Solderless Component Assemblies Suit Portable Device Interconnection

Sept. 29, 2003

Solderless component assemblies using the STAX elastomeric surface-to-surface silicon rubber compression connectors minimize the space needed on a main pc board for a pair of contacts. They also eliminate the need to solder the entire assembly. The assemblies consist of the electronic component (a microphone, a vibratory motor, or a speaker), a rubber boot, and an elastomeric connector. The boot holds and aligns the electronic component to the elastomer while enabling the assembly to fit compressively into the front-cover housing of portables like a cell phone or PDA. Component-to-board height is as low as 0.5 mm. Pricing starts at $0.60 each for standard microphones in 100,000-unit lots.

Tyco Electronics Elastomeric Technologieswww.elastomerictech.com; (800) 989-STAX

About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.