Pseudo-coaxial wafer assembly for connector

A connector, comprising:

• a plurality of conductive terminals having contact portions for mating with terminals of an opposing connector and tail portions for mounting to a circuit board;
• an insulative shell member supporting the terminals, the shell member including a body portion having a plurality of walls formed thereon, the walls and body portion cooperatively forming a plurality of insulative terminal-receiving channels formed therein, each of the channels receiving a single terminal therein, each of said channels further including an opening at one end for receiving a contact portion of a terminal from the opposing connector, said shell member further including a plurality of spaced-apart slots disposed therein, the slots partially separating adjacent channels;
• and,
• a conductive shield member that is engageable with said shell member, the shield member including a base with a plurality of spaced-apart walls disposed thereon, the walls being received within said shell member slots such that said shield member base and walls define at least three conductive members that are located on three distinct sides of said channel in order to partially surround channels that extend along at least three sides of said terminals within said body channels.

A connector comprising:

• a plurality of individual terminal assemblies, each terminal assembly having a plurality of signal terminal disposed therein in a signal terminal array, each signal terminal including a contact portion for mating with an opposing connector, a tail portion for connecting to a circuit board and a body portion interconnecting the contact and tail portions together, the terminal body portions being supported within an insulative frame;
• the terminal tail portions including wide body portions for surface mounting said terminals to a circuit board, the tail wide body portion including narrow contact portions that extend out therefrom into contact with solder on a circuit board when said connector is mounted to the circuit board, the difference in dimensions between said wide body and narrow contact portions defining notches that promote wicking of solder onto said tail wide body portions;
• and,
• a conductive ground structure that encompasses said signal terminals and which supports the frame, the ground structure including at least a pair of interengaging housing halves said frame and terminals in place therebetween, the ground structure including a plurality of surface mount tail portions arranged along opposing edges of a mounting face of said ground structure, the ground structure surface mount tail portions also including having wide body portions and narrow contact portions extending therefrom, the difference in size between said narrow contact portions and the wide body portions promoting wicking of solder onto the ground structure surface mount tail portions.