A database of microscopic images of decapped (or not) chips from Game Boy cartridges, some Chinese bootlegs and other stuff more or less related to Game Boy. Some images of decapped GBA chips allowing their identification are also included.
Decapping and images made by Raphaël BOICHOT, most of the chips donated by Dorian, Prominos, others from the author personnal collection and from Rafael ZENARO. Please credit authors.
The silicon dies were extracted from epoxy matrix by dipping chips in boiling 70% nitric acid until no red fumes degases from the beaker. The black residuals at the end of reaction were removed with 1-2 minutes treatment in water with ultrasonic bath. After rincing with lot of deionized water, dies were finally gently cleaned with isopropanol and a cotton bud to remove any dust and residue before imaging with a very expensive and powerfull microscope.
I definitely do not recommend doing the process if you are not a skilled chemist (or a skilled Furrtek). You will probably need some safety equipment (fumehood and individual protection against strong acids) but who cares. Doing the process bare hand in a backyard with a cooking plate is still a possible option if you like the thrill of danger. Also, depending on which happy democraty you belong to, just attempting to buy 70% nitric acid will introduce you into some embarrassing government databases.
Images were taken with a magnification of x250 to x1000 (depending on the total surface of the chip). All high res images are available in this repository. This git only displays low res images as Github does not allow hosting such enormous files.
To complete this project, some interesting readings about the MBCs can be found into the Brendan's Website, into the Gekkio database and into the gbdev wiki.
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: DMG MBC1-B Nintendo P 2°94 High resolution here
Game: F1 Race - Manufacturer: Sharp - Chip marking: DMG MBC2A Nintendo S 9129 5 A High resolution here
The MBC2 mapper is basically a MBC1 mapper with 512x4 bits of ram on the same chip, which is rather a weird choice.
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MBC3 P-1 734U2E High resolution here
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MBC 3 A P-2 945U2E High resolution here
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MBC3 B P-2 044U2E High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip marking: MBC-3 A BU3632K 822 128 High resolution here
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MBC30 P 048U2M High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip marking: MCB-30 BU3633AK 047 H82 High resolution here
Detail of the logic part of the MCB-30 BU3633AK 047 H82 High resolution here
Unknown game - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MBC5 P 042U2M High resolution here
![MBC5 P 042U2M]Previews/MBC5%20P%20042U2M-preview.png)
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip marking: MBC-5 BU3650K 246 H94 High resolution here
Game: DivaStarz - Manufacturer: Texas Instruments - Chip marking: 1BA2XRT MBC5 2417 High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip marking: MBC-7 BU3667KS 035 128 High resolution here
Camera CE10251329, PCB revision 11 - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MAC-GBD Nintendo 9815 SA High resolution here. The ADC part of the MAC-GBD is probably copied/inspired from a MAX153 as Mitsubishi refered to the MAX153 as a fast-enough converter for the M64282FP artificial retina.
Camera CE10022941, PCB revision 10 - Unknown manufacturer - Chip marking: MAC-GBD Nintendo 9815 SB High resolution here. A bit of science fiction: the N.C. pin on the left side (above CAM_CLK) was probably intended to trigger the TADD pin of a M64283FP, variant of the M64282FP used with the camera. This pin is always high when camera is powered on and seems not connected to any logic. The current sensor does not need this extra trigger (the corresponding pin, TSW, is not connected on the M64282FP). The N.C. pin on the upper side is probably a RAM_CE1, seeing the proximity with RAM_CE2.
Surprisingly, GND pins on the right side are mostly regular logic pins just set to ground whatever the manner. They may have been prepared/reserved for addressing bigger ram/rom.
SD007-48BALL-64M bootleg cartridge - Manufacturer: Altera - Silicon dye in epoxy glob, directly soldered to the PCB High resolution here
SD008-6810-V3 bootleg cartridge - Unknown manufacturer - Silicon dye in epoxy glob, directly soldered to the PCB High resolution here
This is a total shock: it's a dedicated chip that looks like a regular mapper ! This one was ultra hard to decap, I think this was intentionally dip into something not soluble in nitric acid. I had to alternate boiling acid and ultrasounds 3 times to get rid of the protective epoxy. Sadly I lost a corner with maybe a manufacturer indication.
Camera CE10251329, sensor board revision 1 - Manufacturer: Mitsubishi - High resolution here
Detail of ligth sensors, pixels are arranged in 5+123 lines, 64x2 rows. The 5 first lines of pixels are adressable but physically masked (used for dark voltage reading). The effective image resolution is 128x123 pixels.
Undisclosed origin, old new stock - Manufacturer: Mitsubishi - High resolution here
Detail of ligth sensors, pixels are arranged in 1+128+4 lines, 128 rows. The first and the 4 last lines of pixels are adressable but physically masked (used for dark voltage reading). The effective image resolution is 128x128 pixels.
I got this unobtainium sensor by someone who knows someone who knows someone at Mitsubishi. It can de dropped directly to a Game Boy Camera sensor board (the M64283FP is pin compatible with the M64282FP and the sensor area is the same). However, both sensors are not 100% register compatible so the image won't feature the crisp aspect of pictures obtained with the regular sensor due to slighly different register tables. It works, that's all. Oh, and the two sensors are really not the same color which would indicate that the frankly yellowish/greenish M64282FP has some filtering properties included into its epoxy case. The M64283FP on the other hand is crystal clear.
Game: F1 Race, Manufacturer: Sharp - Chip marking: DMG-F1A-1 S LH5308PS JAPAN C1 9134 E High resolution here
Game: Pocket Camera PC10449615, PCB revision 01 - Manufacturer: Macronix - Chip marking: MX J9805-M MX23C8004-12 GBD-PCAJ-1 23718A High resolution here
Game: Pocket Camera PC10449615, PCB revision 01 - Manufacturer: Sharp/LG - Chip marking: 52CV1000SF85LL SHARP JAPAN 9752 3 0A High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: Mitsumi - Chip model: MM1026, gold pads in red in the preview High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: Mitsumi - Chip model: MM1134, gold pads in red in the preview High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip model: BA6129AF, Chip marking: 6129A 7B30 High resolution here
Unknown game - Manufacturer: ROHM - Chip model: BA6735, Chip marking: 6735 9B24 High resolution here
