I'd guess MRI would lack the necessary spatial resolution, as the wavelength of the emitted radio waves would be larger than the typical feature size on a chip.

I'd guess MRI would lack the necessary spatial resolution, as the wavelength of the emitted radio waves would be larger than the typical feature size on a chip. For that matter, optical imaging might not be up to it either. The physical deconstruction would be fraught with peril for the chip, which would end up as powder! I'm not sure what the best technique would be. Maybe a grinding wheel, if it could be controlled well enough? Maybe a flat plate with abrasive paste, or a diamond coated nail file? That would probably be easy to control, albeit time consuming. Laser ablation? Heat the chip to slowly and continuously evaporate it, whilst videoing the evaporation process? One would have to conduct an experiment to see whether it is best to slice the packaged IC, or remove the encapsulation first. The encapsulation can be removed with nitric acid and acetone, or even a blast with a hot flame [1]. I'd guess it would be worth removing the encapsulation. If I had to pick a technique from above, I'd first try removing the encapsulation then using a diamond coated nail file. [1] http://makezine.com/2009/07/08/how-to-dissolve-ic-packages/ http://makezine.com/2009/07/08/how-to-dissolve-ic-packages/