56. 112. 224. SI/PI! For a lot of Americans, that sounds like the pre-snap play call or audible of a quarterback in North American-style football games. After watching football Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that's where my brain is as well. However, for those of us in the high-speed connectivity industry, those numbers refer to the speed markers in channel data rates we work with everyday. An embedded engineer implementing a 56 Gbps PAM4 transceiver design. A mechanical engineer … [Read more...]
Living On The Edge Rate
Edge Rate® is one of Samtec's most popular high-speed, high-bandwidth interconnect systems. Edge Rate is both the name of the pin and in this case, it’s also a product family. Edge Rate Contact Design Let’s begin with the contact system because that’s the star of the show. With some connectors, the mating edge of the contact is the cut edge of the pin. If you look at the edge under a microscope you may see micro burrs and edges. This reduces the life of the connector because … [Read more...]
Samtec Technical Experts and Panelists Participate in Upcoming Webinars
Summer is here. The kids are out of school. Families are taking well-deserved holidays and vacations or even enjoying local staycations. Even though it's summer, design engineers still need to move their new projects along. Additionally, designers need to keep their skills sharp and learn about the latest tools. Some upcoming webinars will no doubt help the engineering community stay updated on FPGA SoMs, expansion buses and associated interconnects, and the latest on PCI Express® … [Read more...]
Microwave, mmWave Connector Systems Achieve Excellent Performance
At IMS 2023, Samtec had a booth full of cutting-edge product demonstrations and technologies. One of those featured a variety of microwave, mmWave connector systems which achieved excellent performance. Michael Griesi, RF Design and Simulation Engineering Manager at Samtec, walks us through the demonstrations and the results. A Keysight eight-port 53 GHz USB VNA transmits signals to the four mmWave RF systems. The Keysight device is a M9808A PXIe Vector Network Analyzer (100 kHz to 53 … [Read more...]
Validating the Performance of Miniature Array Connectors
Small, complex, and portable applications (in industries such as military/aerospace and medical) require miniaturized, reliable interconnects. As traditional surface-mount and through-hole interconnects reach their limits in terms of density and the number of signals that can effectively be used, many product designers are implementing high I/O array styles of interconnects. In a new white paper from Samtec, “Improved Solder Joint Integrity for High-Density Interconnect Applications,” the … [Read more...]
New High-Performance 90 GHz Test Solution Enables 224 Gbps PAM4 SerDes Characterization
The demand for bandwidth is pushing the limits of test and measurement to speeds and fidelity not previously possible. Complex systems, such as 5G and 6G networks, high-speed SerDes, automotive radar, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented and virtual reality, require much higher frequencies for evaluation. Even though 112 Gbps PAM4 is just now becoming fully available within the market, 224 Gbps PAM4 SerDes characterization is already knocking at the … [Read more...]
Samtec Presents, Exhibits at Upcoming PCI-SIG DevCon on Santa Clara
Samtec is proud to sponsor the upcoming PCI-SIG Developers Conference 2023. Like last year, the event will be in-person with demonstrations, presentations and networking oppotunites. Past attendees agree that PCI-SIG DevCons are not to be missed! PCI-SIG DevCons are free events for the 900+ PCI-SIG member companies like Samtec that develop and bring to market new products utilizing PCI Express® technology. They are an opportunity to learn directly from the … [Read more...]
New Linear Direct Drive At 112 Gbps PAM4
Straight from DesignCon 2023, Kevin Burt, Samtec's Director of Happiness, walks us through a proof-of-concept for an on-package, or near-package, linear direct drive electrical channel that gives us a 100-meter link at 112 Gbps. These links could be used in mid-board optical and copper designs using Samtec Flyover® cable assemblies or high-speed mezzanine connector sets, as well as for full-channel front-panel and back-panel cable applications. A Multilane Pattern Generator generates a 112 … [Read more...]
New prodesign Acceleration Card Includes Samtec NovaRay® Extreme Density Arrays
The recent popularity and interest in ChatGPT underscore the progress AI has made in affecting everyday life. Who has asked ChatGPT to finish a homework assignment or write a blog? (For full disclosure, this blog has been written by a real person. Or has it? 😉) In any case, the backbone of chatbots like ChatGPT and similar services are high-performance compute platforms enabling neural networks and AI acceleration in data centers. Obviously, GPUs have a leadership position in AI hardware … [Read more...]
Should I Use a PCB or Cable Backplane?
Selecting a backplane design requires tradeoffs specific to a particular network topology and application. In some cases, the assessment of PCB vs cable backplane is not an “either/or” but a combination approach. This blog post, based on a conversation with Samtec’s Andrew Josephson, Brandon Gore, and Jonathan Sprigler, aims to answer some of the most common questions that come up when deciding should I use a PCB or cable backplane for a high-speed design? How do the two approaches compare on … [Read more...]
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