Avoiding Counterfeit Electronic Components

Fighting Counterfeit Electronic Parts

Select Technology has a strict policy on eliminating and avoiding counterfeit electronic components.

It’s a reality: No one is immune to counterfeit electronic components. Counterfeiting activity ranges from the simple remarking of commodity devices right up to the reprogramming of complex products to subvert military equipment.

We recognize there is a threat with counterfeit electronic parts–those that appear genuine, but which actually are substandard or commpletely different.

Counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs), capacitors, amplifiers, batteries, connectors, power-management devices, and other electronic parts already are making their way into mission-critical military and aerospace systems-some of which depend on the utmost reliability.

Companies who ignore counterfeits, ignore the huge potential for significant financial liability, and loss of reputation, if counterfeits penetrate to the production line.

Our Counterfeit-Detection Program uses rigorous methods to determine if the electronic components are legitimate and have the quality our customers expect.

About Counterfeit Electronic Components

A counterfeit electronic component is one whose material, performance, or characteristics are knowingly misrepresented by the vendor, supplier, distributor, or manufacturer. Examples include:

  • Parts remarked to disguise parts differing from those offered by the original part manufacturer (e.g., specified performance, country of origin, original manufacturer )

  • Defective parts scrapped by the original part manufacturer

  • Parts salvaged from scrapped assemblies

Counterfeit Testing

Both destructive and non-destructive physical and materials analysis can be very effective in revealing suspect counterfeit devices.

Electrical testing can help reveal suspect lots, but may not detect counterfeit parts without a test plan designed specifically for the device type under test. Our testing will detect damage caused by inadequate handling and storage, termination refurbishing, or reclamation.

Our methods distinguish authentic parts, or detect damage induced by inadequate handling and storage, termination refurbishing, or reclamation. A set of inspections and tests are used to detect counterfeits and eliminate defects and to establish high level of confidence of failure-free performance.

If a part marking has been forged, a single lot/date code marked on counterfeit devices can disguise parts coming from more than one inspection lot, parts produced by more than one manufacturer, multiple revisions of the same component, or can include devices with different functions. Sometimes a reel of counterfeit components has been “salted” with genuine components placed at the beginning or end of a reel to mislead the purchaser.