fake chips, part 2

I bought some LM2936 5 volt voltage regulator chips on ebay in 2014.  At that time the LM2936 sold for something like $1.36 in quantity 100.  Now they are over $2 in quantity 100 if you can find them (2023 arrival dates on Mouser).  They are an expensive part, see

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/02/ldo-regulator-ic-chips.html

These ebay parts were 11.50 for 20, less than 1/2 price.  After I got them I could see they sorta looked genuine except the date code was only 4 digits instead of 5:

looks OK but does it work ?

as compared to the real ones:

the genuine chip

And they did seem to regulate, with a 5 volt output.  But the problem was the Iddq quiescent or idle current.  The real ones are about 7 uA with a 9 volt input:

7 uA for genuine LM2936

These fakes were 62 uA at 9 volt input:

62 uA for fake LM2936

With 9 times the idle current they must be some other regulator chip laser marked to be the "top shelf" item.  I didn't bother trying the reverse bias test or over voltage test.  I knew they were fake.

I got my money back from ebay but yet another waste of time, when will you learn, Chuck ?  :)

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm