Integrators Must Take Measures to Protect Themselves from Counterfeit Electronic Parts

Counterfeit electronic parts, which have come to the forefront in the electronics manufacturing industry in recent months, are particularly vexing to high-reliability manufacturers of military and aerospace products where failure is not an option. Counterfeiters have seized on the existence of a "gray market" of independent distributors and parts brokers, coupled with a shortage of genuine parts from tier-1 manufacturers, to push their artificial products. The demand for integrated circuit chips (ICs) and capacitors has created big markets for counterfeiters. Equally lucrative markets exist for amplifiers, batteries, connectors, and power-management devices, among other tiems. Regrettably, where this is a sufficient marker from a component, counterfeiters most likely will seize the opportunity to supply a phony version. Determining whether a part is real or phony is not always easy, however. Increasingly, military and aerospace manufacturers are turning to outside test facilities to screen components obtained from open-market sources prior to manufacturing.