Electrical connectors and printed circuits having broadside-coupling regions

A printed circuit configured to communicatively couple to mating and loading conductors, the printed circuit comprising:

• a dielectric substrate that has opposite surfaces and a thickness measured along an orientation axis extending between the opposite surfaces;
• associated pairs of input and output terminals attached to the dielectric substrate, the input terminals being configured to communicatively couple to the mating conductors and the output terminals being configured to communicatively couple to the loading conductors;
• and
• signal traces electrically connecting the associated pairs of input and output terminals, the signal traces comprising differential pairs, wherein each associated pair of input and output terminals is electrically connected through a corresponding signal trace that has a conductive path extending along the dielectric substrate between the corresponding input and output terminals, at least two signal traces from separate differential pairs forming a broadside-coupling region in which the at least two signal traces are stacked along the orientation axis and spaced apart by the board substrate, the at least two signal traces extending parallel to each other through the broadside-coupling region for a crosstalk-reducing distance.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing having an interior chamber that is configured to receive a modular plug;
• a terminal sub-assembly comprising a loading body configured to hold cable conductors of a communication cable;
• a contact sub-assembly at least partially disposed within the interior chamber of the housing, the contact sub-assembly comprising:
• mating conductors configured to engage plug contacts from the modular plug at a mating interface, the mating conductors comprising differential pairs;
• and
• a circuit board including a board substrate that has opposite board surfaces and a thickness measured along an orientation axis extending between the opposite board surfaces, the circuit board having associated pairs of input and output terminals attached to the board substrate and signal traces that electrically connect the associated pairs of input and output terminals, the input terminals being communicatively coupled to the mating conductors and the output terminals being configured to communicatively couple to the cable conductors;
• wherein each associated pair of input and output terminals is electrically connected through a corresponding signal trace that has a conductive path extending along the board substrate between the corresponding input and output terminals, at least two signal traces forming a broadside-coupling region in which the at least two signal traces are stacked along the orientation axis and spaced apart by the board substrate, the at least two signal traces extending parallel to each other through the broadside-coupling region for a crosstalk-reducing distance, the at least two signal traces being electrically connected to separate differential pairs.