Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080246555 | DIFFERENTIAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH SKEW CONTROL - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, differential electrical connectors. The connector is assembled from wafers each containing a column of conductive elements, some of which form differential pairs. A housing for the wafer is formed with regions of higher and lower dielectric constant material. The regions of lower dielectric constant material are selectively positioned adjacent longer signal conductors of the differential pairs. The material may be preferentially placed along curved segments of the differential pair to reduce crosstalk in the connector while reducing skew. | 10-09-2008 |
20080248658 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR LEAD FRAME - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, differential electrical connectors. The connector is assembled from wafers containing columns of conductive elements, some of which form differential pairs. Each column may include ground conductors adjacent pairs of signal conductors. The ground conductors may be wider than the signal conductors, with ground conductors between adjacent pairs of signal conductors being wider than ground conductors positioned at an end of at least some of the columns. Each of the conductive elements may end in a mating contact portion positioned to engage a complementary contact element in a mating connector. The mating contact portions of the signal conductors in some of the pairs may be rotated relative to the columns. The printed circuit board to which the differential signal connector is mounted may be constructed with elongated antipads around pairs of signal conductors. | 10-09-2008 |
20080248659 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH COMPLEMENTARY CONDUCTIVE ELEMENTS - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, differential electrical connectors. The connectors are formed with columns of conductive elements, some of which carry signals some of which act as ground conductors. The conductive elements may contain projections to secure the conductive elements in a housing or to facilitate desirable current flow patterns. To avoid impedance discontinuities caused by the projections, adjacent conductive elements may be formed with complementary portions to provide a relatively uniform edge-to-edge spacing between signal and ground conductors along the length of the signal conductor. To manufacture such a connector in which both the signal and the ground conductive elements contain projections, the conductive elements carrying signals may be inserted into a housing from one side and the conductive elements acting as ground conductors may be inserted from an opposite side. | 10-09-2008 |
20080248660 | HIGH SPEED, HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH SELECTIVE POSITIONING OF LOSSY REGIONS - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, high density electrical connectors. The connectors incorporate electrically lossy material, selectively positioned to reduce crosstalk without undesirably attenuating signals. The lossy material may be molded through ground conductors that separate adjacent differential pairs within columns of conductive elements in the connector. However, regions of lossy material may be set back from the edges of the ground conductors to avoid undesired attenuation of signals. Also, the lossy material may be positioned in multiple regions along the length of signal conductors. The regions may be separated by holes, notches, gaps or other openings in the lossy material, which can be simply formed as part of a molding operation. | 10-09-2008 |
20090011641 | HIGH SPEED, HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical connector includes a wafer formed with a ground shield made from a non-conductive material made conductive with conductive particles disposed therein, thereby eliminating the necessity of the metal ground shield plate found in prior art connectors while maintaining sufficient performance characteristics and minimizing electrical noise generated in the wafer. The wafer housing is formed with a first, insulative housing at least partially surrounding a pair of signal strips and a second, conductive housing at least partially surrounding the first, insulative housing and the signal strips. The housings provide the wafer with sufficient structural integrity, obviating the need for additional support structures or components for a wafer. Ground strips may be employed in the wafer and may be formed in the same plane as the signal strips. The second, conductive housing may be connected (e.g., molded) to the ground strips and spaced appropriately from the signal strips. The wafer may also include air gaps between the signal strips of one wafer and the conductive housing of an adjacent wafer further reducing electrical noise or other losses (e.g., cross-talk) without sacrificing significant signal strength. | 01-08-2009 |
20090029602 | ADAPTER FOR INTERCONNECTING ELECTRICAL ASSEMBLIES - An electrical connector suitable for use in an adapter. The connector includes conductive elements that can be routed in three dimensions to facilitate interconnections between connectors used to form an adapter. Simplified construction is achieved through use of connector wafers, each of which route signals in a plane such that when the wafers are organized side-by-side in a connector, signals may be routed through multiple parallel planes. Some of the wafers may include holes through which conductive elements from other wafers may pass, to that signal may be routed in a third dimension, perpendicular to the parallel planes. The adapter may be mounted on a printed circuit board or other substrate with active components. Signals may pass through the adapter in one of the parallel planes or may be routed for conditioning in the active components. | 01-29-2009 |
20090061684 | MIDPLANE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO AN ORTHOGONAL ARCHITECTURE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM - A midplane has a first side to which contact ends of a first differential connector are connected and a second side opposite the first side to which contact ends of a second differential connector are connected. The midplane includes a plurality of vias extending from the first side to the second side, with the vias providing first signal launches on the first side and second signal launches on the second side. The first signal launches are provided in a plurality of rows, with each row having first signal launches along a first line and first signal launches along a second line substantially parallel to the first line. The second signal launches are provided in a plurality of columns, with each column having second signal launches along a third line and second signal launches along a fourth line substantially parallel to the third line. | 03-05-2009 |
20090197483 | CONNECTOR WITH REFERENCE CONDUCTOR CONTACT - An electrical connector with a reference contact for improved shielding. The contact provides multiple points of contact between members in the ground structure of two mating connectors. The points of contact are arranged to provide desirable current flow in the signal paths and ground structures of the connectors. The contact is stamped from a shield plate and has multiple elongated members that provide spring force for adequate electrical connection. The elongated members are curved to position the points of contact with the desired orientation. Such a contact structure may be used alone or in combination with other compliant structures providing further points of contact. | 08-06-2009 |
20090239395 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR LEAD FRAME - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, high density electrical connectors. The connector is assembled from wafers containing columns of conductive elements, held in an insulative housing. The conductive elements may each have a plurality of beams of different lengths such that the mating contact surfaces of the first beam are offset, in a direction perpendicular with the columns, from the mating contact surfaces of the second beam. The mating contact surface of the shorter beam of each conductive element may be behind the mating contact of the longer beam such that the width of the conductive element is reduced while still protecting the shorter beam from stubbing upon connector mating. The multi-beam conductive elements may be used as signal or ground conductors. | 09-24-2009 |
20090298308 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR INCORPORATING PASSIVE CIRCUIT ELEMENTS - An electrical connector that electrically connects a first printed circuit board and a second printed circuit board is disclosed, where the electrical connector in the preferred embodiment includes: (a) an insulative housing; (b) a plurality of signal conductors, with at least a portion of each of the plurality of signal conductors disposed within the insulative housing; (c) each of the plurality of signal conductors having a first contact end, a second contact end and an intermediate portion therebetween; and (d) a passive circuit element electrically connected to the intermediate portion of each of the plurality of signal conductors, where the passive circuit element is housed in an insulative package and includes at least a capacitor or an inductor. | 12-03-2009 |
20090298337 | DIFFERENTIAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY - A differential connector has a plurality of rows. Each row includes a plurality of signal conductors provided as differential pairs. Each signal conductor has a first contact end connectable to a printed circuit board, a second contact end, and an intermediate portion having a first width. For each differential pair, one first contact end lies along a first line parallel to the plurality of rows and the other first contact end lies along a second line parallel to and spaced from the first line. The differential connector further includes a plurality of ground conductors, with each ground conductor corresponding to a differential pair. Each ground conductor has a first contact end connectable to the printed circuit board, a second contact end, and an intermediate portion having a second width that is at least twice the first width. | 12-03-2009 |
20100093216 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY WITH IMPROVED SHIELD AND SHIELD COUPLING - An electrical connector provides shielded signal pathways. The electrical connector includes a shield plate, a first finger that extends from an edge of the shield plate, and a second finger that extends from the edged of the shield and that is adjacent to the first finger. A channel is formed between the first finger and the second finger. A coupling is placed within the channel adjacent the first finger. The coupling includes a contact, a first connecting arm extending from a first end of the contact to a first portion of the first finger, and a second connecting arm extending from a second end of the contact to a second portion of the first finger. The first connecting arm and the second connecting arm provide at least two current paths from the contact to the first finger. | 04-15-2010 |
20110067237 | COMPRESSIVE CONTACT FOR HIGH SPEED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, high density electrical connectors. One of the connectors includes a mating contact portion that generates contact force as it is compressed against a wall of the connector housing. The mating contact portion has multiple segments, each with a contact region extending from the wall, such that multiple points of contact to a complementary mating contact portion in a mating connector are provided for mechanical robustness. Additionally, each signal path through the mating interface portions of the connectors can be narrow and has a relatively uniform cross section to provide a uniform impedance. Additional size reduction may be achieved by mounting a ground contact on an exterior surface of a connector housing in alternating rows. Additionally, embodiments in which a wavy contact is used in a cantilevered configuration are also described. | 03-24-2011 |
20110076860 | MIDPLANE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO AN ORTHOGONAL ARCHITECTURE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM - A midplane has a first side to which contact ends of a first differential connector are connected and a second side opposite the first side to which contact ends of a second differential connector are connected. The midplane includes a plurality of vias extending from the first side to the second side, with the vias providing first signal launches on the first side and second signal launches on the second side. The first signal launches are provided in a plurality of rows, with each row having first signal launches along a first line and first signal launches along a second line substantially parallel to the first line. The second signal launches are provided in a plurality of columns, with each column having second signal launches along a third line and second signal launches along a fourth line substantially parallel to the third line. | 03-31-2011 |
20110130038 | DIFFERENTIAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY - A differential connector has a plurality of rows. Each row includes a plurality of signal conductors provided as differential pairs. Each signal conductor has a first contact end connectable to a printed circuit board, a second contact end, and an intermediate portion having a first width. For each differential pair, one first contact end lies along a first line parallel to the plurality of rows and the other first contact end lies along a second line parallel to and spaced from the first line. The differential connector further includes a plurality of ground conductors, with each ground conductor corresponding to a differential pair. Each ground conductor has a first contact end connectable to the printed circuit board, a second contact end, and an intermediate portion having a second width that is at least twice the first width. | 06-02-2011 |
20110230095 | HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - 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. By using material of relatively low loss, loss when the conductive members are used to carry signals is relatively low, but an appreciable attenuation of resonances is provided on pairs connected to ground. As a result, an overall improvement of signal to noise ratio is achieved. | 09-22-2011 |
20110256741 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR INCORPORATING PASSIVE CIRCUIT ELEMENTS - An electrical connector that electrically connects a first printed circuit board and a second printed circuit board is disclosed, where the electrical connector in the preferred embodiment includes: (a) an insulative housing; (b) a plurality of signal conductors, with at least a portion of each of the plurality of signal conductors disposed within the insulative housing; (c) each of the plurality of signal conductors having a first contact end, a second contact end and an intermediate portion therebetween; and (d) a passive circuit element electrically connected to the intermediate portion of each of the plurality of signal conductors, where the passive circuit element is housed in an insulative package and includes at least a capacitor or an inductor. | 10-20-2011 |
20120156929 | Connector with Improved Shielding in Mating Contact Region - An electrical connector system includes a daughter card connector formed of a plurality of wafers. Each wafer is formed with cavities between the contacts of the signal conductors. The cavities are shaped to receive lossy inserts whereby crosstalk is reduced. The connector system may also or alternatively include a front housing formed with shield plates also to aid in reducing cross-talk. The front housing is adapted to mate between the wafers of the daughter card connector and a backplane connector of the electrical connector system. In an alternative embodiment, the front housing portion may include lossy conductive portions for cross-talk reduction. | 06-21-2012 |
20120202395 | CONNECTOR HAVING IMPROVED CONTACTS - An electrical connector for connecting a conductor of a daughter card connector wafer with a blade in the housing of a backplane connector. The daughter card conductor has a body with two elongated beams extending outward from the body. The two elongated beams each have an outer edge and an inner edge, whereby an opening is defined between the inner edges. The backplane conductor has a body with a narrowed tab portion extending outward from said second conductor body. The narrowed tab portion having outer opposite edges and is sized so that the narrowed tab portion fits between at least a portion of the outer edges of the two elongated beams, and in some cases between at least a portion of the inner edges of the two elongated beams. | 08-09-2012 |
20120214344 | HIGH SPEED, HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - A broadside coupled connector assembly has two sets of conductors, each separate planes. By providing the same path lengths, there is no skew between the conductors of the differential pair and the impedance of those conductors is identical. The conductor sets are formed by embedding the first set of conductors in an insulated housing having a top surface with channels. The second set of conductors is placed within the channels so that no air gaps form between the two sets of conductors. A second insulated housing is filled over the second set of conductors and into the channels to form a completed wafer. The ends of the first and second sets of conductors and the blades are jogged in both an x- and y-coordinate to reduce crosstalk and improve electrical performance. | 08-23-2012 |
20130112468 | MIDPLANE ESPECIALLY APPLICABLE TO AN ORTHOGONAL ARCHITECTURE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM - A midplane has a first side to which contact ends of a first differential connector are connected and a second side opposite the first side to which contact ends of a second differential connector are connected. The midplane includes a plurality of vias extending from the first side to the second side, with the vias providing first signal launches on the first side and second signal launches on the second side. The first signal launches are provided in a plurality of rows, with each row having first signal launches along a first line and first signal launches along a second line substantially parallel to the first line. The second signal launches are provided in a plurality of columns, with each column having second signal launches along a third line and second signal launches along a fourth line substantially parallel to the third line. | 05-09-2013 |
20130143442 | ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY WITH IMPROVED SHIELD AND SHIELD COUPLING - An electrical connector provides shielded signal pathways. The electrical connector includes a shield plate, a first finger that extends from an edge of the shield plate, and a second finger that extends from the edged of the shield and that is adjacent to the first finger. A channel is formed between the first finger and the second finger. A coupling is placed within the channel adjacent the first finger. The coupling includes a contact, a first connecting arm extending from a first end of the contact to a first portion of the first finger, and a second connecting arm extending from a second end of the contact to a second portion of the first finger. The first connecting arm and the second connecting arm provide at least two current paths from the contact to the first finger. | 06-06-2013 |
20130337665 | Midplane Especially Applicable to an Orthogonal Architecture Electronic System - A midplane has a first side to which contact ends of a first differential connector are connected and a second side opposite the first side to which contact ends of a second differential connector are connected. The midplane includes a plurality of vias extending from the first side to the second side, with the vias providing first signal launches on the first side and second signal launches on the second side. The first signal launches are provided in a plurality of rows, with each row having first signal launches along a first line and first signal launches along a second line substantially parallel to the first line. The second signal launches are provided in a plurality of columns, with each column having second signal launches along a third line and second signal launches along a fourth line substantially parallel to the third line. | 12-19-2013 |
20140004724 | PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD FOR RF CONNECTOR MOUNTING | 01-02-2014 |
20140004726 | LOW COST, HIGH PERFORMANCE RF CONNECTOR | 01-02-2014 |
20140004746 | HIGH PERFORMANCE CONNECTOR CONTACT STRUCTURE | 01-02-2014 |
20140057494 | HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical connector with improved high frequency performance. The connector has conductive elements, forming both signal and ground conductors, that have multiple points of contact distributed along an elongated dimension. The ground conductors may be formed with multiple beams of different length. The signal conductors may be formed with multiple contact regions on a single beam, with different characteristics. Signal conductors may have beams that are jogged to provide both a desired impedance and mating contact pitch. Additionally, electromagnetic radiation, inside and/or outside the connector may be shaped with an insert electrically connecting multiple ground structures and/or a contact feature coupling ground conductors to a stiffener. The conductive elements in different columns may be shaped differently to reduce crosstalk. | 02-27-2014 |
20140057498 | HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical connector with improved high frequency performance. The connector has conductive elements, forming both signal and ground conductors, that have multiple points of contact distributed along an elongated dimension. The ground conductors may be formed with multiple beams of different length. The signal conductors may be formed with multiple contact regions on a single beam, with different characteristics. Signal conductors may have beams that are jogged to provide both a desired impedance and mating contact pitch. Additionally, electromagnetic radiation, inside and/or outside the connector may be shaped with an insert electrically connecting multiple ground structures and/or a contact feature coupling ground conductors to a stiffener. The conductive elements in different columns may be shaped differently to reduce crosstalk. | 02-27-2014 |
20140065883 | MATING CONTACTS FOR HIGH SPEED ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, high density electrical connectors. One of the connectors includes a mating contact portion that generates contact force as it is compressed against a wall of the connector housing. The mating contact portion has multiple segments, each with a contact region extending from the wall, such that multiple points of contact to a complementary mating contact portion in a mating connector are provided for mechanical robustness. Additionally, each signal path through the mating interface portions of the connectors can be narrow and has a relatively uniform cross section to provide a uniform impedance. Additional size reduction may be achieved by mounting a ground contact on an exterior surface of a connector housing in alternating rows. Additionally, embodiments in which a wavy contact is used in a cantilevered configuration are also described. | 03-06-2014 |
20140273557 | HOUSING FOR A HIGH SPEED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical connector designed for high speed signals. The connector includes one or more features that, when used alone or in combination, extend performance to higher speeds. These features may include compensation for tie bars that are used to hold conductive members in place for molding a housing around the conductive members. Removal of the tie bars during manufacture of the connector may leave artifacts in the conductive members and/or housing, which may be addressed by the features. The conductive members, for example, may include regions, adjacent tie bar locations, that compensate for portions of the tie bar that are not fully removed. Alternatively or additionally, a housing may include openings around tie bar locations such that a punch may be used to sever the tie bars. These openings may be filled to avoid performance-affecting artifacts. | 09-18-2014 |
20140273663 | LEAD FRAME FOR A HIGH SPEED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - An electrical connector designed for high speed signals. The connector includes one or more features that, when used alone or in combination, extend performance to higher speeds. These features may include compensation for tie bars that are used to hold conductive members in place for molding a housing around the conductive members. Removal of the tie bars during manufacture of the connector may leave artifacts in the conductive members and/or housing, which may degrade electrical performance. However, that degradation may be avoided by features that compensate for the artifacts. The conductive members, for example, may include regions, adjacent tie bar locations, that compensate for portions of the tie bar that are not fully removed. | 09-18-2014 |
20140273671 | MATING INTERFACES FOR HIGH SPEED HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - Mating interfaces for high speed, high density electrical connectors. In some embodiments, a contact comprises a base region, a first elongated member comprising a distal end attached to the base region and a proximal portion, a second elongated member comprising a distal end attached to the base region and a proximal portion, and a strap coupling the distal portion of the first elongated member to the distal portion of the second elongated member, wherein the strap is conductive and compliant such that the distal portion of the first elongated member is capable of moving independently of and is electrically connected to the distal portion of the second elongated member. | 09-18-2014 |
20140287627 | MATING INTERFACES FOR HIGH SPEED HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS - Mating interfaces for an electrical connector are provided. In some embodiments, a mating interface comprises: a plurality of conductive elements positioned in a plurality of columns, each of the plurality of conductive elements comprising: a sheet of conductive material formed into a three dimensional structure such that the conductive material is disposed on at least two sides of an opening adapted to receive a mating conductive element; and at least one tab cut in the sheet, the at least one tab comprising a mating contact surface facing the opening and adapted to make contact to the mating conductive element. | 09-25-2014 |
20140329414 | MATING CONTACTS FOR HIGH SPEED ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS - An electrical interconnection system with high speed, high density electrical connectors. One of the connectors includes a mating contact portion that has multiple contact surface. The mating contact portion has multiple segments, each with a contact surface, such that multiple points of contact to a complementary mating contact portion in a mating connector are provided for mechanical robustness. Such a mating contact may have parallel elongated members on which the mating surface are positioned, providing for the possibility of more than two contact surface per mating contact portion. The mating contact surfaces may be positioned on the elongated members such that the points of contact are at different distances from the distal end of the mating contact portion. | 11-06-2014 |
20140335735 | HIGH SPEED, HIGH DENSITY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - A broadside coupled connector assembly has two sets of conductors, each separate planes. By providing the same path lengths, there is no skew between the conductors of the differential pair and the impedance of those conductors is identical. The conductor sets are formed by embedding the first set of conductors in an insulated housing having a top surface with channels. The second set of conductors is placed within the channels so that no air gaps form between the two sets of conductors. A second insulated housing is filled over the second set of conductors and into the channels to form a completed wafer. The ends of the conductors are received in a blade housing. Differential and ground pairs of blades have one end that extends through the bottom of the housing having a small footprint. An opposite end of the pairs of blades diverge to connect with the wafers. The ends of the first and second sets of conductors and the blades are jogged in both an x- and y-coordinate to reduce crosstalk and improve electrical performance. | 11-13-2014 |
20150056856 | HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR - 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. By using material of relatively low loss, loss when the conductive members are used to carry signals is relatively low, but an appreciable attenuation of resonances is provided on pairs connected to ground. As a result, an overall improvement of signal to noise ratio is achieved. | 02-26-2015 |