Miniature RF Connectors for high-performance testing

The universe of miniature coaxial connectors debuted in the 1940s with the US Navy’s adoption of the BNC connector standard. The BNC connector is a quick connect and disconnect type of coaxial connector for military radio equipment. The main feature of the connector was to maintain the characteristic impedance of the cable across the connection.

As technology advanced during the past 80 years, families of miniature coaxial connectors evolved according to specific application and performance requirements.

Although these connectors are quite diversified, their classification is generally made by their performance at highest reachable frequency. The connector types are further classified by locking type, mating profile such as hand mating or blind mating and the type of termination, either terminating to cables or to traces on PCBs.

When connectors mount on PCBs, they could be attached permanently by soldering or, in many test applications it is preferable that the connectors can be attached solderlessly so they can be reused on different PCB configurations.

Solderless PCB connectors exist in two variants, a vertically mounted option and a side launch option.

Vertically mounted connectors rely on the compression achieved when the mounting screws pull the connector onto the PCB surface however, side launch connectors require finer measures of alignment, and the more sophisticated designs permit the elimination of gaps between the connector body and the edge of the PCB.

The ART292K and ART292T – 40GHz connectors help the user achieve a perfect side launch installation each time because of the innovative self-alignment feature developed by Performance Interconnect.

High-speed PCBs are being designed very often and with each first PCB production, the PCB has to be tested thoroughly to ensure the dielectric spacing and the trace widths correspond with the design specifications. This is where connectors such as the ART292K and ART292T are used to connect the PCBs to the network analyzers performing the measurements.

High data rate connectors are measured in the same manner and often, many coaxial connections are required to address the corresponding footprint of the connector.

The photo below shows a prototype of the single-piece HYPERBITS™ high-speed connector during signal integrity testing. ART292K side-launch connectors make the transition connection from the PCB to the network analyzer and there are two connectors used for each differential pair. This highlights the importance of geometric accuracy in the signal path, so the signals received by the instrument are as clean as possible.

More details shall be covered during the 40-minute duration of the webinar which shall be followed by a session of questions and answers.