Patent Publication Number: US-11381014-B2

Title: Electrical contact having two side-by-side parts with joined bottom ends thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an electrical contact for use with an electronic package having circuit pads thereon, and particularly to the contact having two soldering pads joined together via a solder ball thereunder. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     The traditional contact for use with an electronic package, e.g., the CPU (Central Processing Unit), essentially includes an upper spring arm for contacting the CPU, and a soldering pad with a solder ball thereon for mounting to a printed circuit board. Anyhow, a single soldering pad may result in a relatively large capacitive effect, thus increasing the signal loss in the high frequency transmission. 
     It is desired to provide an electrical contact with a lower capacitive effect. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To achieve the above object, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing with a plurality of passageways extending through opposite upper and lower surfaces of the housing. A plurality of electrical contacts are received within the corresponding passageways, respectively. Each contact includes a first main body and a second main body side by side arranged with each other with a bridge transversely linked therebetween. At least one of the first main body and the second main body includes a retaining barb for retaining the contact in the passageway. One spring arm extends from one end of one of the first main body and the second main body with a contacting section for mating with the CPU. Two soldering pads are formed on the corresponding bottom ends of the first main body and the second main body, respectively. The two soldering pads intimately confront each other either in a horizontal direction or in a vertical direction, and are joined together via a solder ball located under the two soldering pads. 
     Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector according to a preferred embodiment of the invention wherein one contact and the corresponding solder ball are exposed outside of the housing; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  with an additional contact removed from the housing; 
         FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a side view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the electrical contact of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5(A)  is a perspective view of the electrical contact of the electrical connector according to another embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the electrical contact of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5  wherein the solder ball is removed away from the contact main body; 
         FIG. 7  is another perspective view of the electrical contact of the electrical connector of  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is another perspective view of an electrical contact of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 6 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-8 , an electrical connector  100  includes an insulative housing  1  with opposite upper surface  11  and lower surface  12 . A plurality of passageways  13  extend through both the upper surface  11  and the lower surface  12  in the vertical direction. A plurality of contacts  2  are respectively received within the corresponding passageways  13 , respectively. 
     The contact  2  includes a first main body  21  and a second main body  22  linking to each other via a bridge  26  transversely extending therebetween. The first main body  21  lies in a first plane and the second main body  22  lies in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane. A spring arm  23  extends upwardly from an upper portion of the first main body  21  with a contacting section  27  at a free end thereof. A first soldering pad  24  is formed at a lower portion of the first main body  21 . A second soldering pad  25  is formed at a bottom portion of the second body  22 . A first bending section  211  is located between the first main body  21  and the first soldering pad  24 . A second bending section  222 , a third bending section  223  and the fourth bending section  224  are sequentially formed between the second main body  22  and the second soldering pad  25 . A pair of bars  221  are formed on two sides of the second main body  225  for retaining the contact  2  within the passageway  13 . A connecting section  225  is located at an upper portion of the second main body  22  for linking to a contact carrier strip (not shown) for downwardly assembling the contact  2  into the passageway  13 . 
     The contacting section  27  has a slot to form two separate contacting parts. A slot  231  is formed at a junction between the first main body  21  and the spring arm  23  for releasing forces. The first soldering pad  24  and the second soldering pad  25  are neighboring to each other in a coplanar manner. The solder ball  3  is joined with both the first soldering pad  24  and the second soldering pad  25 . The first soldering pad  24  forms a first side edge  241 , and the second soldering pad  25  forms a second side edge  251  confronting the first side edge with an optional tiny gap therebetween for forgiving manufacturing tolerance. Understandably, such a tiny gap may be omitted. The first soldering pad  24  further forms another side edge  242  and the second soldering pad  25  further forms another side edge  252  to cooperate with the side edge  242  for constituting the boundary of the common soldering pad unit. Notably, both the first main body  21  and the second main body  22  constitute a dual-path structure to result in a parallel circuit wherein a first path is from the spring arm  23 , the first main body  21  and the first soldering pad  24  and a second path is from the spring arm  23 , the upper portion of the first main body  21 , the bridge  26 , the second main body  22  and the second soldering pad  25 , thus reducing signal loss during transmission between the CPU  500  and printed circuit board  600 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5(A) , another embodiment shows the first soldering pad  24 ′ and the second soldering pad  25 ′ are stacked with each other rather than in a parallel relation wherein the soldering ball  3 ′ is also joined with both the first soldering pad  24 ′ and the second soldering pad  25 ′ optimally. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.