Avoiding Counterfeit Microelectronics

Industry wide issues with Counterfeit Microelectronics -
Our commitment to safeguard against it.

ES Components is aware of the industry wide issues with Counterfeit Microelectronics and acknowledges the need for safeguards against it. To that end, ES Components hereby certifies that we will not knowingly, under any circumstances, provide our customers with counterfeit products.

ES Components has been a Microelectronics Distributor since 1981 and we rely extensively on our reputation as a quality and long term supplier. ES Components is a certified ISO9001:2008 and AS9120 company and our business practices and policies are well documented and followed.

To date, ES Components has not encountered any issues, complaints or even a suspicion of counterfeit products for what we have provided to our customers or with respect to any product in our inventory. Below are some of the steps taken at ES Components to ensure the authenticity of our products along with measures to avoid counterfeit product:

1. ES Components performs an in-house AQL Visual Inspection per MIL-STD-883, Method 2010 or MIL-STD-750, Methods 2072 and 2073 for all die received, against the manufacturers published die geometry. One of the benefits of this measure is that it would make it very difficult for a counterfeit die to get through this inspection. By nature, Microelectronic Die are much more difficult to counterfeit as compared to packaged devices. Signed records of these inspections are kept by lot and are fully traceable by shipment. All records are kept for a minimum of 7 years. To date, ES Components has kept all of our historical records.
   
   
2. ES Components can perform an Element Evaluation based on our customer's requirements. Element Evaluation can be per the customer's specific Source or Specification Control Drawing (SCD), Military Performance Specifications such as MIL-PRF-38534, MIL-PRF-38535, MIL-PRF-19500 or other pertinent Military specifications. ES Components performs this service for many of our customers, which entails building a sample of the die into a package and can include Environmental Screening, Electrical Screening, Burn-In, Life Test, Wirebond Pull Test, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Analysis, and Destructive Physical Analysis (DPA). This step can be used to avoid counterfeit devices by verifying the specific lot or wafer 's performance in addition to Visual Inspection. The records for Element Evaluation are kept by lot (by wafer for Class K) and fully traceable by shipment. All records are kept for a minimum of 7 years. To date, ES Components has kept all of our historical records. 
    
   
3. All of our franchised Manufacturers, including Vishay, Micrel and Zetex, provide their products with Original Manufacturers' Certificate of Compliance (C of C’s) by their specific lot numbers. These Original Manufacturer's C of C’s are kept by lot and fully traceable by shipment. All original Manufacturer's C of C records are kept for a minimum of 7 years. To date, ESC has kept all of our historical records.   
   
   
4. When ES Components needs to purchase die for which we're not franchised, we purchase them from a franchised distributor which provides us with their C of C for the specific manufacturer's lot number we receive. All material receipt records and C of C's are kept by lot and fully traceable by shipment. All records are kept for a minimum of 7 years. To date, ESC has kept all of our historical records.
   
   
5. ES Components has the largest inventory of obsolete die dating back to early 1980's. These materials are often used by legacy Military Programs and to satisfy DMSMS requirements. Much of this material came from the inventories of Elmo Semiconductor, a prominent die distributor in 1980s and 1990s. In addition, our obsolete die and DMSMS inventory also includes material from Kimbel and other Military Hybrid Manufacturers. These items are all segregated by the manufacturer's lot number and the majority of them have the original manufacturer's C of Cs. In some cases, older Die Manufacturer's did not issue C of C's in the 1980's and a different shipping manifest or form of documentation may be available. ES Components will review the documents to ensure the authenticity of the products to best of our capability before shipment. ESC will provide all documents available and/or Element Evaluation (item 2 above) upon request. In all cases, ES Components will perform an AQL Visual Inspection (step 1 above). All shipments will have full lot traceability. All records are kept for a minimum of 7 years. To date, ESC has kept all of our historical records.

If you have further questions or comments regarding counterfeit avoidance measures at ES Components, please do not hesitate to contact us. We take this matter very seriously and will do our utmost to safeguard against it.