Product Overview

This is the socket half of a 0.8 mm board-to-board pair: 120 contacts in two rows of 60, a 10.00 mm insulator body, selective gold on the wipe, tape and reel packing. Ordering code AA3F120S2100R. It suits a daughter board sitting parallel to the main board, carrying a parallel bus, a sensor interface, or a dense control harness instead of a wire bundle.

What 120 positions on a 0.8 mm pitch buys you

The Z-axis trade behind a 10.00 mm body

Body height sets the air gap between the two boards. At 10.00 mm, the tallest shell offered, the facing board stays populated: small shielded inductors, a low profile crystal, even a second shallow connector will clear. Squeeze to 5 mm or 6 mm and the daughter board is bare laminate plus a few 0402 parts. The cost is a taller product and a longer lever arm on the solder joints, so a body this long wants a standoff near each end.

Only the length changes

Pad width, row spacing, pick-up film and reel pocket are identical across the platform; the body just grows 0.80 mm per position per row. Length equals 0.80 times the positions per row plus 7.30 mm, so this part measures 55.30 mm end to end with 47.20 mm between the outermost contacts. A 2x60 layout can be re-cut to 2x50 or 2x70 late in a program by editing the ends of the footprint.

Quote the pair, not half of it

The 10.00 mm figure describes the socket body. Your board-to-board gap is set by the plug, and the platform covers 5.00 mm to 20.00 mm. That is the number for the mechanical drawing, and the one we need to quote.

Why 3 microinches of gold is the setting most designs want

Where the gold actually is

This part is selectively plated. Gold sits on the contact wipe only, the solder tails carry matte tin, and nickel runs under both. You get a tail that solders cleanly with no gold in the joint, gold where the wear happens, and a barrier stopping the copper base migrating to the surface over years of heat.

Below roughly 15 microinches gold is porous, so corrosion resistance comes from the nickel underplate and the enclosure, not the gold. Thicker gold will not rescue a product living in a wet box.

Ratings read the way a designer reads them

Half an amp per contact, and the millivolts with it

Each contact is rated 0.5 A at 80 milliohms maximum across the mated pair. A signal down one contact and back on another gives up about 80 mV at full rating, tolerable on a 3.3 V rail but close to 7 per cent on a 1.2 V core rail. Keep signals on single contacts and group several in parallel for anything hungrier, then check the total against the temperature limit.

Heat is the ceiling, not the current figure

The range tops out at 105 °C. A sealed enclosure at 70 °C ambient leaves roughly 35 K for the board, the neighbours and the connector, and 120 loaded contacts do contribute. The LCP housing survives a lead-free reflow peak and holds shape at the top of the range.

Where 200 V and 500 megohms matter

A one minute withstand at 200 V AC and 500 megohms minimum let this part sit in equipment with a mains referenced section, or separate a field side from a logic side. They are not permission to run mains: the working rating is 50 V, and a 48 V rail with switching transients sits close to that line.

Four things that cause rework on fine pitch stacks

Leave the pick-up film on until reflow is done

The mating face carries a polyimide film for vacuum placement, removed after reflow. Pull it early and flux fumes reach the contact cavity; leave it and the plug will not seat. One line in the work instruction prevents the most common assembly fault here.

Define the pads with solder mask

At 0.8 mm pitch, let the mask define the pad rather than letting copper run free. Bridging drops and the part cannot float on excess solder. Keep paste low and even; the tails are small and the body is long.

Board flatness across 55 mm

Hold bow and twist to about 0.1 mm across the footprint, support the panel through reflow, and keep the part away from a heavy component that pulls the board while the solder is liquid.

Ground the shell

The shell is brass with tin over nickel and does three jobs: hold down, ground return beside every signal, and a barrier between the rows. Tie it to a solid plane with as many vias as the layout allows. With 120 lines that reference matters more than the pin count; allow one return per two or three differential pairs.

Where pairs like this end up

Machine vision cameras. A sensor board over the processor board, the 10 mm gap keeping DDR and the FPGA below while the sensor side stays short.

Patient monitors and portable diagnostics. A main board plus an isolated analog front end, where the 105 °C rating suits a closed case running continuously.

Battery management slave boards. A rigid stack replaces a cell sense harness. Sense and balance lines sit inside the rating; the traction path does not.

When to choose something else

Look elsewhere if a net runs above about 0.5 A continuous or carries real power, if you need blind mating or float because this socket is fixed, if the stack exceeds 20 mm, or if the circuit is mains adjacent or a 48 V rail with transients. Repeated field unmating is a poor fit too, since the pair is a semi permanent stack. For multi gigabit lanes, validate the plug with your own signal integrity work; this geometry was developed for parallel bus and moderate speed differential, not long reach serial.

How CONSHARE builds, checks and ships this family

Process control

Plating thickness is verified by XRF on incoming lots, coplanarity and mould flash inspected on the SMT line, and contact resistance and dielectric strength sampled per lot before release. Reels are checked for pocket fit and cover tape peel so parts feed without rotation. Each reel carries a lot code back to the plating and moulding records.

Lead time and samples

Stocked combinations ship from inventory. Finishes and position counts outside the stocked list run as scheduled production on existing tooling rather than new tool builds, so you get a lead time, not a tooling charge. Samples of standard codes ship with the matching plug, so you are not pairing halves from different sources.

What can be changed

Position count, body height, gold thickness, the pick-up film, and tape and reel versus tray packing. If your stack height or pinout misses the standard grid, send the board outline and we will check it against the tooling we hold.

FAQ

Is 10.00 mm the connector height or the board gap?

The socket body. The gap depends on the plug and runs 5.00 mm to 20.00 mm on this platform.

Can I use another manufacturer's plug?

The pitch matches, but wipe geometry, contact force and plating were validated as a set. Quote the pair together; mixed halves are where intermittent contacts come from.

Do I need 3 microinches if the unit is assembled once?

Probably not. Gold flash covers a single assembly in a benign enclosure. Three microinches earns its cost with rework, service visits, temperature cycling, or a multi year field life.

How do I carry 1 A on one net?

Use two or three contacts in parallel, then check voltage drop and aggregate heating against the 105 °C limit.

Is 2x60 a stock item?

Counts between the standard grid sizes are made to order. Check status with us; the tooling platform is shared, so it is a production slot, not a new tool. Reflows on a standard lead-free profile, film left on until after.

Product Documentation