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Decapsulating IC Packages with a Laser

Status: Planned ( Tech Tree)

Commercial Decapsulation Systems

Commercially available laser-based decapsulation systems all seem to use fibre lasers with a wavelength of 1064 nm and power of around 20 W to 30 W. They all provide the ability to control both the pulse width as well as the pulse repetition frequency. The systems listed below all list the following potential applications:

Semiconductor failure analysis
IC decapsulation and removing large filler mold compounds, such as resin and plastics
Expose Wire Bonds

	Baublys BL5500 ¹⁾	Nisene LaserEtch LE-1064 ²⁾	Sesame Plasma ³⁾
Type	Ytterbium fibre laser	Fibre laser	Fibre Laser
Wavelength	1064 nm	1064 nm	IR
Power	20 W	30 W	20 W
Pulse Width	4 ns - 200 ns	4 ns - 200 ns	?
Pulse Repetition Frequency	1.6 kHz - 1000 kHz	1 kHz - 4000 kHz	?

Cheap Laser Engravers

	ComMarker B6 MOPA	omtech JPT MOPA
Price	$2,459 (14.11.2026)	€4,199.99
Z-Axis	Motorized	Motorized
Working Surface	-	150 x 150 mm
Controller Board	BJJCZ LMCV4	?
Laser	JPT MOPA	JPT MOPA
Type	Fibre	Fibre
Nominal Average Output Power	60 W	60 W
Central Emission Wavelength	1064 nm	1064 nm
Pulse Width	2 ns - 500 ns	2 ns - 500 ns
Pulse Repetition Frequency	1 kHz - 4000 kHz	1 kHz - 4000 kHz
Maximum Pulse Energy	2 mJ

Prior Art

On the Siliconpr0n wiki, there is a page that losely documents previous experiments with fibre, CO2, and blue light (~ 450 nm). The TLDR:

Fibre: bulk material for standard packages (PDIP, COB, etc.). Laser apparently damages the die surface, if all packaging material is removed.
CO2: Mixed results, with fused glass spheres becoming a problem. Seems to work for COB.
Blue Light: can work for all package types but apparently slow.