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RE: Are cheap Hong Kong sourced opamps real?

Posted by Steve McCormack (M) on February 19, 2009 at 18:52:35

In Reply to: RE: Are cheap Hong Kong sourced opamps real? posted by Steve McCormack on February 17, 2009 at 18:41:05:

Hi Guys -

Here is the latest from my end. I've been trying to get some useful information from Texas Instruments (who now own Burr-Brown) regarding IC package marking, and the possibility of the parts on ebay being fake / counterfeit. The following is our latest - and probably final - exchange...

Hi Jody -

Thanks for your help. As I'm sure you know, ICs of the same type can come in a wide variety of packaging, and the labeling can look very different - I am used to this from many years of buying and using them. In this current case, the original OPA2107AP parts I purchased from Mouser (about a year ago) looked quite different from these latest parts, but I know from experience that this does not necessarily mean anything bad. Furthermore, these new parts *do* conform to the TI parts-labeling information from your website, except for one small detail - the "circle R" (as in Registered Trademark) printed after the BB logo. The "Registered" mark is not shown on *any* package labeling detail from your website link, and yet it is printed on many - but not all - of the Burr-Brown opamps I have purchased over the years (some of which are old enough to predate ebay). So in fact the package labeling information available from the TI site is incomplete in this respect. Apparently I am left to draw my own conclusions from evidence that is unclear, at best.

I will leave you with one final bit of this puzzle... If you run a search on ebay for "OPA2107AP" you will find several sellers offering them at around $5 each, including the ones that I purchased and sent you the photos of. I find it interesting that at least one other seller is offering parts with exactly the same lot code as those I purchased, and yet the package type is clearly different. This seems rather unlikely - I would expect different package types to come from different manufacturers with distinctly different lot codes. Or am I mistaken in this belief?

Best regards,

Steve McCormack


support@ti.com wrote:
>
> Hello Steve,
>
> I am including a link to the parts product folder. If you go to price and packaging you will see the part number OPA2107AP. There you will see the top side marking, click on the view button by your part number and it will open to a new folder with information on the possible top side marking for the part. If the parts top side marking does not match any of the examples then the part is not the OPA2107AP.
>
> Please see the below link.
>
> http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/opa2107.html#topsidemarking
>
>
> I hope this information helps. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns.
>
>
> Best Regards,
> Jody Nwazue


Best regards,

Steve McCormack, designer
SMc Audio

• http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/opa2107.html#top   (Open in New Window)

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