Impact of Fuzz Button Degradation on Mechanical and Electrical Characteristics

Fuzz buttons are commonly used to realize vertical electrical interconnections between printed circuit boards (PCB). This work studied the impact of fuzz button degradation on both mechanical and electrical properties using both theoretical analysis and experimental testing. Fuzz buttons with different degradation levels were obtained by accelerated tests. Compression tests were conducted on the degraded samples to analyze the mechanical characteristics. In addition, a transmission channel model with fuzz button interconnections was proposed to analyze the effect of fuzz button degradation on the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). The impedance networks for the degraded fuzz button interconnections were developed and the parasitic electrical parameters were extracted. The circuit model results were validated using experimental tests. This research provides an improved understanding of the effects of fuzz button degradation on both mechanical and electrical properties and gives guidance for the performance monitoring of fuzz buttons in harsh environment applications to ensure interconnections with high signal integrity.