Ultrapurple
Laptop HDDs X-Rayed
Two 2.5" laptop hard disk drives, X-Rayed side by side.
On the left is a Toshiba HDD2H25 160GB SATA drive, whilst on the right is a somewhat older Hitachi HTS542512K9SA00 (catchy name!) 120GB SATA.
It's clear that the later Toshiba drive has a much higher level of integration of its drive electronics. The multi-legged chips show up very well on both X-Rays; both also use ball grid array (BGA) packages, which are easily spotted by their characteristic grid of solder dots that attach them to the board.
Image made with a heavily modified Scanmax 20 X-Ray scanner using a Kodak Lanex Fine screen.
You'll find many more X-Ray and thermal images on my Photostream, www.flickr.com/photos/ultrapurple/
Laptop HDDs X-Rayed
Two 2.5" laptop hard disk drives, X-Rayed side by side.
On the left is a Toshiba HDD2H25 160GB SATA drive, whilst on the right is a somewhat older Hitachi HTS542512K9SA00 (catchy name!) 120GB SATA.
It's clear that the later Toshiba drive has a much higher level of integration of its drive electronics. The multi-legged chips show up very well on both X-Rays; both also use ball grid array (BGA) packages, which are easily spotted by their characteristic grid of solder dots that attach them to the board.
Image made with a heavily modified Scanmax 20 X-Ray scanner using a Kodak Lanex Fine screen.
You'll find many more X-Ray and thermal images on my Photostream, www.flickr.com/photos/ultrapurple/