Granted Patent B2

US 7,331,800 · App. 11/326,061 · Granted Feb 19, 2008

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. An electrical connector, comprising:

a first column of electrical contacts comprising a first arrangement of differential signal pairs separated from one another by first ground contacts;

a second column of electrical contacts comprising a second arrangement of differential signal pairs separated from one another by second ground contacts, wherein one differential signal pair in the second arrangement of differential signal pairs is a victim differential signal pair; and

a third column of electrical contacts comprising a third arrangement of differential signal pairs separated from one another by third ground contacts,

wherein (i) the second column is adjacent to the first column, and the third column is adjacent to the second column; (ii) the connector is devoid of metallic plates between the first arrangement of differential signal pairs in the first column and the second arrangement of differential signal pairs in the second column, and between the second arrangement of differential signal pairs in the second column and the third arrangement of differential signal pairs in the third column; (iii) the first arrangement of differential signal pairs in the first column are spaced apart from the second arrangement of differential signal pairs in the second column by a column-spacing distance and the second arrangement of differential signal pairs in the second column are spaced apart from the third arrangement of differential signal pairs in the third column by the column-spacing distance; (iv) each of the differential signal pairs defines a gap distance between the electrical contacts that form the pair; (v) the gap distance is less than the column-spacing distance such that differential signals with data transfer rates of 10 Gigabits/sec in six differential signal pairs in the first, second, and third columns that are closest to the victim pair produce no more than six percent worst-case, multi-active cross talk on the victim differential signal pair.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein the differential signal pairs each comprise respective first and second signal contacts, each of said signal contacts having a blade end with a cross-section that defines a respective edge and a respective broadside, the first and second signal contacts being positioned broadside-to-broadside.

3. The electrical connector of claim 2 , wherein the first and second signal contacts are broadside-coupled to one another.

4. The electrical connector of claim 3 , wherein the first and second signal contacts define a gap between the broadsides thereof.

5. The electrical connector of claim 2 , wherein the differential signal pairs each comprise respective first and second signal contacts, each of said signal contacts having a blade end with a cross-section that defines a respective edge and a respective broadside, the first and second signal contacts being positioned edge-to-edge.

6. The electrical connector of claim 5 , wherein the edge of the first signal contact defines a first length, and the broadside of the first signal contact defines a second length that is at least twice the length defined by the edge thereof.

7. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrical contacts terminates with a respective fusible mounting element.

8. The electrical connector of claim 7 , wherein the connector is a ball-grid-array connector.

9. The electrical connector of claim 8 , wherein the connector is a right-angle, ball-grid-array connector.

10. An electrical connector, comprising:

a plurality of differential signal pairs, each of the differential signal pairs comprising two electrical contacts, each of the two electrical contacts comprising a mating end, a mounting end, and an intermediate section;

a ground contact positioned adjacent to the plurality of differential signal pairs;

wherein (i) the electrical connector is devoid of metallic plates between at least two of the plurality of differential signal pairs; (ii) corresponding portions of the intermediate sections of each of the two electrical contacts define an approximate 0.3 to 0.4 millimeter air gap distance between them; (iii) the gap distance is such that the two electrical contacts comprising the plurality of differential signal pairs are coupled to each other such that differential signals with data transfer rates of 10 Gigabits/sec in six differential signal pairs closest to a victim differential signal pair produce no more than six percent worst-case, multi-active cross talk on the victim differential signal pair.

11. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein, within each of the differential signal pairs, each of the two electrical contacts comprises a respective blade end with a cross-section that defines a respective edge and a respective broadside, the two electrical contacts are positioned edge-to-edge.

12. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein, within each of the differential signal pairs, each of the two electrical contacts comprises a respective blade end with a cross-section that defines a respective edge and a respective broadside, the two electrical contacts being positioned broadside-to-broadside.

13. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein the air gap distance is defined between the broadsides of the two electrical contacts.

14. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein each of the edges defines a first length, and each of the broadsides defines a second length that is at least twice the length defined by the edge.

15. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein each of the electrical contacts terminates with a respective fusible mounting element.

16. The electrical connector of claim 15 , wherein the connector is a ball-grid-array connector.

17. The electrical connector of claim 16 , wherein the connector is a right-angle, ball-grid-array connector.

Assignments (9)