found the Audience chip to be interesting because we first published (and reported on) a similar sized chip from Audience in an iPhone, with different “10C0″ package markings. We’ll be watching for more design wins for this fledgling company.

STMicroelectronics L3G4200D Gyroscope MEMS Die

Touch screen controller

We at Chipworks love touch screen controllers. They are full of innovation, in a very rapidly growing market, and rich in intellectual property. As a result, we have reported on all the leading devices. Well, the one in the Samsung Galaxy Note is no exception since it is a brand new device from market leader Atmel. To make matters even better, the engineers at Atmel have made our job of analyzing this chip even easier by providing handy “cut here” silicon art to tell us where we need to do our cross-sectional analysis*. Thanks guys! At right is the Atmel MXT540E touch controller package image, die photo, and silicon art.

*For those interested in this chip, we aren’t actually doing any process analysis, but we have launched an analog Circuit Analysis Report on this device.

Samsung Galaxy Note showing Atmel Touch Screen Controller

List of reports related to devices in this teardown blog:

Posted in Computer / Tablet, Phone

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus GT-I9250

December 2nd, 2011

A tasty treat for the holidays – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus

We couldn’t resist the obvious metaphor (and one that has been repeated so many times already), but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone featuring Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has hit the market. For consumers, this means they get a great phone that is rich on features, manufactured by a leading electronics company, and have bragging rights of being among the first to use a new operating system.

Sure the chocolate cookie on the outside is great, but for reverse engineers like us, tech teams seeking competitive intelligence, and IP teams looking for patent hits on high volume products, the tasty part is the frozen cream on the inside.

And this phone has some very tasty insides – among them a brand new TI OMAP processor.

Front side of the board

Over on the right, you can click to zoom on the images. The major silicon identified here includes:

Murata SWB-B42 module – inside is the very successful Broadcom BCM 4330 WiFi/Bluetooth SoC. At the right, we’re showing a polysilicon die photo. (Sorry, only low res here. In the Chipworks Store, we have full resolution available).
Texas Instruments 6030B power management IC
Texas Instruments 6040A2 audio codec and power management
InvenSense MPU – 3050 gyroscope sensor

Touch screen controller by MELFAS

While Atmel is still the clear leader in this market, we have been seeing more and more design wins going to other companies. In this case we have the MELFAS 8PK173. The die markings also appeared earlier this year in the Samsung Conquer (with different package markings). Competition is good.

Other design wins

Intel has two interesting wins with the Intel 9611 and 5712. Why is this interesting? Well, it is the first time we have seen the Infineon PMB9811 and PMB5712 parts rebranded with Intel markings.

Two Samsung memory chips, the KMVYL000LM-B503 and the K3PE7E700M 512 MB LP DDR2 SDRAM.
RFMicro RF6260 power amplifier, RF6560 DC-DC converter, RF6590 power management IC
SiRF GTD4T-9600B GPS chip
Silicon Image S244B0 MHL transmitter
In addition to the InvenSense gyro, there are also a Bosch BMP180 pressure sensor and a BMA220 3-axis accelerometer.

The sweetest part of all . . . the first proven design win of the TI 4460 OMAP microprocessor

No offense to the rest of the design wins inside this phone, but when something new is found in the core of the phone, it is worth sinking our teeth into. This processor is a TI design, fabricated by one of its foundry partners, and features a 1.5 GhZ dual core ARM-based processor. TI is an acknowledged leader in delivering mobile processes with excellent power management, and with this device, you can expect to get great performance and a long battery life.

TI has a couple other sockets not already mentioned, including the TI TPB62631 DC-DC converter and the TWL6030B1AD power management IC. Texas Instruments continues to strike it big in these latest hot phones.

Primary image sensor

Samsung shows off its vertical integration here by using one of its own sensors in the primary camera. In this case, the S5K4E5YA 5 Mp, 1.4 µm pixel pitch back illuminated CMOS image sensor.

On the back of the camera module (at right), we see a Winbond W25Q80BWIG, which is, according to Winbond’s website, an 8 Mb serial flash.

Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus Camera Module Back Showing Memory

primary image sensor in the samsung galaxy nexus

Near field controller by NXP

Google wallet is touted as the next big thing. And lets face it, mobile payments in the phone have been an idea long overdue for success in North America. Powering this technology in the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is one of the most advanced NFC chips on the market – the NXP PN544 near field controller.

There are two dies in this chip. Since we have completed an analog circuit analysis on the NFC chip, it gave us the opportunity to include an annotated die photo at the right. Also, see the top metal of the controller chip. The antenna for this device is found under the cover of the battery – an unusual move; battery replacement is easy, but you have to get the right battery or you lose NFC!

Near Field Controller Antenae in Samsung Google Nexus Galaxy

List of reports related to devices in this teardown blog:

Posted in Phone

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Welcome to our Teardown Blog

Inside the ASUS AMD 7970 graphics card – TSMC 28 nm!

Silicon Inside the Asus eeePad Transformer Prime

Asus eeePad Transformer Prime full of goodies

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Note (N7000)

It’s Super Phonablet!!!

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus GT-I9250