TE Connectivity has introduced a line of spring fingers that are scalable in that various-height fingers can be mounted onto a single footprint, the company explains. These spring fingers, also referred to as shield fingers or universal ground contacts, come in heights ranging from 1.8 to 3.4 mm. The ability to mount any-height finger onto a single footprint allows device designers to swap them with ease when a change is needed, according to TE Connectivity director of product management Eric Himelright. He says the launch of this product set prepares the company to help reduce design cost and shorten time-to-market.
Olive Wu, a product specialist at TE Connectivity, notes that spring fingers are used in applications that include mobile devices, personal computing, home entertainment and industrial equipment. The company says these contact types have three primary uses.
- As signal connectors, to transfer data and act as a connection for stacking applications between primary and secondary PCBs
- For grounding between a device and a PCB
- To provide shielding against vibration from devices such as motors, antennas, speakers and microphones
The company says its scalable spring fingers have a preload function that nearly doubles the working area and increases contact force by 0.2 N. Each finger has a dimple on on the contact, which TE Connectivity says increases reliability.
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