Ground shield contact member

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing having at least one slot for receiving an electrical wafer therein;
• signal contacts positioned on a first side of the at least one slot, the signal contacts having signal contact resilient contact arms extending into the at least one slot, the signal contact resilient contact arms exert a first normal force on the electrical wafer inserted in the at least one slot;
• at least one ground shield contact member positioned on a second side of the at least one slot, the second side being opposed to the first side, the at least one ground shield contact member having ground shield resilient contact arms extending into the at least one slot, the ground shield resilient contact arms exert a second normal force on the wafer inserted in the at least one slot;
• the second normal force exerted by the ground shield resilient contact arms is greater than the first normal force exerted by the signal contact resilient contact arms;
• wherein the wafer is biased toward the signal contact resilient contact arms of the signal contacts regardless of a thickness of the wafer allowing the first normal force exerted on the wafer to be independent of a wafer thickness tolerance;
• wherein a securing section extends from a second end of the planar ground shield portion, the second end of the planar ground shield portion is opposed to the first end of the planar ground shield portion.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing having at least one slot for receiving an electrical wafer therein;
• signal contacts positioned on a first side of the at least one slot, the signal contacts having signal contact resilient contact arms extending into the at least one slot, the signal contact resilient contact arms exert a first normal force on the electrical wafer inserted in the at least one slot;
• at least one ground shield contact member positioned on a second side of the at least one slot, the second side being opposed to the first side, the at least one ground shield contact member having ground shield resilient contact arms extending into the at least one slot, the ground shield resilient contact arms exert a second normal force on the wafer inserted in the at least one slot;
• the second normal force exerted by the ground shield resilient contact arms is greater than the first normal force exerted by the signal contact resilient contact arms;
• wherein the wafer is biased toward the signal contact resilient contact arms of the signal contacts regardless of a thickness of the wafer allowing the first normal force exerted on the wafer to be independent of a wafer thickness tolerance;
• wherein the at least one ground shield contact member makes a ground connection from a backplane circuit board on which the electrical connector is mounted to ground planes of the wafer, the at least one ground shield contact member provides mechanical stability and signal integrity.