A new direction for elastomeric connectors

Elastomeric connectors are a relatively new technology compared with conventional connector systems. A wide variety of elastomeric connectors are available today to meet the interconnection requirements for many different electronic packaging applications. Multichip modules are one of the many applications that benefit from the high density interconnection capabilities of elastomeric connectors. The ELASTICON connector is a new high performance elastomeric connector that was developed to address some of the key limitations of existing MCM and land grid array connectors. The ELASTICON connector uses gold or gold alloy wires for the conductive elements embedded in an elastomer material. The size, shape and spacing along with the elastomer material properties can be tailored to specific application requirements. The processes that have been developed for fabricating the ELASTICON connector represent a new direction for elastomeric connector manufacturing. Besides LGA packaging applications, ELASTICON connectors can be used for board-to-board and cable-to-board interconnections as well as high density PCB and IC chip testing applications