There are some great new technologies for detecting counterfeit components. One of the most interesting is taking a fingerprint from each individual chip to identify them as legitimate later. It is a great idea, but it will be almost impossible to become a standard in the industry. It will be hard to get buy in from the component manufacturers. The manufacturer’s and the authorized distributor’s answer to counterfeits is “only buy from authorized sources”. Trying to get them to take fingerprints of parts during production to help them be authenticated when they reach the open market later will be impossible. Another obstacle will be the delayed benefit. Many of the chips we wish we could identify have been obsolete for over ten years. In ten years this database would be very helpful, but we are a society which needs immediate results in order to put any effort into something new. See the article describing this creative new technology.
Robb Hammond is the founder and CEO of AERI, an independent electronic component distributor operating since 1994. He is a founding member and former committee chair of SAE AS6081, the counterfeit-avoidance standard for independent distributors adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense, and a recognized authority on counterfeit detection.
