On 4/25/2014 8:04 AM, Dave Tweed wrote:
> Isaac Marino Bavaresco wrote:
>> The range of defects is varied. Most were traced back to poor soldering,
>> some to wrong component placement (I think they did the pick and place
>> by hand) and some to defective ICs.
>> The real weirdness is that a substantial portion of the defects only can
>> be explained by bad dsPIC's FLASH.
>>
>> One theory is that the Chinese bought a dsPIC lot that didn't pass some
>> quality control test and were supposed to be destructed, but somebody
>> inside Microchip diverted and sold them illegally.
> It seems to me that given the other issues this manufacturer has, it's
> possible that they are simply destroying the (perfectly good) chips throu=
gh
> mishandling -- e.g., poor ESD procedures.
>
> -- Dave Tweed
Yours is the correct answer. MC's newest parts are much more susceptible=20
to ESD than earlier PIC generations.
Chinese assembly shops are rarely big factories, but are located in=20
homes, on kitchen tables, instead.

Microchip has a history of being VERY MUCH in control of problems,=20
except for firmware errors within the device itself; as a result, it has=20
been my protocol to not design in new devices- from anybody.

--Bob A
--=20
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