In recent months, the Samtec blog has updated you on our new 224 Gbps PAM4 high-speed cable system, a new CXL over fiber solution, mid-board optical and cable systems that boast the industry’s leading miniature footprint, and carrying analog, digital, and power in one connector, among many others. So what bleeding-edge technology are we going to introduce with great fanfare to kick off the new year? Two-piece, pin and socket board stacking connectors, of course!
I understand if you don’t think board-stacking connectors are worthy of a mic drop. These are not as sexy as using an ultra-high-density interconnect to achieve 112 Gbps PAM4 serial channels, but they look mighty appealing if your job is to identify and design reliable board-to-board interconnect systems.
“Custom” Board Stacking Connectors That Are Really Standard
Samtec has more ways to connect two or more boards than any other interconnect provider. One really cool (and unique) capability is what we call “Flex Stack.” Flex Stack is the ability to move the plastic insulator (body) up and down the terminal pin in increments of .005″ (0.127 mm) on header strips and dual-body stackers. If you need a .360″ stack height, we’ve got it. Ditto .365,” .370,” .375,” and so on. Designers can create standard part numbers for very precise, non-industry-standard-board stacking heights.
You specify the post height and or stacking height — the distance between the two plastic bodies — in the standard Samtec part number. See the “-XXX” to the right.
This allows designers to order a custom stack height connector system with:
- a standard part number
- no minimum order size
- no long lead times
- and no tooling or NRE charges.
The Flex Stacking capability is available on stackers and terminal strips on a variety of pitches from .200″ (5.08 mm) to 0.80 mm
Contact Systems For Every Application
In addition to the Flex Stack capability on terminal strips, a variety of contact systems available in Samtec socket strips also gives designers the flexibility to do some pretty creative board stacking.
For example, Samtec’s Tiger Claw™ contact is a low-profile, dual-wipe, pass-through contact. The Tiger Claw contact is available in 1.00, 1.27, 2.00, and 2.54 mm pitch socket strips. The profile of the SMT version is usually 2.29 mm (.090”). But more importantly, for today’s discussion, Tiger Claw is a pass-through contact, meaning the terminal strip pin can pass through the bottom and/or top of the socket strip.
Pass-through sockets give designers the ability to connect three boards. A common example is shown in the illustration to the right. The terminal strip, with longer pins, is on the top PCB. These pins pass through the Tiger Claw contacts in the socket, and through non-plated through-holes in the middle pcb. These same terminal pins then mate with a second socket on the bottom (third) board.
Pass-through sockets also allow bottom-entry, pass-through applications, where the terminal strip pin (on the bottom PCB) passes up through the bottom of the top PCB and into the contact. This is used for low-profile board stacking, or if the application requires certain components to be on the top side of the PCB.
Industry’s Best Online Search For Board Stacking Connectors
Check out our new Solutionator® Flex Stacking tool, an online connector search tool that provides you the mated connector set that meets your connector board stacking design requirements. Let me say that again – the tool gives complete part numbers of the two mating connectors that meet your design specifications.
Almost every other connector search on the planet leads you to one connector, and then you still have to search to find the other half of the mated set. In other words, you have to do at least two searches. And, after these two searches, you still have to figure out the stack height of the mating connector system. And that can be, putting it mildly, a major hassle. With the Solutionator tool, you can literally locate the best mated connector set for your board stacking application in a matter of seconds.
Speaking of Variety and Flexibility …
Just about all Samtec two-piece, board-stacking connector systems are available in:
- a variety of centerlines (pitches), including .200″, .156″, .100,” 2 mm, .050″, .050″ x .100″, 1 mm, and 0.80 mm
- both through-hole and SMT terminations
- most are available in 1-50 positions per row
- low profile, standard, and elevated stack heights
- single and double row, and many are available in up to six rows of pins
- right angle versions
Leave a Reply