In applications spanning the aerospace, automotive, computer, electronics, medical and telecommunications industries, material selection has emerged as the most critical task facing the connector designer today. Within these industries, a number of trends have emerged that drive connector requirements. Connector Requirement Drivers Industry trends can be both technology and market driven. Examples of technology driven trends are miniaturization, higher pin counts, faster operating speeds, higher operating temperature and so forth.
Market driven trends include lower price and shorter development cycles.
The following list contains examples of both. Due to the limited deflections available in many new connector designs, and the desire for lowered engagement forces the contact normal forces are being lowered while still requiring equivalent reliability. In order to operate at higher speeds, connectors require minimized signal path length and matched impedance. The marketplace requires new products faster requiring shorter product development cycles. Shorter equipment life cycles also drive shorter development cycles.