are these STM32 ICs genuine or clone ?

[mehmet.karakaya]

Posted on June 04, 2018 at 15:17

hello dear forum,

I used to buy STM32 F103 mcus from my countries biggest supplier

this IC below is 5,- USD there 

now becouse of competition I need more cheap products and I imported 

this below IC for 2,35 USD from China

I soldered this on to my board and I saw that it is working  

( I downloaded code and tried some peripherals )

I could not check all the functions yet 

my question ;

this big price difference makes me suspicious

is this second picture genuine or clone ?

did you experience this second ICs ?

can I trust this second ICs ?

whats your opinion ?

thank you

#clone #stm32f103 #genuine

[Jeroen3]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 12:02

It's hard to tell if they are counterfeits by only looking at the package marking.

The year codes, 610 (2016/week10) and 748(2017/week48) are different. This might even mean they're made or packaged somewhere else on different machines.

You're more likely to encounter discarded chips (eg: out of spec) that some untrustworthy fab still sold by the backdoor. This happens sometimes. Rarely they even get shipped to top tier customers or distributors, that's when the quality department gets very nervous.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 11:46

The question is really interesting but I guess we need to wait for ST guys...

[AvaTar]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 11:47

but I still didnot get any answer to my original question

are these ICs a ST product or not ?

Except for ST guys, no one here can really answer this question. All those volunteer here have no insight in ST's inner workings and deals.

If you think the chips might be fake, approach ST directly, via FAE, sales representative, or distributor.

[T J]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 11:56

it is very likely a real processor from ST

[AVI-crak]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 14:37

A distinction is made between real and fake st products - it is possible when bathing microcircuits in acid. With a dissolving plastic - on a counterfeit chip, an additional crystal will be visible flash memory - soldered directly to the main processor, almost like a sandwich. This chip contains one flint plate.

[Thomas Borowczak]

Posted on June 06, 2018 at 16:02

karakaya.mehmet

‌ we cannot confirmjust looking at picture #2 that this is a genuine ST part.

We recommandto buy ST products

only fromofficial ST resellers

.

[henry.dick]

Posted on June 06, 2018 at 16:42

'

Or cars'

For products or services that are commodity (aka not specifically made for a particular region or population) you will likely see consistent (adjusted for fx) OEM pricing, short for strategic purposes by the oem.

However many other factors play far more significant roles in the determination of end-user pricing, especially for one-off or small volume pricing. 

[henry.dick]

Posted on June 06, 2018 at 16:45

'

Digi has confirmed in writing that all purchases are direct from the manufacturer,'

They likely have conditioned 'all purchases' in that statement. Many big name distributors also buy from non OEMs as well. 

It is just your chance of running into a fake is lower, or you have more of a remedy with them than with a non name seller.

[Elik Livnat]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 19:36

It's hard to know if a chip is original,. The only way is is you send it to the manufacture for analysis.

My experience with 2nd imitation though it seems to function well at the beginning, There are issues of reliability.

It might fail after short time and also quality may vary between batches or even in the same batch.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 20:28

It looks like you had a chance to use fake chips....