Card-Edge Connectors

FCI develops press-fit, card-edge connectors to enable the implementation of MicroTCA™ (mTCA) architecture. These vertical card-edge connectors provide 170 contacts on 0.75 mm pitch, and they enable AMCTM cards to be plugged directly to a backplane, accommodating speeds up to 10 Gb/s. The press-fit version of the connectors extends the use of MicroTCA architecture to thicker backplanes where the size and complexity of the backplane is not supported by standard surface-mount (SMT) reflow soldering processes. The system architecture reduces size and cost by eliminating the ATCA carrier board and by providing a chassis that accepts AdvancedMC modules directly. MicroTCA shelves will also support hot-pluggable modules, which will increase availability by allowing individual modules to be serviced or upgraded without taking the shelf offline.