Ti NE555 – real vs fake: weekend die-shot

Re:Ti NE555 – real vs fake: weekend die-shot by laydn on Monday July 03, 2017 @04:42AM (#14686820)

In one of our board designs, we were using a well-known manufacturer's 25Mhz oscillator, to provide a clock to a gigabit Ethernet PHY. When we wanted to assemble the boards, we could not find this oscillator in any official distributor, so we bought them from a vendor in China, who had some in stock.

When we assembled the boards, none of the boards functioned properly. There was no Ethernet connectivity, the PHY wasn't working

We contacted the "well known manufacturer" and provided photos of the part and they confirmed that the oscillator was not theirs. It was a counterfeit part.

The "counterfeit" oscillator actually did provide a clean 25Mhz clock, but the PHY did not work.

It amazes me there are companies out there that produce counterfeit silicon. I wonder what's their profit margin?

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Re:Ti NE555 – real vs fake: weekend die-shot by Nexxxeh on Monday July 03, 2017 @08:02AM (#14687614)

>The "counterfeit" oscillator actually did provide a clean 25Mhz clock, but the PHY did not work.

Did you find out why?

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Re:Ti NE555 – real vs fake: weekend die-shot by vardump on Monday July 03, 2017 @11:05AM (#14688750)

Very interesting, more details, please. This matches one case I've heard about.

Who is the well known manufacturer being counterfeited? Abracon? How did the fake crystals look like?

Which PHY is it in question?

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Re:Ti NE555 – real vs fake: weekend die-shot by hollander on Monday July 03, 2017 @05:13AM (#14686924)

> It amazes me there are companies out there that produce counterfeit silicon. I wonder what's their profit margin?

Enough. Or: enough to make a living.

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