A sampling of connectivity products that will be featured by exhibitors at DesignCon 2008 in Santa Clara, CA, February 5-6.
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PARALLEL BOARD-TO-BOARD POWER—The XCede Stacker is designed to enable parallel board-to-board designs with the same levels of performance and reliability as the company’s XCede 20-Gbits/sec backplane system. The Stacker 4-pair is designed to provide the density and mechanical robustness needed to address increasing I/O counts. Its modular construction with a variety of guidance options lets you optimize the length for each application. Several heights, up to 44, are available, making XCede Stacker suitable for scaling stackable systems based on 1U increments. The connectors also supports 2-pair through 6-pair backplane connector versions and integrated power and guidance.
AMPHENOL TCS, NASHUA, NH
www.amphenol-tcs.com
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HYBRID INTERCONNECT—iQ Hybrid is a high-performance, high-density compression style connector in a standard solderable RoHs-compliant design. The proprietary contact features a shorting path when compressed that produces the shortest electrical path for the highest bandwidth performance. Because it is solderable, iQ can be used on a standard circuit board without the need for a hard gold pad interface. This connector can be used as a socket for processor and ASIC chips, offering the advantage of field replacement of chips in a standard solderable solution, and can also be used to connect two boards directly—connecting flex cabling or such devices as fiberoptic transceivers to a board.
CINCH CONNECTORS, LOMBARD, IL
www.cinch.com
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HIGH-DENSITY PRESS-FIT—The ZipLine connector system, built in response to customer demand for increased signal density, is designed for backplane and orthogonal applications. These connectors can reach speeds of 12.5 Gbits/sec with up to 101 signal pairs per linear inch at 1.5-mm column pitch. ZipLine is built upon the company’s AirMax VS technology, featuring edge-coupling to provide high signal density with low insertion loss and crosstalk without the need of metal shields. Data rates can scale from 2.5 Gbits/sec to beyond 12.5 Gbits/sec without requiring re-design of a basic platform. The company’s goal was to design a high-speed connector that offers flexible pin configurations along with the greatest signal density in all three dimensions to address mechanical and thermal concerns.
FCI, ETTERS, PA
www.fciconnect.com
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POWER SOCKET, FAN-OUT INTERPOSER—This power supply interconnect socket is designed for simplified power supply attach, removal, rework, and replacement. The low-profile SMT features an overmolded lead frame and SLC pin/socket socketing to allow mate/unmate without the need for an insertion/extraction tool. The contact is a custom gold-over-nickel designed to meet low-profile and extraction criteria. Power contacts are capable of carrying up to 45 amps.
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These fan-out interposers convert fine-pitch BGAs to a larger pitch, eliminating costs associated with microvias and underfilling on the PCB. For example, a 0.5-mm pitch Micro BGA can be converted to a more usable 1-mm pitch, which falls in line with standard design rules. The company can also provide 72-hour turn-around for PC104 board-to-board press-fit connectors, meeting demands of manufacturers who are making the switch from solder-tail to press-fit due to RoHS requirements.
INTERCONNECT SYSTEMS INC., CAMARILLO, CA
www.isipkg.com
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6.5, 10 Ghz SOCKETS, ANALYZER ADAPTER—SG-BGAS-6245/6246 6.5 GHz sockets are designed for ST Micro 35-mm and 27-mm package sizes, and operate at bandwidths up to 8 GHz with less than 1 dB of insertion loss. The sockets are designed to dissipate up to 4.5 watts at 40° C and can handle up to 100 watts with enhanced heat sink. Contact resistance is typically 23 milliohms per pin. The socket requires 2.5-mm clearance around the chip, permitting discrete components to be placed near the IC. In addition, a 10 GHz BGA ZIF socket (SG-BGA-7096) is designed for a Shinko 12-mm package size, and operates at bandwidths up to 10 GHz with less than 1 dB of insertion loss. These sockets are designed to dissipate up to several watts without extra heat sinking, and can handle up to 100 watts with custom heat sink. Like the 6.5 GHz version, this socket has contact resistance of typically 23 milliohms per pin and features 2.5-mm clearance.
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PB-BGA60C-DDRRAM-RIGID-01 logic analyzer adapter simultaneously enables memory device analysis used in PDAs, cellphones, digital cameras, and MP3 players using the Agilent 16XXX Logic Analyzer System. The surface-mount foot is soldered to the target system in place of a BGA60 using standard BGA soldering methods. The probe board connects to the SMT base and employs a PCB with power planes to deliver all data, address, control, and clock signals to Mictor connectors. The 512-Mbit mobile DDR RAM chip is surface-mounted onto the male BGA adapter, which plugs into the female BGA socket soldered to the probe board.
IRONWOOD ELECTRONICS, BURNSVILLE, MN
www.ironwoodelectronics.com
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RIGHT-ANGLE AND EDGE-MOUNT MATING—Q2 second generation Q Series high-speed connectors (QMS/QFS) now include right-angle and edge-mount designs for perpendicular and co-planar board mating. The connectors feature contacts on .635 mm pitch, with increased insertion depth and integrated guide posts designed for rugged applications. Performance is up to 7.5 GHz for differential and 8 GHz for single-ended, depending on stack height and configuration. An integral, surface-mount ground/power plane is rated for up to 8.9 amps at 80° C. These connectors are available with 52 and 208 pins for single-ended applications, and 16 to 64 signal pairs for differential applications.
SAMTEC, NEW ALBANY, IN
www.samtec.com
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BELLY-TO-BELLY TERMINATION, RIGHT ANGLE SOLUTIONS—The 4X (SFF8470) line of small-form-factor cable assemblies now features belly-to-belly 4x termination, doubling packaging density of the InfiniBand/10-Gigabit Ethernet solution. A reduced overall height of termination lets you place these cable assemblies above and below the PCB in a 1U enclosure via off-the-shelf 4x belly-to-belly board receptacles. The termination allows for double-density packaging without sacrificing InfiniBand DDR or QDR performance rates. Assemblies are built to solve space problems in applications where port density is a major consideration.(Production volumes are expected 1Q 2008.)
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The Right Angle PCI Express Connector line now includes surface-mount (SMT) X16 connectors available in .650 and 1.33-inch stack heights. In addition to the standard PCI Express pinout configuration, these two sizes will also be available in a mirror image design. In addition, the company is introducing two new 168-position Right Angle SMT connectors available in the same stack heights as the PCI Express line. These connectors will be on 1.0-mm pitch and can be modified to accept one or more key locations based on design requirements.
MERITEC, PAINESVILLE, OH
www.meritec.com
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HIGH-PORT MIDPLANE—I-Trac backplane connector system is a standard and orthogonal solution designed to offer high port density and handle speeds up top 12.5+ Gbits/sec. The system enables the transition of differential pairs from daughtercard to daughtercard through the midplane while maintaining the channel’s signal integrity performance. By providing a common footprint, I-Trac orthogonal helps designers avoid backward compatibility and legacy obstacles. It is customizable to assign high-speed differential pairs, low-speed signals, power, and ground contacts anywhere within the pin field. Suited for orthogonal architectures in server, storage, telecommunications and data networking applications, I-Trac is designed to provide excellent impedance control, lower crosstalk, and higher overall bandwidth when compared to comparable backplane products.
MOLEX, LISLE, IL
www.molex.comproduct/itrac.html
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HIGH-SPEED METRIC B19—The MetPak HSHM B19 connector supports speeds up to 5 Gbits/sec per differential pair while maintaining full pin-to-pin compatibility on the backplane with VME64x, P0 VITA 31, and P3 PICMG 2.16 connectors. Connectors use virtual coaxial shielding technology designed for outstanding performance with minimal crosstalk and skew, letting you plug them into existing 2-mm hard metric connectors supporting PCI Express and RapidIO protocols. According to the company, the MetPak HSHM B19 is designed to meet the industry-standard 2-mm hard metric format in accordance with the IEC-61076-4-101 connector standard.
3M, AUSTIN, TX
www.mmm.com
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10-GBIT SFP, ACTIVE OPTICAL, HIGH-CURRENT MODULE—The SFP+ product family for 8G Fibre Channel and 10Gbit Ethernet applications extends the use of the small-form-factor pluggable (SFP) interconnect up to 10-Gbits/sec. Cages are offered in single-port, ganged, and stacked configurations with integrated connectors. The 20-position enhanced SMT connector is designed for higher data rates, while SFP+ copper cables are offered in active and passive equalization and pull-to-release latch mechanism.
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PARALIGHT active optical cable assemblies incorporate E/O and O/E conversion built into the connector shell designed to yield significant improvement in PCB real estate. Using 850-nm VCSELs, these assemblies can be operated from 2.5 to 5 Gbits/sec per channel, and are available in lengths up to 100 meters (50-μm multimode fiber). OEO circuitry is designed for 8B/10B encoded data streams, such as InfiniBand, Fibre Channel and XAUI standards.
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The MINIPAK HDE connector is a high-current, dual row board-to-board backplane power module connector for critical applications. It features hot-pluggable power contacts rated at 18 amps per contact, and sequenced for mate-first-break-last operations. A one-piece molded housing is designed to allow airflow through the connector to reduce heat build-up. The dual row configuration occupies half the linear PCB edge space compared to comparable board-to-board power modules.
TYCO ELECTRONICS, HARRISBURG, PA
www.tycoelectronics.com
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COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY—Several new high-speed connectors and cable interconnects, including backplane, mezzanine and cable connectors, feature a proprietary CMT (Compression Mount Technology) designed to provide improved signal loss value and signal routing on the boards. In addition, the company’s YFLEX connector provides enhanced signal integrity values on high-frequency systems. All connectors have been designed with impedance controlled signal path and low crosstalk characteristics for smooth signal propagation. Some connectors provide 20-Gbits/sec per lane capability and beyond.
YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS, SAN JOSE, CA
www.yeu.com
