Patent Publication Number: US-7914302-B1

Title: High frequency electrical connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to a novel structure of an electrical connector with an improved high frequency performance. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     The usage of electrical connectors with high frequency performance has increased. The undesired signal or loss of signal strength in high frequency electrical connectors become much more frequently. For example, an electrical connector with high frequency signal transmission includes an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts disposed in a plurality of passageways of the insulative housing. Because of electromagnetic wave between each two adjacent contacts, the two contacts are easy to cause undesired signal and crosstalk. When high frequency signals transmit, signals become much weak and electrical connectors can not work normally or cause dummy signal. Thus, an electrical connector with improved high frequency performance is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the related art. 
     Hence, the present invention is directed to solving this problem in the related art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide an electrical connector with new contacts to improve high frequency performance thereof. 
     In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector assembly has an elongated insulative housing and a plurality of signal contacts secured in corresponding passageways defined in the housing. Each signal contact has a retention portion retained in the passageway, a contact portion extending from the retention portion and a soldering portion extending from the retention portion. The contact portion defines a first face exposing an exterior of the passageways and a second face opposite to the first face. Wherein each of signal contacts defines a recess on the second face. The signal contacts become thinner so as to prevent signal contacts from crosstalk and improve high frequency performance. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an assembled perspective view of an electrical connector of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of all the contacts of the electrical connector as shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector taken along lines  4 - 4  in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a partly-enlarged view of the electrical connector as shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is an assembled perspective view of an electrical connector of another embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a contact of the electrical connector as shown in  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a side elevational view of the contact of the electrical connector as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an electrical connector  100  of the present invention is accordance with a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) standard. The electrical connector  100  comprises an insulative housing  1  defining two mating ports  110 ,  111  with a plurality of contact  2  in the mating ports  110 ,  111 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the insulative housing  1  is substantially elongated and integrally formed which has a front mating face  11  for confronting with a complementary connector (not shown), a rear face  13  opposite to the front mating face  11  and a top face  12  perpendicular to the mating face  11 . The first mating port  110  extends between the mating face  11  and the rear face  13  and opens upwardly and forwardly. The first mating port  110  defines two similar L-shaped tongue portions  112 , 113  side by side extending forwardly parallel to the top face  12 . The second mating port  111  extends between the mating face  11  and the rear end face  13  and opens forwardly. Two cavities  114  between the two mating ports  110 ,  111  and one cavity  114  at opposite side of the first mating port  110  are provided extending forwardly for auxiliary guidance such as receiving guiding posts (not shown) of the complementary connector. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the first mating port  110  includes a plurality of first passageways  117  extending on the top face of the tongue portions  112 , 113  and through the front mating face  11  and the rear face  13  to receive first contacts  23 . The first contacts of similar construction are divided into two rows respectively on two tongue portions and each includes a flat contact portion  202  retained in the first passageways  117 . The first tongue portion  112  is shorter than the second tongue portion  113  in the longitudinal direction of the connector. The first and second tongue portion  112 ,  113  all define a separator  119  between each two adjacent first passageways  117 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , said first contacts  23  retained in the first passageway  117  are of similar construction, each includes a retention portion  201  secured in the first passageway  117 , a flat contact portion  202  extending from one end of the retention portion  201  in the passageway  117  and a soldering portion  203  extending from the other end of the retention portion  201  outside the rear face  13 . The soldering portions  203  of the contacts can be jointed elastically on the circuit board (not shown). The free end of the contacting portion  202  bending to receive in the tongue portion  112 ,  113  forms as an abutting end  204 . The first contacts include a first contact group  23   a  for signal transmission with seven pieces secured on the first tongue portion  112  and a second contact group  23   b  for power transmission with fifteen pieces secured on the second tongue portion  113 . The first contact group  23   a  includes two pair of differential signal contacts  21  and three grounding contacts  22  arranged in an alternating sequence. 
     Please note the differential contacts  21  further define hollow recesses  214  thereon to meet the requirement of high frequency performance. The contact portion  211  of the signal contact  21  defines a first face  212  labeled in  FIG. 2  on a same side of the top face of the tongue portions for contacting the complementary connector and a second face  213  opposite to the first face  212  and confronting with inner face of the first passageway  117 . The recess  214  is defined on the second face  213  and runs through the signal contact in a wide direction of the contact, i.e., the longitudinal direction. A step  215  is formed by the recess  214  and the second face  213 . The recesses  214  are located between the retention portion  201  and the abutting end  204  of the contacts  21 . As best shown in  FIG. 5 , when the signal contacts  21  are assembled in the first passageways  117 , the recess  214  faces to and separates from the first passageway  117  with a distance. Each separator  115  between the pair of signal contacts defines a recess  116  corresponding to the slot  214  and communicating with the first passageways  117  at the two sides of the recess  116 . The signal contacts  21  become thinner so as to prevent the signal from cross talk. The recess  116  defined on the separator  115  between the two signal contacts  21  is for changing dielectric constant so as to improve high frequency performance. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 3 , the second mating port  111  includes a plurality of second passageways  118  running through the rear face  13  and communicating with the second mating port  111  and a plurality of test contacts  24  grouped into two rows  24   a ,  24   b  in up to down direction and retained in the second passageways  118 . Each of the test contacts has a retention portion  241 , a pin contact portion  242  extends from the front end of the retention portion  241 , and a soldering portion  243  extends from the other end of the retention portion  241 . The soldering portions  241  of the upper row  24   a  of the test contact  24  and the other row  24   b  are arranged in an alternating sequence at one same line and mounted on the circuit board at the same time. So as it can save space of the circuit board. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 to 7 , another preferred embodiment of the electrical connector  300  comprises an longitudinal insulative housing  30  defining a mating face for confronting with a complementary connector (not shown) and a rear face  301  for mounting on a circuit board (not shown) opposite to the mating face. A plurality of terminal receiving passageways  302  extend through the mating face and the rear face  301 . Each two adjacent terminal receiving passageways  302  are communicated with each other. 
     A plurality of contacts  40  are blade-shape and secured in the terminal receiving passageways  302 . Each contact  40  has a main body  401  defining a first face  41  and a second face  42  opposite to the first face  41  for contacting the complementary connector. The main body  401  defines a first recess  411  and a second recess  412  opposite to the first recess  411  respectively on the second face  42  and the first face  41 . A first step  413  is defined by the first recess  411  and the second face  42 , and a second step  414  is defined by the second recess  412  and the first face  41 . The contact  40  has a soldering portion  402  extending rearward from the main body  401  outside the rear end face  301 . The soldering portions  402  of each two adjacent contacts  40  extend in opposite directions with each other and arrange in an alternating sequence with the insulative housing  30 . The first recess  411  of the contact  40  and the second recess  412  of the adjacent contact  40  are face to face with each other. In the embodiment the contacts defining the first and second recess  411 ,  412  at opposite sides thereof are for changing the thickness of the contacts in contacts arranging direction so as to improve high frequency performance.