Gregory's ServerSilicon-on-sapphire got its start in 1963. Instead of starting with a silicon wafer, silicon circuits are built on top of a synthetic sapphire base. The sapphire provides insulation between the transistors, improving performance and making the chip resistant to radiation. 2/9
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 The package is unusual: the die is mounted on a flat ceramic substrate with a ceramic cap glued on. We heated the package to soften the glue. https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS poked the cap with an X-Acto knife, but instead of sliding off, the cap violently flew off with a loud "pow"! 4/9  @kenshirriff Motorola experimented with that package design in the late 1980s, e.g. with their DSP56001, and called it the "SLAM" package. Maybe their's more than one reason for that name. photos of Motorola chip and a socket: |
HP made a lot of silicon-on-sapphire chips: processors, calculators, and this PHI interface chip. First was the MCΒ² 16-bit processor. This cover photo from HP Journal shows the transparency of that chip. 3/9