how do i go about finding out if there is testing data on one of my orders so we can prove to an end client this is not a faulty/bad chip? Next steps and/or thoughts?
Welcome to the forum.
Generally commodity electronic components do not receive traceable testing by the manufacturer.
Usually it is up to the end user to provide evidence the chip is bad along with the bad chip to the chip manufacturer. The manufacturer should check the chips to determine if it was a manufacturing defect, or an application/assembly error.
When I want to prove something I provided to a customer works, I do it by showing the customer that it works. If I, or others at my work, can’t show that the part works, we figure out why it doesn’t work and fix it.
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Hello Luisa,
If you need to request paperwork regarding an order that you have received, please email customer.service@digikey.com with your order details (including any date/lot information of the parts if available) along with the details of your request and they will advise on the next steps.
The key word here is “traceable.” Virtually all electronic components from reputable manufacturers are tested prior to shipment to insure conformity to specification, but making that testing “traceable” adds cost that few are willing to pay.
What Paul refers to here is known as “failure analysis” or FA. It’s expensive, time consuming, and commonly shows that a part is either functioning within specification or was damaged post-factory.
The chances of mis-application or fault in a new design or low-volume product are substantially higher than defects coming off an established, well-qualified process producing an IC that others are using successfully by the millions. This is why most manufacturers will require some level of evidence to substantiate an FA request. Particularly in cases where the product is being used in a new design, the matter may be referred to engineering support personnel (such as myself or my manufacturer counterparts) prior to acceptance of an FA request.
In any case, being specific about one’s request, providing needed information up front, and packaging it in a way that is digestible to those responsible for triage is very helpful for speeding resolution. An example here might be:
Hello,
We are experiencing difficulties with P/N DP83826ERHBR, purchased on sales order 12345678, and would like to request a return for analysis. Please see the attached engineering report for details supporting this request. Person(at)company(dot)com is the contact to whom related technical questions should be addressed.
The report mentioned should (of course) be attached, and contain details such as date/lot code(s) of affected parts, a thorough description of the problem, the application in which it’s being encountered, rate of occurrence, diagnostic measures taken and the results thereof. The goal is to not overwhelm the front-line person with details, while enclosing enough information to convince a skeptical engineer that the homework has been done and that there’s actually something weird afoot that warrants spending something on the order of $10k to investigate further.
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