Hello again Sailors, A friend sent this information to me and I thought it's well worth passing along. I've removed some of the company name specific portions. Re: Counterfeit ICs
[pasted text below] We had a meeting about this last week. The supply chain folks were given some pretty strict guidelines on source of supply and validating real parts. One of our sister companies uses the xxxxxx chip for an XXX amp in a xxxxxxx product. They suddenly had a zero percent pass rate on temperature cycling...every single IC failed when it was taken down to cold temperatures...catastrophically...it did not come back to life. The company's internal sleuths discovered something peculiar - the date codes on the failed ICs was 2008, but On Semiconductor says they never built parts with date codes after 2006....no new parts have been made since 2006. It was via the Sonoscan acoustical imaging technique that they were able to determine some real differences between the "new" ICs and genuine old ICs in the builds from the early 2000s....the ICs were fake. The "fake IC" process itself is fascinating. There is a demand for old ICs and counterfeiters are more than happy to comply. Old consumer products go to whatever country, and the solder melted over a bonfire. Removal of the ICs is done by banging the boards on the inside of a tin can. ICs are gathered together, and cleaned in the river to get rid of campfire debris. If the part number is identifiable, they'll sand off the top printing, spray on a coating of "blacktop", then re-print with a newer date code. In some cases, they re-plate the leads to make them look new again. This is if you're lucky - you actually get silicon die inside that performs the function you want. Sometimes, they're brand-new plastic packages, but with no functioning IC in them...those counterfeiters are banking on you putting in an inventory for repair, then not using them for a long time...then you'll forget who you bought them from. The campfire/banging process does damage to the bonding inside the ICs and makes them fragile. It often introduces microfractures to the housing, which will allow moisture ingress and the chip will fail after only a few years. The supply chain manager of xxxxxx company went on a hunt to determine how these things get into supply. It's almost always when someone's desperate for a part that's not in production any more. They ended up giving us a list of "known good suppliers" who have solid supply chains. Tyme Electronics, Newark, Future, Digi-Key and TTI (parent company of Mouser) were all on the "good" list. All of them have supplied fake parts, but once they figured out how they got them, they fixed their systems. Q components, Quest Electronics, Jameco, Richardson, and RFParts have refused to acknowledge the problem, and for part numbers in the catalog which are known to be obsolete, nearly all the supplied parts measure counterfeit. We're allowed to purchase from those suppliers, but only after jumping through a lot of hoops...the part must be in current production, and the supplier must permit us to inspect their sourcing process and we have to perform inspections on every delivered lot. Here's the article that they referred us to for how to identify fake parts: http://www.circuitsassembly.com/cms/component/content/article/159/9937?fbc_channel=1#{%22id%22%3A0%2C%22sc%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fxd_receiver_v0.4.php%22%2C%22sf%22%3A%22loginStatus%22%2C%22sr%22%3A2%2C%22h%22%3A%22loginServer%22%2C% And yes, all of the xxxxxxx company's Operating Companies (xxxxxx) that work in electronics have the acoustic imaging system by Sonoscan. Here's Sonoscan's original article detailing this hard-to-identify "blacktop" that thoroughly emulates the original IC package (caution - 10 megabyte file, don't download unless you're on a high speed link) http://www.smttech.com/pdf/Engineered-Blacktop-Material-Analysis-SMT-Corporation-PP-08-27-09.pdf A more brief article on the new blacktopping material: http://www.idofea.org/new_site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97:new-counterfeiting-blacktopping-technique-threat-is-a-qc-game-changer&catid=29:generalinfo&Itemid=3 A more general article on how to identify counterfeit parts (including an X-ray photo of a package that had no die in it): http://www.empf.org/empfasis/2007/Nov07/tech_tipsr-1107.html When dissected, what they found is that the XXXXXXXX die attach inside the package was severely compromised, with only 25% of the die actually thermally in contact with the package. With enough heating/cooling cycles and/or vibration, these chips were destined to fail prematurely even without thermal cycling. The thermal cycle simply allowed their earlier discovery. Other interesting things that have been found: so-called "new old stock" parts with more legitimate date codes - that were still counterfeit. They also cautioned "you folks who like to build electronics from home need to be very cautious of ebay...the direct sales from HongKong and China on ebay are very popular with counterfeiters". So, I may be cautious with XXXXXX amplifier chips! I won't design them into product until I find out who makes them and confirm current supply! [end of pasted text] cheers, s.
