PC & PCI cards

PCI-Express card

Printed circuit boards are connected directly to a motherboard (mainboard) using PC / PCI slot connectors. There exist the PC-AT Standard (also called “ISA”) with a pitch of 2.54mm (0.1 inch) and the PCI Standard with a grid spacing of 1.27mm (0.05 inch) for the gold fingers. Additional there are PCI Express cards (PCIe) with 1.0mm and Mini PCI Express cards (mPCIe) with 0.8mm pitch.

Design-Rules:

  • The entire plug area including the gold fingers must not be covered by solder-stop (see diagram)
  • Plated-through holes within the contact area are not allowed
  • The circuit board surface may be freely selected
  • The gold fingers are manufactured using “hard gold” (electroplated gold), Au thickness 0.8 - 2µm

Design Parameters

 PC cardPCI cardPCIe cardmPCIe card
 PitchPC card2.54mmPCI card1.27mmPCIe card1.0mmmPCIe card0.8mm
 ThicknessPC card1.6mmPCI card1.6mmPCIe card1.6mmmPCIe card1.0mm
 Chamfer anglePC card45°PCI card20°PCIe card20°mPCIe card20°/45°
 Spacing gold fingers / PCB contourPC card0.7mmPCI card2.0mmPCIe card1.4mmmPCIe card0.5mm/0.25mm

For customer-specific applications, a 30° chamfer angle can also be selected.

PC card

Printed Circuit PC card 1

Bevelling of the gold fingers must be avoided; therefore they must have a spacing of min. 0.7mm from the circuit board contour.

PC card cross-section

Cross-section at the level of the connector; example: FR4 1.6mm

PC card cross section

PCI card

PCB PCI card

To avoid bevelling the gold fingers, a spacing of 2.0mm from the circuit board contour is recommended for PCI cards.

PCI card cross-section

Cross-section at the level of the connector; example: FR4 1.6mm

PCI-card cross-section

PCI-card Example

PCI-card Example

PCIe card (PCI Express)

To avoid bevelling the gold fingers, a spacing of 1.4mm from the circuit board contour is recommended for PCIe cards.

PCIe- card cross section

Cross-section at the level of the connector; example: FR4 1.6mm

PCIe card cross section