Patent ID: 8497433

Claim:
A circuit board comprising: a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface; signal vias extending at least partially through the substrate along signal via axes being configured to receive signal terminals, the signal terminals being arranged in pairs carrying differential pair signals, the signal vias being configured to receive the signal terminals of each pair such that the signal terminals extend to substantially the same depth within the signal vias; and ground vias extending at least partially through the substrate along ground via axes being configured to receive ground terminals, the ground vias being arranged in a predetermined pattern around the signal vias to create a ground ring surrounding the corresponding signal via, wherein the ground vias of the ground ring surrounding both signal vias that receive the signal terminals carrying the differential pair signals, wherein the ground vias are at least partially filled with a conductive material to create a ground column, each ground column extending from a column top to a column bottom, a first subset of the ground columns extending to a first depth and a second subset of the ground columns extending to a second depth greater than the first depth.