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Careers: Physics/Magnets & Integrated Circuits

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Expert: Daniel Mazur - 7/12/2007


Question
Hi!
Is it possible for a magnet to destroy an Integrated Circuit (IC) chip? If yes, how large would the magnet need to be before the chip gets destroyed?

Answer
Hi,
in principle, a magnet (static field) could make a chip not work, if that chip contained magnetic materials in its integrated circuitry, and had the magnetic atoms in some critical location. This is generally NOT the case, so the answer is probably "no, magnets cannot do that". Large magnets (several tesla) can stop many chips, but once the field is gone, the chips would work again.
Something else *does* destroy chips and that is the electromagnetic pulse. It's a wave of intense electrical and magnetic fields, which will cause large currents flow in your circuitry, and these currents WILL destroy the chips.
Take care!
Daniel

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Daniel Mazur

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Questions anyone (teenager, undergrad, graduate, professional) may ask on physics, mathematics or inorganic chemistry. Questions may concern subjects themselves or a possible future career in them, if you need advice on a school or hobby project, or you just came across a question that is beyond your current curriculum. I answer bare textbook problems sometimes, but I reserve the the right to redirect you to Physics-Physics section. The kind of questions I like to answer: I just started having science classes at school and they seem difficult, but I enjoy them. Where do I find more information on this, which is not in textbooks but still comprehensible to me? Just leaving high school, and I feel science is really the thing for me. Can you recommend a school and an undergrad program suitable to my inclinations? I am in my second undergraduate year in Physics. We learned the basics of universe expanding this year, the Hubble constant and all that, but invited speakers that gave talks on astrophysics in our department seemed not to agree with this model at all. Is it of any use at all? I am building a [materials research] experimental device for my masters/doctorate thesis and I have the following problem:... I have tried ..., but it still doesn't work. Where might the problem be?

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