17.1 INTRODUCTION

Just a few years ago, packaging technologies used low power density systems, which permitted hard-wired interconnections between components. More recently, submicron, multidisciplinary technologies have produced high-speed, smart information-processing ICs with improved power densities, contributing to the rapid growth of the electronics industry. The proliferation of different families of intelligent devices and miniaturized components in parallel processing subsystems has created major packaging issues that need to be resolved for the ever-shrinking circuits.

As opposed to hard-wired systems, a well designed system of connectors provides a ready means for quick connect/disconnect options during installation or replacement. Connectors permit data communication between two systems or subsystems and can afford a power flow path between a power-driver and the corresponding receiver. Connectors may also be used to interface between components or subsystems. Moreover, connectors permit the rapid addition or removal of modules and subsystems, allowing repair, replacement, and upgrade in the field.

The increased demand for high-performance, high-density, interconnecting systems has created design problems that must be addressed at the initial stages of design rather than after completion. Connector design issues such as power levels, operating voltages, overload conditions, and ambient temperatures are factors that need to be uniquely addressed and resolved. Connectors, the workhorse of component packaging and assembly, are sometimes used as an afterthought. Oftentimes, this results in misapplication, misoperation, reduced or compromised reliability and, in some cases, failure of the connector. This can, in turn, create a possible fire or electrocution hazard.

This...