High frequency electrical connector
DCFirst Claim
1. An electrical connector, comprising:
- a plurality of conductive members disposed in a plurality of parallel columns of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members comprising a mating interface portion, a contact tail, and an intermediate portion electrically coupling the contact tail and the mating interface portion, wherein the plurality of conductive members are arranged in pairs; and
a plurality of lossy members, each lossy member being elongated in at least one direction that is parallel to a respective column of the plurality of parallel columns of conductive members and being positioned adjacent the mating interface portions of conductive members in the respective column of the plurality of parallel columns such that the electrical connector is substantially free of the plurality of lossy members between intermediate portions of conductive members of adjacent pairs of the plurality of conductive members, wherein at least one lossy member of the plurality of lossy members comprises a material having a conductivity between 1 siemens/meter and 1×
107 siemens/meter.
1 Assignment
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved broadside coupled, open pin field connector. The connector incorporates lossy material to selectively dampen resonance within pairs of conductive members connected to ground when the connector is mounted to a printed circuit board. The material may also decrease crosstalk and mode conversion. The lossy material is selectively positioned to substantially dampen resonances along pairs that may be connected to ground without unacceptably attenuating signals carried by other pairs. The lossy material may be selectively positioned near mating contact portions of the conductive members. Multiple techniques are described for selectively positioning the lossy material, including molding, inserting lossy members into a housing or coating surfaces of the connector housing. The lossy material alternatively may be positioned between broad sides of conductive members of a pair.
441 Citations
50 Claims
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1. An electrical connector, comprising:
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a plurality of conductive members disposed in a plurality of parallel columns of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members comprising a mating interface portion, a contact tail, and an intermediate portion electrically coupling the contact tail and the mating interface portion, wherein the plurality of conductive members are arranged in pairs; and a plurality of lossy members, each lossy member being elongated in at least one direction that is parallel to a respective column of the plurality of parallel columns of conductive members and being positioned adjacent the mating interface portions of conductive members in the respective column of the plurality of parallel columns such that the electrical connector is substantially free of the plurality of lossy members between intermediate portions of conductive members of adjacent pairs of the plurality of conductive members, wherein at least one lossy member of the plurality of lossy members comprises a material having a conductivity between 1 siemens/meter and 1×
107 siemens/meter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An electrical connector, comprising:
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a plurality of conductive members disposed in a plurality of parallel columns of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members comprising a mating interface portion; and a plurality of lossy members, each lossy member being elongated in at least one direction that is parallel to a respective column of the plurality of parallel columns of conductive members and being positioned adjacent the mating interface portions of conductive members in the respective column of the plurality of parallel columns, wherein; the plurality of parallel columns are disposed in pairs; and a lossy member of the plurality of lossy members is positioned between adjacent pairs of columns and the space between the parallel columns of each pair is substantially free of the lossy members. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An electrical connector, comprising:
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a plurality of conductive members disposed in a plurality of parallel columns of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members comprising a mating interface portion; and a plurality of lossy members, each lossy member being elongated in at least one direction that is parallel to a respective column of the plurality of parallel columns of conductive members and being positioned adjacent the mating interface portions of conductive members in the respective column of the plurality of parallel columns; and an insulative housing comprising; a plurality of insulative members, each insulative member having a column of conductive members affixed thereto; and a front housing portion, the front housing portion comprising a plurality of openings and a plurality of slots, wherein the mating interface portion of each conductive member of the plurality of conductive members is at least partially disposed within an opening and each lossy member of the plurality of lossy members is at least partially disposed within a respective slot of the plurality of slots.
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16. An electrical connector comprising:
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a plurality of subassemblies, each of the plurality of subassemblies comprising a plurality of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members adapted at least to be a signal conductor and comprising a mating contact portion, a contact tail, and an intermediate portion electrically coupling the contact tail and the mating contact portion, the mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being arranged in parallel columns; and a housing portion comprising a plurality of openings disposed in parallel columns, with the columns of mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being positioned in the plurality of openings, the housing portion comprising insulative regions and lossy regions, the lossy regions being positioned to separate pairs of adjacent columns of mating contact portions of conductive members adapted at least to be signal conductors, wherein at least one of the lossy regions comprises a material having a surface resistivity between 1 Ω
/square and 106 Ω
/square, and wherein the conductive members are arranged in pairs and the electrical connector is substantially free of the lossy regions between intermediate portions of conductive members of adjacent pairs of the conductive members. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. An electrical connector comprising:
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a plurality of subassemblies, each of the plurality of subassemblies comprising a plurality of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members adapted at least to be a signal conductor and comprising a mating contact portion, a contact tail, and an intermediate portion electrically coupling the contact tail and the mating contact portion, the mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being arranged in parallel columns; and a housing portion comprising a plurality of openings disposed in parallel columns, with the columns of mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being positioned in the plurality of openings, the housing portion comprising insulative regions and lossy regions, the lossy regions being positioned to separate pairs of adjacent columns of mating contact portions of conductive members adapted at least to be signal conductors, wherein the conductive members are arranged in pairs and the electrical connector is substantially free of the lossy regions between intermediate portions of conductive members of adjacent pairs of the conductive members, and wherein the insulative regions of the housing portion comprise regions of a plurality of insulative members, each of the plurality of insulative members having two columns of openings. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. An electrical connector comprising:
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a plurality of subassemblies, each of the plurality of subassemblies comprising a plurality of conductive members, each of the plurality of conductive members adapted at least to be a signal conductor and comprising a mating contact portion, the mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being arranged in parallel columns; and a housing portion comprising a plurality of openings disposed in parallel columns, with the columns of mating contact portions of the plurality of subassemblies being positioned in the plurality of openings, the housing portion comprising insulative regions and lossy regions, the lossy regions being positioned to separate pairs of adjacent columns of mating contact portions of conductive members adapted at least to be signal conductors, wherein, for each of the plurality of subassemblies; the subassembly further comprises an insulative portion having a first face and a second face; the mating contact portions of the plurality of conductive members extend through the first face; each of the plurality of conductive members further comprises a contact tail, the contact tails extending through the second face; and each of the plurality of conductive members further comprises an intermediate portion electrically coupling the contact tail and the mating contact portion. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. An electrical connector comprising:
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a plurality of broadside coupled pairs of conductive elements, each of the conductive elements comprising a mating contact portion, a contact tail and an intermediate portion therebetween, the mating contact portions of the conductive elements of each pair being separated by a first distance and the intermediate portions of the conductive elements of each pair being separated by a second distance, the second distance being less than the first distance, the pairs being positioned in a plurality of parallel rows; and lossy material selectively positioned adjacent the mating contact portions between adjacent rows of the plurality of parallel rows, wherein the electrical connector is substantially free of the lossy material between intermediate portions of conductive elements of adjacent pairs of conductive elements. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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27. An electrical connector comprising:
a plurality of subassemblies, each subassembly comprising; a first wafer, the first wafer comprising; a first plurality of conductive elements, each of the first plurality of conductive elements having a broad side, a mating contact portion and a contact tail; and a first plurality of insulative members, each insulative member of the first plurality of insulative members being positioned between adjacent conductive elements of the first plurality of conductive elements; a second wafer, the second wafer comprising; a second plurality of conductive elements, each of the second plurality of conductive elements comprising a broad side, a mating contact portion and a contact tail, the first wafer being attached to the second wafer with the broad sides of the first plurality of conductive elements and the broad sides of the second plurality of conductive elements aligned to form pairs, each pair comprising a conductive element of the first plurality of conductive elements and a conductive element of the second plurality of conductive elements, the first and second pluralities of conductive elements being configured such that, within each pair the broad sides of the conductive elements of the pair are separated by a distance smaller than a distance separating mating contact portions; and an insert that is separately manufactured and assembled with the first wafer, the insert comprising a planar portion and being separated from the first plurality of conductive members by the first plurality of insulative members, the insert comprising a material that attenuates electromagnetic radiation. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An electrical connector comprising:
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a plurality of subassemblies disposed in parallel, each subassembly comprising; a plurality of conductive elements arranged in a column; and an insulative member holding the plurality of conductive elements; a plurality of inserts that are separately manufactured and assembled with the plurality of subassemblies, each insert comprising a material that attenuates electromagnetic radiation, each insert positioned between adjacent subassemblies of the plurality of subassemblies, at least a portion of the each insert being adjacent a respective column of conductive elements in an adjacent subassembly. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification