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How to Spot Counterfeit Electronic
Components

Trending Articles

How to Spot Counterfeit Electronic
Components

May 22, 2016
by Robin Mitchell

Counterfeit parts are becoming more of a
problem every day and it won't be long before serious harm is caused as a
result. It is up to us design engineers to prevent such incidents by arming
ourselves with the knowledge to spot counterfeit parts.

Counterfeits - My Story

Counterfeit parts are becoming increasingly common and should be taken
seriously when designing circuits for both personal and commercial applications.
Not only should you carefully source your parts, but you must also be able to
identify counterfeits. Before we look at how to identify such components let us
look into why counterfeits are problematic.

I was struck by counterfeits a few months ago when I was designing an
electronic toggle system for a Z80 computer. The system involved tactile
switches connected to the clock input of 4013 flip flops which were configured
in toggle mode (D is connected to /Q).

The initial tests worked with no errors, so an order was placed to get 16 of
these chips. Once the chips had arrived the circuit was built and connected. But
pressing the buttons would only work on some of the toggles intermittently with
most of the buttons not working at all. Each of the 32 circuits was identical
and there was no reason for the system to fail in any way. Eventually, I
constructed a rig on a breadboard to test the individual chips. The circuit
consisted of the toggle arrangement for the chip under test, a tactile switch
for toggling, and a single LED output indicator. The tests showed that the chips
would not toggle and thus assumed that the chips had been damaged by static
electricity. More chips were ordered from the same supplier and the same problem
persisted. More chips were sourced from another seller and again the problem was
still around.

By now I should mention that these chips were purchased on Ebay, but
understand that they were listed as genuine and new. Eventually, I had sourced
some 4013 chips from a reputable supplier and the toggle system was working
perfectly. After some investigation, it was evident that I had counterfeit
parts!

The Problem

Luckily for me, this was a personal project and the chips were very cheap,
but what would happen if this was a medical device keeping someone alive?
What about a fire alarm system? Missile defense anyone? Counterfeit parts are
dangerous not because they don’t work outright, but because they nearly work.
The problem may not be evident until it has been built and operated for some
time. Counterfeit parts are also unreliable and can fail at any point
(hence, why they may work during testing where conditions are ideal such as
temperature and mechanical forces).

The best way to defend yourself from such parts is to source your components
from reputable suppliers. Large companies cannot risk their reputation being
tarnished by counterfeits and will go to great lengths to ensure that their
parts are the genuine article. Failing this, the second line of defense is
to have some form of quality control whereby all parts purchased go under
scrutiny. Each component type (resistor, capacitor etc) will have their own
related techniques but here we will consider ICs as they are in many ways more
important.

Defend Yourself! - Know Thy Enemy

Integrated circuits are frequently counterfeited in just about every
conceivable way. Such methods include and definitely not limited to:

Low spec parts have their part numbers removed and replaced with higher
spec parts

Rejects from factories are re-purposed

Old parts are recycled and resold as new

Low spec dies are placed into high spec packages

Cheap copies of the part manufactured in a 2nd world country (like fake
phones)

The good news is that those who make counterfeit ICs are not very good at it!
Here is what you can look for when investigating a part:

Incorrect part numbers

Incorrect date

Manufacturer origin

Pre-soldered pins

Package is made with the wrong material

Laser cut lines in the markings

Wrong / incomplete logos

IC markings are in ink and can be wiped away with acetone

Part numbers are one of the biggest giveaways for counterfeits because
the people who print them have no idea what they are printing. Sometimes they
make up random digits which if checked against the legitimate manufacturer will
show they are fake and sometimes put date codes that are in the future!

Because the counterfeiters have to reproduce the IC markings they always get
the logo wrong. Before the markings can be included they need to remove the old
information which involves removing the surface of the IC package. Then a new
ident can be laser cut in, but two factors come into play; the tolerance of the
laser will be significantly lower than the official IC fab house capabilities,
thus, resulting in a poor replication of the text and the design has to be
customized from scratch. This is where the counterfeiters fall over because most
times the font is wrong and looks out of place.

A Counterfeit Example

Here is an example of a fake TI part next to a legitimate TI part. While
these are two different devices (one is a fake 4013 while the other is a
legitimate 4017), you can see the differences in appearance between the
chips.

Features of the fake part that give it away include:

Pins too wide

Font incorrect

Logo incorrect and too large

E is slanted

Epoxy is incorrect in shade

Some time ago I applied for a job and during the interview, I was
presented with a challenge. The company gave me three chips in order to
identify the fakes. I knew immediately that one chip was fake because it claimed
to be a TI part, but was manufactured in England. Now I don’t know about
non-English readers, but if you live in England then you know for a fact that we
don’t make chips here!

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of the existence of counterfeits you just might spot
one in a future design and know exactly what to do! Check out the links below
for further reading and remember, buying cheap parts from places like Ebay is
not something to be shunned. Just be careful and mindful of what you
receive.

Below are some helpful web pages with more information about
counterfeit parts:

http://www.aeri.com/counterfeit-electronic-component-detection/

http://www.combatcounterfeits.com/gallery.htm

Tags:

counterfeit robin mitchell how to protect against
counterfeit fake
parts fake chips fake ic

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Comments

8 CommentsLogin

Please login before you can comment.

turbo1600 2016-06-02

WELL , i manage a large electronics repair company , 26 techs,and there
several components that i bought 100% genuine and 86% of them failed, ended
up buy fake with 100% sucsess rate,, go figure that one….

Reply

ronsoy2 2016-06-03

Here in the USA we don’t have this problem. We have wonderful suppliers
like Mouser, Digikey, Avnet, and a host of others that support small volume
purchases. These companies take counterfeiting VERY seriously because a bad
batch can kill a year’s business volume by bad publicity. There is no reason
to buy unknown junk off of ebay when you have Mouser and Digikey. The only
disadvantage (small) is the minimum quantity needs to be somewhat large
because of the base $12 shipping charge even for one 10 cent resistor. But if
you order a good quantity of parts then the total cost is very comparable to
ebay and you are assured of genuine parts.

Reply

d0ughb0y 2016-06-03

I highly doubt anyone would actually set out to manufacture fake parts.
It’s simply not profitable enough compared to other items like apparels, etc.
If not for the Chinese sellers, there would be a whole lot less Makers out
there. As with anything, shop around.

Reply

User8192 2016-06-03

They can and they do manufacture fake parts.  It’s especially
problematic in aviation, where counterfeit bolts with high-grade markings
are make of low-grade steel.  It can lead to problems like engine
mounts failing, helicopter rotors separating in flight, etc., with fatal
consequences.  The counterfeiters even go to the lengths of having fake
cartons printed to look like the real thing.  End-users have only one
choice:  Buy the parts from authorized sources where the parts have
100% traceability.  The same is true for electronics parts used in
mission-critical applications.

Reply

aromring 2016-06-03

Thank you for very interesting article. Time ago I have made a video about
fake transistors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GbBN0fuhtY

Reply

radiant 2016-06-03

Well the downside of comparing real with fake is that you end up creating a
nice “to-do” list for counterfeit gangs to get their fakes to look even closer
to the real thing…

But I guess thats the same with “wanted” posters…

Reply

chrischrischris 2016-06-03

Interesting, I’ve just had the same problem.  I ordered some shift
registers off ebay some time back only to find a few didn’t work.
Supplier apologized.  I only recently ordered a further 40
TPIC6B595’s.  Looking closely at these, some had scratches and one had a
bent pin.  The description is “New good quality” (un-opened in original
packaging).  I sent a message back to the supplier and they apologized
and said they would send me “new” ones.

The issue is not that they were 2nd hand.  Typically these can cost up
to $6 each, but are $1 each on ebay, so I expect maybe 2nd hand.  It’s
just the description that gets me.

Reply

timarlop 2016-06-06

Robin, could you mention the eBay Seller username ?

Found a sellers shame blacklist at http://www.sciencetronics.com/greenphotons/?page_id=855

Reply

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