Crossbow™

A DIFFERENTIAL CONNECTOR OPTIMIZED FOR ORTHOGONAL MID-PLANE APPLICATIONS.

Crossbow allows designers to take advantage of all the benefits associated with orthogonal mid-plane architectures as the differential pairs on each side of the mid-plane share vias creating a straight pass-through connection. This shared via approach combined with the Crossbow footprint, eliminates most electrical problems associated with the typical backplane via stub.

In addition to the electrical benefits, the connector provides the overall lowest cost solution by eliminating the need to route high-speed traces across the backplane to connector from the front to back. This can help to reduce PCB layers by up to 50%.

Crossbow was designed with features allowing the connector to meet the most rigorous mechanical requirements. The contacts are protected with end walls that are higher than the signal blades. In addition to the contact protection, the signal blades are designed to be very rigid utilizing thicker gauges, strengthening ribs and high performance copper alloy.