My Transistors, original or copy?

Due to shortage of some elements I made a classic mistake and bought them on ebay :oops:
Fancy packing but something rings my alarm bell. I have never seen this child like description before.
What do you think guys, fake or genuine one ?

Thank you in advance.

View attachment 1018260

View attachment 1018266
Real.

I have a few

Also ST L7824CV and JRC7805 to-92

Not something worth faking, I believe.
 
Recently bought some TIP35C/TIP36C, I wasn't able to get same type of body for transistors, I doubted that they were fake, so I break open them to see what's inside
Here are pictures
1.TIP36C (Original) die size 4×4mm
2. TIP35C ( not sure if original or fake) die 3×3mm
Tip35c die was covered by white silicone rubber

Tell me about
What's is wrong with tip35c, why 3x3mm die
Screenshot_20220127-193559_Gallery.jpg
Screenshot_20220127-193621_Gallery.jpg
20220127_190808.jpg
20220127_190801.jpg
20220123_155014.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20220123_155131.jpg
    20220123_155131.jpg
    322.4 KB · Views: 96
  • 20220123_155131.jpg
    20220123_155131.jpg
    322.4 KB · Views: 101
That’s a larger die than they would normally put in a fake (2x2 or less). But the silicone and the package suggest fake. The TO-218 was discontinued a long time ago, before that particular leadframe or the e3 markings were in use. I have old ST (and SGS-marked) stock, some of it pulls from the 80’s and 90’s, and it doesn’t look like that, inside or out.
 
I did not open mine but I received fake TIP35/36 (eBay purchase). Also fake TIP41/42/142/147. I keep mentioning it because people keep saying that these are not worth faking. Yet they are faked. Regulators are also faked. (I received ultra-low noise regulators which were actually just regular high noise regulators packaged and marked to look like ultra-low noise regulators.) I don't buy power transistors or regulators from eBay or AliExpress anymore. I also suggest you not buy the (fake) Japanese electrolytics from the usual suspects. The same with op-amps. You have been warned.
 
That’s a larger die than they would normally put in a fake (2x2 or less). But the silicone and the package suggest fake. The TO-218 was discontinued a long time ago, before that particular leadframe or the e3 markings were in use. I have old ST (and SGS-marked) stock, some of it pulls from the 80’s and 90’s, and it doesn’t look like that, inside or out.
That's pretty much it, TO-218 obsolete back in 2012.
e3 marking still used,
I also bought some nxp bd140 bd139, they were also fake ,
 
I did not open mine but I received fake TIP35/36 (eBay purchase). Also fake TIP41/42/142/147. I keep mentioning it because people keep saying that these are not worth faking. Yet they are faked. Regulators are also faked. (I received ultra-low noise regulators which were actually just regular high noise regulators packaged and marked to look like ultra-low noise regulators.) I don't buy power transistors or regulators from eBay or AliExpress anymore. I also suggest you not buy the (fake) Japanese electrolytics from the usual suspects. The same with op-amps. You have been warned.
Can you please post TIP41/42/142/147 pictures .

I didn't buy any transistors for AliExpress or Ebay, I bought them locally.
Fake or counterfeit items everywhere

About Japanese electrolytic, :( sadly I bought some 10uf 50v , they were cheap, I don't know what original or fake about them.


And can anyone or you kindly provide some circuit for fake tip35c with 3x3mm die
I wanted to test, how much power watts it can provide

20220104_193223.jpg
 
Here are the TIP142 fakes.

Any "special" or "audio" capacitors from the usual suspects are quite likely to be fake. Genuine ones are out of stock everywhere. Yet the fake sellers have plenty of low cost stock...

My recommendation is just go only to authorized large distributors for power transistors, driver transistors, audio transistors, MOSFET, electrolytic capacitors, WIMA/film capacitors, op-amps, regulators. If you think you received real parts at a bargain price from the usual suspects, then you probably just did not test them enough to tell.

And if anyone does not know this already the same fake sellers have the same fakes for sale at hundreds of different/randomly named stores on every online platform.
 

Attachments

  • Are  These  TIP142T  Fake.jpg
    Are These TIP142T Fake.jpg
    564.8 KB · Views: 207
Here are the TIP142 fakes.
Those look convincing enough. But also bear in mind that the TO-220 version cannot handle anywhere near the power that the TO-3P version, even with an original die inside. You simply cannot get more than 20 watts of heat OUT of a TO-220, even if they rate it at 90 watts. You can pull 50 watts of heat out of a 3P. So it would not surprise me if those got overloaded - you wouldn’t want to run those over about +/-25V, even if you bought them from Mouser.
 
10V 1A killed them in a few seconds bolted to a massive heatsink with grease. 100% fake. Current gain vs current indicates a tiny little die inside.

With the assembly of large quantities of genuine parts in the same locations the lead frames and packages are getting more and more identical to actual real production parts. Often the only indicator left is slightly different fonts and quality of laser marking along with actual electrical tests.
 
When these failed they emitted some sort of goo. You can see it on the center lead of the second of the three transistors.

Also, what do you think of the assembly location "MAR" instead of "MRC" or "CHN"? If you look carefully at the molded package there is "MRC" molded into the package yet the marking is "MAR". (Look at the tiny "MRC" molded in the last/third transistor all the way on the right.) Recent years Digikey and Mouser are marked "CHN".

Did they mark some genuine marts "MRC" and others "MAR"? I think these parts are now assembled in China "CHN". Can anyone confirm? Or does ST still assemble these in Morocco? Perhaps "MAR" is from "Maroc" (French)? But why mark some parts "MRC" and others "MAR"?

Really confusing if ST molds "MRC" for Morocco on the very same part that they mark "MAR" for "Maroc".
 
Last edited:
I like to find old parts like that - especially RCA’s - because you know they’re real. But that old TI version of the TIPs were notoriously unreliable. That was back before full encapsulation and eventually moisture would get to them.

ST either uses CHN or MAR markings (not MRC). Older ones either spelled out “Morocco” or “Italy”, before they stared using the China fab. Those predated the proliferation of fakes and still had the old “SGS” logo. There was also a brief period when they didn‘t have an origin code and they were still using silk-screened printing. That was right around the time when fakes started being introduced in general. Fakes were one of the big reasons they moved to laser marking and standardizing origin codes.
 
In my photo of the fakes you see both "MRC" (the three little letters molded into the package, third transistor on the right) and "MAR" on the laser mark.

Do you know if ST uses MAR for both the marking and the molded package? Or just the marking? (And then MRC for the molded package?)

On the internet I found the attached photo of TIP142 with very different font from my fakes. On the fakes I received I think the font looks sloppy/odd (see the "2") compared with genuine parts. Also look at the "4" and the "9". Of course the photo I attached to this post from the internet might be fake too.
 

Attachments

  • TIP142.jpg
    TIP142.jpg
    194.6 KB · Views: 123