ROCHESTER5 Datasheet, PDF (8/15 Pages) Rochester Electronics – A Rochester Electronics White Paper

manufacturing flow. Often, these components are used in military applications. Counterfeiters purchase
lower-cost, lower-performance components, re-mark them, and sell them as their higher-priced, higher-
performance counterparts.
• Re-marking to suit customer need: Often, manufacturers produce a number of similar parts that share
performance similarities. Some may work in some applications but not in others. Slight differences can
cause all kinds of problems, even ultimate failure. Counterfeiters often mark one semiconductor so it can
masquerade as the one that really fits the situation. Sometimes the switch is not immediately discovered.
• Counterfeits from scratch: Counterfeiters manufacture a device that looks like and seems to function
like the genuine item, but almost always is of substandard quality. Because the parts are marked and sold
as if they were produced by the original manufacturer, the counterfeiter can sell them at a higher price
than if they were marked with a less-prestigious brand. Once these counterfeit parts make their way to an
equipment manufacturer, the original manufacturer cannot warranty them, or take them back as a return.
Such operations range from one-man shows to organizations that counterfeit an entire company’s
identity, from product right down to website and business cards. This category also includes components
that are produced or distributed in violation of intellectual property rights, copyrights, and/or trademark
laws.
• Product skimming: Original semiconductor manufacturers are most often “fabless” and use
subcontractors for diffusion and/or assembly and testing of devices. If they are not monitored carefully,
dishonest subcontractors can produce more parts than they report to their customer. Often these
“overruns” are produced on a second shift, perhaps by personnel with less expertise using lower-quality
materials. The overrun can be sold without the knowledge of and the authorization by the original
manufacturer on the gray market where they are, to make matters worse, subject to improper handling
and storage.
• Scrap and reject components: Components that are rejected during the manufacturing process are
usually sold to companies that salvage precious materials from the parts before they are disposed of.
These companies provide certificates of scrapping to the original manufacturer. However, some salvagers
provide the certificate and then send the rejected components into the supply chain.
• Reclamation of used components: Vast quantities of electronic equipment are scrapped, and much of it
contains working semiconductors. In an effort to decrease the amounts of toxic e-waste, the European
Union has instituted the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), which
burdens the original manufacturer with the disposal of used products when they become electronic waste.
This, together with similar, less-formal directives across the globe, has encouraged the development of
“disposal companies,” many of which operate in low-cost-labor countries across the world. Companies
send their waste for “documented disposal” without realizing that most of their scrap will be scavenged for
“usable” parts. The counterfeiters often target complicated components that are not easy to duplicate, but
are easy to refurbish and sell as “new.” The parts are not protected on their journey as “trash” across the
ocean, and they are not handled under ESD-protected conditions as they are “processed.” Because these
parts often retain their original markings, they are difficult to spot as counterfeit or substandard when they
return to the market. In addition, women and children often make up a substantial portion of the workforce
who perform the processing procedures. They suffer significantly elevated levels of lead in their blood,
which can cause health problems for both mother and baby during pregnancy as well as lowered IQ
potential in children. The chemicals emitted from the burning of the final, unused scrap even adversely
affect the health of people in the e-waste city communities who are not involved in the “business.”
• False conformance documentation: The European Union, in 2003, adopted a directive commonly
referred to as Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). This legislation restricts the use of
six substances, including lead, in the production of electronic and electrical equipment. Counterfeiters
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