PreciDip Press Fit Technology

A COST-EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO SOLDERING PROCESSES

Press-fit technology, which has been around for some 25 years now, is a solderless connection method. It consists in force fitting an oversized contact pin into the plated through hole of a printed circuit board (PCB). The high radial pressure produces a deformation, resulting in a gas-tight electrical connection of high quality. This difference in pin cross section and hole diameter results in a deformation of either the PCB hole or the cross section of the pin during the insertion process of pin into PCB hole.

There are two major types of press-fit sections:

1. No deformation of the solid pin during the insertion process

With square or hexagonal cross section greater than PCB finished hole diameter, the deformation takes place on the PCB side.


2. A compliant pin which compresses as a result of insertion into the PCB through hole

With radial elasticity in the contact zone, the deformation takes place on the contact side.

Over the years, the compliant pin technology for press-fit insertion gained general recognition over the solid pin.