Board to board connectors

Broadly speaking, board to board connectors are manufactured in the following types:

Pin Header
aka
Male Header

Elevated Pin Header
aka
Stacked
Stacker
Mezzanine
PC104 Header

Socket
aka
Female Header
Receptacle

Elevated Socket
aka
Stacked
Stacker
Mezzanine
PC104 Socket

Shrouded Header
aka
Box Header

GCT board to board connectors are available in through hole (TH) and Surface Mount (SMT) variants.

Locating pegs (also referred to as locating posts, alignment pins or board locks) are used to assist alignment of connectors to the PCB. Locating pegs are particularly useful when using surface mount components.

Through-Hole (TH)

Surface Mount (SMT)

Locating Peg example

Pitch refers to the spacing between individual pins. There are numerous considerations the hardware designer must balance in choosing the correct connector pitch:

Space constraint - The smaller the pitch, the smaller the connector. Generally using smaller pitches allows lower connector profiles and thus lower printed circuit board stacking profiles. However, GCT offer numerous low profile connector options across all pitches.

Current carrying capacity - the smaller the header pin size the lower the current carrying capacity.

Other physical constraints - does the range offer the connector types to achieve the design you require? e.g. there are sixty seven 2.54mm connector options and nineteen 1.00mm options, so depending on your design you're more likely to find a physical solution in the numerically larger ranges. That said, the small ranges cater for the most basic designs, such as PCB's mating in co-planar, right angle and parallel orientations.

GCT board to board connectors are available in the following pitches:

0.80x1.20mm
(.031"x.047")

1.00mm
(.039")

1.27mm
(.050")

2.00mm
(.079")

2.54mm
(.100")

3.96mm
(.156")

4.00mm
(.157")

5.08mm
(.200")

For experienced hardware designers choosing board to board connectors is second nature, for the uninitiated it can be daunting. We offer design support and will help guide you through the options available. If you need help with your board to board connector design, contact GCT. Where required GCT also offer non standard pitches, you can see an example on our custom connector page.

GCT offer headers are receptacles in single, dual, triple and quad row configurations. Single and dual row are popular choices, while triple and quadruple row are offered in a smaller number of pitch and style options.

Single

Dual

Triple

Quad

Dependent on the your application, PCB's can be oriented in a variety of ways:

Parallel
aka
Mezzanine
Stacked
Sandwich

Horizontal
aka
Planar
Side-by-Side
Butt-Ended

Perpendicular
aka
Right Angle
Daughter Card
Vertical

U-Shaped
aka
Economical alternative for LED connector strips

In order to cater for differing PCB orientations, different board to board connector orientations have been developed to suit. In most application a pin header and socket would be used as a pair ro simplify assembly and allow disconnection/reconnection (mating cycle) as required.

Straight

Right Angle

U-Shaped

To achieve a connection between a pair of parallel PCB's only one part combination can be used:

• Straight pin header and straight socket

To achieve a connection between a pair of horizontal PCB's only one part combination can be used:

• Right angled pin header and right angled socket

To achieve a connection between a pair of perpendicular PCB's, two combinations could be used:

• Straight pin header and right angled socket
• Right angled pin header and straight socket

Here are some examples of board to board pin and contact options.

Voided Pin

Larger pitches can be created by selective loading (i.e. a .100 (2.54mm) pitch pin header with every 2nd pin omitted = .200 (5.08mm) pitch). Voided pin (also known as selective loading or polarization) can be applied to all types of board to board connector.

Voided Contacts

As with the voided pin but with reference to sockets (also known as voided contact or polarization).

Post and tail length

Post length (also known as post height) is the length of pin above the plastic insulator that mates with the socket (only applicable to pin headers):

Tail length is the length of pin below the insulator that is used to solder to the PCB. Tail length is applicable to pin headers and sockets but only in through hole format:

Post or pin size (mm²)

Post/pin size is the cross section of the conductor measured in mm².
Each different pitch has a different post size:

• .039" (1mm pitch) = 0.30mm²/0.012”²
• .050" (1.27mm pitch) = 0.40mm²/0.016”² or 0.46mm²/0.018”²
• .079" (2mm pitch) = 0.50mm²/0.020”²
• .100" (2.54mm pitch) = 0.64mm²/0.025”²
• Custom connector – GCT design & manufacture board to board connectors to suit customer specific applications

Kinked Pins

Kinked pins (also known as locking leads) are used as a method of fastening a through hole pin header or socket to a PCB prior to soldering.
Kinked pins are particularly useful when using tall components and/or wave soldering process that may cause the connector to move out of position before it can be soldered in place.

Example of a kinked PCB header pin:

Contact Type

GCT manufactures 4 types of contacts for use in sockets:

• Stamped tuning fork
• Dual beam spring contact
• Triple beam spring contact
• Four sided spring contact

Please see individual datasheets for contact types used in each range.

Plastic insulators are used for the following purposes:

• To align and position contacts and pins accurately, for example tolerance is typically .01mm in all directions, the insulator is critical in achieving this.
• To insulate the header pins and socket contacts from each other

GCT board to board connector insulators are Nylon 6T or LCP (Liquid Crystal polymer), and are produced with complex and highly accurate tools. Below are some of the features of these insulator materials:

• General
  • Excellent dielectric properties
  • Resistance to corrosion
  • Light weight and easily fabricated
  • Withstand SMT processing temperatures
• Nylon 6T
  • Good stability & high strength
• LCP
  • Very strong
  • Mouldable into thin walls - perfect for low profile insulators

GCTs range of board to board connectors are available in a variety of packaging options as standard:

• Loose in bag or box
• Tray
• Tube
• Tube with pick and place (P+P) cap or film
• Tape and reel (T+R) with pick and place (P+P) cap or film

Custom packaging is available. For example, through hole connectors in tape and reel packaging for paste in hole applications. Contact us to request a custom packaging option.

See images below for some packaging examples. More information is available on specific product datasheets.

Metal Cap

Plastic Cap

Film

Tape and Reel Packaging for SMT Components

GCT's SMT headers offers customizable mating pin lengths and each series has a choice of multiple numbers of circuits. This adds up to thousands of individual part number combinations per connector series.

It's important for connectors to be packaged within correctly sized cavities in the tape and reel carrier strip, the correct height, width and depth cavity to house the header and cap keeps parts in a secure and consistent position during transportation. Once connectors reach the production line they should be presented for pick and place process in a consistent and stable manner.

GCT offer a range of custom Tape and reel carrier strip packaging cavities. One T&R cavity can accept more than one circuit size, however, given the number of connector variations not all cavities are tooled.

The examples below show headers, SMT sockets are also offered in multiple cavity sizes, the height and footprint of sockets may often be fixed, but width is a custom variable dependent on circuit size.

Customers may also choose T&R packaging for thru hole component used in a paste in hole production process.

Contact your local GCT sales office to discuss your PCB connector packaging requirements.

GCT's range of polarized connectors for board to board applications offer a variety of options. Customers may choose from a range of pitch sizes, each having their own method of assuring that mating headers and sockets may only be plugged together in the correct way. All options include shrouding and keying designed into insulator on the male and female mating halves.

Why use polarized connectors?

1. Eliminates connector mis-mating, which depending on where power is routed can avoid costly damage to OEM equipment.
2. Allows multiple connectors to be used on one piece of equipment, customers may choose to use different polarized circuit sizes, such as a 10 and 20 position to clearly identify which orientation a mating PCB is designed to plug together.
3. Aids blind mating, where the installer or end user cannot see the connection to be made, and has to feel for the connection.
4. Helps prevent damage to exposed header posts (.050" & .1" pitches).

Range by Pitch

1.00mm Pitch

The keyed and molded BC060 & BC061 offer a tiny, surface mount, polarized connector option for parallel PCB mating configurations, available in 10-30 circuits.

View 1.00mm Pitch Range

1.27mm Pitch

Polarization is achieved by a different sized cut out at each end of the male header, the female connector include two end pieces which mate perfectly with the header cut outs. In addition there is an offset sideway key. There are options in this range to mate PCB's in parallel and right tangle orientation. An elevated stacker header offers other design choices for stacking polarization.

View 1.27mm Pitch Range

2.54mm Pitch

A Central bump system similar to traditional IDC connectors prevents header and socket being mismated. Headers are keyed while the receptacle has a sidewall bump.

View 2.54mm Pitch Range