Deconstructing processors like the A4 usually happens behind the closed doors of only a handful of companies. These global reverse engineering firms are the investigative arm of the electronics marketplace, gumshoes who do research for people who need to find out who is making what circuitry, as well as what manufacturing process they're using to do it. They're the ones who delve deep into processors, audio controllers, and every other part you'd find inside a cell phone or iPad, figuring out layer by layer the exact composition of each package.

We partnered with the best company in the semiconductor reverse engineering trade, Chipworks, to bring you a closer look at how semiconductor teardowns are conducted, as well as a peek inside the iPad's chips. The engineers at Chipworks are a wonderful bunch of people who are just as interested in today's electronics as we are.

Their analysis of the iPad's packages will give you a better understanding of how the new tablet really works—on an almost molecular level.