ICs & Semiconductors
Stick to the basics
Having protected your hardware design, next on your checklist is ensuring nothing sub-standard gets anywhere near your production line. Whether you are an OEM, a CEM or
Figure 2. Example of Laser Ablation
Well and good, all the markings are
irreversibly removed, ‘design- protection’ is in place, but you still need full batch traceability and that’s when fully automated high-precision Laser Marking kicks in. After your own numbers/markings have been lasered onto the now unrecognisable chips, unscrupulous competitors who view components on your PCB will be left entirely in the dark. This makes copying your designs, well nigh impossible. It’s not just semiconductors that can
be ‘cleaned’ of all identifiable markings and lasered with your own unique identifiers. Anything that can fit in a reel, tube or tray, be it plastic or whatever (within reason), can be suitably ‘protected’ from prying eyes.
In the example featured in Figure 2,
Lewmax used its own laser robotics to completely remove all traces of markings ‘24LC16B S/N’ and replaced these with our own number ‘LMAX01234’. If you ‘google’ ‘24LC16B S/N’, you’ll be presented with pages of information and data for this device. Now try googling ‘LMAX01234’ and you’ll find no information at all. Following high-precision Laser
Ablation and Laser Marking, a competitor views components on your PCB that are unfamiliar to him that cannot be identified. This makes trying to copy your design virtually impossible, and provides peace of mind that your designs and future profits are safe.
an independent design house, it starts with sticking to basics, and that means rigorous and consistent quality controls of the materials used from the word go - no matter how well you know your component supplier. At Lewmax for example, our primary electronics component supplier is our own parent company, Global distributor Transonics Plc, but while its QC standards are of the highest order that doesn’t mean we treat deliveries from them any differently. Consistency of quality control is the first rule and that means absolutely no exceptions – none! Due to just-in-time stock practices, as
well as a scaling back of manufacturing capacity during the recent squeeze on demand, it can be tempting, especially when under pressure of short turnaround times on a particular job, to seek components from new sources. If and when this happens, then full batch traceability and thorough electronic testing has to be the priority. Double-checking device identifiers, both the manufacturers number and the part itself, should never be an optional extra. It’s obvious to us all, but you’d be surprised how easily, an item that looks like a simple standard item (and often is the least expensive component in the mix) turns out to be the wild card that brings production to
a halt, weeks later when it’s already on the board. And last, but by no means least, vendor-assessments need to be continuous, rather than annual or on initial delivery only!
Future returns
Prevention of copying of your own and your customers hardware designs as well as the prevention of copying of the device itself will be an ongoing battle between poacher and game- keeper for a good few years to come. Yet it’s amazing how many companies don’t yet either know about or economically take advantage of, laser ablation and laser marking. To sum up, when looking at
programming and manufacturing abroad, you’d be well served to consider if part of the solution could be close to home! Finding the right partner for quality, price and service is always a challenge, but at the very least, now you know what’s possible. Design protection should be your
top priority next time you look to manufacturing overseas. You can remove all traces of identifiable parts from under the bonnet and that means you can now design and programme here and safely manufacture abroad and bring back much-valued margin that may have been unintentionally passed to the wrong hands!
Lewmax Programming
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www.lewmax.co.uk
Mike Ward is European Business Manager at Lewmax Programming
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
April 2010 27
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