Thomas George Macek

Featured elastomer design for connector applications

This paper discusses a molded elastomeric structure that has been developed for use in connector applications. With the use of elastomeric materials, several challenges occur such as: dimensional stability for a grid of contacts as the elastomer member is compressed; contact force distribution across a grid of electrical contacts supported by a homogeneous molded elastomeric member constrained by boundary conditions; compressive stiffness of the elastomer and its ability to accommodate actuation tolerances within a contact force range; and structural stability of slender elastomeric features when used to increase the elastomeric structures compliancy. As connector I/O and densities increase, use of elastomeric materials with flexible circuits to replace metallic spring and conductor combinations is increasing. One advantage of this combination is the ability to arrange the contacts into dense arrays. In addition to the physical geometry, the component set offers several advantages to the electrical designer, dielectric constant, characteristic impedance, etc.<<ETX>>