enough already - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

31 May 2007

The Micron Eye used controlling the DRAM refresh (soak) rate to 
provide gray scale.

I used a Texas Instruments 256K (512 x 512) as an imager with a Texas 
instruments DRAM controller to vary the refresh rate.

Any ceramic package DRAM could be used after removing the metal lid 
and more challenging removing the polyimide protective coating. Most 
DRAM have redundant cells and the topography has to be decoded. There 
are also some "blank" zones for be bit lines.

It was pretty cool back in 1986.

At 10:26 PM 5/29/2007, you wrote:
...
 On 5/29/07, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
wrote:
   What
outfit first sold digital cameras where the sensor consisted of
 a cermet-package DRAM with the chip cover replaced by a piece of
 glued-on glass? 
Micron

The product was called the "Micron Eye" 
I made one of those in the 1980s... I read about the trick in Byte,
then carefully removed the lid from a 4116 and installed a bit of
slide mount cover.  To test it, I stuffed the altered DRAM into an
Apple II, covered the DRAM, cleared the high-res screen, then watched
individual pixels show up when I uncovered the chip and let light fall
directly on it.

What I never did was to take it to the next stage and decode the grid.

-ethan 