One of Samtec’s most popular product niches is Micro / Rugged Interconnects. Designers don’t usually think of micro pitch connectors as being rugged, as being able to handle high mating cycles, or as having robust mechanical strength on the PCB, or with strong retention of mated connector sets.
Samtec has a complete line of micro rugged products that can do all of the above. Our micro rugged products are just that — micro, and rugged.
The following is a quick overview of our most popular Micro / Rugged interconnects. For a complete list check out our new Micro Rugged Interconnect Solutions Guide.
Rugged Contact Systems
Tiger Eye™ is our most rugged contact system – a heat-treated BeCu contact rated to 1,000+ mating cycles with redundant points of contact for high reliability in rugged applications. Tiger Eye is available in board-to-board, discrete wire, and IDC cable systems, and it is available on a variety of centerlines.
Tiger Eye is a multi-finger, heat-treated, Beryllium Copper (BeCu) contact designed for rugged environments. The superior spring properties of Beryllium Copper make it ideal for high mating cycle applications. The contact mating surface is on the flat, smooth side of each finger. Smooth surfaces allow more mating cycles because it does not stress the plating.
Click here to learn about other contact systems available from Samtec.
Rugged Signal Integrity
Samtec Edge Rate® interconnect systems are optimized for signal integrity performance (some are rated at 56 Gbps PAM4), feature increased contact wipe for reliability and durability, and are designed for higher cycle applications.
Edge Rate connectors are available in vertical, right angle, and edge mount terminations. They are available with all kinds of design options, like full 360 degree shielding, latching systems, guide posts, and differential pair configurations, to name a few.
Here’s a link to other Micro Rugged Signal Integrity connectors.
Flex Power
Samtec Flex Power interconnects are available with contacts from 3 to 60 amps, can be configured in power and power/signal combinations, and are available in a variety of space-saving form factors.
A soon-to-be-released product that is garnering a lot of attention is the new Ultra Micro Power system. The UMPT and UMPS series offers design flexibility as a power-only interconnect system or a two-piece system for power/signal applications. Mated heights of 5, 7, 8, and 10 mm allow UMPX connectors to be used for power with other popular Samtec high-speed connector systems. They are rate at 17.1 amps per blade, on 2 mm pitch, with tin or 10µ” gold plated power blades.
Here’s an article that elaborates on rugged design features and options that are available on many Samtec connector series, across several different centerlines and sizes, and across many different types of connectors.
Samtec’s full line of Micro Rugged products includes:
- Micro and one-piece board-to-board systems
- High-density arrays with power modules
- Integral ground plane systems
- High-speed edge cards
- Micro discrete wire and IDC cable assemblies
- High power systems up to 60 A
- Sealed I/O cables that meet IP67 and IP68 requirements
Please contact us at Rugged@Samtec.com if you have any questions.
