Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler
That may be where you're going wrong. The risk of fake components is lowest from authorised distributors who have regular turnover and direct interaction with the real manufacturer.
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It's lowest, but not zero. Occasionally counterfeit parts do emerge from an authorised distributor. What happens is, somebody buys a load of genuine parts, then a few months later asks if they will buy them back, quoting the C of C number (obviously with a restocking fee). But what they actually do is send a load of counterfeit parts. Then they sell the genuine parts on the 'grey market'.
I'm actually involved right now dealing with 1N825A diodes, bought from a big distributor in the US, which are in a different package (DO35) than ordered and certified (DO7). I'm pretty confident that the diodes are genuine, but the paper trail is not quite what it should be - and our customer is not impressed because the different package, with different internal construction, invalidates qualification tests done some years ago.