Microscopic points of contact.
Air Force Navy Aeronautical
Army-Navy-Air Force
Circuits which provide a continuous relationship between input and output.
A continuously changing or linear voltage derived from the word analogy, hence is representative of a changing or linear condition.
Air Force Navy Civil
Logic gate. All inputs must have logic "1" signals to produce a logic "1" output state.
A connector which joins two conductors end-to-end at a specified angle.
To soften and relieve strains in any solid material, such as metal or glass, by heating to just below its melting point and then slowly cooling it. This also generally lowers the tensile strength of the material, while improving its flex life.
A number of wires stranded in three reversed concentric layers around a core.
That portion of conductive material completely surrounding a hole on a PC board.
The terminal of a device such as a diode, battery, or electron tube, that gives up electrons and causes a DC voltage and current flow from its external circuit to its internal circuit. In a battery (the external circuit), the negative electrode from which electrons flow is called the anode; however, in a metal plating cell (the internal circuit powered by the external circuit), the cathode is the receiving electron-rich electrode on which the metal plating occurs.
A precious metal used in plating. Fine silver in different configurations, such as shot, cones, bars, etc., is sacrificed during the silver plating process.
Formation of a protective, insulating oxide layer on a metal by electrolytic action.
American National Standards Institute
Anti Fish Hooking (Anti Tangle)
See Fish Hooking.
Material that does not retain static electricity.
Connector design which includes keying or locking provisions to maintain positive orientation for accessory hardware.
A chemical substance that prevents or slows down the oxidation of a material by preferentially tending to oxidize itself and giving "galvanic plating-like" protection to a material.
That part of the crimping die, normally stationary, which positions and supports the terminal during crimping. Sometimes called Nest.
Angled Physical Contact
Application Tooling
The means by which electronic interconnect devices are inserted into an electronic product. Variations include hand insertion, automation and robotics.
Acceptable Quality Level
Advanced Quality Planning. A systematic all function approach to "doing it right the first time." All the steps involved in product and process design and implementation are analyzed by the appropriate resources to prevent defects right from the start.
A generic description of a group of high temperature aromatic polyamides.
A spark or flash caused when a high voltage ionizes a gas or vapor.
The characteristic of insulating materials to resist carbonization (usually called tracking) of the material surface between electrodes resulting from voltage breakdown.
The minimum voltage required to cause an arc between electrodes separated by a gas or liquid insulation.
Organizational structure of a computing system, mainly referring to the CPU, or microprocessor.
The first LAN sold commercially and one of the least expensive.
An array of pads that are located along the edge as well as the inner surface area of a substrate.
A circuit that performs the basic mathematical operations, such as addition and subtraction, on binary numbers.
A cable provided with a wrapping of metal, usually steel wires or tapes, primarily for the purpose of mechanical protection.
An organic molecule built around the hexagonal six carbon benzene structure. More thermally stable than linear or branched aliphatic structures.
An integrated circuit in which a number of independent active elements are packaged inside one enclosure.
Where one end of the pin, contact or terminal is shaped like an arrow.
Formerly American Standards Association, replaced by American National Standards Institute.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard code used extensively in data transmission, in which 128 numerals, letters, symbols, and special control codes are each represented by a 7-bit binary number (8 bits if a parity, or checking, is added). For example, numeral 5 is represented by 011 0101.
Service entrance cable that is flame retardant, moisture resistant, and abuse resistant.
Aeronautical Standards Group
Application Specific Integrated Circuit. An IC chip designed for a specific application or product.
Ratio of board thickness to diameter of the PCB hole. As boards become thicker, it becomes harder and more expensive to plate the holes all the way through, especially when the holes are small. Therefore, as a general rule this ratio should not become greater than 8:1.
Surface roughness and irregularities.
The ability to design in other connectors within a specific customer application.
American Society for Testing and Materials
A data transmission protocol that is not synchronized by a common timing signal. Each character can be transmitted at any time and is distinguished by a start bit and stop bit. In synchronous communication, start and stop bits are not needed because there is a regular time interval between transmissions.With asynchronous terminals, a transmission can be initiated at either end.
Asbestos insulated fixture wire impregnated with moisture-resisting flame-retarding compound. 300 V. 150º C, 10-18 AWG.
Advanced Technology Attachment-Extended Enhanced Data Electronics. Refers to a standard protocol for disk drive interface for disk capacity up to 8.4 gigabytes. Also allows connection of up to 4 EIDE devices per system. This standard is also known as FAST ATA.
Two or three individually braided AT conductors twisted together without overall covering. 300 V, 150º C, 10-18 AWG.
Automatic Test Equipment
Advanced Technology-Integrated Data Electronics. Refers to a standard protocol for disk drive interface for disk drive capacity up to 528 megabytes.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode. ATM is the networking technology of the near and far future.
ATM is cell-switching and multiplexing technology that combines the benefits of circuit switching (constant transmission delay and guaranteed capacity-voice telephone service), with those of packet switching (flexibility and efficient handling of intermittent traffic like data communications).
Because of its scalability, ATM will impact all points on the "food chain," from the chip on a daughter card in a workstation (or any user device) to the inner fabric of a public switch.
The smallest elementary particle of a chemical element having the properties of the element.
Two or three AT conductors twisted together with cotton or asbestos braid overall. 300 V, 150º C, 10-18 AWG.
Two AT conductors without individual braid, laid parallel and braided overall. 300 V, 150º C, 10-18 AWG.
Heat resistant cord with impregnated, asbestos insulation and rubber jacket. 300 V, 150º C, 10-18 AWG, 2 or 3 conductors.
A rating for a cable or other transmitting medium, which is the relative rate of amplitude decrease of voltage or current in the direction of travel. It is measured in decibels per unit length of cable.
A device inserted into the electrical or optical path to lessen or weaken the signal.
A solder alloy of gold/tin usually in a 80/20 ratio used for sealing gold plated packages.
A term used to describe sounds within the range of human hearing. Also used to describe devices that are designed to operate within this range.
A Level 4 miniature circular connector.
That range of frequencies lying within the range of human hearing: approximately 20 to 20,000 KHz.
A computer aided high production process or ultrasonic methods.
A transformer with a single winding in which part of the winding acts as a primary winding, and part of the winding acts as a secondary winding. The primary is not isolated from the secondary. It can also have a variable output (movable tap).
Impregnated asbestos and varnished cambric insulated wire with asbestos or glass braid. 600 V, 110 degrees C.
Same as AVA except cotton braid. 600 V, 90 degrees C.
Premium line terminal trade name for insulated (nylon) crimped terminators with internal metal support sleeve or ferrule.
Same as AinA except lead sheath is 600 in, 110 degrees C; 50000 in, 100 degrees C.
Arming Wire
American Wire Gauge. A system of measure used to indicate wire size for copper wires in cables. 24 AWG is the most common in telecommunications cabling. The lower the AWG number, the larger the wire diameter. A difference of 3 AWG unity halves or doubles the wire cross-section area ratio.
Appliance Wiring Material
Incremental difference between an initial position and a final position resulting from a force applied along the component's axis.
A wire coming out from the end along the axis of a component.
A Premium line patented IDT collapsible terminal of unique design which is pre-inserted into a two-part (upper and lower) housing.
See also Co-Axid.