Hot glue is often used in power supply design to secure the
discrete components again vibration. Still it is not good for
your application. So maybe some resin/hardener can be used. 

For example, in one fieldbus terminator I developed some years
ago, I use Wevo PU403FL resin and the corresponding hardener.
There are some other types like the Epoxylite EIP 4236 Resin
and hardener which may be better for your application. CY221
is the most commonly used potting compound here and maybe it
is already good for you. It is cheaper than Epoxylite.

Regards,
Xiaofan

-----Original Message-----
From: Jesse Lackey [mailto:jsl-ml@celestialaudio.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 9:44 AM
To: piclist@mit.edu
Subject: [EE]: Potting compound to protect IP?


Hello all,

I've just finished a product that uses a specialized dc/dc controller
(designed for a wholly unrelated field) with some further tweaks to
solve a particular thorny problem.

It took three major redesigns to get here, 100s of hours, etc.

But... it could be easily copied.  And can't be patented.

So... at the very least I'm going to (carefully) sand off the markings
on the IC.

But it would be great to seal everything up as well.  Only the dc/dc
section need be protected, there is no need to encapsulate everything.
Ideally just a tablespoon of viscous goo poured over it.

Now I realize there are limits to what can be protected, the goal is to
make it hard enough that casual poking around won't yield any clues.
The product is a specialized enough thing that there aren't many
companies in the business field that would be interested in it, so it
doesn't need to withstand some concerted, well-equipped "attack".

Has anyone been in this situation before?

Any advice appreciated!
Thanks
Jesse
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