Watch out for well-made—but counterfeit—chips
Margery Conner, Technical Editor -- EDN, September 8, 2011
An eye-opening blog post reveals logic-analyzer developer Saleae’s experience with counterfeit parts (Reference 1). Saleae co-founder Joe Garrison first became aware that his company had a problem with counterfeits when an unusually large number of boards started failing the functional test. Garrison noticed that the USB (Universal Serial Bus) chip was running hot—not just on the failures but also on the good boards. Because the company uses Asia as a source for these boards, Garrison immediately wondered whether they were counterfeits. Aren’t counterfeit parts always duds, though?“There was little or no information online about this part, but I did uncover some random snippet that said the part was flagged for possible counterfeit activity just two months prior—not a good sign,” Garrison says.
Searching further, he learned that a huge number of counterfeit parts are so-called reclaimed parts. To “reclaim” these parts, counterfeiters strip discarded electronics of any high-value components and then resell them as new in fake packaging. This process involves cleaning and relabeling the parts—in some cases with new part or batch numbers. “Apparently, this [behavior] is a staggeringly large illicit business,” Garrison explains (Reference 2).
The parts may be from similar functional parts or may be different. Saleae verifies that the USB chip was a reclaimed instance of an ancient version of a part. The report also says that nonfranchised distributors are supplying almost all of the parts. Buyer beware.
Saleae
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