© 2011 Rochester Electronics, LLC

Page 12

September 2011

All Rights Reserved

 

Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (ACTF) that is solely focused on raising awareness and developing

methods and procedures for countering the rise of the problem. The Electronic Components Industry

Association (ECIA), also a U.S. organization, joins SIA in working with companies, other associations,

and legal authorities. In Europe, the European Semiconductor Manufacturers Association (ESIA) and the

Component Obsolescence Group (COG), among others, also work against counterfeiting.

•

OCMs who have their own fab operations should take great care to dispose of all scrap securely and

thoroughly.

•

OCM’s who are “fabless” must be extremely rigorous in their control of subcontractors to ensure material

is not duplicated or lost, expected yields are met, and all scrap is securely disposed of.

•

Wherever possible, OCMs should implement technologies that help to authenticate components and

make it difficult to fake them. There are some new technologies emerging – hidden, encrypted information

on chips, extra-sophisticated coded markings, and radio frequency tagging. However, these

authentication techniques almost certainly add cost to components. This may be justified with high-value

devices but is unlikely to be acceptable with less expensive components.

There’s really only one way to be sure you’re not purchasing

counterfeit/substandard parts.

Counterfeit components will probably always be out there on the market. The methods for determining the

authenticity of components are costly, time consuming, and not even close to foolproof.

Does that mean that your inventory will inevitably be infiltrated by dangerous substandard and counterfeit parts?

No. There are certain simple and inexpensive “best practices” that can help protect your company against

acquiring substandard and counterfeit semiconductors.

Because more and more counterfeit components have lately been making their way into the Department of

Defense supply chain, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) requested that the U.S. Department of

Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Office of Technology Evaluation (OTE) conduct a survey to

assess the situation – in commercial, industrial, and defense supply chains. This survey is documented in

Defense Industrial Base Assessment: Counterfeit Electronics / January 2010.

The bottom-line advice in this document, which contains over 240 pages of data and analysis, is simple:

“Buy parts directly from OCMs and authorized distributors, rather than from parts brokers, independent

For example, Rochester Electronics, the world’s most comprehensive continuing source for end-of-life and mature

semiconductors, is authorized by over 60 component manufacturers to support their customers’ continuing

requirements. Rochester acquires all remaining finished devices, wafer/die, and available intellectual property in

order to manufacture the exact same device and provide a reliable, continuing source of semiconductors used in

critical systems worldwide in any quantity and for as long as needed. All components are 100% manufacturer

traceable and certified. Rochester’s product offering includes 20,000+ Rochester-manufactured device types,

from commercial to space-level; device re-creation; as well as more than ten billion die and five billion finished

devices, in stock and ready to ship. Rochester is certified to ISO-9001:2008, EN 9120:2002 and JISQ 9120, and

QML MIL-PRF-38535, as well as AS9120.