Chip Counterfeiters
Beating the chip counterfeiters. By Keith Bryant
As components increase in complexity their cost increases, with some specialist chips selling for many hundreds of dollars. The cost of these and many other IC’s make counterfeiting them a potentially lucrative business and as always there will be people ready to make a “fast buck” at the expense of someone else. Supply shortages, NPI and the need for a faster time to market also creates an opportunity for the counterfeiters, as higher prices are commanded for lower cost items which become scarce or are normally on long lead times. Grey market purchasing has become a necessity for many companies, simply to meet the needs of their customers.
It is relatively easy to make the components look good enough to pass visual inspection. It has terminations, the body is moulded from black plastic and has a serial number and other relevant information printed or etched on the surface.
But what is inside the moulding?
Sometimes there is a bare die, sometimes they are completely empty or they may be a totally different component with the same terminations, relabelled to match the higher value part. Of course, it could also be a badly made copy of the correct part, but most counterfeiters do not go to this much trouble, as they get their money long before the components are assembled into products. So there is no need for them to be this thorough, unless they hope to keep taking repeat orders for chips from the same customers or repeating the same scam.
As the route from component manufacturer to end user is often long with components passing through many hands, there are many opportunities for the criminals to get their counterfeited parts into the system. Even Certificates of Conformance are no guarantee of component quality, due to the fact that externally the counterfeits closely match the originals; the swap can be made easily within the supply chain. Or in some cases the manufacturers C of C’s are forgeries also, but good enough to pass close inspection. As these criminals become more adept at this lower value parts are being targeted, even in crime there are economies of scale.
It is possible to remove the lid on some components or even dissolve the plastic to see what is inside, however these methods are drastic and destructive, and they also only prove that the destroyed part was good or bad, so if you have a mixed batch it is not much help.
A good quality 2D digital x-ray inspection machine is the best tool for this job, for many reasons:
It is non-destructive, quick and easy to use, can hold a reference image of the correct die and internal wire layout to compare against. It can be set to do multiple inspections easily, but the big advantage is the ability to tell if the parts are genuine without breaking the security seals on the packs. Without this it is hard to prove where the switch took place, or to get compensation. More and more companies are putting this procedure in place within their Good Inwards acceptance system, so any problems are found before the parts are opened, in the production system, or worse still assembled onto boards. At this early stage there is time to rectify the problem without loss of production time or very expensive rework.
As this issue becomes more prevalent the use of x-ray inspection for this will grow, it may not be easy to justify the purchase of an x-ray system for this task alone. But if you are looking to purchase a machine which is off-line, easy to use and produces a good image quickly, it is definitely another worthwhile use for this equipment.
We know this is happening regularly and becoming more widespread because the counterfeited parts are being brought to us for x-ray examination. Most often this is because the assembly does not work and the assembler thinks he has a process issue, or there is an argument starting over faulty components or design.
It is impossible to cost the potential damage that rogue components could do, on the low side it is a few hundred dollars, it could be thousands, it could loose you a big customer, it could destroy your business.
This threat is real, it is happening now, it is a growing problem, it is hard to spot and almost impossible to stop, so perhaps it is best to be prepared.
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Counterfeited BGA Package |
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SEE THE DAGE XD7600NT AT SEMICON WEST - VISIT US ON BOOTH NO. 7401 - LEVEL 1 IN THE WEST HALL IF YOU WISH TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COUNTERFEIT COMPONENTS DAGE X-RAY PRODUCT MANAGER, DR. DAVID BERNARD WILL BE PRESENTING A TECHNICAL PAPER AT SMTA INTERNATIONAL, ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USA 19TH – 20TH AUGUST 2008 – FURTHER INFORMATION ON SMTA CAN BE FOUND ON THE LINK BELOW
© Dage Holdings Ltd 2008 |
