Counting the cost of component counterfeiting
The pressure for shorter times to market is pushing electronic equipment manufacturers to look beyond their trusted supply chain for quick delivery of components which are difficult to source. This has led to the growth of component counterfeiting. A recent report estimated the losses to customers falling victims of counterfeiters exceeded US$15 billion per annum.
Consequently, Soldertec Global is offering a new counterfeit detection service aiming to minimise the risks involved in buying from untried sources. The Counterfeit Detection Service is based upon the IDEA-STD-1010-A Standard, which describes a rigorous optical inspection regime supplemented by tests on the marking inks.
This service extends the level of testing using very high optical magnification, plus high-resolution real time X-ray inspection, and the additional use of material detection techniques such as XRF (X-ray Fluorescence). The non-destructive testing can be supplemented by advanced destructive techniques that allow for silicon inspection after encapsulant removal and inspection of a cross section by SEM.
