Monolith pin out

Contents [hide]

• What tools you will need
  • Required
  • Optional but useful
• Uses of this skill
• Step-by-step guide with images
• Flow chart of order of operations
• Troubleshooting/tips and tricks
• Related Topics
• Further reading

Background information

This page will cover Monolith pin out, how it functions, how to communicate with a device over it, and where to find the pads.
Monolith storage refers to any storage that is completely built into a singular PCB often inencased in plastic, for example a SD card,
They typically made up of 4 major compotents

• contact pads- The external pads that connects the device to what ever its plugged into
• Controller- Responable for handling the commications between external devices and the internal memory
• Memory- Stores the data
• Passive componets-Such as capacitors,resistors,inductors,ESD and protection Diodes
• The only way to reasonably access the data on these devices is to solder directly to the pin on the back of the PCB by removing the plastic
  and locating the correct pins to access the storage within the device,, while databases of these pinouts exist they typically
  require subscriptions to services provided by ACElab or RUsolut, otherwise singular pinouts can be bought from 3rd party vendors or AliExpress
  
  

  typical Pin out

  All NAND devices should follow the ONFI standardand use the same pins, just in different locations on each device.
  1. Vcc,
  2. GND,
  3. CLE,
  4. RE,
  5. CE,
  6. ALE,
  7. WP,
  8. WE,
  9. RB,
  10. D0-D7
  

  Steps

  In this example, we will be working with a Mirco Secure Digital card(SD)
  1. Visual analysis of the Mirco SD card
  Is there any visable damage?, Is there any physical cracks?
  2. Removal of material to expose pins
  Unless there is serious damage to the card and the PCB is exposed,
  then material must be removed in order to access the PCB,
  This can be done in a few major ways such as,
  Acid(chemical decapsulation) - Soaking the Monolith in Acid just long enough to remove the casing without damaging the internal PCB Learning to Decapsulate Integrated Circuits Using Acid Deposition
  Laser(Laser decapsulation - Using a high powered layer to burn away the material surounding the die within the monolith
  IC Laser decapsulation - just experimenting with decapping
  Repeatable Method for Automated Decapsulation of Silver Alloy Wire Packages
  CNC(computer numerical controll) - Using a preccisly controlled drill bit to slowly remove the external casing.Similar to Laser decapsulation but with a drill bit instead of a laser
  
  Heat and brute force - For bigger chips a heat source and a pair of pillars to simple remove the casing around the die will often do the job
  Sanding - the use of absative pads such as carbon fibre abssive pens to remove material
  While standard low grid pieces of sandpaper can be used it is not recomended as it lacks precisison
  and makes it more likely to sand through the PCB.
  The easiest and cost effective method is Sanding. 3. Identification of each required Pin
  The best way to idenify a cards a pinout is to check databases of prexisting pinouts if they include the device your looking for
  such as
  Rusolut NAND monlith database(requies expensive subcription)
  Flash extractor fourm(open but requires login)
  Ace lab database(requies expensive subcription)
  HDD guru fourm(free and open)
  Badcaps fourm(free but requires a account to download schmatic files)
  Aliexpress(pinouts can be purchased, often expensive espically if only going to be used once)
  Search the internet for the model number and the term pinout(using the "" with make most search certains search for that exact term)
  If you are unable to access or find the pinout then, you might have to locate the pins yourself through the following techquies
  These can be done with basic but often expensive tools such as a multimeter with counuinity and voltage dection modes, osclioscope and logic analysers
  
  • Ground(GND)- Using the multimeter couninity mode placing one probe on the casing(this is typically grounded), then touch enough pad untill there is a beep
    this indcates there is counonity(the two points are connected) you have now found ground
  • VCC(power) - Typically VCC traces are thicker than others and often on the edge of the PCB
    Power up the card(if possible) then using the multimeters voltage mode(typically the 2V setting) then place the black probe on the GND pad you found previously
    and touch the red pin to each pad untill the multi meter reads around either 3.3v or 1.8v (due to resistence and the quality of the multimeter it it unlikely to be exect but with 0.1-0.2v is acceptable)
    this is likely the VCC pin
    If the card will not power up then set the multimeter to reistence mode(Ω)(20k mode)
    place the black probe on your GND pin, then using the red probe look for the pin with the lowest resistance (likely within 100Ω-10kΩ) the pin with the lowest resistence is likely VCC.
  • Data lines(I/0) - Due to the fact that datalines typically link directly to the internal memory they often do not show direct continuity to both GND and VCC
    if a pin does not show continuity to either it is likely a data line.
    Data lines typically have the resistence of around 1kΩ - 50kΩ unlike VCC which is typically 100Ω - 10kΩ and non connected pads will typically show either extremely high resistence or a open line message(OL)
    A oscliloscope or logic analyzer can be used to check if it is likely a data line.
    enable power by providing the power pins with either 3.3v or 1.8v depending on what you located,
    place probes on each pin and look for A wave/pulsing pattern this means it is likely a dataline.
    
  • CLK/CE(clock or chip enable) - follow the same method as for datalines but instead of a wave/pulsing pattern it should be a steady square like pattern.
  
  4. Wiring of pins to device(mircosoldering)
  Once the pins have been Idenified it is a case of connecting the correct pads to the flash box, either through mircosoldering 5. Data extraction
  Depending on the software you are using that should direct you from this point.
  

  What tools you will need

  Items are not listed in any particular order

  Required

  • Test

  Optional but useful

  • Test

  Uses of this skill

  • 1.test
  • 2.test
  • 3.test

  Step-by-step guide with images

  Insert step-by-step walkthrough with images and summary text here

  Flow chart of order of operations

  Insert a flow chart of steps and actions for each task (create using diagram)

  Troubleshooting/tips and tricks

  Fixes to any common issues that were encountered or could be easily encountered

  Related Topics

  Topics such as desoldering to chip off or firmware dumping for disk PCB repairs

  • Related Topic 1
  • Related Topic 2

  Further reading

  External references in wiki references can just be cited through the keyword link

  1. Reference 1: Monolith pinout search guide
  2. Reference 2: Open nand flash interface standard
  3. Reference 3: Robotic-OCT guided inspection and microsurgery of monolithic storage devices
  4. Reference 4: New Diagnostic Forensic Protocol for Damaged Secure Digital Memory Cards
  5. Reference 5: Case of study for in situ memory reading on damaged MultiMedia Card
  6. Reference 6: Monolithic IC