Pin gap investigations for the 1.85mm coaxial connector

This paper presents a detailed investigation of the influence of pin gap size on the S-parameters of the 1.85 mm connector. In contrast to earlier publications connector geometry is simulated with all chamfers, gaps and contact fingers. Simulation results are verified by cross-checking between finite element frequency domain and finite difference time domain methods. Based on reliable simulation results, a very fast tool was developed to calculate S-parameters for a given connector geometry. This was done using database and interpolation techniques. The most important result is that very small pin gaps in conjunction with large chamfers have a drastic impact on connector S-parameters for frequencies above 50 GHz.