Patent Publication Number: US-2007111598-A1

Title: Electrical connector assemblies and methods of fabrication

Description:
BACKGROUND  
      This disclosure is related generally to electrical connector assemblies, such as may be employed in voice and/or data transmission devices and/or systems.  
      Numerous types of electrical connector assemblies may be utilized in voice and/or data communications. Electrical connector assemblies may comprise plug assemblies and/or receptacle assemblies, for example. In this context, receptacle assemblies may additionally be referred to as jacks or ports. Electrical connector assemblies may be utilized in data transmission devices and/or systems for the transmission of data according to any one or several data transmission protocols. For example, one particular type of plug assembly comprises an RJ-45 connector. RJ-45 connectors may be utilized in various applications, such as to provide connectivity for an Ethernet-compliant device that may be capable of transmitting data in accordance with Ethernet standard IEEE Std. 802.3, for example. However, a continuing need exists for improvements in the field of connector technology. For example, a need exists for developments in the areas of increasing port density, plug assemblies and receptacle assemblies, as well as signal integrity, voltage isolation and filtering techniques.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The claimed subject matter, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference of the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of an electrical connector including a plug assembly, and a receptacle assembly.  
       FIG. 2  is another perspective view of one embodiment of an electrical connector including a plug assembly, and a receptacle assembly.  
       FIGS. 3   a - 3   d  are perspective, front, side and top views of a receptacle assembly in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIGS. 4   a - 4   b  are perspective views of receptacle sub-assembly components in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIGS. 5   a - 5   b  are perspective views of receptacle sub-assembly components in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIGS. 6   a - 6   d  are perspective, front, side and top views of a plug assembly in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of a plug assembly in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIGS. 8   a - 8   b  are perspective views of plug sub-assembly components in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a portion of plug sub-assembly components in accordance with an embodiment;  
       FIGS. 10   a - 10   b  are perspective views of plug sub-assembly components in accordance with an embodiment; and  
       FIG. 11  illustrates a flow chart of a process for forming one or more portions of one or more of the assemblies disclosed herein. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and/or circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure claimed subject matter. Additionally, reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of claimed subject matter. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” and/or “an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.  
      One disadvantage of state of the art connector technology concerns the number of receptacles that may be implemented as part of a device, such as a data transmission device. For example, an Ethernet-compliant switch may include  12 ,  24  or  48  receptacles. The receptacles may additionally be referred to as connector ports or jacks. This limitation on the number of receptacles for a device such as a switch may limit the usefulness of the switch in particular applications and/or may impact the system cost. Additionally, as will be explained in more detail later, state of the art electrical connectors may have limitations with respect to voltage isolation, impedance matching, noise filtering and signal integrity, as a few examples.  
      “Electrical connectors”, as referred to herein relate to devices or components that may provide electrical connections, such as may be utilized to send and/or receive data according to a data transmission format. For example, electrical connectors may include plug assemblies and receptacle assemblies that may provide a physical connection between devices and/or data transmission media. One particular type of electrical connector may comprise an RJ-45 connector. An RJ-45 connector may be capable of receiving an RJ-45 compliant plug, and may provide an electrical connection between a device and a communication media, and/or between two devices, for example. An RJ-45 connector may be adapted to provide an electrical connection that may be suitable to transmit signals, such as voice and data signals, including Ethernet-compliant data signals. Potential capabilities of an electrical connector include the capability to send and/or receive signals that may be compliant with 10/100 BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T, 10GBASE-T signals, ISDN compliant signals, DSL compliant signals, including xDSL compliant signals, Fibre Channel compliant signals, and/or VolP (Voice over Internet Protocol) compliant signals, as just a few examples. Additionally, transmission devices that may employ electrical connectors, such as RJ-45 connectors, may include switches, NICs (Network Interface Devices), routers, hubs, computing systems including servers and personal computers, and so forth. However, it is worthwhile to note that the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.  
      “Substrates”, as referred to herein may refer generally to one or more types of substrate, including but not limited to plastic type substrates, metal type substrates, and semiconductor type substrates, as a few examples. A substrate in accordance with one or more embodiments may comprise a printed circuit board (PCB), for example, and may be comprised of multiple layers having one or more conductive features formed thereon. In one embodiment, a PCB may comprise one or more layers of non-conductive material interleaved and/or laminated with one or more conductive circuit patterns and/or one or more additional layers, for example. One or more non-conductive layers of material may include, for example, one or more resins such as epoxy resins, polymer resins and/or phenolic resins, fibrous material such as fiberglass, or other materials including glass, plastic, carbon, polyimides, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), ceramic and/or quartz, as just a few examples. These non-conductive layers of material may, when assembled into a substrate, be at least partially interleaved with one or more conductive layers, such as one or more layers of conductive circuit patterns, which may additionally be referred to as traces and/or signal layers, one or more ground plane and/or power plane layers, and/or one or pins and/or pads. In at least one embodiment, a conductive layer comprises a layer at least partially comprised of metal, wherein the metal may be selectively patterned to provide one or more interconnections between one or more components and/or one or more conductive features of the substrate, such as one or more pads and/or connectors, and may be formed on one or more surfaces of one or more substrate layers, such as a top surface, for example. Although the claimed subject matter is not so limited, conductive features may be comprised of one or more types of conductive material, including copper, gold, silver, platinum, tin, aluminum, palladium, nickel, and/or alloys thereof, for example.  
      “Circuitry” as referred to herein relates to structure for performing one or more logical operations. For example, circuitry may provide one or more output signals based at least in part on one or more input signals. Such circuitry may receive a digital input signal and provide a digital output signal, or may provide one or more analog output signals in response to one or more analog input signals. Such circuitry may be provided, for example, in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and/or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Also, circuitry may comprise processing circuitry to execute such machine-readable instructions. However, these are merely examples of circuitry and claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects.  
      Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout this specification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “selecting,” “forming,” “enabling,” “obtaining,” “hosting,” “maintaining,” “representing,” “modifying,” “receiving,” “transmitting,” “coupling,” “determining” and/or the like refer to the actions and/or processes that may be performed by a computing platform, such as a computer or a similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical, electronic and/or magnetic quantities and/or other physical quantities within the computing platform&#39;s processors, memories, registers, and/or other information storage, transmission, reception and/or display devices. Accordingly, a computing platform refers to a system or a device that includes the ability to process and/or store data in the form of signals. Thus, a computing platform, in this context, may comprise hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination thereof. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, a process as described herein, with reference to flow diagrams or otherwise, may also be executed and/or controlled, in whole or in part, by a computing platform.  
      Illustrated in  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly  100 . Electrical connector assembly  100  may, when implemented as part of a data transmission device such as an Ethernet compliant device, be utilized in the transmission of data in accordance with any one of a variety of data protocols. In this embodiment, electrical assembly  100  comprises a receptacle assembly  102  coupled to a substrate  106 , and a plug assembly  104  coupled to communications media  108 . Receptacle assembly  102  may be coupled to a substrate  106 , which may comprise a printed circuit board. The circuit board may comprise a portion of a communication device such as a switch or router, for example. As will be explained in more detail later, receptacle assembly  102  may be formed from a plurality of circuit boards, which may be stacked and/or laminated, and may additionally comprise a housing that may provide particular functionality. Receptacle assembly  102  may include a plurality of metal contact arrays, which may form ports, for example. The metal contact arrays may be arranged to couple to a plug. For example, in this embodiment receptacle assembly  102  may include four metal contact arrays or ports, arranged in a 2×2 configuration, as just an example. This arrangement may be referred to as a quad receptacle, and, additionally, may be referred to as a high density receptacle, due to the particular configuration. However, here and throughout the specification, it is worthwhile to note that the claimed subject matter is not limited to the configurations as shown, but may include additional configurations. For example, receptacle assembly  102  may comprise a plurality of ports that may be arranged in any configuration that may be implemented as part of a receptacle, for example. Additionally, receptacle assembly  102  may include other features that may provide particular functions such as voltage isolation, impedance matching and noise filtering. However, these features will be explained in more detail later.  
      Electrical connector assembly  100  includes plug assembly  104 . Plug assembly  104  may be adapted to be removably and/or permanently coupled with receptacle assembly  102 , such as by use of mechanical features formed on one or both of the receptacle assembly and the plug assembly, explained in more detail later. Plug assembly  104 , in this embodiment, may include an array of plugs that may be arranged in a similar manner as the receptacle ports of receptacle assembly  102 . In this embodiment, plug assembly  104  may include four plugs arranged in a 2×2 manner, although, as mentioned previously the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. In this embodiment plug assembly  104  may be referred to as a quad plug and/or a high density plug. Plug assembly  104  may be coupled to communications media  108 . Communications media  108  may include any type of media that may be suitable for use in data transmission, and may include, for example, unshielded twisted wire pair, coaxial cable, optical cable and so forth. Plug assembly  104  may be referred to as a cable termination in at least one embodiment. Additionally, the plugs of plug assembly  104  may include metal leads (not shown) adapted to contact ends of the communications media  108 . When assembled into an electrical assembly as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the metal contact arrays of receptacle  102  may be adapted to provide spring force to the metal contacts of plug assembly  104  to provide electrical continuity between the plug and receptacle. However, portions of the plug assembly, such as metal contact portions, will be explained in greater detail herein.  
      Additionally, it is worthwhile to note that embodiments of the claimed subject matter are not limited in terms of materials. For example, one or more portions of one or more components disclosed herein may be formed from materials including but not limited to plastics, synthetics, including vinyl and composites thereof, conductive materials including copper, gold, silver, platinum, tin, aluminum, palladium, nickel, and/or alloys thereof. Additionally, components may be formed by use of one or more tools and by use of one or more methods of formation, but the particular methods of formation may depend on the particular materials selected to form the components.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is illustrated an embodiment of an electrical connector assembly  120 . Electrical connector assembly  120 , here, comprises receptacle assembly  102  coupled with plug assembly  104 . Plug assembly  104  and receptacle assembly  102  may be coupled by use of mechanical coupling features  107  and  109 . These features may comprise complimentary mechanical fastening devices such as a tab and a tab receiver, for example, and will be explained in more detail later. Mechanical coupling features such as these may cooperate to provide mechanical attachment functions, to allow the receptacle assembly  102  to be attached to plug assembly  104 , and/or removed from plug assembly  104 . When coupled, metal contacts of the plug assembly  104  may electrically contact metal contacts of the receptacle assembly  102 , such as in an interference fit by use of spring force provided by the metal contacts of the receptacle assembly. The spring force may provide electrical interconnection between the communications media  108  and substrate  106 . In this manner, electrical connector  120  may be utilized to provide interconnection between a data transmission device and a communications media, to facilitate the transmission of signals, such as Ethernet compliant data signals, for example.  
      Illustrated in  FIGS. 3   a - 3   d  are a perspective view  130 , front view  140 , side view  150  and top view  160  of a receptacle assembly. The receptacle assembly as illustrated in the various views may comprise one or more circuit boards  132 , which may be stacked and/or laminated to form a top portion, and/or a bottom portion (not shown). In at least one embodiment, the receptacle assembly as illustrated may include two pairs of laminated circuit boards  132 , wherein the circuit boards may include features that may be integrated with the circuit boards. However, particular features and/or functions of the circuit boards  132  will be explained in more detail later. The circuit boards  132  may additionally be at least partially coupled by use of a metal housing  134  that may form one or more walls of the receptacle assembly. Metal housing  134  may additionally have one or more housing tabs  133  formed thereon to provide attachment functions to the circuit boards  132 , for example. Additionally, mounting tabs  138  may be formed as part of the metal housing  134 , to provide attachment functions between the housing and a substrate (not shown). Metal housing  134  may provide shielding functions for a receptacle assembly, to provide control and/or suppression of EMI and/or radiation emissions, for example. The illustrated receptacle assembly may additionally include a plurality of metal contact arrays  136 , which may include a plurality of metal contacts that may be spring loaded, and may be adapted to couple to metal contacts of one or more plugs, such as plug assembly  104  of  FIG. 1 .  
      The metal housing  134  may include one or more tabs  135 . Tabs  135  may be formed from metal as part of the metal shield, and may provide mechanical connection functions, such as removable connection functions for a plug assembly. Tabs  135  may include a bump or dimple feature that may enable mechanical locking or fixing, as explained in more detail later. Although not illustrated in detail, one or more of the circuit boards  132  may include embedded magnetic, resistive and/or capacitive elements that may enable the formation of a high density receptacle, meaning, in this context that the receptacle may be capable of providing data transmission functions that may not be achievable by other receptacles that are not high density. Additionally, the circuit boards  132  may include features such as embedded circuitry and/or routing features that may allow for such a configuration. The receptacle assembly illustrated may additionally include interconnect portion  139 , which may provide electrical interconnect between one or more portions of the receptacle and a substrate coupled to the receptacle. This may provide electrical connectivity between the connector arrays  136  and a substrate, which, in turn, may provide interconnectivity between a substrate and a plug that may be coupled to the receptacle assembly, for example. Additionally, the illustrated receptacle may comprise additional components that may be better understood with reference to the following figures.  
      Illustrated in  FIG. 4   a  and  FIG. 4   b  are receptacle sub-assembly components  170  and  180 . Substrate assembly  170  may include one or more substrates such as a pair of printed circuit boards  174 , which may have common features and/or features that may vary, for example. In this embodiment, substrate assembly  170  comprises two substrates  174  that are coupled such as by stacking and/or laminating the substrates. The substrates  174  may be formed from one or more materials or combination of materials, such as described previously. Substrates  174  may include embedded or partially embedded circuitry (not shown) that may be adapted to perform various functions, including routing of signals, for example. Additionally, substrates  174  may include components such as magnetic, resistive and/or capacitive components that may provide additional functions as explained previously. The various components may be embedded and/or formed on the substrates such that the surface  175  of the substrates  174  may be substantially planar and/or substantially unpopulated by components such as described previously. This may provide particular functionality, including allowing stacking of a plurality of receptacle assemblies. Although the claimed subject matter is not limited to any particular configuration of the substrate components, one potential embodiment of embedded magnetic components is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Sep. 22, 2005, entitled, “Magnetic Components”, by James E. Quilici. Substrates  174  may additionally have one or more patterned features  176  formed thereon. The pattemed features  176  may be adapted to receive metal tabs, such as housing tab  133  of  FIG. 3   a.  Substrates  174  may include metal contact arrays  172 , and in this embodiment includes two contact arrays. The contact arrays  172  may be adapted to provide spring force to electrically contact metal contacts of a plug, as described previously. Substrates  174  may be adapted to be formed in to an assembled substrate sub-assembly, such as assembled substrate sub-assembly  180  of  FIG. 4   b.  Assembled substrate sub-assembly  180 , in this embodiment, comprises a plurality of four substrates  174 , which may be stacked and laminated as illustrated to form a substrate sub-assembly that may be suitable for use as a portion of a receptacle assembly. When assembled, substrate sub-assembly  180  includes a plurality of contact arrays arranged to form a quad receptacle having four receptacles arranged in a 2×2 manner, although the claimed subject matter is not so limited. The pairs of substrates may be coupled by laminating and/or by use of mechanical components, such as by use of metal housing  134  as shown in  FIG. 3   a,  for example.  
      Illustrated in  FIG. 5  is an underside view of a substrate  190  that may be employed as part of a receptacle assembly, such as receptacle assembly  102  of  FIG. 1 . Substrate  190  may comprise a printed circuit board, and may include metal contact arrays  192  formed thereon. Additionally, one or more electrical components  194  may be disposed on the substrate  190 . Electrical components  194  may include, for example, magnetic elements, resistive elements, capacitive elements and/or one or more additional elements that may provide particular functions when implemented as part of a connector assembly, as explained previously. Components  194  may be disposed after formation of substrate  190  and/or may be integrated as part of substrate  190 , although the claimed subject matter is not limited to any manner of forming a substrate and components, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 .  
      Illustrated in  FIGS. 6   a - 6   d  are a perspective view  210 , a front view  220 , a side view  230  and a top view  240 , respectively, of a plug assembly. Contact channel arrays  214  are formed on the plug shroud  222 , and may be adapted to receive a plurality of metal leads  215 , which may then form contact arrays, for example. One or more cable trays  218  may be coupled with communications media  216 , and may be disposed at least partially in the plug shroud  222 , for example. The plug shroud may include crimping tabs that may be adapted to crimp the communications media to fix the media to the shroud. The plug shroud  222  may have a notch  203  formed thereon, adapted to insert into a corresponding channel on a receptacle. The notch  203  may align the plug assembly as it is inserted in a receptacle assembly. The plug assembly includes a slip collar  212  that may be disposed over at least a portion of a plug shroud  222 . The slip collar  212  is adapted to fit substantially over one or more other portions of the shroud  222 , and may be adapted to move or actuate with respect to the plug shroud, such as between a first position and a second position with respect to the shroud. A compression spring (not shown) may be inserted in the plug shroud, and may apply spring force to the slip collar. This configuration may be implemented to along with extension features  231  to secure the plug assembly to a receptacle assembly, the operation of which will be explained in more detail later. Contact channels arrays  214  may have leads  215  press fit therein, and the contact channel arrays with leads  215  may form a quad plug having four connectors in a 2×2 configuration. Particular components will be explained in more detail with reference to  FIGS. 7-10 , below.  
      Illustrated in  FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of a plug assembly  250 , in accordance with at least one embodiment. Plug assembly  250 , in this embodiment, comprises a slip collar  212 , one or more trays such as cable tray  218  coupled to communications media  216 . Cable tray  218  includes one or more wire channels  219  that may be adapted to receive one or more wires, such as from media  216 . The wire channels may include apertures adapted to allow press fitting of wires such that wires that are press fitted into the channels are substantially arranged and fixed in place, for example. The wire channels may be formed to provide a particular wiring configuration or pin-out that may be in accordance with one or more data transmission protocols. Tray  218  additionally includes one or more cable channels  221  formed thereon. Cable channels  221  may be adapted to receive one or more portions of communications media  216  and substantially fix and/or align the media in place, for example. Plug shroud  222  may include crimping tabs  233 . Crimping tabs  233  may be crimped against communications media  216 , such as by use of a crimping tool, to substantially fix communications media in the channels  221 , for example. Plug shroud  222  additionally includes contact channel arrays  214 , which, in combination with metal leads  215  form contact arrays. Leads  215  may be press fitted into channels  214 . When tray  218  is coupled with plug shroud  222 , the leads may be forced through the wire insulation of communications media  216  to contact conductive portions of the communications media.  
      Shroud  222  may be adapted to receive the tray  218 , and substantially fix and/or orient the tray in place, such as by use of one or more additional features not shown in detail. Plug shroud  222  includes hole feature  206 . Hole feature  206  is adapted to receive a compression spring (not shown), which may be used to exert force on slip collar  212 . Plug shroud  222  additionally includes one or more other features, such as notch  203  and channel feature  227 . Channel feature  227  may be adapted to receive a tab having one or more attachment features such as a bump or dimple. For example, tab  135  of  FIG. 3   a  may include a bump that may be adapted to fit in a channel of channel feature  227 . Collar  212  may be disposed over a portion of shroud  222 , and may contact a compression spring disposed in hole feature  206 . In operation, the plug assembly may be coupled to a receptacle assembly, such as receptacle assembly  130  of  FIG. 3   a.  In this example, prior to coupling, slip collar  222  may be slid from a first position to a second position, such as along direction  201 , to expose channel feature  227 . A bump formed on tab  135  of receptacle assembly  130  may be coupled to a channel of channel feature  227 . Slip collar  212  may be slid along the plug shroud  222  from the second position back to the first position, such that extension feature  231  contacts tab  135 . The extension feature  231  may fix tab  135  to channel feature  227 , by applying force to tab  135  to substantially fix the bump of tab  135  into channel feature  227 . This may result in the plug array being fixed to the receptacle array. Additionally, removal may comprising performing the reverse of one or more of the above operations. Components of plug assembly  250  will be explained in more detail hereinafter.  
      Illustrated in  FIGS. 8   a  and  8   b  are an unpopulated wire tray  260  and a populated wire tray  270 . Unpopulated wire tray  260 , as illustrated, includes a plurality of features formed thereon, such as wire channels  219 , which may be adapted to receive one or more wires. Wire channels  219  may be arranged in a particular pin-out configuration. The particular number, size and/or configuration wire channels  219  may depend at least in part on the particular communications media being employed as part of a plug assembly and/or may depend at least in part on the particular plug assembly being formed. In this embodiment, the wire tray  260  includes two arrays of eight wire channels. The wire channels may be formed such that wires may be press fit into the channels, for example. Wire tray  260  may additionally include cable channels  221 . Cable channels  221  may provide particular functionality, such as providing fixing and/or locking functions for a cable. Turning now to populated wire tray  270  of  FIG. 8   b,  wire channels  219  are populated by a plurality of wires  223 . Wires  223  may comprise wires of a communications media  216 , for example, and, in this embodiment, communications media  216  includes eight wires. Wires  223  may be insulated wires, for example, and may be pressed into the formed channels  219  of the wire tray  270 . The communications media  216  may additionally be pressed or otherwise coupled to the wire tray by use of channels  221 , and/or by use of crimping tabs  233  of  FIG. 7 . The formed wire channels  219  and/or one or more of the above described features may substantially fix and/or hold the communications media  216  and/or one or more wires  223  substantially in place.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 9   a,  there is illustrated a wire shroud  280  having one or more features formed thereon. Wire shroud  280  may include crimping tabs  233 , which may provide mechanical locking of the communications media. Additionally, wire shroud  280  may include one or more features that may enable a collar to be substantially fixed to the wire shroud, such as collar  212  of  FIG. 7 . These features may include a hole feature  206  adapted to receive a compression spring, one or more features such as snap features not shown in detail, and/or channel feature  227 , which may cooperate with features on a slip collar and a tab of a receptacle to fix the plug assembly to the receptacle. Wire shroud  280  may additionally include a plurality of contact channels arrays  214 , such as a quad arrangement of contact channels, as explained previously. The contact channels arrays  214  may be adapted to receive one or more leads, but as shown are unpopulated. Illustrated in  FIG. 9   b  is a metal lead  290 . Lead  290  may a conductive lead. Lead  290  may be adapted to be inserted at least partially in one or more channels of array  214 , for example. Additionally, leads  215  may be adapted to contact a conductive portion of one or more wires of a communications media, such as one or more wires  219  of communications media  216  of  FIG. 7 , for example. Utilization of leads  290  may be better understood with reference to  FIG. 11 .  
      Illustrated in  FIG. 10 , there is illustrated a slip collar  300 . Slip collar  300  may be adapted to fit over a portion of wire shroud  222  of  FIG. 7 . Slip collar  300  may include extension features  231 , which may be adapted to cooperate with channel features of the wire shroud to lock a tab of a receptacle to the channel by pressing the tab into the channel. Slip collar  300  may additionally include snapping feature  232 , which may be adapted to provide coupling functions, such that a collar may be mechanically fixed to a shroud, yet be capable of sliding between a first and a second position along the shroud body for example. In operation, a compression spring may apply force to the slip collar to force the collar in a first position with respect to the shroud, and a user may apply force to the collar to force the collar to a second position with respect to the shroud. Forcing the slip collar to a second position may allow the exposing of channel features of a wire shroud, and may additionally allow the release of tabs of a receptacle from a channel feature of the shroud, which may additionally allow removal of a plug assembly from a receptacle assembly.  
       FIG. 11  is a flow diagram, according to one embodiment, of a process  320  of forming an electrical connector assembly. However, for flow diagrams presented herein, the order in which the blocks are presented does not necessarily limit claimed subject matter to any particular order. Additionally, intervening blocks not shown may be employed without departing from the scope of claimed subject matter. Flow diagrams depicted herein may, in alternative embodiments, be implemented in a combination of hardware, software and/or firmware, such as part of a computer system. The functionality of flow diagram  320  may be executed manually, such as by a user, and/or may be executed by a computing system adapted to operate one or more formation tools, as just an example.  
      At block  322 , a communications media may be prepared to be utilized as part of a plug assembly. A communications media may comprise a cable, having a plurality of wires, such as unshielded twisted pair wiring, for example. Preparation of the cable may comprise removing cable insulation to a specified distance and/or separating or spreading the wires, for example. At block  324 , the communications media may be coupled with a wire tray, such as wire tray  260  of  FIG. 8   a.  One. or more wires of the communications media may be coupled to one or more wire channels, such as wire channels  219 . The wires may be press fitted into the channels and/or may be coupled by other suitable methods. Additionally, the communications media may be crimped to the wire tray by use of one or more crimping tabs formed on the plug assembly.  
      At block  326 , metal leads may be installed in a shroud, such as shroud  280  of  FIG. 9   a.  The metal leads may comprise leads  215  as illustrated in  FIG. 9   b.  The metal leads may be installed in metal contact channels formed in the shroud. At block  328 , the wire tray populated with one or more wires of a communications media may be coupled to the shroud. The wire tray may be coupled to the shroud by use of features formed on one or both of the wire tray and/or the shroud. For example, at block  330  one or more crimping tabs formed on the shroud may be crimped to lock the media.  
      At block  332 , the one or more metal leads installed at block  326  may be pressed at least partially into the wires in the vicinity of the wire channels, for example. This may result in the leads contacting conductive portions of the wires, such as by being pressed through insulation of the wires and in contact with conductive portions of the wires. Pressing may be performed by one or more tools and/or fixtures that may be specially adapted for this function, although not illustrated in detail. At block  334 , one or more springs may be installed in features formed on the shroud. For example, a spring may be installed in a hole feature, such as hole feature  206  of  FIG. 9   a.  At block  336 , a slip collar may be coupled to the shroud. The slip collar may be installed over at least a portion of the shroud, and may be locked to the shroud by use of one or more features formed on the slip collar and/or the shroud. After locking the slip collar to the shroud, a plug assembly such as plug assembly  210  of  FIG. 6   a  may be substantially formed. The plug assembly may include features that may cooperate to lock the plug assembly to a receptacle assembly, and may additionally allow ease of removal of the plug assembly by sliding a slip collar from a first position to a second position.  
      In the preceding description, various aspects of claimed subject matter have been described. For purposes of explanation, systems and configurations were set forth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter. However, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that claimed subject matter may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features were omitted and/or simplified so as not to obscure claimed subject matter. While certain features have been illustrated and/or described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes and/or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and/or changes as fall within the true spirit of claimed subject matter.