A row of exposed, rectangular copper pads located along the edge of a printed circuit board. These pads are designed to slide into a matching edge connector socket to provide power and data connections. They are typically plated with hard gold over nickel to withstand repeated insertion cycles without wearing down the conductive surface.
Heard on the job
Make sure you specify a hard gold finish for the board fingers or they'll wear out after a few insertions.
Also heard as
- gold fingers
- edge connector
Do not mix it up with
- Gold fingers: Board fingers is the physical layout feature, while gold fingers specifically refers to the plating requirement, though they are often used interchangeably.
Related terms
Gold fingers
Hard-gold-plated contacts along a board edge that plug into a slot, as on a memory module.
Surface finish
Final coating on exposed copper pads that stops them oxidising and decides how well they solder.
Daughterboard
A secondary circuit board that plugs directly into a main motherboard to add specific functionality.