1、What is copying PCB ？

　　Copy board, also called cloning or imitation, is the reverse technology research of the designed PCB board; at present, the new definition: in a narrow sense, Copy board only refers to the process of extracting and restoring the PCB documents of electronic product circuit board and using the documents to clone the circuit board; In a broad sense, board copying includes not only the technical processes of circuit board file extraction, circuit board cloning, circuit board imitation, but also all the technical processes of modifying circuit board file (i.e. board modification), extracting 3D data of electronic product shape mould and model imitation (i.e. board copying), copying all kinds of electronic components on electronic product circuit board, decrypting the encrypted chip or single chip on circuit board, and disassembling the system software of electronic product.


　　2、Copying PCB is infringing？

　　 Since the birth of the whole concept, the reverse engineering method has played a great role in the development of integrated circuit industry. All manufacturers in the world use this method to understand the development of other people's products. If this behavior is strictly prohibited, it will affect the progress of integrated circuit technology. In order to teach, analyze and evaluate the concept, technology or circuit, logic structure and component configuration used in layout design, it is not regarded as infringement to copy layout design and apply the analysis and evaluation results to original layout design. However, it should be regarded as an infringement to reproduce the protected layout design of others and produce integrated circuits simply for the purpose of operation and sale.

　　Many formal board copying units have a clear stipulation that customers who carry out reverse engineering in the company must have a legal design copyright source declaration to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the original design copyright owner. And require customers to promise that reverse results are mainly used for teaching, analysis, technical research and other legitimate purposes. At the same time, reverse engineering is committed to the secondary development of the original product design ideas. Through circuit principle analysis and data extraction, a new design concept and function module are added to the product design. Quickly on the basis of the original products to achieve innovation and upgrading, to help the overall competitiveness of the electronics industry.

　　3、How to prevent copying PCB ？

　　 In order to prevent the PCB files designed by themselves from being copied or to increase the workload of their PCB reverse personnel, the following 12 methods (not the latest, still can be used for reference) can be used to reduce the probability of the documents being copied to a certain extent.

　　1. the grinding sheet and use fine sandpaper to grind the model on the chip. For the partial door of the chip is more useful, for commonly used chips, reverse personnel as long as guess a general function, check which pin grounding, power supply is easy to compare the real chip.

　　2. sealant, with the kind of solidified like stone glue (such as sticky steel, ceramic) to cover the PCB and its components. It can also deliberately make five or six flying lines (best with thin enamelled wire) twisted together, so that the thief will break the glue process and do not know how to connect. It should be noted that glue can not be corrosive, closed area heat is not too large.

　　3. use special encryption chips, such as ATMEL AT88SC153, and so on a few dollars, as long as the software can not be deconstructed, thieves can not copy all signals even if they are intercepted by a logic analyzer.


　　4. use unbreakable chips, such as EPLD EPM7128 above, ACTEL, etc., but the cost is high (more than 100 yuan), not suitable for small products.

　　5. use MASK IC, generally MASK IC much harder to crack than programmable chips, which takes a lot of batches, not just MCU, but also ROM、FPGA and other dedicated chips.

　　6. the use of bare pieces, thieves can not see the model and do not know the wiring. But the function of the chip should not be too easy to guess, it is best to decorate other things in that ball IC、 glue, such as small resistance and so on.

　　7. the resistance above 60 ohms in series on the signal line with small current (so that the on-off of the multimeter does not ring), the reverse personnel will increase the trouble when measuring the connection relationship with the multimeter.

　　8. use some small components without word (or only some code name) to participate in signal processing, such as small patch capacitance, TO-XX diode, transistor, three to six feet of small chips, to find out its true face is still a bit troublesome.

　　9. cross some addresses and data lines (except for RAM, the software needs to cross the corresponding), so that those reverse personnel can not test the connection relationship by one against three to lazy.

　　10. The PCB uses the technology of buried and blind holes to hide the holes in the plate. This method is expensive and only suitable for high-end products.

　　Use other special accessories, such as custom LCD screen, custom transformer, SIM card, encryption disk, etc.

　　12. Patent application. In view of the poor environment of intellectual property protection, the best foreign method can only be put in the last one.


　　Now do you know How to Prevent Plagiarism PCB Circuit Boards？RenhotecIC is an electronic components store online. All its products are from the OEM Original Factory, same quality with much better price. Any questions please feel free to contact us.

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