Amphenol Ardent Concept’s solderless compression mount connectors offers design flexibility of 56G and 112G systems and beyond

Amphenol Ardent Concepts has launched its newest line of solderless compression mount connectors, the micro-LinkOVER™ (P/N: mLO-XXXXX) Series, to the marketplace. micro-LinkOVER is an OverPass™ twinaxial connector system that provides system designers and layout engineers a cost-effective approach to unlock the design flexibility needed to manage the technical challenges of 56G and 112G systems and beyond.

The micro-LinkOVER supports 10Gb/s, 28Gb/s, 56Gb/s, and 112Gb/s PAM4 per lane signaling speeds with high signal-to-noise ratio and low VSWR. micro-LinkOVER’s direct-to-PCB compression mount solution eliminates the need for any lossy paddle cards, minimizing transitions and losses on system budgets. Its modular design allows for multiple form factors in dense footprints to fit in crowded real estate environments.

“We leveraged our experience designing and building reliable signal integrity connectors with compression mount technology in the near chip connector world to provide a connector capable of supporting current and upcoming 56G and 112G designs and beyond as customers think ahead towards 224G,” said Gordon Vinther, Ardent’s Managing Director.

Designs of micro-LinkOVER are available for both chip perimeter and direct-to-substrate applications. micro-LinkOVER is an ideal solution for 100G/200G/400G Systems, lnfiniband™, PCle®, Chip-to-Chip links, and 5G systems. Furthermore, a low profile (4.2mm mated height) gives designers the added flexibility needed to escape under heat sinks and from the bottom side of PCBs to minimize trace loss by getting closer to devices. The micro-LinkOVER is designed to be paired with Amphenol’s extensive line of external interfaces and cabled backplane interfaces.

“As our customers drive towards 112G PAM4 and beyond, micro-LinkOVER is an ideal near-chip/on-package connector for internal cabled hosts, or paired with our latest generation OSFP and QSFP DD connectors, to solve the most complex electrical and mechanical packaging issues. Through its innovative direct cable to host termination, micro-LinkOVER is packaged in an extremely low mechanical profile allowing placement under heatsinks and as close to ASICs as possible. The optimized signal path delivers best in class signal integrity with excellent return loss performance,” said Brian Kirk, Director of Engineering, for Amphenol High Speed IO.