Electrical connector assembly

An electrical connector, comprising:

• a rectangular housing defining a top face for connection to a printed circuit board, a bottom face for connection to a mated connector, a front and rear face and two lateral walls between the top and bottom faces, a channel exposed to the bottom face and a number of contact passageways beside the channel and defined from the bottom face to the top face;
• a number of contacts fixedly received in the contact passageways;
• and
• a pair of metal shields mounted to the front and rear faces of the housing, respectively, each shield integrally formed with a rectangular body portion and two lateral sections, each lateral section formed with an upper solder pad bent to be substantially flush with and beside the top face of the housing, and a leg bent to cover a corresponding lateral wall of the housing, said rectangular body portion formed with a bent line between and parallel to an upper and lower edge of the body portion, said bent line causing the lower edge to extend toward the housing.

A combination of a mother board, a receptacle connector, a plug connector and a daughter board, comprising:

• a mother board comprising a grounding circuit;
• a receptacle connector mounted to the mother board, comprising:
• a first dielectric rectangular housing having a top face connected to the mother board, a bottom face opposite the top face, a front and rear face and two lateral walls between the bottom and top faces, a channel in the bottom face and a number of first contact passageways beside the channel and defined from the bottom face to the top face;
• a number of first contacts fixedly received in the first contact passageways, each first contact having a tail portion soldered to the mother board;
• and
• a pair of metal shields fixed to the front and rear faces of the first housing, each metal shield integrally formed with a pair of lateral sections and a body portion therebetween, each lateral section having an upper solder pad soldered to the grounding circuit of the mother board and a leg covering a corresponding lateral wall of the first housing;
• a daughter board comprising a grounding circuit;
• and
• a plug connector, comprising:
• a second rectangular housing defining an outer wall and a ridge within the outer wall, and extending into the channel of the first housing and defining a number of second contact passageways;
• a number of second contacts received in the second contact passageways and electrically connected with the corresponding first contacts, each second contact having a tail portion soldered to the daughter board;
• and
• a pair of solder pads fixed to the second housing, soldered to the grounding circuit of the daughter board and electrically connected with the legs of the shields, respectively;
• said body portion of each shield being formed with a bent line causing a bottom edge thereof to extend toward the second housing to electrically engage with some of the second contacts.

A connector for use with a board, comprising:

• a dielectric housing having a top face and a bottom face opposite the top face, a front and a rear face and two lateral walls between the top and the bottom faces;
• at least a metal shield including a body portion and mounting to one of said front and rear faces;
• and
• said metal shield integrally including at least a solder pad flush with the top face of the housing for mounting to said board, wherein said solder pad extends laterally beyond the corresponding lateral wall of the housing.

An arrangement of grounding two mated connectors respectively mounted on two opposite boards, comprising:

• a first connector being higher than a second connector;
• said first connector including a first housing with at least one shield covering at least one of front and rear faces, said shield further defining at least one leg extending downward along a lateral wall of the first housing, said first connector mounted on a first board;
• and
• the second connector mounted to a second board and including at least one solder pad electrically connected to grounding circuits on the second board;
• wherein
• the leg of the shield of the first connector substantially engages with the solder pad of the second connector for efficient grounding.