High density, high speed, high performance card edge connector

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing comprising a mating face, a mounting face, and a slot recessed from the mating face;
• a plurality of conductive elements held by the housing in first and second rows separated by the slot, each of the plurality of conductive elements comprising a mating end curving into the slot, a tail end extending out of the mounting face, and an intermediate portion between the mating end and the tail end, the plurality of conductive elements disposed in the housing, with the tail ends at least partially located outside of the housing;
• and
• a conductive member separated from the slot by the first row of conductive element, the conductive member comprising:
• a planar body disposed in the housing and orthogonal to the mating face, and
• a plurality of beams extending from the planar body and coupled to the intermediate portions of a subset of the plurality of conductive elements in the first row.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a plurality of conductive elements disposed in a row, each of the plurality of conductive elements comprising a mating end having a mating contact portion, a tail end configured to mount to a contact pad on a surface of a circuit board, and an intermediate portion between the mating end and the tail end;
• a first conductive member disposed on a first side of the row, the first conductive member comprising a plurality of first beams configured to contact the intermediate portion of selected ones of the plurality of conductive elements from the first side;
• and
• a second conductive member disposed on a second side of the row opposite the first side, the second conductive member comprising a plurality of second beams configured to contact the intermediate portions of the selected ones of the plurality of conductive elements from the second side.