Are Fairchild-branded components still being manufactured? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Fixpoint
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:02:34 am
content: Fairchild was sold to Onsemi in 2016. However, there are still parts available on various markets like eBay or Amazon that are branded with the Fairchild "F", for instance the 4N35 optocoupler:https://www.google.com/search?q=4n35+fairchildQuestion: Is the Fairchild "F" still being used on newly manufactured parts? Or are these parts old stock? Or are they fake?Does anybody know?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:06:16 am
content: The marking of the part is in the datasheet of the part.You will also find Product Change Notifications or PCNs about marking or other changes on Onsemi's website.

author: Fixpoint
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:07:56 am
content: Ok, I see. I didn't notice that Onsemi's datasheet actually contains the Fairchild marking. Thank you very much.

author: Fixpoint
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:12:27 am
content: ... as a sidenote: Fairchild's 4N35 seems to be obsolete now. So, I assume that all the available parts are old stock. Onsemi's current 4N35s are shown using an "ON" marking in the datasheets.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:16:58 am
content: Quote from: Fixpoint on August 30, 2022, 10:07:56 amTI still sells parts with National Semiconductor logo, which they bought in 2010. It's not unusual. If it's not broken don't fix it? Until an MBA comes and forces them to do changes, and that's when things go wrong.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:50:23 am
content: Quote from: tszaboo on August 30, 2022, 10:16:58 amTI bought Burr Brown, and continues to release new products under that branding to this day. Sometimes marketing see value in keeping a name alive.Quote from: Fixpoint on August 30, 2022, 10:02:34 amProbably going to be on the die for a long time to come! But the official version is a bit more boring/bland:https://media.digikey.com/pdf/PCNs/On%20Semi/P774AAB.pdf(classic low effort engineering documentation with pasted screenshots from word/excel showing spelling/grammar underlines)QuoteQuote

author: srb1954
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 11:45:50 am
content: Quote from: Someone on August 30, 2022, 10:50:23 amIt's not just a marketing thing to keep the name alive.Purchasing officers get really pissed off if the manufacturer arbitrarily changes a part number prefix and they have to go through the whole ECO process to get the new part number entered onto their systems. It is far more important to keep existing customers happy and and continue to get repeat sales.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 12:06:33 pm
content: Quote from: Someone on August 30, 2022, 10:50:23 amOh yes, BB is a better example.Quote from: srb1954 on August 30, 2022, 11:45:50 amThis is why I was writing Phillips/Motorola/Freescale/NXP/Nexperia/Qualcom/Broadcom into a few BOM a year or two ago for some parts, just to be sure that I get the company's name right.

author: exmadscientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:01:19 pm
content: My experience is that while TI still marks new stock with the National or BB logos, never having seriously bothered to change them (unlike their stupid migration to the hideous OCRA markings on SO8 parts, basically illegible to humans), onsemi made a serious effort to eradicate the Fairchild mark. (I think there may have been licensing fees to the other Fairchild to be minimized.) Thus just about any product marked with the Fairchildfis new old stock or worse.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2022, 10:53:59 pm
content: Quote from: srb1954 on August 30, 2022, 11:45:50 amNew products are nothing to do with existing part numbers or ordering.