Micro Terminal Strips Deliver Design Flexibility, JTAG Compatibility
At IMS 2026, visit Samtec (Booth #14036) to learn about its FTSH line of highly configurable micro-pitch terminal strips, which are offered in a variety of sizes, pin configurations, plating, and processing options. The FTSH series is a 1.27-mm centerline terminal strip (“header”) available in both surface-mount and through-hole designs, as well as vertical and right-angle configurations.
These high-reliability connectors are available in 2 to 50 pins per row, with selective gold/tin plating in flash or light gold. Options to improve manufacturability include shrouds, locking clips, guideposts, pick-and-place pads, ejector and keying shrouds for mating with cable assemblies, and tape-and-reel packaging.
Samtec’s FTSH terminal strips are commonly used as JTAG connectors. The Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) is the common name for IEEE Standard 1149.1. This standard defines a specific method for testing board-level interconnects, known as Boundary Scan. In short, JTAG was created to test for common problems, but lately it has become a way to configure devices.
Common sizes are 10 pin (2 × 5), 14 pin (2 × 7), and 20 pin (2 × 10). JTAG connectors can be either through-hole or SMT, and either shrouded or unshrouded. The FFSD series is a popular low-profile ribbon-cable assembly that mates with the FTSH series.
About the Author
David Maliniak
Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF
I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our contributor's packet, in which you'll find an article template and lots more useful information on how to properly prepare content for us, and send to me along with a signed release form.
About me:
In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.
