Fake LM741

From Leo's Notes
Revision as of 17:12, 16 August 2020 by Leo (talk | contribs) (Created page with "I bought 20 LM741 off Ebay in summer of 2019 from the seller "satisfyelectronics" and it turns out that only 3 functioned as an op-amp. After questioning my sanity for an enti...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This page was last edited on 16 August 2020, at 17:12.

I bought 20 LM741 off Ebay in summer of 2019 from the seller "satisfyelectronics" and it turns out that only 3 functioned as an op-amp. After questioning my sanity for an entire afternoon, I eventually set up a dead simple unity gain circuit and tested every IC I had and only 3 functioned as expected.

All the non-functional ICs have relatively decent laser etching and it is indistinguishable from the chips that do work.

Fake LM741 that do not work
Fake LM741 that do not work

The entire order for the 20 LM741 was $1.88 USD with free shipping.