While electrical connectors are generally designed to survive and perform in a range of corrosive environments, the mobile electronics application is particularly challenging for two reasons.

Firstly, mobile electronics connectors are routinely exposed to corrosive liquids, or an immersion corrosion environment, which can be very aggressive.

Secondly, when charging devices are plugged in, there is current flowing through the connector and corrosion is dramatically accelerated.

Exposure of the charging cable or the smartphone charging port to human perspiration, beverages, or other corrosive media will lead to rapid corrosion when the device is charging (or “under bias”). Gold is typically used as a connector finish in a range of demanding applications, but gold finishes are unable to meet the new mobile industry performance standards and rapidly disintegrate in these challenging immersion corrosion environments.

The problem becomes more acute as smartphones convert to the USB-C standard, which allows for higher voltage and faster charging. In an aggressive environment, traditional materials are unable protect against corrosion at these higher voltages.

LUNA USB meets or exceeds the performance of hard gold when evaluated by accepted industry standards, including the EIA–364 connector standard. LUNA USB delivers a significant performance improvement of up to 60X in immersion corrosion resistance under bias.

The LUNA USB technology is built using LUNA and XTRONIC patented nanostructured metal alloys. Xtalic designed the LUNA USB technology to be applied in existing manufacturing processes and equipment within the smartphone OEM supply chain, allowing for accelerated deployments in support of waterproofing strategies.