In response to a request by the Semiconductor Industry Association Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force, SEMI, an industry association that serves the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries, announced the development of standards to facilitate the identification of counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs).

The SEMI T20 standard and subordinate standards SEMI T20.1 and SEMI T20.2 oversee product authentication by any party in the trade stream, which helps reduce illegal counterfeit items in the marketplace. The standards help ensure the automated, reliable, and secure technique of product authentication consistently at key points in the trade stream.

According to SEMI's documentation, T20 covers structure, behaviour, and services for those involved in authentication of semiconductor and related products or objects through the use of secure serialisation. T20.1 covers labels for objects used for packaging semiconductor and electronic components, including intermediate container, product package, or shipping pack, and for direct marking of the packaged device. T20.2 involves labeling by trusted brand owners of batches of authentic parts with a secure batch number (encrypted serial number) on the product package and an authentication service for anyone considering purchase of a batch of parts, using the encrypted batch number as the basis for a validation check of the license plate.

These standards are the result of work by members of the Traceability Committee in the United States and Japan over the past several years in an effort to fight the unlawful spread of counterfeit ICs.

Earlier this month, three California family members were indicted by the U.S. Attorney on charges of interstate trafficking of counterfeit ICs. In a statement, the U.S. Attorney said the accused acquired the ICs from supply sources in China, imported them into the United States, and sold them to the public via the Internet.

They also obtained trademark-branded ICs from unknown sources, and then scraped, sanded, or ground off the original markings, repainted the devices in a process referred to as “black topping,” and remarked the devices with another trademark thereby fraudulently indicating, among other things, that the devices were of a certain brand, newer, higher quality, or were of military grade.