Hi all,
Last month I had some purchases from www.futurlec.com
They sent the goods very quickly. And until that order I bought many components from this supplier. In this order there were four OPA134 ICs.
Anyway, the matter is; I suspicied that OPA134 s dont look like the original Burr Brown... Do you know is there any other factory that macufactures OPA134? Or my OPA134s are fake?
Thx..
Last month I had some purchases from www.futurlec.com
They sent the goods very quickly. And until that order I bought many components from this supplier. In this order there were four OPA134 ICs.
Anyway, the matter is; I suspicied that OPA134 s dont look like the original Burr Brown... Do you know is there any other factory that macufactures OPA134? Or my OPA134s are fake?
Thx..
Attachments
Its probably a fake IC. We get ton's of faked BurrBrown's IC's at work. I would say that 75% of them are other circuts that has been reprinted with a BB-print instead.
Its pretty eays to see if it fake. The reprint is often porly done, the round "hole" marking leg one is often not so deep as original IC's. If you have several IC's then check underneath if they have different marking there compared to a original one.
Its pretty eays to see if it fake. The reprint is often porly done, the round "hole" marking leg one is often not so deep as original IC's. If you have several IC's then check underneath if they have different marking there compared to a original one.
paulb said:
They are definitely still marked BB.
Pics of the top and bottom of an OPA134PA. This chip came directly from TI.
EDIT: I also have TL072 from TI and the indent on the chip is flat, not concave like the OPA. The bottom of the TL072 says "MEXICO", not "THAILAND". It's hard to tell from your pic, but the indent looks flat. What does it say on the back?
I just checked my other BB chips from TI and BB logo size varies with the different models. OPA551 and OPA134PA have the small logo, OPA552 and OPA2134PA have the large stretched logo. The OPA552 is the only chip I have with white lettering.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Where would you get the idea that an IC, especially a cheap one such as this op amp, are fake? Think about it a moment. The fakester would have to obtain some other op amps, clean off the markings, then apply his own markings. All that effort to sell a few op amps to audiophiles? How much does he stand to earn for all that effort? $20 on 100 chips? That would be like counterfeiting nickels. Criminals with the technical skillz and knowledge to pull off a fake IC are a lot smarter than that and would go for much bigger fish.
Manufacturer's markings on chips change over time. They are constantly updating equipment. That op amp has been in production for several years, i.e several equipment upgrade cycles. They also use different equipment at different manufacturing facilities. There are many reasons why the markings might look different on two different chips. Nordic's chip looks like it was silkscreened or stamped, the OPs chip looks like it was laser marked. All that proves is that the chips were made at different times and/or locations.
If your circuit isn't working right, there's about a 99.9999% chance you did something wrong either in design or construction and about a .0001% chance you have a counterfeit chip.
I_F
Manufacturer's markings on chips change over time. They are constantly updating equipment. That op amp has been in production for several years, i.e several equipment upgrade cycles. They also use different equipment at different manufacturing facilities. There are many reasons why the markings might look different on two different chips. Nordic's chip looks like it was silkscreened or stamped, the OPs chip looks like it was laser marked. All that proves is that the chips were made at different times and/or locations.
If your circuit isn't working right, there's about a 99.9999% chance you did something wrong either in design or construction and about a .0001% chance you have a counterfeit chip.
I_F
I think I.F. may be on to something.... the chip in the first post does not look all that diffirent from the opa2777 samples I have...
The opa134 was a gift from a swiss diyaudio member... so I guess that it could have been in his parts drawer for some time before that...
just checked the opa2227 is marked Malysia underneath...
The opa134 was a gift from a swiss diyaudio member... so I guess that it could have been in his parts drawer for some time before that...
just checked the opa2227 is marked Malysia underneath...
Laser marking is performed by steering an IR laser beam around the surface of the IC package. It is comparable to a simple 5x7 dot matrix LED display in that there isn't much you can do to make fancy fonts and to trace out logos. They are mass manufactured parts with razor thin profit margins. Even if they could steer that laser around to make accurate an artistically correct logo, why would they? It would slow the process and reduce profits. The goal of the marking is to allow the part and manufacturer to be identified and it works fine.
The photos presented have the packaging location molded into the bottom of the package- one of them is Thailand, the other the Philippines (PHILS). The part marked in white ink was screen printed or stamped. That is an older technique involving several steps and probably requiring more maintenance on the equipment which is why it eventually gets replaced with laser marking.
Most large semiconductor companies have contracts with multiple packaging companies in different locations. The packaging company may change when a contract expires and someone else offers a better deal. The IC manufacturer makes the IC wafers in one location and ships them to the packaging company to be sawn apart, tested, and packaged. It is standard operating procedure.
I_F
The photos presented have the packaging location molded into the bottom of the package- one of them is Thailand, the other the Philippines (PHILS). The part marked in white ink was screen printed or stamped. That is an older technique involving several steps and probably requiring more maintenance on the equipment which is why it eventually gets replaced with laser marking.
Most large semiconductor companies have contracts with multiple packaging companies in different locations. The packaging company may change when a contract expires and someone else offers a better deal. The IC manufacturer makes the IC wafers in one location and ships them to the packaging company to be sawn apart, tested, and packaged. It is standard operating procedure.
I_F
Dear I _Forgot,
I guess you have never been in Turkey... I dont know the reason and I dont know the cost of making a fake chip. However in Turkey if you want to have a REAL CHIP then you have to make a serious market searching.
For example; do you know how much is a TIP142 in you country? Its normal price level is 0.3 to 0.5$ generally. Believe me, I couldnt find ANY original TIP142 here. Then I had to give an order to USA for 0,5$...
So, if a TL071 (an original one) is about 0,1$ and an OPA134 is 3$ then I can say "THERE HAS TO BE FAKE CHIPS" else its against the human nature!
Try to buy some 2SK1058/2SJ162 from far east suppliers!
Nobody may more want to know that my OPA134s are original than me. But its strongly possible that my OPA s are fake. So I have to make a test. But I am not sure that can I sense or not.
Thx.
Fake or genuine?
I have a lot of original BB chips obtained directly from TI.
Most have elongated BB Logo, white ink or laser engraved.
I do have a few OPA2107, OPA606 from that source that have the shorter BB logo, lasered, that was presumed to be fake. Also the font matches exactly mines.
Concluding Ozgur, I think your chips are real!
I have a lot of original BB chips obtained directly from TI.
Most have elongated BB Logo, white ink or laser engraved.
I do have a few OPA2107, OPA606 from that source that have the shorter BB logo, lasered, that was presumed to be fake. Also the font matches exactly mines.
Concluding Ozgur, I think your chips are real!
We see fake chips at work when they hit about $5 cost.
Now you must be on an approved supplier list.
Considering that I can buy a TL072 type part for $0.135 in relatively small quantity and an OPA2134 sells for $1.365 in the same quantity, I could make $1.23 on each chip sold.
When you consider that Digi-Key usually has 20K+ in stock at any given time, pretty soon that starts to add up to real money.
Now you must be on an approved supplier list.
Considering that I can buy a TL072 type part for $0.135 in relatively small quantity and an OPA2134 sells for $1.365 in the same quantity, I could make $1.23 on each chip sold.
When you consider that Digi-Key usually has 20K+ in stock at any given time, pretty soon that starts to add up to real money.
All medium to large manufacturing companies have "approved supplier" lists. It isn't about counterfeit chips. It's about quality control. Approved suppliers have to demonstrate that they are handling and storing the components properly to ensure that the parts will be OK going into the end-product manufacturing process. They also have to show where they are getting the parts and that their sources are also handling and storing them properly.
Sure, you could remark op-amps but the only people who couldn't tell you did so are hobbyists who don't have the equipment of knowledge to perform incoming tests. How big is that market? As I said before, it adds up to making $20 on 100 fake chips that take a year to sell. Who would bother?
If you're going to try to rake in money from a criminal enterprise and for some strange reason you have settled on counterfeiting chips, you would probably do something like buy 16 MB SD cards and remark them to say 4GB. You can probably even buy empty SD card packages for <$1 each and mark them 4 GB. Sell a large quantity and walk away with the money. Either that or re-mark SODIMMs. $1 opamps? Puh-lease!
Sure, you could remark op-amps but the only people who couldn't tell you did so are hobbyists who don't have the equipment of knowledge to perform incoming tests. How big is that market? As I said before, it adds up to making $20 on 100 fake chips that take a year to sell. Who would bother?
If you're going to try to rake in money from a criminal enterprise and for some strange reason you have settled on counterfeiting chips, you would probably do something like buy 16 MB SD cards and remark them to say 4GB. You can probably even buy empty SD card packages for <$1 each and mark them 4 GB. Sell a large quantity and walk away with the money. Either that or re-mark SODIMMs. $1 opamps? Puh-lease!
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