I agree with George.  Every time I have gotten asked to do this kind of
obscuring, I ask the question - how determined is my opponent?  What
resources do they have?  George talks about slowly grinding material away.
You can do the same thing with plasma.  If you simply cover the marking,
think of all the ways you can carefully remove the cover material.


Doug Pauls
Principal Materials and Process Engineer
Rockwell Collins

On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Wenger, George M. [Contractor] <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> If you try to hide the marking by covering it up with marking ink, paint,
> epoxy, etc. you could still have a problem with someone who was trying to
> reverse engineer the product because we've taken components that were cover
> up and very carefully cross sectioned though the coating and stopped when
> we got very close to the marking and while it was very difficult and not
> easy to read we were able to determine what the marking said.  The best way
> we know is to mechanically grind away the marking and then cover the top of
> the component with marking ink, paint, epoxy, etc.
>
> Regards,
> George
> George M. Wenger
> Failure Signature & Characterization Lab LLC
> 609 Cokesbury Road, High Bridge, NJ 08829
> (908) 638-8771 Home  (732) 309-8964 Mobile
> E-mail [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Sullivan
> Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 3:03 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [TN] Obscure IC part markings
>
> I have a customer requirement to "apply an electronics grade epoxy over
> component x that will obscure part the part marking." They are trying to
> prevent reverse engineering of their product. There are of course a
> multitude of epoxies, but dispensing onto small ICs, etc., can be a
> challenge.
>
>
>
> I know about micro abrasion processes and such but I'm curious how others
> would handle this requirement?
>
>
>
> Craig Sullivan
>
> Manufacturing Engineer / IT Administrator
>
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