At the Embedded World Conference in Nuremberg, Germany, 3M unveiled a new Ultra Hard Metric (UHM) Socket Connector engineered to deliver more than 7 Gbps backplane performance for systems based on 2 mm hard-metric connectors. System design engineers working with 2 mm hard-metric-based designs, such as VME or CompactPCI, can now dramatically increase overall system performance while preserving their existing investment.
The new UHM socket connector from 3M is designed to mate with industry-standard and widely available 2 mm hard-metric header connectors (IEC 61076-4-101). 2 mm hard-metric connectors are one of the most successful backplane connectors representing a greater than $200 million annual market growing at a rate of 12 to 14 percent annually. Patented “virtual coaxial box” shielding technology from 3M dramatically reduces the severe crosstalk commonly experienced by 2 mm hard-metric connectors at 1 to 1.5 Gbps speeds, enabling the new UHM socket connectors from 3M to achieve speeds greater than 7 Gbps.
The “virtual coaxial box” shielding technology from 3M is designed to dramatically reduce crosstalk and improve insertion loss when compared to standard 2 mm hard-metric sockets,” said David Schneider, global business manager of Interconnect Solutions for 3M Electronic Solutions Division. “By increasing performance speeds to 7 Gbps or greater while maintaining PCB-footprint compatibility and intermateability, the new connector from 3M preserves the engineering investment in existing VME and cPCI designs and helps extend the life of these highly successful global standards.”
Because the UHM socket connector is designed to be intermateable to 2 mm hard metric IEC 61076-4-101 headers and fully compatible with 2 mm hard-metric PCB footprints, the new UHM socket connector from 3M enables multi-gigabit performance in existing 2 mm hard-metric system designs. As a result, standard Compact PCI and VME 64x systems can support multi-gigabit, high-speed serial IO protocols such as SAS, SATA, Rapid IO, PCI Express and Gigabit Ethernet without costly backplane redesigns or forklift upgrades.
The modular design of the UHM socket connector from 3M also gives system design engineers the flexibility to design the right level of signal integrity while satisfying required mechanical constraints. Five-row (A, B, CL, CR, AB) and eight- row (D, E, DE, FL, FR) form factors are available for high signal density. In addition, the socket supports 100 ohm differential pairs in rows or columns.
Filed Under: Connectors (electrical) • crimp technologies, ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
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