Abstract:
Devices and methods are disclosed for reinforcing substrates having edge-mount connectors. In one embodiment, the device comprises a fragile substrate, a reinforcement plate bonded to the substrate, and an edge-mount connector mated with the substrate and the reinforcement plate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    Connectors are used to route power, ground, and signals, to and from electrical circuits on a substrate. Sometimes, the substrates used may be made of a fragile material, such as thin ceramic. Attaching a connector to such a substrate may cause the substrate to break. Assuming that the connector is successfully attached to the substrate, the stress of attaching a cable to a conventional connector may also cause the substrate to break.  
           [0002]    Specific connectors may be tooled that have a larger attachment to the substrate, which may prevent the substrate from breaking. However, this may be prohibitively expensive due to the large number of different connector versions within a connector type that may be required for the different types of circuit layouts and products that may be added to the substrate. The expense of tooling specific connectors may be further increased by other requirements, such as minimizing size and the need for high frequency signal integrity, which may limit acceptable connector locations within a circuit and the type and nearness of surrounding circuit elements.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Devices and methods are disclosed for reinforcing fragile substrates having edge-mount connectors. In one embodiment, a device is disclosed comprising a fragile substrate. The fragile substrate is bonded to a reinforcement plate. An edge-mount connector is mated with the substrate and the reinforcement plate. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]    Illustrative and presently preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings in which:  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 illustrates a top view of a first exemplary device comprising a reinforced substrate and an edge-mount connector;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the device shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 illustrates a bottom view of the device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of a second exemplary device comprising a reinforced substrate and an edge-mount connector;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 5 illustrates a bottom view of the device shown in FIG. 4; and  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method that may be used to construct the devices shown in FIGS. 1-5.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0011]    [0011]FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a reinforced substrate having an edge-mount connector. A substrate  100  is shown. By way of example, the substrate may be a fragile substrate, such as a thin ceramic substrate. Substrate  100  includes circuitry with two ground traces  102 ,  106  and one signal trace  104 . It should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments, substrate  100  may include additional circuitry or circuitry different than that depicted in FIG. 1 (including various combinations of power, ground, or signal traces, as well as attached circuit components). Additionally, it should be appreciated that the ground traces  102 ,  106  and/or the signal trace  104  may not run the entire length of substrate  100 .  
         [0012]    Reinforcement plate  202  (e.g., plated and/or stamped metal) is bonded to substrate  100 . As shown in FIG. 4, in one embodiment, reinforcement plate  202  may be bonded to substrate  100  with solder  402 . Alternately, reinforcement plate  202  may be bonded to substrate  100  with adhesive or another bonding material. Reinforcement plate  202  may be rectangular, square, or another shape and preferably covers substantially all of one surface of the substrate  100 . However, in alternate embodiments, reinforcement plate may cover a smaller area of the substrate  100 . It should be appreciated that reinforcement plate  202  may diffuse forces on the fragile substrate  100  caused by mating a cable with connector  110 .  
         [0013]    An edge-mount connector  110  is mated with the substrate  100  and the reinforcement plate  202 . Edge-mount connector  110  may be one-piece or it may be made up of multiple components. It may be used to connect the ground traces  102 ,  106  and the signal trace  104  of substrate  100  to a cable inserted into edge-mount connector  110 .  
         [0014]    In one embodiment, reinforcement plate  202  may define notches  302 ,  304  to receive edge-mount connector  110 , and edge-mount connector  110  may be connected to reinforcement plate  202  using a bonding material, such as solder or adhesive or another bonding material. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments may not include notches. Other features, such as grooves or ridges, may be used to mate reinforcement plate  202  to edge-mount connector  110 . Alternately, reinforcement plate  202  may not include any features to mate with edge-mount connector  110 .  
         [0015]    As shown in FIG. 5, reinforcement plate  202  may be grounded to the edge-mount connector by using a conductive adhesive or solder  502  to electrically couple reinforcement plate  202  to edge-mount connector  110 . This may cause the reinforcement plate  202  to act as a ground plane for the circuitry  104 .  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method that may be used to reinforce fragile substrates with edge-mount connectors. A device may be produced by bonding  605  reinforcement plate  202  to substrate  100 . By way of example, the reinforcement plate  202  may be bonded to substrate  100  using solder or adhesive. The reinforcement plate  202  may include notches  302 ,  304  to receive an edge-mount connector  110 , but need not. The edge-mount connector  110  is mated to the substrate  100  and the notches  302 ,  304  on the reinforcement plate  202 . In one embodiment, reinforcement plate  202  may be grounded to edge-mount connector  110  by using solder  502  or conductive adhesive to bond reinforcement plate  202  to edge-mount connector  110 .  
         [0017]    While illustrative and presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations, except as limited by the prior art.