laser blasting chips

Mar 23, 2021 Last reply: 5 years ago 12 Replies

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jlarkin 5 years ago

We sometimes glob epoxy on chips on boards, to make the products a bit harder to copy.

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My production guy tried using the new Boss laser to scrub chip IDs. It works great. No mixing or mess; we could put a board under the laser and scrub it as much as we want.

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We can also ADD part numbers to chips, as they come or after scrubbing the old p/n. We can add a serial number, a MAC address, or note the code rev in a programmable chip.

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Maybe we can add the dash numbers and serial numbers to boards too, instead of making labels. We could scrub the chips and blast the board IDs in one step.

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Jan Panteltje 5 years ago

On a sunny day (Tue, 23 Mar 2021 07:51:26 -0700) it happened snipped-for-privacy@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote in snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Some years ago I opened a Chinese cheap media player, looked at the chip number. that type of media decoder requires a license, to my surprise that chip number was from a voltage regulator :-) So, went to the Chinese manufacturer website and entered that chip number. Few seconds later I was blocked from that site:-) No more access. So they use fake chip numbers to get past custom import checks.

Anyways if you pick your own numbers make sure it is not something that needs licensing.

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Don Y 5 years ago

In the early 80's we were already deencapsulating components and taking photomicrographs to identify components that folks had

*tried* to obfuscate in that way. I'd imagine anyone who wanted to do so, today, would have no problem!

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jlarkin 5 years ago

Well, not anyone. Obsuring slows down the amateur copiers. I don't think a big organization would copy our designs. It's just small outfits that have tried.

Hiding part numbers is very common practice.

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Spehro Pefhany 5 years ago

You could put weird part numbers on them that look almost like real manufacturer's numbers and logos, that way when someone asks about them it might get back to you.

Like the (in)famous red mercury gambit.

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Chris Jones 5 years ago

Does it affect the stress on the die (and perhaps thereby offset voltage of opamps)?

By the way, I have a very low opinion of manufacturers who grind off part numbers.

I like to know what my equipment does, even if I have no intention of copying it. Sometimes that helps me to use it better. If a supplier acts in a way that seems hostile to me, like grinding off part numbers, I try to avoid them in future.

Conversely, if a manufacturer includes schematics with the manual, and documents all of the interfaces, that will encourage me to buy from them.

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John Larkin 5 years ago

Hardly anybody makes schematics public any more. We put block diagrams in our manuals (which usually happen to be the first sheet of our schematic.)

Trusted customers can have schematics on request.

One of my competitors does include schematics in their hardcopy manuals. I always arrange to get one.

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