Electrical connectors incorporating low friction coatings and methods for making them
First Claim
1. An electrical connector comprising a male terminal and a female terminal, the male and female terminals each comprising a substrate material, wherein:
- the male and female terminals each comprise contact surfaces, and at least a portion of the contact surfaces of the female terminal or the male terminal are coated by a solid thin film comprising a MoSx-metal composite material, wherein “
x”
is the atomic ratio of sulfur to molybdenum in the MoSx-metal composite material.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Electrical connectors incorporate a composite coating of molybdenum disulfide and a metal, preferably tin, for one or both of the contact surfaces of the electrical connector. The coating provides for a low coefficient of friction, low contact resistance, and good electrical conductivity, as well as good mechanical properties. The coating also reduces the insertion force of the electrical connectors, thereby increasing the number of possible terminal pairs and/or reducing terminal bending and breakage for a manually mated connector. The coating can be deposited on copper, tin-plated copper, tin alloy-plated copper or other metallic substrates, using any of several physical vapor deposition methods.
34 Citations
51 Claims
-
1. An electrical connector comprising a male terminal and a female terminal, the male and female terminals each comprising a substrate material, wherein:
the male and female terminals each comprise contact surfaces, and at least a portion of the contact surfaces of the female terminal or the male terminal are coated by a solid thin film comprising a MoSx-metal composite material, wherein “
x”
is the atomic ratio of sulfur to molybdenum in the MoSx-metal composite material.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
23. A method for making an electrical connector comprising a male terminal and a female terminal, the male and female terminals each comprising a substrate material and contact surfaces, wherein at least a portion of the contact surfaces of the female terminal or the male terminal are coated by a solid thin film comprising a MoSx-metal composite material, wherein “
- x”
is the atomic ratio of sulfur to molybdenum in the MoSx-metal composite material, the method comprising;
pre-cleaning the substrate material;
placing the substrate material in a vacuum deposition chamber having a refrigerated trap;
evacuating the vacuum deposition chamber to a pressure less than about 7.5×
10−
4 millitorr;
cooling the refrigerated trap to a temperature less than 150 Kelvin; and
coating the substrate material with the MoSx-metal composite material to form a solid thin film having a predetermined thickness. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
- x”
-
51. A method for making an electrical connector comprising a male terminal and a female terminal, the male and female terminals each comprising a substrate material and contact surfaces, wherein at least a portion of the contact surfaces of the female terminal or the male terminal are coated by a solid thin film comprising a MoSx-Sn composite material, wherein “
- x”
is the atomic ratio of sulfur to molybdenum in the MoSx-Sn composite material, the method comprising;
providing the substrate material in the form of a thin strip;
pre-cleaning the substrate material;
placing the substrate material in a vacuum deposition chamber having a refrigerated trap;
evacuating the vacuum deposition chamber to a pressure less than about 7.5×
10−
4 millitorr;
cooling the refrigerated trap of the chamber to a temperature less than 150 Kelvin;
admitting argon in the chamber in an amount sufficient to increase the pressure in the vacuum deposition chamber to a level between 0.25 millitorr and 7.5 millitorr;
fine-cleaning the substrate material by bombarding the substrate material with Ar+ ions;
coating the substrate material with titanium or chromium to form a thin intermediate metal layer having a thickness between 0.005 μ
m and 0.2 μ
m; and
coating the substrate material using sputter deposition from a balanced planar magnetron with a MoS2-Sn composite target composite material to form solid thin film having a thickness between 0.1 μ
m and 1.0 μ
m,wherein the MoS2-Sn composite target is manufactured by hot pressing of MoS2 powder and tin powder at a temperature below 232°
C.,and wherein the magnetron is powered by a direct current power supply at a power density between 2 W/cm2 and 12 W/cm2.
- x”
Specification