It is not a secret that some PCB assembly companies use SMT components that are not 100% genuine. We've got some "nickname" for the components across China PCB assembly industry:
Brand new original package genuine component
Original package genuine component
Bulk package component
Brand new original package genuine component
What is Brand new original package genuine component? It means components with original manufacturer marking, packaging, label (batch no. part number, manufacturer name and LOT number), full package quantity, serial code and bar code.
These components are inspected 100% with standard by manufacturers, including Chinese manufacturers. They are with good quality, same LOT, perfect looking that are 100% accepted by customers, the only "disadvantage" you could tell is they are high price.
Original package genuine component
It means components directly from original manufacturer, however, the original package has been unpacked or lost, the components itself has no difference with new ones.
Bulk package component
True bulk package component (genuine components without original packaging)
Inspection failure bulk package component
Refreshed component
True bulk package component
There are some circumstances that these components comes: for example the distributor unpack the original packaging because his customer do not need that big quantity. So the distributor can sell less quantity with higher price, the un-sold components will be genuine bulk package.
Another example is due to cheaper shipping or tax reason, wholesaler needs to split original big package to smaller package, some components from Hong Kong are "carried" person by person to Shenzhen in this way.
Some original package genuine components which has been produced several years, with lower quality appearance can only be sold as true bulk package.
There are a part of these components comes from the package factory, let's assume a wafer manufacturer sent a large quantity of wafer to package factory and when the delivery time is there, the wafer manufacturer has problem in paying the package fully, so they can only get part of the wafers and the rest, package factory will sell to the market, in bulks.
Inspection failure bulk package component
The components did not pass the quality check internally in IC manufacturer plant, or they are poorly packed or appearance damaged, can not be sold to the market.
Some IC may not have quality issues, they may only with very minor parameter in consistency problems, but they are not approved for delivery. This is due to the manufacturer has a strict standard of all the parameters, like voltage, current, etc. The tolerance goes to +/-0.01 while some components are tested 0.98/1.02, they are called failure ones.
These components are screened out as bulk package components, note that, due to they are not "as good as the approved ones", their parameter may change during the PCBA process, whole can tell? Some boards will be fine and some boards will cause headaches!
Refreshed components
Refreshed components, are dis-assembled from a board and then refreshed by human or device.
Some components with minor facial defects can be refreshed as "brand new" components, the procedures of "refreshing" often includes surface polishing, surface washing, foot pulls, foot plates, foot connecting, mark polishing and mark printing.
The components are disassembled from original PCB by two ways "hot air" and "fry". By "hot air" method, it is a regular way used in higher value SMD PCB or some PCB with clean surface.
Now you see what's the difference between the components used in SMT process of PCB, the main trick is to use "refreshed components" and sell as "true bulk package component", next blog we will share how to recognize them!
In Chee mau, we all use Brand new original package genuine component, to ensure the long stable quality of our customer's PCB, why not send an inquiry now?
Comments