small pcb interconnect options help

Hello,

Im currently trying to design a pcb that is roughly .500x.500 " in size and i need to interconnect via a header or some other form. I can not find any breakaway headers under 2mm in pitch. I would like to use something more on the scale of a .050 " or 1mm pitch. It would seem that there is a reason that they are not manufactured in these sizes??

Does anyone have any recommendations on getting a maximum number of i/o interconnects to a board this size?? An edge connector, cable, header??

Any recommendations would be great!

Thanks

You wouldn't be able to build a cheap board with much smaller pitch thru-hole parts - the solder pad around each hole on most standard processes requires ~20 mils of clearance. AMP does have a line of 50mil wire-to-board connectors (the ribbon cable would be of the 25mil variety), but they're pretty new.

The easy way is to just use a laminated flex cable and a surface mount ZIF connector. 0.5mm pitch (single sided) is pretty common. If you're going for cheap, the cable can be directly soldered to the board.

Thanks for the input! Ill look into those options