The need for printed circuit board (PCB) connectors to have increased mechanical reliability combined with high-speed performance to 56 Gbps PAM4 in an ultra micro form factor continues to gain traction in extremely rugged data applications. A few examples include industrial IOT, robotics, drones, and military and aerospace. However, with proliferating advancements in the automotive industry, the need for reliable high-performance ultra micro interconnects for automotive has escalated. … [Read more...]
Making Connections in Automotive Systems
Automotive designers know that inside-the-vehicle systems have stringent quality and reliability requirements, thanks in large part to environmental conditions and the long lifetime of a typical car. As a result, many look for a “PPAP” (pronounced P-PAP; Production Part Approval Process) designation on products they select for their automotive system designs. PPAP is an automotive industry quality standard with a fairly complex submission process, and it aims to verify a component’s … [Read more...]
New Flexible Stacking Guide & The Modern Pentathlon
The 2024 Olympics are almost here and the summer games include gymnastics, swimming, cycling, tennis, and hockey among other familiar sports… and something called Modern Pentathlon. I’d honestly never heard of this sport before, and clearly missed the boat since it’s been a part of the Modern Olympics program since 1912. The Modern Pentathlon is a show of flexibility both in the athletes’ performance across five disciplines (fencing, swimming, showjumping, shooting and running), as well as … [Read more...]
What Is A JTAG Connector?
Before we answer the question, "What is a JTAG connector?" let me first give you a brief overview of JTAG. What is JTAG? Joint Test Action Group, or JTAG, is the common name for IEEE Standard 1149.1. This standard defines a particular method for testing board-level interconnects, which is also called Boundary Scan. In short, JTAG was created to test for common problems, but lately, it has become a way of configuring devices. The JTAG hardware interprets information from five different … [Read more...]
Six Tips To Help You Select The Right Connector
I’ve worked with many engineers trying to select the right connector set for their board-to-board application. I felt bad for them because they had many options to choose from, and it can be a confusing, frustrating endeavor. It’s made it all the more complicated because no two applications are identical. This blog aims to give you a few design tips from a connector company veteran (that would be me). These practical, commonsensical suggestions (hopefully) will help you select the right … [Read more...]
Good News and Good News About Board Stacking Connector Solutions
“The good news is, Samtec has more ways to stack two or more PC boards than anybody else in the connector industry,” I told a Designer when asked about our two-piece, pin-and-socket board stacking connector sets. Usually, the "bad news" follows the "good news." But the second sentence was, “The good news is, Samtec has the industry's best online tool to select the best board stacking connector set for your application. Not just one product series, but the complete part numbers to the … [Read more...]
Need Secure PCB Stacking? You Can Be Sure.
When mating two or more printed circuit boards (PCBs), what’s the easiest way to be certain you have a robust, reliable, secure PCB stacking connection? The answer is often to use a precision board stacking standoff, especially in high shock and vibration environments. Samtec’s SureWare™ ultra-rugged hardware family includes several varieties of board stacking standoffs, each with their own unique features and benefits. However, ALL are designed to work with Samtec high-speed, high-density … [Read more...]
Board Stacking Connectors: The Industry’s Largest Variety and Most Design Flexibility
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 … [Read more...]
Full-Featured Parametric Search Now Available on Samtec.com – Solutionator 2.0 Has Been Launched
With trillions (yes, trillions) of different part combinations available, it makes perfect sense that the #1 request from Samtec.com web users over the last couple of years has been a parametric search. This feedback from one customer said it best. With the release of our original Solutionator, we brought many of the features requested above to Samtec.com. The drawback was, we needed to split it into several smaller data sets for performance reasons, which limited filtering options. … [Read more...]