Patent ID: 8708757

Claim:
An electrical contact comprising an elongated contact body that includes a compliant tail, a mating beam, and a channel section extending between the compliant tail and the mating beam, the channel section having a base wall and sidewalls that extend from the base wall, the base wall and the sidewalls extending around a central longitudinal axis to define a flow channel of the channel section, the compliant tail extending from the base wall parallel to the longitudinal axis, the channel section having a channel surface and including a flow-limiting feature that is configured to impede capillary flow of a plating solution in a flow direction that is along the channel section from the compliant tail to the mating beam, wherein the flow-limiting feature is a structural feature that disrupts a continuity of the channel surface, the flow-limiting feature being located, sized, and shaped to impede the capillary flow of the plating solution in the flow direction onto the mating beam; wherein the flow-limiting feature includes at least one of (a) a void that extends through one of the base wall or the sidewalls or (b) a projection that extends into the flow channel from one of the base wall or the sidewalls; and wherein the flow-limiting feature is aligned with a joint portion of the mating beam such that a line extending from the flow-limiting feature and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis coincides with a centerline of the joint portion.