Electrical connectors having contacts that may be selectively designated as either signal or ground contacts

• US 20040097112A1
• Filed: 08/05/2003
• Published: 05/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FCI Americas Technology Incorporated (FCI)
• Original Assignee: FCI Americas Technology Incorporated (FCI)
• Inventors: Smith, Stephen, Shuey, Joseph B., Minich, Steven E., Hull, Gregory A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,994,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/101
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/52 connecting to other rigid printed circuits or like structures
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/724 containing contact members forming a right angle
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6471 by special arrangement of ground and signal conductors, e.g. GSGS [Ground-Signal-Ground-Signal]
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6477 by variation of dielectric properties
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6587 for mounting on PCBs
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 29/00 Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 439/941 Crosstalk suppression

Abstract

An electrical connector according to the invention includes a linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts and a lead frame into which the contacts at least partially extend. The contacts may be selectively designated as either ground or signal contacts such that, in a first designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts, and, in a second designation, the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor.

Claims

1. An electrical connector comprising:

a linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts; and

a lead frame into which the contacts at least partially extend,

wherein the contacts may be selectively designated as either ground or signal contacts such that, in a first designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts, and, in a second designation, the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the contacts may be selectively defined such that, in a third designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair and at least one single-ended signal conductor.

3. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the contact array includes at least one ground contact disposed adjacent to the at least one differential signal pair in the first designation and adjacent to the at least one single-ended signal conductor in the second designation.

4. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein the ground contact is disposed in the same relative location within the contact array in both the first designation and the second designation.

5. The electrical connector of claim 4, wherein each signal contact has a respective terminal end and wherein a terminal end of the ground contact extends beyond any terminal end of any of the signal contacts.

6. The electrical connector of claim 1, further comprising:

a second linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts; and

a second lead frame into which the contacts of the second linear array at least partially extend,

wherein the contacts of the second linear array may be selectively designated as either ground or signal contacts such that, in a third designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts, and, in a fourth designation, the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor.

7. The electrical connector of claim 6, wherein cross-talk between signal contacts in the first linear array and signal contacts in the second linear array is limited to a desirable level.

8. The electrical connector of claim 7, wherein the second lead frame is disposed adjacent to the first lead frame, and wherein the cross-talk is limited as a result of a configuration of the contacts.

9. The electrical connector of claim 8, wherein the cross-talk is limited as a result of a ratio of contact width to a gap width between adjacent contacts.

10. The electrical connector of claim 8, wherein the cross-talk is limited in the absence of any shield plate between the first and second lead frames.

11. The electrical connector of claim 8, wherein the contacts in the first linear contact array that are designated as signal contacts produce a relatively low electric field near the contacts in the second linear array that are designated as signal contacts.

12. The electrical connector of claim 11, wherein the differential signal pair of signal contacts includes a gap between them, and wherein the signal pair produce a relatively high electric field in the gap and a relatively low electric field near an adjacent signal contact.

13. The electrical connector of claim 12, wherein the adjacent signal contact is in the first linear contact array.

14. The electrical connector of claim 12, wherein the adjacent signal contact is in an adjacent linear contact array.

15. The electrical connector of claim 14, wherein the adjacent linear contact array is staggered relative to the first linear contact array.

16. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the differential signal pair has a differential impedance of about 90-110 ohms.

17. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the single-ended signal conductor has a single-ended impedance of about 40-70 ohms.

18. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein at least one of the differential signal pair contacts has an insertion loss of less than about 0.7 dB at approximately 5 GHz.

19. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein multi-active near-end cross-talk measured at the differential signal pair is less than about three percent at approximately forty picoseconds and 10-90 percent rise time.

20. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein multi-active near-end cross-talk measured at the single-ended signal conductor is less than about five to eight percent at approximately 150 picoseconds and 20-80 percent rise time.

21. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein multi-active far-end cross-talk measured at the differential signal pair is less than about four percent at approximately forty picoseconds and 10-90 percent rise time.

22. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein multi-active far-end cross-talk measured at the single-ended signal conductor is less than about three percent at approximately 150 picoseconds and approximately 20-80 percent rise time.

23. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein there is limited crosstalk within a column.

24. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein crosstalk is limited as a result of a ratio of contact width to a gap width between adjacent contacts.

25. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein at least one of the single ended signal conductors has an insertion loss of less than about 2 dB at approximately 4 GHz.

26. An electrical connector, comprising:

a linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts; and

a lead frame into which the contacts at least partially extend,

wherein at least one of the contacts is a signal contact that carries electrical signals with an acceptable noise level in the absence of any shield plate or adjacent lead frame.

27. The electrical connector of claim 26, wherein there is limited crosstalk within a column.

28. An electrical connector comprising:

a lead frame adapted to receive first and second signal contacts,

wherein the signal contacts may be selectively defined in either of a first designation and a second designation such that, in the first designation, the signal contacts form a differential signal pair, and, in the second designation, the first signal contact is a single-ended signal conductor.

29. The electrical connector of claim 28, wherein the lead frame is adapted to receive a ground contact adjacent to the first signal contact.

30. The electrical connector of claim 29, wherein, in the second designation, the first signal contact forms a single-ended pair with the ground contact.

31. The electrical connector of claim 28, wherein the lead frame is further adapted to receive a third signal contact that is a single-ended signal conductor.

32. The electrical connector of claim 28, wherein the lead frame is further adapted to receive third and fourth signal contacts that form a second differential signal pair.

33. A method, comprising:

providing an electrical connector comprising a linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts and a lead frame into which the contacts at least partially extend, wherein the contacts may be selectively designated as either ground or signal contacts such that, in a first designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts, and, in a second designation, the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor;

designating the contacts as either ground or signal contacts; and

electrically connecting the electrical connector to a circuit board having at least one signaling path.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

electrically connecting a contact designated as a signal contact to a signaling path on the circuit board.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the signal path is a single-ended signaling path.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the signal path is a differential signaling path.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

designating the contacts such that the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts.

38. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

designating the contacts such that the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor.

39. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

designating the contacts such that the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts and at least one single-ended signal conductor.

40. A system, comprising:

a circuit board having at least one signaling path; and

an electrical connector comprising a linear contact array of electrically conductive contacts and a lead frame into which the contacts at least partially extend, wherein the contacts may be selectively designated as either ground or signal contacts such that, in a first designation, the contacts form at least one differential signal pair comprising a pair of signal contacts, and, in a second designation, the contacts form at least one single-ended signal conductor,

wherein the electrical connector is electrically connected to the circuit board.