Patent ID: 8342895

Claim:
A connector, comprising: a male connector including a male terminal; and a female connector including a female terminal and arranged to be connectable with the male connector, wherein said male terminal is composed of a metallic material, and wherein said metallic material comprises: an electrically conductive substrate, a metal layer composed of Ni, an alloy of Ni, Fe, an alloy of Fe, Co, or an alloy of Co, an intermediate layer comprised of Cu, and an outermost surface layer, in this order from the substrate; and the outermost surface layer has a contact area composed of an alloy layer of Cu—Sn, wherein said alloy layer of Cu—Sn includes Sn or an alloy of Sn diffused therein, and at least a part of Sn or the alloy of Sn is exposed on a surface of the alloy layer of Cu—Sn, with Sn or said alloy of Sn being diffused in an island shape or a punctuate shape in a cross sectional view, and wherein said female terminal is composed of a metallic material having a contact area with an outermost surface layer composed of a layer of Sn or an alloy layer of Sn.