SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
 Published    
 
 SFF Committee documentation may be purchased in hard copy or electronic form. 
 SFF specifications are available at ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff 
 
 
 
 
SFF Committee 
SFF-8083 Specification 
 
 
 
for 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8/10 Gbs Applications 
 
Rev 2.5    January 19 2010 
 
 
 
 
Secretariat: SFF Committee  
 
Abstract: This specification defines the physical interface and general performance 
requirements of the mating interface for an improved 0.8mm card edge connector for 
use in applications up to approximately 10 Gbit/s using the upper row of contacts. 
One such use is as the receptacle connector for the SFF-8432 Improved Pluggable 
Formfactor when used with SFF-8431 Enhanced 8.5 and 10 Gigabit SFF Pluggable Module 
aka SFP+.  
 
This specification provides a common reference for systems manufacturers, system 
integrators, and suppliers. This is an internal working specification of the SFF 
Committee, an industry ad hoc group.  
This specification is made available for public review, and written comments are 
solicited from readers. Comments received by the members will be considered for 
inclusion in future revisions of this document.  
 
The description of a connector in this specification does not assure that the 
specific component is actually available from connector suppliers. If such a 
connector is supplied it must comply with this specification to achieve 
interoperability between suppliers. 
 
Support: This specification is supported by the identified member companies of the 
SFF Committee. 
 
 
 
Points of Contact: 
 
 Jay Neer                                        I. Dal Allan  
 Molex                                           Chairman SFF Committee  
 2222 Wellington Court                           14426 Black Walnut Court  
 Lisle, Il 60532                                 Saratoga, CA 95070  
                       
 561-447-2907x3889                               408-867-6630 
 jay.neer_at_molex_dot_com 
       endlcom_at_acm_dot_org  
 
 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 1 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
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                 EXPRESSION OF SUPPORT BY MANUFACTURERS 
 
The following member companies of the SFF Committee voted in favor of this industry 
specification. 
               Cinch  
               EMC  
               Emulex  
               ETRI  
               FCI  
               Finisar  
               Hewlett Packard  
               Hitachi GST  
               JDS Uniphase  
               Luxtera  
               Panduit  
               Sun Microsystems  
               Toshiba  
               Tyco  
               Vitesse Semiconductor  
 
The following SFF member companies voted no on the technical content of this 
industry specification. 
 
               AMCC  
               Amphenol  
               Molex  
 
The following member companies of the SFF Committee voted to abstain on this 
industry specification. 
 
               Arista Networks  
               Avago  
               Cortina Systems  
               Dell Computer  
               Foxconn  
               Fujitsu CPA  
               ICT Solutions  
               LSI  
               Meritec  
               NetApp  
               OpNext  
               Sandisk  
               Sandisk/RAD  
               Seagate  
               Toshiba America  
               Volex 
 
 
 
The user's attention is called to the possibility that implementation to this 
Specification may require use of an invention covered by patent rights. By 
distribution of this Specification, no position is taken with respect to the 
validity of this claim or of any patent rights in connection therewith. Members of 
the SFF Committee, which advise that a patent exists, are required to provide a 
statement of willingness to grant a license under these rights on reasonable and 
non-discriminatory terms and conditions to applicants desiring to obtain such a 
license. 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 2 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
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Foreword:  
 
The development work on this specification was done by the SFF Committee, an 
industry group. The membership of the committee since its formation in August 1990 
has included a mix of companies which are leaders across the industry.  
 
When 2 1/2” diameter disk drives were introduced, there was no commonality on 
external dimensions e.g. physical size, mounting locations, connector type, 
connector location, between vendors.  
 
The first use of these disk drives was in specific applications such as laptop 
portable computers and system integrators worked individually with vendors to 
develop the packaging. The result was wide diversity, and incompatibility. 
 
The problems faced by integrators, device suppliers, and component suppliers led to 
the formation of the SFF Committee as an industry ad hoc group to address the 
marketing and engineering considerations of the emerging new technology.  
 
During the development of the form factor definitions, other activities were 
suggested because participants in the SFF Committee faced more problems than the 
physical form factors of disk drives. In November 1992, the charter was expanded to 
address any issues of general interest and concern to the storage industry. The SFF 
Committee became a forum for resolving industry issues that are either not addressed 
by the standards process or need an immediate solution.  
 
Those companies which have agreed to support a specification are identified in the 
first pages of each SFF Specification. Industry consensus is not an essential 
requirement to publish an SFF Specification because it is recognized that in an 
emerging product area, there is room for more than one approach. By making the 
documentation on competing proposals available, an integrator can examine the 
alternatives available and select the product that is felt to be most suitable.  
 
SFF Committee meetings are held during T10 weeks (see www.t10.org), and Specific 
Subject Working Groups are held at the convenience of the participants. Material 
presented at SFF Committee meetings becomes public domain, and there are no 
restrictions on the open mailing of material presented at committee meetings.  
 
Most of the specifications developed by the SFF Committee have either been 
incorporated into standards or adopted as standards by EIA (Electronic Industries 
Association), ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and IEC (International 
Electrotechnical Commission). 
 
If you are interested in participating or wish to follow the activities of the SFF 
Committee, the signup for membership and/or documentation can be found at: 
 
              www.sffcommittee.com/ie/join.html 
 
The complete list of SFF Specifications which have been completed or are currently 
being worked on by the SFF Committee can be found at: 
 
              ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff/SFF-8000.TXT 
 
If you wish to know more about the SFF Committee, the principles which guide the 
activities can be found at ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff/SFF-8032.TXT 
 
Suggestions for improvement of this specification will be welcome. They should be 
sent to the SFF Committee, 14426 Black Walnut Ct, Saratoga, CA 95070. 
 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 3 
 Published    
 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
Contents 
 
1  Scope......................................................................... 5 
1.1  Description of Clauses................................................... 5 
2  References.................................................................... 6 
2.1  Industry Documents....................................................... 6 
2.2  SFF Specifications....................................................... 6 
2.3  Sources.................................................................. 6 
2.4  Conventions.............................................................. 6 
3  General Description........................................................... 7 
4  Definitions and Abbreviations................................................. 8 
4.1  Definitions.............................................................. 8 
4.2  Abbreviations............................................................ 9 
5  Electrical Specifications.................................................... 10 
5.1  Electrical Requirements................................................. 10 
5.2  High Frequency Performance Requirements................................. 10 
6  Mechanical Specifications.................................................... 12 
6.1  Connector Configurations................................................ 12 
6.2  Mechanical Requirements................................................. 13 
6.3  Contact Sequencing...................................................... 13 
6.4  Contact Numbering....................................................... 15 
7  Connector Dimensions......................................................... 15 
7.1  Paddle Card............................................................. 16 
7.2  Board Side Connector.................................................... 18 
7.3  Board Side Connector Footprint.......................................... 20 
 
 
Figures:  
 
Figure 5-1 De-Embedding Reference Plane ......................................... 11 
Figure 6-1 General view of right-angled body receptacle ......................... 12 
Figure 6-2 Contact sequencing ................................................... 14 
Figure 7-1 Paddle Card .......................................................... 16 
Figure 7-2 Board Side Connector ................................................. 18 
Figure 7-3 Board Side Connector Footprint ....................................... 20 
 
 
Tables:  
 
Table 5-1 Electrical Specifications and Test Conditions ......................... 10 
Table 5-2 Connector HIGH-Frequency PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS ..................... 11 
Table 6-1 Mechanical Requirements ............................................... 13 
Table 6-2 Contact Numbering ..................................................... 15 
Table 7-1 Paddle Card ........................................................... 16 
Table 7-2 Board Side Connector .................................................. 19 
Table 7-3 Board Side Connector Footprint ........................................ 20 
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                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
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1  Scope 
 
This specification defines the terminology and physical requirements for the mating 
interface and physical characteristics of the improved 0.8 mm card edge connector. 
The dimensions specified apply to a family of connectors with 20, 30, 50 or 70 
contacts. It also defines electrical attributes that distinguish it from the SFF-
8084 0.8 mm card edge connector that defines a lower speed connector interface. 
 
Fibre Channel, 10G Ethernet, InfiniBand, other standards, and specifications such as 
SFP+, define requirements on the characteristic impedance and ability to transmit 
multi-gigabit signals to and from optical pluggable modules, and in some cases via 
cable assemblies. When this connector is used in such an application, it is subject 
to the requirements of those documents. 
 
1.1  Description of Clauses 
 
Clause 1 contains the scope and purpose 
 
Clause 2 contains referenced and related standards and SFF specifications 
 
Clause 3 contains the general description 
 
Clause 4 contains the definitions, abbreviations and conventions 
 
Clause 5 defines the electrical conditions 
 
Clause 6 defines the mechanical conditions 
 
Clause 7 defines the connector dimensions 
 
 
 
 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 5 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
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2  References 
 
The following interface standards and specifications are relevant to this 
Specification. 
 
2.1  Industry Documents 
 
The following standards and specifications are relevant to this Specification. 
 
  ANSI/ASME Y14.5M Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) 
  EIA 364-06       Contact Resistance Test Procedure For Electrical Connectors 
  EIA 364-09       Durability Test Procedure For Electrical Connectors And Contacts 
  EIA 364-13       Mating And Unmating Forces Test Procedures For Electrical  
                   Connectors 
  EIA 364-21       Insulation Resistance Test Procedure For Electrical Connectors  
                   Sockets And Coaxial Contacts 
  INCITS 352:2002  FC-PI (Fibre Channel Physical Interface) 
  INCITS 404:200x  FC-PI-2 (Fibre Channel Physical Interface - 2 
  T11/1625D        FC-PI-3 (Fibre Channel Physical Interface - 3 
  T11/             FC-PI-4 (Fibre Channel Physical Interface - 4 
  IEEE 802.3       10 Gigabit Ethernet clause 5210GBASE-LRM clause 68 
  InfiniBand       Architecture Specification Volume 2 
  T10/1601D        SAS 1-1 (Serial Attached SCSI - 1.1) 
  INF-8074i        SFP (Small Formfactor Pluggable) Transceiver 
  SFF-8075         PCI Card Version of SFP Cage 
  SFF-8084         0.8mm Card Edge Connector 
  SFF-8410         High Speed Serial Testing for Copper Links 
  SFF-8431         Enhanced 10 Gigabit Small Formfactor Pluggable Module (SFP+) 
  SFF-8432         Improved Pluggable Formfactor (IPF) 
  SFF-8433         IPF (Improved Pluggable Formfactor) Cage 
  SFF-8434         SFP+ Gerber Files 
 
2.2  SFF Specifications  
 
There are several projects active within the SFF Committee. The complete list of 
specifications which have been completed or are still being worked on are listed in 
the specification at ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff/SFF-8000.TXT 
 
2.3  Sources  
 
Those who join the SFF Committee as an Observer or Member receive electronic copies 
of the minutes and SFF specifications (http://www.sffcommittee.com/ie/join.html). 
 
Copies of ANSI standards may be purchased from the InterNational Committee for 
Information Technology Standards (http://tinyurl.com/c4psg). 
 
EIA documents are available at http://global.ihs.com 
 
802.3 Ethernet is available from http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.3.html 
 
The InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 2 is available from 
http://www.infinibandta.org/specs 
 
2.4  Conventions 
 
The ISO convention of numbering is used i.e., the thousands and higher multiples are 
separated by a space and a period is used as the decimal point. This is equivalent 
to the English/American convention of a comma and a period. 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 6 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
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                   English           French            ISO  
                         0.6              0,6            0.6 
                     1,000            1 000          1 000 
                 1,323,462.9      1 323 462,9    1 323 462.9 
 
 
3  General Description 
 
The improved 0.8 mm connection system is based on industry-proven card edge style 
contacts, which mate with a single wipe, and are very difficult to damage. 
 
0.8 mm Card Edge connectors find their most important application where signals have 
rise times typically in the range of 35 ps and where positive retention is needed 
but ease of insertion and removal is also desired. This covers virtually all of the 
external inter-enclosure applications for gigabit serial applications that use 
balanced copper media for transmission. 
 
Design goals were minimization of crosstalk and minimum transmission line impedance 
discontinuity across the connector interface at signaling rates up to 11.1 GBd on 
the upper row of contacts. The lower row of contacts is rated at signaling rates up 
to 2.5 Gigabits/second. 
 
The shield (cage) contact (not shown or part of this specification) is required to 
make contact before any of the signal contacts upon insertion and to break contact 
only after all contacts are separated upon removal. This ensures that any ground 
potential differences between enclosures are first exposed to the shield and thereby 
minimizes the risk of damaging the sensitive input and output stages of the 
transceivers when the signal contacts are mated. 
 
A cage or latching device (not shown or part of this specification) is required to 
guide the mating interface (typically a paddle cad) into the connector, provide 
sufficient wipe on the contact interface, provide a hard stop which prevents the 
transceiver side from bottoming in the connector, and keeps the paddle card contacts 
on the connector contacts during use. 
 
This connector is primarily used as a pluggable module connector but can also be 
used with direct attach cable assemblies. 
 
This specification includes the minimum lengths, widths and positional tolerances of 
the contacts.  
 
The connector is of a straightforward construction that does not rely on advanced 
materials or processes, and is physically robust. 
 
Connectors compliant to SFF-8083 are also compliant to SFF-8084, but the reverse is 
not necessarily true. 
 
 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 7 
                                                 SFF-8083 Rev 2.5 
 Published    
 
4  Definitions and Abbreviations  
 
4.1  Definitions 
 
For the purpose of this specification, the following definitions apply: 
 
Advanced grounding contacts:  Connector contacts that make first and break last and 
are capable of carrying power ground return currents and performing electrostatic 
discharge.  Other terms sometimes used to describe these features are: grounding 
pins, ESD contacts, grounding contacts, static drain, and pre-grounding contacts. 
 
Alignment guides:  Connector features that preposition insulators prior to 
electrical contact.  Other terms sometimes used to describe these features are: 
guide pins, guide posts, blind mating features, mating features, alignment features, 
paddle card chamfers and mating guides. 
 
Centerline or CL:  A real or imaginary line that is equidistant from the surface or 
sides of something 
 
Contact mating sequence:  Order of electrical contact during mating/unmating 
process.  Other terms sometimes used to describe this feature are: contact 
sequencing, contact positioning, make first/break last, EMLB (early make late break) 
staggered contacts, and long pin / short pin. 
 
Frontshell:  That metallic part of a connector body that directly contacts the 
backshell or other shielding material that provides mechanical and shielding 
continuity between the connector and the cable.  Other terms sometimes used to 
describe this part of a cable assembly are: housing, nosepiece, cowling, and metal 
shroud.  
 
Maximum component height:  Distance from board surface to farthest overall 
module/connector feature. 
 
Mating side:  The side of the connector that joins and separates from the mating 
side of a connector of opposite gender.  Other terms commonly used in the industry 
are mating interface, separable interface and mating face. 
 
Offset:  An alignment shift from the centerline of the connector. Connector contacts 
may be offset from the CL 
 
Optional:  This term describes features that are not required by this specification. 
However, if any feature defined by this specification is implemented, it shall be 
done in the same way as defined by the specification. Describing a feature as 
optional in the text is done to assist the reader. If there is a conflict between 
text and tables on a feature described as optional, the table shall be accepted as 
being correct.  
 
Right Angle:  A connector design for use with printed circuit board assembly 
technology where the mating direction is parallel to the plane of the printed 
circuit board. 
 
Surface mount:  A connector design and a printed circuit board design style where 
the connector termination points do not penetrate the printed circuit board and are 
subsequently soldered to the surface of the printed circuit board. 
 
Termination side:  The side of the connector opposite the mating side that is used 
for permanently attaching conductors to the connector.  Due to pin numbering 
differences between mating side genders the termination side shall always be 
0.8mm Card Edge Connector for 8 Gbs Applications                            Page 8