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| Counterfeit parts.. |
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| EEEnthusiast:
I have had a nasty experience with fake ICs in my earlier company. We were building some boards in China (few thousand qty) and the contract manufacturer was supposed to source the PCB + BOM + ASSY and kit packing. Our BOM had all the parts which were from reputed manufacturers. But without our knowledge, the contract manufacturer would swap the components for equivalent parts which were 1/5th the price of original. Some of the easily swapped components were SMD capacitors, resistors, inductors and connectors. But they even swapped ICs from FTDI and some RF Filters which were custom built for this. We could figure out the FTDI was fake, as it functioned differently from the original ones on Windows10. for some capacitors, we could recognize the difference in the colour. For others it was just our luck which made the boards work. But the long term reliability and derating were all in question. We were never sure if the contract manufacturer did this or their supplier swapped the components. The element of risk is always there. |
| OwO:
"Counterfeit" chips don't concern me. If it's a dud it will be caught by sample testing prior to assembly, and functional testing will catch remaining problems. I'm far more concerned about latent problems like ESD damage or moisture damage. Never skimp on passives, and I recommend sourcing (and stockpiling) them yourself. They make up over 90% of your BOM by quantity but typically a small fraction by cost. Any failure rate in passives can greatly impact your yield. On the other hand expensive chips is where I hunt for the lowest possible price and even a 1-2% failure rate can be acceptable and work out far cheaper than buying from reputable sources. |
| OwO:
FTDI is a sorry excuse of a company and if I ever have to specify their parts in a design for whatever reason, I'll make sure they are ordered from the shadiest source possible at the cheapest price possible to maximize the chance of getting a clone rather than the genuine thing. I don't want to give FTDI any money. |
| EEEnthusiast:
why do you dislike FTDI.. Their parts are great in my experience.. |
| wraper:
--- Quote from: OwO on January 31, 2020, 02:54:09 am ---"Counterfeit" chips don't concern me. If it's a dud it will be caught by sample testing prior to assembly, and functional testing will catch remaining problems. I'm far more concerned about latent problems like ESD damage or moisture damage. --- End quote --- :palm:. Functional testing after assembly usually won't catch anything. Then device will fail after some time. Also how about ESD and moisture damage in salvaged parts which are sold as new? |
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