Electrical connector with impedance control members at mating interface

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing including a base having a mating face, the base including divider walls and septums that define an array of signal apertures, the signal apertures extending through the base from the mating face, the signal apertures arranged in pairs, each septum extending between and separating the two signal apertures in a corresponding one of the pairs;
• and
• plural signal contacts held in the signal apertures of the base, the signal contacts including mating segments that extend beyond the mating face of the base for electrically connecting to corresponding mating signal contacts of a mating connector,
• wherein the signal contacts that are held in a common pair of the signal apertures represent a contact pair, and the septums of the base include inter-contact protrusions, the inter-contact protrusions extending a height beyond the mating face of the base between the signal contacts of each contact pair.

A connector system comprising:

• a header connector including a header housing having a mating face, the header housing holding plural header signal contacts, the header signal contacts having mating segments that extend beyond the mating face, the header signal contacts arranged in contact pairs within the header housing, the header housing including impedance control (IC) members that project beyond the mating face, the IC members including inter-contact protrusions that are located between the mating segments of the header signal contacts in each contact pair;
• and
• a receptacle connector including a receptacle housing having a mating face, the mating face of the receptacle housing configured to abut the mating face of the header housing at a mating interface when the receptacle connector is fully mated to the header connector, the receptacle housing defining guide tunnels along the mating face, each guide tunnel fluidly connected to a corresponding pair of signal openings that extend through the receptacle housing such that the guide tunnel provides a lead-in space to the pair of signal openings, the signal openings configured to receive the mating segments of the header signal contacts therein through the guide tunnels to electrically connect to receptacle signal contacts held in the signal openings,
• wherein the IC members of the header housing are configured to extend across the mating interface when the header connector is fully mated to the receptacle connector such that the inter-contact protrusions are received into the guide tunnels of the receptacle housing.