Board-to-board interconnect systems come in all shapes and sizes.
Obviously, selecting the right interconnect set for your application is paramount to success. Designers need to choose products that meet their size, shape, mechanical, and electrical requirements. Two-piece interconnect sets, with a terminal that interfaces with a socket/receptacle, are the most common application.
Rugged
For designers who need micro pitch interconnects in a rugged, high shock and vibration application, Samtec offers both two piece systems and one piece board-to-board interconnects (OPI).
With one piece interconnects, a single interconnect is sandwiched between two boards. SMT tails are terminated to the main board, and compression leads interface with pads on the daughter card. The boards are held together by either screws which pass through the top board and screw into a thread in the connector that is terminated to the main board, or via external screw downs. Mechanical screw-down systems are obviously rugged and ideal for handheld, mobile, industrial, or any type of high-impact application.
The size and configuration of the compression leads vary by product series. The lead on our most popular one piece interconnect, the FSI Series, is made of heat-treated BeCu and has .034” (.87 mm) contact deflection.
Design Flexibility
One Piece Interconnects are available with a variety of design options, including:
- Board spacing distances of 1.65, 3, 6, 3.81, and 10 mm
- 0, 1.27, 2.54 mm pitch
- Single and double row designs
- 2 – 100 total pins
- Designs for parallel board stacking and right angle
- Available with and without screw inserts
- Alignment and rugged options, such as weld tabs, locking clips, top and/or bottom alignment pins
Bet You Didn’t Know
Although the centerlines are tight, you can run a bit of power through the pins. Most OPI series are rated around 2.5 A / pin (with one pin powered). Also, while the pin configuration is not maximized for signal integrity, some of these interconnects will carry some significant bandwidth. For example, the SIBF Series, at 3.0 mm stack height, is rated at 24 Gbps.
Popular OPI Products
- FSI: 1.00 mm pitch / Single or Double Row / 5 – 100 IOs / 3, 6, 10 mm stack
- SEI: 1.00 mm pitch / Single Row / 5 – 30 IOs / 1.65 mm stack
- SIBF: 1.27 mm pitch / Single Row / 5 – 25 IOs / 3.00 mm stack
- SIB: 2.54 mm pitch / Single Row / 2 – 30 IOs / 3.81 mm stack
- SIR1: 2.54 mm pitch / Right Angle / Single Row / 3 – 15 IOs
