Their only fabs appear to be In Milpitas CA and Camas WA. Malaysia for asse= mbly/test and Singapore for test outside the US. I would expect only the fa= bs to generate significant numbers off-spec parts, especially identifiable = ones. They list design centers in other countries, including China. CMOS: http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/quality/cmos.pdf Bipolar: http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/quality/bi_fab.pdf BiCMOS: http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/quality/bicmos_process.pdf I have had a loss from a Ali seller on some OTP chips- only got half the $$= $ back- be careful out there, there are some real crooks.=20 Sent from a Microsoft, Android or Apple device =20 (Either mobile or desktop)=20 > On Jul 14, 2017, at 10:02 PM, John Gardner wrote: >=20 > Well, come to think of it, I don't know where LTC chips are >=20 > made. A wild guess would be.... >=20 >> On 7/14/17, John Gardner wrote: >> Yep. It ain't just China... >>=20 >>> On 7/14/17, Bob Blick wrote: >>> forwarding this reply from Harrison Cooper (hi Harrison, you're posting >>> from >>> a different email address that the one the Piclist recognizes) >>>=20 >>> A couple of years ago, we had some strange failures on one of our >>> products. >>> We traced it down to an opamp from Linear Tech. Turns some were bought >>> thru >>> the gray market, and we traced these particular parts to that broker. >>>=20 >>> I sent them off to LTC to have the lid popped off and see if it was the= ir >>> part. The really interesting thing is...the build code on the part was >>> not >>> valid. It was the series, but not a valid number. >>>=20 >>> LTC FA said...these actually are OUR parts. The only thing we could >>> figure >>> out is that they never passed test and instead of being destroyed they >>> went >>> out the back door and got remarked. >>>=20 >>> ________________________________________ >>> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu on behalf of Bo= b >>> Blick >>> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 3:17 PM >>> To: piclist@mit.edu >>> Subject: [EE]More poorly-faked chips >>>=20 >>> I bought four TDA7293 (audio power amp) ICs from a vendor on Aliexpress= .. >>> They didn't sand off the old numbers completely before marking them, yo= u >>> can >>> see TDA7294 and remnants of a second ST logo as well as the new marking= s. >>> Whether they were originally TDA7294 is unknown, perhaps they've been >>> re-marked more than once. I tested them without a load, they actually >>> work, >>> although they are definitely not TDA7293 based on pin 12 having no >>> connection. >>>=20 >>> The vendor is asking for time right now, pretending to be concerned. I >>> have >>> a feeling his concern is quite different from mine :) >>>=20 >>> You might need to zoom in to the picture a bit. There's also a paint ma= rk >>> on >>> the far right edge, I assume these chips are not new and that's a quali= ty >>> control mark from the original installation. >>>=20 >>> Bob >>>=20 >>> -- >>> http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >>> View/change your membership options at >>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .