AUSTIN, TX–3M Electronic Solutions Div. (www.3m.com/interconnects) has developed a way for design engineers to achieve multi-gigahertz performance from industry-standard 2-mm printed-circuit-board (PCB) connectors, using 2-mm shielded controlled impedance cable assemblies.
The Shielded Controlled Impedance (SCI) Cable Assembly Development Kit is designed to help engineers assess, test, and design the appropriate high performance 2-mm SCI cable-to-board solution for their application. When used with standard 2-mm latch/eject headers from 3M for multi-gigahertz cable-to-board applications, the company says the SCI connectors can save board real estate without sacrificing performance–compared to BNC or SMA connectors used with coaxial, and specialized twinaxial connectors used with twinaxial cable.
This solution is designed for a variety of high-performance or high-signal integrity cable-to-boardapplications in the industrial control/factory automation, medical, test and instrumentation, video post-production equipment, and military electronics industries.
Designers can use the development kit to verify signal integrity, impedance matching, and crosstalk performance for designs that require up to 1 Gbit/secsingle-ended performance per signal line, or 5 Gbits/sec differential performance persignal pair.
The development kit contains everything required to assess, test, and design a high-performance 2-mm cable-to-board solution, including:
A CD-ROM containing application note, test instruction sheet, technical sheets (application note is illustrated with graphical data from actual lab tests under different test conditions);2-mm SCI differential and single-ended cable assemblies (twin-axial and coaxial), 24” length;2x25 surface-mount or through-hole 2-mm latch/eject headers; 2x25 carrier used for bundling the SCI cable mount connectors; Optional specialized PCB for testing; SMA connectors for testing, mounted on the PCB for development kits that include a printed circuit board; SMA connectors specified for development kits that do not include a printed circuit board; and a test procedures document.
Kits are available in four configurations: 9401 includes all development kit elements with a surface-mount header without the optional printed circuit board (PCB); 9402 includes all development kit elements with a surface-mount header with a customized test PCB; 9403 includes all development kit elements with a through-hole header without the optional PCB; 9404 includes all development kit elements with a through-hole header with a customized test PCB.
Prices for kits without a PCB start at $100. Prices for development kits with a PCB start at $250. Development kits can be purchased from 3M distributors. CS
