Paddle card having shortened signal contact pads

A method of mating a substrate to an electrical connector,

• the substrate comprising:
• a trailing end and a leading end spaced from the trailing end in a direction of insertion of the substrate into the electrical connector;
• at least one surface;
• and
• at least one electrical signal contact pad carried by the at least one surface and defining a trailing edge and a leading edge spaced from the trailing edge in the direction of insertion, the electrical signal contact pad having a signal contact pad length from the leading edge to the trailing edge that is less than another signal contact pad length of a signal contact pad of another substrate that is configured to be received by the electrical connector by an offset distance,
• wherein the at least one electrically conductive signal contact pad comprises a plurality of electrically conductive pads arranged in pairs, and the substrate further comprises a ground contact pad disposed between the pairs,
• the connector comprising:
• a connector housing and a plurality of electrical contacts supported by the connector housing, the electrical contacts having mating ends that extend into at least one receptacle of the connector housing, and the at least one receptacle is configured to receive at least one mating substrate comprising, the mating substrate comprising:
• a trailing end and a leading end spaced from the trailing end in a direction of insertion of the mating substrate into the electrical connector;
• at least one surface;
• and
• at least one electrical signal contact pad carried by the at least one surface and defining a trailing edge and a leading edge spaced from the trailing edge in the direction of insertion, the electrical signal contact pad having a signal contact pad length from the leading edge to the trailing edge that is less than another signal contact pad length of a signal contact pad of another substrate that is configured to be received by the electrical connector by an offset distance, wherein the signal contact pad length is approximately 1.65 mm, and
• the method comprising:
• inserting the leading end of the substrate into the receptacle of the electrical connector in the insertion direction;
• and
• bringing the mating ends of the plurality of electrical contacts of the electrical connector into contact with respective ones of the plurality of electrical signal contact pads.