ipprism said:
Hey ICit2lol, sorry if my terminology wasn't clear. I call the shiny coating on top of the chip the heat spreader. I understood what you were talking about.
No probs mate it is the polished Silicon you can see if that is scratched then chances are it may also be cracked and if that is so then the "layers" contained within are likely to be defunct as they contain the transistors / resistors / diodes build up along with the connecting strata.

PS The heat spreader I usually take as the cooler plate.