Snap-on vs. Clip-on Shields

Clip-on PCB Shielding features small clips or pins and a removable lid. Our SnapShot® Board Level EMI Shield is a type of snap-on PCB shielding system featuring easy snap on and off covers, which can be easily snapped onto the PCB surface.  The snap-on board level shield offers superior quality EMI/RF shielding over traditional clip-on board level shields in challenging environments. We can custom design the snap on board level shielding system to meet your specific application requirements.

SnapShot’s unique “snap-on” board level shielding technology is often compared to traditional clip-on EMI/RFI shields. The advantages are similar; both technologies offer a shield installed after reflow and inspection and both offer a removable and replaceable shield.

The biggest difference between SnapShot’s snapping technology and the clip-on shields is in the PCB space savings, increased ruggedness, and superior EMI/RFI shielding effectiveness offered by SnapShot. The trace width required for SnapShot will offer greater than a 50% savings over most clip-on shielding solutions. The retention mechanism of SnapShot EMI RF shields snapping over solder spheres also provides higher retention forces in high vibration and shock environments over a standard clip-on solution. Finally, the solder sphere retention mechanism of SnapShot “snap-on” EMI shield technology has no points of susceptibility for EMI leakage greater than 2mm. Most clip-on PCB Shielding solutions have a greater than 2mm pitch between points of contact where the shield is connecting to the ground plane.