FCI’s new ZipLine™ provides highest density high-speed, press-fit connectors
FCI, a leading developer of connectors specifications and interconnect systems, has developed the ZipLine™ connector system in response to customer demand for increased signal density. Designed for both backplane and orthogonal applications, the connectors can reach speeds of 12.5Gb/s with up to 101 signal pairs per linear inch at 1.5mm column pitch, making ZipLine the highest density connector available with press-fit termination.
“Just about every customer we visited in the last year—chip designers, reference design houses, system designers—agreed that increased signal density is paramount for future designs,” said John Burkett, product manager for FCI.
ZipLine is built upon FCI’s proven AirMax VS® technology and offers similar signal integrity performance. Like AirMax VS, the ZipLine connector system uses edge-coupling technology to deliver high signal density with low insertion loss and low crosstalk, all without the use of costly and space-consuming metal shields. Data rates can scale from 2.5Gb/s to beyond 12Gb/s without requiring re-design of a basic platform.
“Our goal was to design a high speed connector that offers flexible pin configurations along with the greatest signal density in all three dimensions to address mechanical and thermal concerns for system designers,” said Steve Minich, staff development engineer for FCI. [...]
