Post by thread:[PIC]:The Effect of Gamma Radiation on

Jeff DeMaagd <spam_OUTjeffTakeThisOuTDEMAAGD.COM> said: > > But not in a controlled or necessarily useful manner alas. > > Attempts have been made to erase OTP parts using radiation sources. I have > > not heard of any successes. If there are any they are keeping it secret. I > > understand that IC damage may occur at high enough radiation levels. > > > > Radiation damages working ICs (hence "rad hard" parts) but I'm not sure of > > the mechanism or what happens if there is no power applied. > > I have a friend who swears the problems with his PalmPro started when > (clueless) airport security insisted that the device go through the X-ray > machine, that was about a year ago. The problems were initially weird > crashes about once a week and it gradually got worse. the Palm no longer > works as of half a year ago. If the x-rays were sufficiently powerful, then it would have nuked at least some of the chips. I bet the silicon dioxide in the CPU looks like swiss cheese... > If it is true that X-rays can damage > electronic devices, is there any way to avoid being required to destroy a > perfectly good device should such a situation arise? I think it was a > smaller airport that might not have dealt with electronic devices so often. I think Manchester Airport and New York JFK have fitted the new "low power" xray scanners - other airports like Leeds and Bradford and Yeadon are still using the old zappers... There was a bit of info on "Tommorow's World" over here in the UK a while ago about the new scanners. Made good watching... A bit too dumbed-down for my taste, but still very informative. Aparrently the new scanners don't fog photo film either (the one at Manchester certainly didn't fog the film I had in my camera). What airport did your friend with the Palm go through? Later. -- Phil. .....philpemKILLspam@spam@bigfoot.com http://www.philpem.f9.co.uk/ -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

On Sat, 3 Nov 2001, Jeff DeMaagd wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Philip Pemberton <.....philpemKILLspam.....BIGFOOT.COM> > > > What airport did your friend with the Palm go through? > > One in Chicago and one in Iowa I think. Hmm.... There are several in Chicago but I think only one in Iowa anyway... 8-) Dale (in Nebraska) -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics