3 ms·
We were just having this discussion at work last week, as we are a low volume manufacturer and are starting to see many of our ICs dry up at the major distribut
by technothrasher 5y ago
We were just having this discussion at work last week, as we are a low volume manufacturer and are starting to see many of our ICs dry up at the major distributors. We're looking at smaller unknown distributors and Chinese companies on eBay and wondering how do we know we'll get what we order. There doesn't seem much area between the two choices of ordering with our fingers crossed or telling our customers we cannot deliver for 12+ months.
- choeger 5y agoShouldn't you be able to test an IC?
- varjag 5y agoFor many parameters it's not practically possible once the chips are binned and packaged at factory.
- sokoloff 5y agoMany of the fakes almost work. Some are ghost parts. Some are recycled. Some are parts that failed QC or were binned as a lower tolerance part and remarked as a higher tolerance part. Testing for all those possibilities is not economically feasible, especially if you’re outsourcing assembly. This is much more a “how do I know the 683rd chip on this reel will meet its sleep current specifications [so our device will make its battery life specs]?” rather than “how do I know this is an IC at all and not a fancy Lego brick?”
- stephen_g 5y agoYes, that's usually the issue. Often those "salvaged" parts seem to work well enough (with a good power supply, at room temperature) and then after a while all your shipped units start failing... That's if they're not just straight up a different (or non functional) part that's been re-marked and then you find yourself re-working hundreds or thousands of boards!
- technothrasher 5y agoSure, we can test a few when they come in, but we can't necessarily send them back or get our money back if buying from unknown sources in China. If we order samples, we're not necessarily guaranteed that there will be more available to purchase after we get the samples in, or that what we get in the next order will be good even if the samples were.
- postalrat 5y agoGet kinda had when you buy 10,000 and a dozen different types.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lnsru 5y agoFor my previous employer buying from shady sources never worked out. There were many different fakes from empty enclosures to almost working similar parts. Insanely expensive brokers worked well, but buying at 50x price isn’t feasible in the long run.