Back to results
US 2006/0189212 A1Published application
Differential signal connector with wafer-style construction
AssigneeMolex Incorproated
InventorsHazelton Avery, Patrick Casher, Richard Nelson, Kent Regnier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Stacked receptacles in a connector that each provide side-by-side differential signal contacts, are attached to a circuit board without additional width to accommodate multiple layers of differential signals by using connector wafer inserts that rotate the side-by-side positioned differential signal contacts to front-to-back contacts.
Claims26
A differential signal insert wafer, comprising:
- a left wafer half including a first planar spacer having a front edge and an opposing rear edge and opposing top and bottom edges, said top and bottom edges being orthogonal to the front edge, and a first signal terminal fixed in the first spacer having a horizontal portion extending from a first point beyond the front edge of the first spacer to a second point in the first spacer proximate to the rear edge, a vertical portion extending from the second point to a third point in the first spacer above the bottom edge, said horizontal and vertical portions lying in a first plane, said first signal terminal having a first offset that extends from the third point in the first spacer away from the first plane in a first direction to a second plane parallel to and spaced from said first plane, said first offset portion extending downwardly past the bottom edge of the first spacer in said second plane;
- and,
- a right wafer half that mates to said left wafer half including a second planar spacer having a front edge and an opposing rear edge and having opposing top and bottom edges, said top and bottom edges being orthogonal to the front edge, and a second signal terminal fixed in the second spacer and having a horizontal portion extending from a first point beyond the front edge of the second spacer to a second point in the second spacer proximate to the rear edge of the second spacer, a vertical portion extending from the second point to a third point in the second spacer above the bottom edge of the second spacer, said horizontal and vertical portions lying in a second plane parallel to and displaced from the first plane, said second signal terminal having a second offset that extends from the third point in the second spacer away from the second plane in a second direction to the second plane, said second offset portion extending downwardly past the bottom edge of the second spacer in said second plane but laterally displaced from and the first offset portion.
A connector, comprising:
- a first planar differential signal insert wafer, a planar ground insert wafer disposed parallel to and displaced from said first planar differential signal insert wafer by a first distance in a first direction;
- and, a second planar differential signal insert wafer parallel to and displaced from said planar ground insert wafer by a second first distance in said first direction.
A connector, comprising:
- a first planar ground insert wafer;
- a first planar differential signal wafer insert, parallel to and displaced from said ground wafer insert by a first distance in a first direction;
- a second planar ground wafer insert parallel to and displaced from said first planar differential signal wafer insert by a first distance in a first direction;
- and,
- a second planar differential signal wafer insert parallel to and displaced from said planar ground wafer insert by a second distance in said first direction.
2 more elements
A connector comprising:
- a housing having a front face and a bottom, and at least one first planar differential signal insert wafer within said housing;
- the insert wafer including first and second differential signal contacts accessible through said front face and being vertically displaced from each other by a first separation distance and lying in a first vertical plane;
- third and fourth differential signal contacts accessible through said front face and vertically displaced from each other by a second separation distance and lying in said first vertical plane;
- said first and said third differential signal contacts vertically separated from each other at said front face by a third separation distance, said second and said fourth differential signal contacts also separated from each other by said third separation distance, said third separation distance being greater than said first and second separation distances, said first, second, third and fourth differential signal contacts extending through said signal wafer insert such that they all extend from the bottom of said connector housing, said first, second, third and fourth differential signal contacts that extend from the housing bottom being co-planar and lying in a plane orthogonal to the front face of the connector;
- and,
- a retention clip lying in said first vertical plane and located between the first and second differential connectors and the third and fourth differential connections, said retention clip holding the signal insert wafer in said housing.
3 more elements
A connector, comprising:
- an insulative housing, the housing having a mating face for engaging with an opposing connector, and a mounting face for mounting the connector to a circuit board;
- and,
- a plurality of conductive terminals supported in the housing, the terminals being arranged into sets of at least one pair of differential signal terminals and a pair of ground terminals, the terminals having contact portions that extend along the connector mating face and tail portions that extend along the connector mounting face and body portion that interconnect the contact and terminal portions together, the pair of differential signal terminals being arranged at their contact portions side-by-side in order to effect broadside capacitive coupling between said contact portions of said pair of differential signal terminals, and the pair of differential signal terminals being arranged at their tail portions edge-to-edge in order to effect edge coupling between said tail portions of said differential signal terminals.
A circuit board for use with a connector carrying differential signals, comprising:
- a substrate, the substrate including a plurality of openings formed therein, the openings including plated portions so as to make electrical contact with a conductive terminal tail portion inserted therein, the openings being divided into first and second groups of openings, the first group of openings receiving differential signal terminal tails therein when a connector is mounted to said circuit board and the second group of openings receiving ground signal terminal tails therein when a connector is mounted to said circuit board;
- each first opening having a pair of second opening associated therewith, the first opening and said second opening pair being arranged at apexes of an imaginary triangle, two of said first opening being spaced apart from each other and aligned with each other such that said two first openings are contained within a perimeter defined by imaginary lines intersecting said two pairs of second openings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.