Abstract:
An electrical connector includes an electrically insulative housing having a plurality of passageways and an identical number of contacts. Each contact has an solder portion connected with a solder ball. The solder portion has at least two solder faces which are perpendicular from each other. The solder faces are partly engaged into the solder ball and soldered with the solder ball.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a conductive contact soldered with a quantity of solder, especially to such a contact which is used in a ball grid array (BGA) connector.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Prior Art  
         [0004]     Today, it is well known in the field of electrical connector that there are usually two kinds of contacts used in the electrical connector for connecting integrated circuit (IC) package to printed circuit board (PCB), i.e. pin-foot-like contact which used for pin grid array (PGA) socket and soldering-ball contact which used for ball grid array (BGA) socket. With the rapid development of manufacturing technology, solder-ball-planting technique has been developed and now is widely used, which makes surface-mount-assembling contact popular for connecting PCB. This technique is disclosed both in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,842, published on Aug. 1, 2000, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,321, published on Aug. 8, 2000. The contact in this technique is associated with a quantity of solder at one end so that after the contacts are juxtaposed to a substrate (usually with a corresponding conductive face areas or pads to which the contacts to be connected) and then the assembly is heated, the solder is partly molten and the molten portion covers the juxtaposed contacts and the substrate to form, when cool, soldered joints serving as electrical and mechanical connections between the contacts and the substrate.  
         [0005]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a solder-ball-bearing contact of a conventional connector is shown. The contact defines a soldering portion with a planar bottom face. A solder ball is attached to the bottom face and then soldered to the contact.  
         [0006]     However, just before attaching the solder to the contact, a kind of adhesive flux is needed to be applied over the bottom face of the contact in order to help the contact and the solder adhering to each other. Conventionally, the flux is apt to be applied by error to an unwanted portion of the contact, thereby adversely affecting the electrical connection between the contact and the complementary electrical element. In addition, another disadvantage of the present technique is that the planar soldering face formed between the contact and the solder may easily lead to metal fatigue. As a matter of experience, metal fatigue arises more easily at the soldering position. Under alternate stress, the void coalescence in the soldering connection leads to crack and then the crack grows straightly along the bottom face leading to metal fatigue.  
         [0007]     So a new connector that overcomes the above-mentioned problems is desired.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An object of the present invention is to provide a connector, each contacts of which can be conveniently associated with a mass of solder without any adhesive flux.  
         [0009]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a connector, each contacts of which is associated with a mass of solder, wherein the connection between the contact and the solder is less susceptible to crack which may lead to metal fatigue eventually.  
         [0010]     In order to achieve the above objects, a connector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a housing having a plurality of passageways, an identical number of electrical conductive contacts received in said passageways. Each contact defines an solder portion connected with a solder ball. The solder portion defines at least two solder faces perpendicular to each other. The at least two faces form at least a sharp point. When push the solder ball against the soldering portion, the sharp point and part of the solder faces are engaged into the solder ball so the solder ball gets stuck to the contact. After soldering the solder ball to the contact, when in work, cracks may produce and extend along one of the soldering face, then they will meet the base inner solder that is less susceptible to cracks, which will delay further straightly developing of the crack.  
         [0011]     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is an assembled view of a connector in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is an isometric view of a contact in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a discrete solder ball and molds in open position;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a partly cross-sectional side view of the contact of FIG.  3 , showing the solder ball partly wedged into the solder portion of the contact;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is the same view as  FIG. 4 , except that the solder has been soldered with the contact is a partly cross-sectional side view of the contact of  FIG. 3 , showing the solder ball partly wedged into the solder portion of the contact;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is an isometric view of a contact in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention, with a discrete solder ball; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a solderball-bearing contact of a conventional connector. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]     Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present invention in detail.  
         [0019]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a connector  10  in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The connector  10  is to be soldered to a PCB (not shown) so as to connect an integrated circuit (IC) package with pin-foot-like contact, such as a central processing unit (CPU) (not shown) to the PCB. The connector  10  comprises a electrically insulative housing  12  with a plurality of passageways  122  arrayed therein and a plurality of electrically conductive contacts  16  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) received in the corresponding passageways  122 .  
         [0020]     Referring to  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4 , the contact  16  comprises a sheet-like base  160  defining an upper end and a lower end, a arch-shaped contacting portion  162  extending from the upper end of the base  160 , a Circular sheet of soldering portion  164  perpendicularly connected to the lower end of the base  160 . The base  160  is configured to be engaged with corresponding passageway  122  and secure the contact  16  therein. The contacting portion  162  is configured to contact with the electrically conductive foot (not shown) protruding from the IC. The soldering portion  164  defines a planar bottom face  1642  and a round through-hole  1640  through the bottom face  1642  and cutting through the Circular sheet. The through-hole  1640  defines a side cylinder face  1644  perpendicular to the bottom face  1642  and so a sharp point  1646  is shaped where the bottom face and the cylinder face intersects.  
         [0021]     In order to solder the contacts  16  of the connector  10  to the PCB, each of the contacts  16  are preplanted with a solder ball  18  before it is inserted into the housing  12 . The solder ball  18  is of good plasticity and ready to melt when heated to a low temperature about 190 centigrade degree. The solder-ball-preplanted process includes two steps: firstly, pushing the solder ball  18  perpendicularly to the soldering portion  164  till the solder ball  18  is partly wedged into the through-hole  1640 , and the sharp point thrust into the solder ball  18 , so that the solder ball is attached to the contact  16  by the interference between the solder ball  18  and the soldering portion  164 ; then, heating contact  16  till part of the solder ball  18  melts and then cooling down so that the melted solder material solidifies and then the solder ball  18  is firmly connected to the contact  16 . Wherein the first step, an upper mold  20  pressing on the soldering portion  164  and a lower mold  40  to push the solder ball  18  to the soldering portion  164  from below are provided so that undesired deformation will not take place about the soldering portion  164 .  
         [0022]     So when the solder ball  18  is attached to the contact  16 , there is no need of viscid flux applied over the bottom face  1642 , just wedging the solder ball till part of the solder ball  18  gets into the through-hole  1640 , the solder ball  18  will then get stuck to the contact  16  by the interference action between the solder ball  18  and the soldering portion  164 . Further more, after the connector  10  is soldered to the PCB, when suffering from the vibration or impulse in working environment, the soldering connection between the bottom face  1642  and the solder ball  18  is easy to produce cracks and then the cracks develop straightly along the bottom face where there are more lattice imperfections, which may lead to the break of the soldering connection. While, in the present invention, the soldering connection includes a portion along the bottom face  1642  and another portion along the cylinder face  1644 . The base of the solder ball  18  in the center of the soldering portion  164  is less sensitive to the crack for there are less lattice imperfections therein. So when the crack extends along the bottom face  1642  to the cylinder face  1644 , the base in the center of the soldering portion  164  delays further straight developing of the crack which may lead to the break of the soldering connection.  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a contact  16 ′ in accordance with an alternatve embodiment of the present invention with a discrete solder ball  18 ′ is shown. The soldering portion  164 ′ defines a heterotypic through-hole  1640 ′ with a plurality of zigzag side faces  1644 ′. The zigzag faces  1644 ′ form many sharp points  1646 ′. When the solder ball  18 ′ is wedged partly into the through-hole  1640 , the sharp points  1646 ′ thrust into the solder ball  18 ′, which increases the force the contact  16 ′ acts on the solder ball  18 ′. Further more, after the solder ball  18 ′ is soldered to the soldering portion  164 ′ of the contact  16 , there are many zigzag soldering faces which increas the soldering area of the connection and so the strength of the soldering connection as well.  
         [0024]     While preferred embodiments in accordance with the present n have been shown and described, equivalent modifications and known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as in the appended claims.