Molex, a global leader and connectivity innovator in the electronics industry, recently announced the launch of the Molex Quad Row shielded connector. This product is the first to adopt a space saving Quad Row signal pin layout and comes with an anti electromagnetic interference metal shielding layer. Compared to unshielded Quad Ro connectors, this shielded Quad Row connector can reduce electromagnetic interference by up to 25dB, making it ideal for space constrained applications such as smartwatches and other wearable devices, mobile devices, AR/VR applications, laptops, gaming devices, and home appliances.
Molex Micro Connector Director Taekeon Park said, "Without shielding, connectors are susceptible to external electromagnetic noise from nearby components or far-field devices, leading to signal attenuation, data errors, and system failures, especially in high-speed or sensitive applications. In the past, designers needed to build additional external shielding devices or complex grounding schemes in the equipment to alleviate this problem, which increased the complexity, size, and cost of the equipment. This Quad Roll shielded connector has successfully broken through design and performance bottlenecks by improving reliability, optimizing signal integrity, and combining design flexibility with space utilization efficiency. "
Adopting an interleaved circuit layout with electromagnetic shielding to address electromagnetic interference challenges at 2.4-6 GHz and higher frequencies
Molex first released this groundbreaking and patented Quad Row board to board connector in July 2020. This connector has become the industry standard for space saving, with a 30% reduction in design size compared to dual row connectors. This new Quad Row shielded connector is built on a market validated Quad Row layout, adding an electromagnetic shielding layer to reduce electromagnetic and RF interference as well as signal integrity issues that can cause unwanted noise. Compared to unshielded Quad Ro solutions, it can reduce electromagnetic interference by up to 25dB. For equipment designers who strive to ensure stable and error free signal performance in space constrained device designs, incorporating electromagnetic shielding layers into devices is a key value adding measure.
Molex has long-term partnerships with product developers from major equipment and gaming manufacturers to support continuous improvement of equipment, including the development of new electromagnetic shielding technologies. Molex collaborated closely with its customer engineering team to address the two core challenges of signal interference and incremental power requirements, with a focus on exploring how to achieve up to 80 times the number of signal connections and 4 times the power transmission capacity compared to single connectors in the best possible way. The new Quad Ro shielding design adopts a power input/output layout that is compatible with power transmission mode, and a single set of board to board connectors can support signal transmission of up to 80 pins. In addition, in the 80 pin signal design, the S-parameter input specification can match the preferred pin layout scheme.
The highly innovative Quad Ro shielded connector significantly reduces electromagnetic interference and meets strict EMI/EMC standards, thereby reducing compliance testing burden and accelerating product approval. This shielding feature can also achieve error free communication, while seamlessly supporting operational and maintenance needs to extend the overall system running time.
