Is This The Swiss Army Knife Of Connectors?

New Edge Rate High Speed Connector Set Is Micro, Rugged

Years ago, while hiking the Colorado River Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park with my two sons, the older one found a really nice Swiss Army Knife. By “really nice” I mean it was one of those big knives with about 15 different tools. Later that night I thought about how they packed so much versatility into one knife.

I’m not going to compare a connector to a Swiss Army Knife, but the new connector set I’m telling you about today offers designers tremendous design versatility … kind of like a Swiss Army Knife.⁽¹⁾

The new .635 mm Edge Rate^® high speed connector system minimizes space on the X, Y, and Z axis.  The body width is a slim 2.5 mm, the mating stack height is a low 5.00 mm, and the pin centerlines are a tight 0.635 mm. And it’s rugged. And it has the same stack height as the mPower micro power connector system for added design flexibility.

High Speed Connector

The new ERM6 (board-mounted terminal strip) and ERF6 (board-mounted socket strip) is a high speed connector set, designed for systems requiring up to 56 Gbps PAM4 performance. They are 40 GbE 10 Gbps, 100 GbE 25 Gbps, and 400 GbE 56 Gbps PAM4 capable. ERM6, ERF6 meet many more industry protocols; click here to learn more.

Rugged

The mating surface of the Edge Rate contact is the smooth, milled side of the contact. This smooth mating surface reduces wear tracks on the contact, increasing the durability and cycle life of the contact system. 

The thin, narrow, cut edges of the Edge Rage contact are positioned side-by-side. This minimizes the parallel surface areas, which reduces broadside coupling and crosstalk. The contact is simply designed for higher bandwidth. The contact geometry is designed, simulated, and optimized for 50 and 100 ohm systems given the contract pitch and appropriate grounding schematics.

Flexibility To Add Power

The mated stack height of an ERM6, ERF6 is a low 5.00 mm. This is great for signals, but you’re not going to run much power through each pin on a .635 mm pitch connector.

Fortunately, the 5.00 mm stack height is compatible with the 5.00 mm stack height of the mPower^® micro power connector system (UMPT, UMPS). Due to the wide variety of stack heights available, UMPT and UMPS sets can be easily added to new or existing architectures alongside one of Samtec’s high-speed connector systems (like ERM6, ERF6) for a unique two-piece power or signal/ground solution.

Also …

ERM6, ERF6 mated sets are available in 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 total contacts. Optional weld tabs increase the mechanical strength of the connector to the PCB, and the products are RoHS compliant.

Other Blogs That May Be Of Interest:

• Samtec Edge Rate Socket and Terminal Strips
• Select The Best Contact and Pin For Your Connector Set
• How To Design An Edge Card Connector For Rugged Applications

(1) According to Wikipedia, the term “Swiss Army knife” was coined by American soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing “Offiziersmesser”, the German name (lit. “officer’s knife”).