I always wanted to be able to decapsulate ICs. The main problem is that the most elegant way is to use powerful acids. I've already tried using plasma but it took long time and any mistake just burns everything. 

I heard the lecture from HASH/RECESSIM guy who claimed not to use fumes chamber but just a went. More over he didn't buy Nitric acid (which is illegal in some countries) but created by using drain cleaner (which has 90+ percent sulfuric acid) and potassium nitrate. 

There are a lot of videos that shows how to make nitric acid from sulfuric acid.

And then I got an idea 💡 what if we take tiny drop of sulfuric acid and apply directly on the IC I want to examine. The idea is that we don't need to store this powerful acid. It will created on the IC it will etch the IC and vanish. 

The pros of this method:

* Easy to obtain materials 

* Nothing to store

* Does need fume chamber since I work with less powerful chemicals (drain cleaner doesn't require fume chamber last time I read it's instructions)

* Quantity is really small we talking about drop size which is 1/20th of 0.25ml. 

Cons:

* It will be hard to make correct concentration of Sulfuric Acid vs Nitric acid.

I recall that at the time I was banging my brains out on Tesla coil to create stable plasma. Danny (electronics guru) asked 'why don't you just ask for 100ml of Nitric acid put in a box for a week. After a week it will become jelly wash it away and you done'. 

In that time I didn't know where to get Nitric acid or how to work with it. Now I feel it's time to check what Danny meant. After all I trust Danny the guy knows electronics and everything related to it. 

So let's give it a try...

But first safety! Although the quantity is small it still acid and power one. 

I started from watching YouTube videos on how to create those acids and most important is that those acids are extremely corrosive but not toxic. It means that if you spill this acid on you (skin) you have twenty seconds or so to wash it with water and you are fine. It's very important to know because what I thought about it is like in fight club scene. 

Anyway goggles and gloves is must :) you don't want fight club scene to happen