Chip-in-Connector™ is the newest product family from Tag-Connect, integrating interface electronics directly into our established Plug-of-Nails™ and, soon, Edge-Connect™ connector families.
By moving the interface electronics right to the target PCB, Chip-in-Connector™ simplifies the programming and test connection, dramatically shortens the low-voltage signal path and eliminates the need for a stiff and bulky instrumentation cable. Instead, engineers can use a lightweight, flexible USB-C cable.
Because Chip-in-Connector™ builds on our existing connector families, CIC products can be footprint-compatible with existing Tag-Connect designs, allowing engineers to take advantage of the new architecture without necessarily changing the target PCB.
The first products in the Chip-in-Connector™ family are our TC2030-CIC-FT232H models, built around FTDI’s powerful FT232H USB interface. These are just the beginning. We intend to introduce a succession of innovative new Chip-in-Connector™ products, bringing additional interfaces and capabilities directly to the target connector.
Every Chip-in-Connector™ includes a high-quality USB-C cable, providing a ready-to-use, out-of-the-box solution.
Features
- Interface electronics integrated directly into the connector
- Based on established Plug-of-Nails™ and upcoming Edge-Connect™ connector families
- Footprint-compatible options for existing Tag-Connect designs
- Extremely short low-voltage signal path
- Improved signal integrity
- Lightweight, flexible USB-C connection
- Zero component cost on the target PCB
- Maximizes available PCB real estate
- Eliminates the cost of a connector on every board
- Suitable for development, production programming, manufacturing test and field servicing
- Professional spring-pin contacts tested to over 170,000 mating cycles
In a typical FTDI-based cable, the USB-to-interface conversion occurs at the USB end of a relatively stiff and bulky instrumentation cable. The resulting UART, SPI, I²C or JTAG signals must then travel through that cable before reaching the target PCB. As interface speeds increase, these low-voltage signals become increasingly susceptible to cable length, crosstalk, impedance discontinuities and other sources of signal degradation.
Chip-in-Connector™ changes that architecture by moving the USB interface electronics all the way to the target connector. USB carries the data almost all the way to the target PCB, leaving only the final few millimetres between the interface electronics and the target device. This greatly reduces the length of the more signal-sensitive portion of the connection and can provide a cleaner, more robust interface at higher speeds.
Chip-in-Connector™ connects directly to a tiny footprint of pads and locating holes on the PCB, eliminating the need for a programming header or other mating connector on every board. This saves PCB real estate and connector cost while allowing the same footprint to be used throughout development, manufacturing, production programming, firmware updates and diagnostics.
For engineers already using Tag-Connect, the transition can be particularly simple. CIC products based on our established Plug-of-Nails™ footprints can connect directly to compatible existing PCB designs, while future Edge-Connect™ CIC products will extend the same concept to our connectorless edge-connection family.
Why are there anime-style people on our connectors?
Look closely at the first Chip-in-Connectors™ and you’ll find something unusual. Each carries the name and illustration of a real person involved in making Tag-Connect products.
The first four are Hika, Michi, Noel and Kanon, four ladies in Okinawa, Japan, who assemble the spring-pin subassemblies used in many of our products.
There’s a story behind how that came about.
Tag-Connect uses high-quality, professional spring-pin contacts tested to over 170,000 mating cycles. The spring pins are by far the most expensive components in our cables, so changes in their cost have a very significant impact on us.
We had already been paying an additional 25% tariff on spring pins imported from China for several years. Then, while we were in Okinawa, dramatically higher tariffs on Chinese imports were announced. Had those rates remained in place, our spring-pin costs could have increased by well over 75%.
We needed another way to manufacture them.
We began having part of the assembly process performed in Okinawa. Today, Hika, Michi, Noel and Kanon insert the spring pins into connector subassemblies using components manufactured in both the USA and China. Those subassemblies are then shipped to California, where we perform the additional manufacturing required to turn them into finished Tag-Connect cables and Chip-in-Connectors™.
The result is that work previously performed in the United States is now performed in Okinawa, while final manufacturing remains in California. It was a practical response to a potentially very large increase in the cost of a component fundamental to almost everything we make.
International shipping has also become a major consumer of time and resources for Tag-Connect as tariffs and de minimis rules have continued to change. We wrote about our experience, and the challenges facing a small US manufacturer selling worldwide, in our recent op-ed, International Trade Is Becoming Unworkable for Small Businesses.
When it came time to decide what to print on our new Chip-in-Connectors™, we thought it would be a nice opportunity to honor some of the real people whose work contributes to our products.
There’s a practical reason for the names too. Over the years, our growing number of similar Tag-Connect part numbers has sometimes caused confusion when customers order or reorder products. Giving each Chip-in-Connector™ variant a name and a recognizable person makes the versions much easier to identify.
Remembering that you need Hika may be easier than remembering TC2030-CIC-FT232H-3V3. At least, that’s the theory!
The first four Chip-in-Connectors™ feature Hika, Michi, Noel and Kanon. Future products will introduce other people who contribute to Tag-Connect and the products we make.
It’s our way of giving some recognition to the people behind our products, while hopefully making our growing family of part numbers a little easier to navigate.
And for those who simply have to have them all, we’ll also offer a discount on the complete collector’s set.
