ICC recognizes that the interconnection of complex subsystems is a crucial element in the design of communications equipment. To meet these evolving needs, ICC developed 5-row and 8-row Metral® high-speed backplane products to complement its proven standard Metral® offering. The basic level of performance improvement is provided by the Metral® 1000 Series, while the Metral® 2000 Series and Metral® 4000 Series provide capability to scale connector performance to support data rates up to 5 Gb/s. Because the three Metral® high-speed series are plug-compatible, designers are able to select the appropriate combination of header and receptacle to optimize the price and performance level for their specific system design.
The Metral® 1000 Series and Metral® 2000 Series are designed for press-fit termination into standard 0.65mm-0.85mm diameter through holes. The Metral® backplane headers are available with stub-mount tails or extended tails for mid-plane applications requiring rear plug-up capability.
The Metral® 1000 Series utilizes stripline shields between the columns of signal contacts in the right-angle receptacle and outer ground shields in the vertical header. The Metral® connectors can be routed in either single-ended or differential-pair configurations and all contacts are available for use as signals.
The Metral® 2000 Series employs a shielded stripline structure in both the receptacle and header. In addition to having ground shields between columns, the 5-row Metral® connectors use the third row and the 8-row Metral® connectors use the third and sixth rows for ground connections.
The Metral® 4000 Series also utilizes a shielded stripline structure in both the right-angle receptacle and vertical header. In addition to having ground shields between columns, the 5-row Metral® connectors use the third row for ground connections. The Metral® 4000 Series also features a modified contact geometry optimized for 100Ω differential pairs to provide a better impedance match and lower insertion loss. This series also uses a compliant section designed for a 0.45mm-0.55mm finished hole diameter, which lowers capacitance and frees additional board space for trace routing.
All Metral® high-speed products are designed in conformance with IEC-61076-4-104 and are designed to be end-to-end stackable with ICC standard Metral® products. In addition, the connector system has been tested and qualified to Telcordia® GR-1217-CORE for Central Office and Uncontrolled Environment.