CN117878633A

CN117878633A - Card edge connector

Info

Publication number: CN117878633A
Application number: CN202211245277.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 范军; 曾涛; 刘奇嘉
Original assignee: Amphenol Commercial Products Chengdu Co Ltd
Current assignee: Amphenol Commercial Products Chengdu Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-10-12
Filing date: 2022-10-12
Publication date: 2024-04-12

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a card edge connector. The card edge connector includes: an insulating housing having a mating face provided with a card slot configured to receive an edge of an add-on card; the conductive subassembly, the front portion of conductive subassembly is fixed on insulating housing, and conductive subassembly includes a plurality of conductors and interface shielding structure, and each of a plurality of conductors is including being located its anterior cooperation contact portion, and cooperation contact portion is crooked to the draw-in groove in the draw-in groove from the side of draw-in groove, and interface shielding structure sets up in insulating housing and is located one side of cooperation contact portion, and interface shielding structure and card edge connector's ground structure electric coupling. The shielding structure can form shielding at the clamping groove, so that the transmission path of the card edge connector can be well shielded. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better. The card edge connector may have better electrical performance, which may make the electronic system faster and functionally more complex.

Description

Card edge connector

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of connector technology, and in particular, to a card edge connector.

Background

Electrical connectors are used in many electronic systems. It is generally easier and more cost effective to manufacture a system on several circuit boards connected to each other by electrical connectors than to manufacture the system as a single component. Conventional arrangements for interconnecting several circuit boards typically use one circuit board as a motherboard. Other circuit boards, referred to as daughter boards or daughter cards, are then connected to the motherboard by electrical connectors to effect interconnection of the circuit boards.

In servers and other powerful computers, it may be desirable to connect an add-in card as a daughter card to the edge of the motherboard. The add-in card may include a solid state memory such as a solid state disk, a video card, a sound card. For example, the add-on card may be orthogonal to the motherboard and multiple add-on cards may be connected in parallel along the motherboard edge. Such a configuration is described in industry standard SFF-TA-1007.

The card edge connector (card edge connector) is configured to support interconnection of the add-on card with the motherboard. The card edge connector may have a mating interface with a card slot sized to receive an edge of an add-on card. Conductors having mating contacts at one end and mounting tails at the other end may extend from the card slot through the card edge connector to the mounting interface. At the mounting interface, a mounting tail may be attached to the motherboard. At the mating interface, mating contacts may be exposed in the card slot where they may make electrical contact with contacts on the edge of an add-on card inserted into the card slot.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to at least partially solve the problems in the prior art, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, a card edge connector is provided. The card edge connector includes: an insulating housing having a mating face with a card slot configured to receive an edge of an add-on card; and a conductive subassembly, the front portion of which is fixed on the insulating housing, the conductive subassembly including a plurality of conductors each including a mating contact portion at the front portion thereof, the mating contact portion being bent from a side of the card slot into the card slot, and an interface shield structure disposed in the insulating housing and at one side of the mating contact portion, the interface shield structure being electrically coupled with a ground structure of the card edge connector.

Illustratively, the interface shielding structure includes an interface shielding plate disposed outside of the mating contact portions of the plurality of conductors.

Illustratively, the conductive subassembly further includes an insulating molding wrapped around a middle portion of the plurality of conductors and an outer shield plate covering an outer side of the insulating molding, the outer shield plate being electrically coupled with a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, the interface shield plate being in electrical contact with the outer shield plate.

Illustratively, the interface shield is offset toward an outside of the plurality of conductors relative to the outer shield.

Illustratively, the interface shield plate has a central portion with a plurality of resilient beams bent toward the outer shield plate, the bent sections of the plurality of resilient beams abutting and in electrical contact with the corresponding outer shield plate.

Illustratively, each of the plurality of spring beams is a cantilevered beam having a free end, and the free end is closer to the interface than the curved section of the corresponding spring beam.

Illustratively, a front edge of the interface shield plate facing the mating face is provided with a plurality of first protrusions extending forward to the mating contact.

The insulation shell is provided with a plurality of limiting grooves with openings facing away from the abutting surface, and the first protruding parts are inserted into the limiting grooves in a one-to-one correspondence mode.

Illustratively, the conductive subassembly further includes an inner shield disposed inboard of the plurality of conductors, the inner shield electrically coupled to a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, a front portion of the inner shield facing the mating face extending into the card slot.

The conductive subassembly further includes an outer shield plate disposed outside of the middle of the plurality of conductors, the outer shield plate electrically coupled to a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, a front portion of the inner shield plate protruding from a front portion of the outer shield plate in a direction toward the interface.

Illustratively, the conductive subassembly further includes a conductive loss structure electrically coupled between the ground conductor and the inner shield and between the ground conductor and the outer shield.

Illustratively, the ground conductors are provided with through holes through which the conductive loss structures extend, and the conductive loss structures passing through the through holes on any two adjacent ground conductors form a shield frame with the inner shield plate and the outer shield plate, and the corresponding differential signal conductor pairs pass through the shield frame.

Illustratively, the shielding frames are a plurality of and are spaced apart along the length of the differential signal conductor pairs.

Illustratively, the conductive subassemblies are arranged in pairs, each pair of conductive subassemblies being disposed opposite with respect to the card slot, the conductive loss structure forming a junction inside the inner shield plate, the junctions of each pair of conductive subassemblies being connected to each other.

Illustratively, the front portion of the inner shield plate includes a plurality of second projections disposed in one-to-one correspondence with ground conductors of the plurality of conductors and a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductors.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors includes a ground conductor, a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductor, and an additional conductor located at the periphery of the ground conductor and the differential signal conductors, the interface shield structure being located on one side of the differential signal conductors and the ground conductor.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors includes a ground conductor having a ground mounting tail opposite its mating contact and a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductor, each of the plurality of differential signal conductors having a signal mounting tail opposite its mating contact that is smaller than and shorter than the ground mounting tail.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a card edge connector. The card edge connector includes: an insulating housing having a mating face with a card slot configured to receive an edge of an add-on card; and a conductive subassembly secured to the insulating housing, the conductive subassembly including a plurality of conductors having mating contacts located laterally of the card slot, the plurality of conductors including a ground conductor and a plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors spaced apart by the ground conductor, each pair of differential signal conductors passing along a length thereof through a shield electrically coupled to the ground conductor to fully shield at least a portion of the corresponding differential signal conductors along the length.

Illustratively, the conductive subassembly further includes an inner shield disposed inboard of the plurality of conductors and an outer shield disposed outboard of the plurality of conductors, each of the inner and outer shields electrically coupled with a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors to form the shield frame.

Illustratively, the conductive subassembly further includes a conductive loss structure electrically coupled between the ground conductor and the inner shield plate and between the ground conductor and the outer shield plate to form a portion of the shield frame.

Illustratively, the ground conductors are provided with vias through which the conductive loss structures extend, and the conductive loss structures passing through the vias on any adjacent two of the ground conductors form the shield frame around the inner shield plate and the outer shield plate.

Illustratively, a front portion of the inner shield plate facing the mating face extends into the card slot.

Illustratively, a front portion of the inner shield plate protrudes from a front portion of the outer shield plate in a direction toward the abutment surface.

Illustratively, the card edge connector further includes an interface shield plate, each of the plurality of conductors including a mating contact portion at a front portion thereof, the mating contact portion being bent from a side of the card slot into the card slot, the interface shield plate being disposed within the insulative housing and outside of the mating contact portions of the plurality of conductors, the interface shield plate being in electrical contact with the outer shield plate.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors further includes an additional conductor located about the periphery of the ground conductor and the plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors.

The ground conductors illustratively have ground mounting tails opposite their mating contacts, and each of the plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors has signal mounting tails opposite their mating contacts that are smaller than and shorter than the ground mounting tails.

Illustratively, the shielding frames are a plurality of and are spaced apart along the length of the pairs of differential signal conductors.

The shielding structure can form shielding at the clamping groove, so that the transmission path of the card edge connector can be well shielded. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better. Thus, the card edge connector provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may have better electrical performance, which may make the electronic system faster and functionally more complex.

In the summary, a series of concepts in a simplified form are introduced, which will be further described in detail in the detailed description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Advantages and features of the disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The following drawings of the present disclosure are included as part of the disclosure herein for purposes of understanding the same. Embodiments of the present disclosure and descriptions thereof are shown in the drawings to explain the principles of the disclosure. In the drawings of which there are shown,

FIG. 1A is a top plan view of an example application of a card edge connector, wherein the card edge connector according to some embodiments is mounted in a peripheral region of a PCB for connecting a plurality of additional cards to the PCB;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a card edge connector according to one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure applied to an electronic system, wherein an add-on card is not connected to the card edge connector;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a card edge connector according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the card edge connector shown in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A-4D are schematic views of a process sequence for manufacturing the conductive sub-assembly of the card edge connector shown in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5A-5C are schematic views illustrating an assembly process of the card edge connector shown in FIG. 2;

fig. 6 is a perspective view of the conductor shown in fig. 3;

figures 7A-7B are perspective views of the conductive loss structure shown in figure 3;

fig. 8 is a perspective view of the interface shield plate shown in fig. 3;

fig. 9 is a perspective view of the conductive sub-assembly shown in fig. 3;

fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the insulating housing shown in fig. 3;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the card edge connector shown in FIG. 2; and

fig. 12 is a partial enlarged view of the card edge connector shown in fig. 11.

Wherein the above figures include the following reference numerals:

10. a card edge connector; 100. an insulating housing; 101. a butt joint surface; 110. a clamping groove; 120. a limit groove; 130. a conductor mounting groove; 140. an interface shielding plate mounting groove; 150. a conductive sub-assembly mounting slot; 160. a second mounting portion; 200. a conductive sub-assembly; 300. a conductor; 301. a mating contact portion; 302. mounting a tail part; 310. a ground conductor; 311. a ground mating contact; 312. a grounding installation tail part; 313. a first opening; 320. differential signal conductors; 321. a signal mating contact; 322. a signal mounting tail; 330. an additional conductor; 330a, single trace conductors; 331a, single trace mating contacts; 332a, single trace mounting tail; 330b, a common conductor; 331b, a common mating contact; 332b, a common mounting tail; 400. an interface shielding structure; 410. an interface shielding plate; 411. an elastic beam; 411a, a curved section; 411b, free end; 411c, fixed end; 412. a first projection; 413. an opening; 414. a plate body; 415. a front edge; 510. an outer shield plate; 511. a front part; 512. a second opening; 520. an inner shield plate; 521. a front part; 522. a second projection; 523. a third opening; 600. an insulating molding member; 611. a first mounting portion; 612. a second mounting portion; 700. a conductive loss structure; 710. a grounding column; 730. a joint; 800. a housing; 811. a first holder; 812. a second holder; 830. a U-shaped clamping member; 910. an add-on card; 920. a main board; 922. a peripheral region.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the following description illustrates preferred embodiments of the present disclosure by way of example only and that the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of these details. Furthermore, some technical features that are known in the art have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.

Electronic systems have generally become smaller, faster, and functionally more complex. Due to these variations, the number of circuits in a given area in an electronic system, as well as the frequency at which the circuits operate, has increased significantly in recent years. Current card edge connectors transfer more data between the circuit board and the add-on card and there is a need for an electrical connector that is capable of transferring more data at a faster rate than card edge connectors just a few years ago. Internet servers and routers are examples of data processing systems that may support multiple high data rate channels. The data transmission rate for each channel in such a system may be as high as and well in excess of 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s). In some implementations, for example, the data rate may be as high as 150Gb/s. In some embodiments, embodiments as described herein can be used for such high speed data lane transmission data.

The inventors have recognized and appreciated the design of a card edge connector capable of increasing signal transmission speed, which improves signal transmission quality and reduces cross talk (SI) to have better high frequency Signal Integrity (SI) performance. In some embodiments, the card edge connector may include an interface shielding structure. The interface shield structure may be disposed within an insulating housing of the card edge connector. Specifically, the interface shield structure is located on one side of the mating contact portion of the conductors of the card edge connector. The mating contact portion of the conductor is inserted into the clamping groove of the insulating housing. The interface shield structure may be electrically coupled to a ground structure of the card edge connector. The interface shielding structure can form shielding at the clamping groove, so that the signal transmission speed can be improved. When the card edge connector has the above-described construction, it can be used in an economical system architecture that incorporates a powerful add-on card in a server or other computer system.

The inventors have further recognized and appreciated that since the aforementioned card edge connector is intended to communicate signals between two mutually perpendicular circuit boards, the conductors in the card edge connector need to be bent and formed at right angles, which results in longer lengths of conductors. Once the bend of one conductor deviates from the predetermined position, there is an inconsistency in the gap between it and the adjacent conductor, and crosstalk may occur. This problem is more pronounced in the case of conductor densities becoming greater. For orthographic type card edge connectors, a plurality of conductors, typically including conductors connected together at both ends by additional lead frames, are placed in a mold and injection molded with an insulating material during the process to form a conductive subassembly. The lead frame is cut after injection molding of the insulating material to ensure that the conductors are insulated from each other. However, the bending of the middle part of the conductor cannot be fixed in the injection molding process, and as described above, the offset of the bending position may cause the space between adjacent conductors to become less uniform, thereby affecting the signal transmission quality.

In other embodiments, the card edge connector may include a shield frame. The conductors include ground conductors and differential signal conductors. Each pair of differential signal conductors passes along its length through a shield that is electrically coupled to a ground conductor. In this way, the shielding frame can fully shield at least a portion of the corresponding differential signal conductors along the length direction of the differential signal conductors. The shielding frame is positioned outside the clamping groove. Therefore, the shielding frame can provide a better shielding effect outside the clamping groove, so that the signal transmission speed can be improved. In summary, compared with the existing card edge connector, the card edge connector provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can effectively reduce crosstalk, thereby improving the signal transmission speed and improving the signal integrity.

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that various techniques may be used, alone or in any suitable combination, to improve the signal integrity of a card edge connector. The techniques provided by the present disclosure may be particularly advantageous in right angle card edge connectors. Card edge connectors employing these techniques can be effective in improving signal integrity in right angle interconnect systems. Of course, the techniques provided by the present disclosure may also be employed with other types of card edge connectors, and will not be described in detail herein.

An example system in which such multiple card edge connectors may be used is depicted in fig. 1A. For example, the illustrated system shows five PCBs and may be part of a server. Motherboard 920 (a portion of which is shown) may be one of five PCBs, and motherboard 920 may include circuitry and patterned conductors on one or more planes of PCBs. The system may also include one or more card edge connectors 10a … d that receive an add-on card 910a … 910 d. Card edge connector 10a … d can be located at a peripheral region 922 of motherboard 920 and provide multiple interconnection paths between motherboard 920 and add-on cards 910a … 910 d. For the configuration shown in fig. 1A, the connectors may be referred to as "orthogonal" connectors because the attached add-on cards 910a … d have their circuit planes or board surfaces oriented orthogonally to the circuit plane(s) of the motherboard 920. According to some implementations, motherboard 920 and add-on card 910a … d may be assembled in a support frame or housing to accommodate one standard unit (1U) of an Information Technology (IT) equipment rack (approximately 1.75 inches high for a 19 inch wide or 23 inch wide equipment rack). The add-in card may contain a non-volatile memory chip and may be used as a Solid State Disk (SSD) in the system.

In some implementations, such a plurality of connectors 10a … d disposed side-by-side may in some cases conform to industry standards or specifications, such as the small-form factor (small form factor, SFF) specification. As just one example, a card edge connector may receive a card conforming to the SFF-TA-1007 specification. The specification may specify the number, arrangement and spacing of contacts on the add-on card that are electrically connected to conductors on the connector. In some embodiments, the center-to-center spacing between contacts on the add-on card 910a … 910d may be substantially or precisely 0.6 millimeters (mm), although other spacing may be used in other embodiments.

Fig. 1B shows a set of additional cards and card edge connectors of fig. 1A, and a portion of motherboard 920, where the additional cards are not mounted on the card edge connectors. The add-on card 910 may be any one of the add-on cards 910a … d, and the card edge connector may be the one of the card edge connectors 10a … d corresponding to the preceding add-on card. While the additional cards and the card edge connectors may have different structures and functions from one group to the other, the card edge connectors within the different groups may be similar with respect to the improvements provided by the present disclosure. For different types or versions of add-on cards 910, the add-on cards 910 may have different numbers of contacts. The contacts electrically connect with mating contacts in the card edge connector 10 when the add-on card 910 is inserted into the card edge connector 10.

As shown in fig. 1B and 2-3, the card edge connector 10 may include an insulating housing 100 and a conductive subassembly 200. The insulating housing 100 may be molded from an insulating material such as plastic. The plastic may include, but is not limited to, liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), high temperature nylon or polyphenylene oxide (PPO), or polypropylene (PP), or other materials may be used. In some cases, the plastic may be a thermoset. In some cases, the insulating plastic may comprise an insulating material such as fiberglass reinforced. The insulating housing 100 may generally be a single piece.

The insulating housing 100 may have a mating face 101. For clarity and conciseness of description, the longitudinal direction X-X, the transverse direction Y-Y and the vertical direction Z-Z are defined with reference to the abutment surface 101. The longitudinal direction X-X and the transverse direction Y-Y are two directions perpendicular to each other on the butt joint surface 101, and the vertical direction Z-Z is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X-X and the transverse direction Y-Y. The abutment surface 101 may be provided with a clamping groove 110 extending in the longitudinal direction X-X. Card slot 110 may be recessed from mating surface 101 in a vertical direction Z-Z for receiving an edge of add-on card 910. The edge of the add-on card 910 may be inserted into the card slot 110.

The front portion of the conductive subassembly 200 may be secured to the insulating housing 100 as shown in fig. 2-3. The conductive subassembly 200 may include a plurality of conductors 300. Adjacent conductors 300 may be spaced apart to ensure electrical isolation between adjacent conductors 300 from each other. The conductor 300 may be made of a conductive material such as metal. Each conductor 300 is generally an elongated, unitary piece. The conductors 300 may extend into the card slot 110. Specifically, each conductor 300 may include a mating contact portion 301 at a front portion thereof and a mounting tail portion 302 at a rear end thereof, as shown in fig. 3. The mating contact 301 is located within the insulating housing 100. The mating contact 301 may be located on a side of the card slot 110. Typically, the mating contact 301 is bent generally toward the inside of the card slot 110 to protrude into the card slot 110. The mounting tail 302 may be located outside of the insulating housing 100.

The mating contacts 301 of the conductors 300 may be arranged in two rows on either side of the card slot 110 along the lateral direction Y-Y, each row extending along the longitudinal direction X-X. Alternatively, the two rows of conductors 300 may be aligned with each other along the longitudinal direction X-X. Optionally, the two rows of conductors 300 are staggered in the longitudinal direction X-X to increase the spacing between the conductors 300 to reduce crosstalk. Of course, the conductor 300 may be located on the card slot 110 side, if desired.

As shown in fig. 10, a plurality of conductor mounting grooves 130 may be provided on the insulating housing 100. A plurality of conductor mounting slots 130 may be located on both sides of the card slot 110. The mating contact portions 301 of the plurality of conductors 300 may be mounted to the plurality of conductor mounting slots 130 in a one-to-one correspondence. The conductor mounting groove 130 can act as a fixture for the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300, ensuring that it does not deviate from the intended position, thereby ensuring stable performance of the card edge connector 10. Specifically, the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may be inserted into the conductor mounting groove 130 from the rear end of the insulating housing 100. The mating contact surface of the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may protrude out of the conductor mounting groove 130 and bend into the card slot 110. The mating contact surface wipes over and forms a press-fit with contacts on the add-on card 910 as the add-on card 910 is inserted into the card slot 110, thereby establishing an electrical connection.

For each conductive subassembly 200, its plurality of conductors 300 may be encased by an insulating molding 600 over which it is overmolded, with only the mating contact 301 and mounting tail 302 exposed outside of the insulating molding 600. With continued reference to fig. 10, the rear of the insulating housing 100 may also be provided with a conductive subassembly mounting slot 150. The front portion of the insulation molding 600 of the conductive sub-assembly 200 may be inserted and held in the conductive sub-assembly mounting groove 150. The card edge connector 10 may include two conductive subassemblies 200. The two conductive sub-assemblies 200 may be closely fitted and the front portions of their insulation molding 600 are inserted into the conductive sub-assembly mounting groove 150. In order to firmly fix the front portion of the conductive sub-assembly 200 to the insulating housing 100, the conductive sub-assembly 200 may also be fixed to the insulating housing 100 by a first holder 811. Illustratively, a first mounting portion 611 may be provided on the insulating molding 600 of each conductive subassembly 200, as shown in fig. 3. The insulating housing 100 may be provided with a second mounting portion 160. The first holder 811 may be connected to the first mounting portion 611 and the second mounting portion 160, thereby fixing the insulating housing 100 and the two conductive subassemblies 200 together.

In other embodiments, not shown, more conductive subassemblies 200 may be provided, such as two pairs of conductive subassemblies 200. Two of each pair of conductive subassemblies 200 are located on opposite sides of card slot 110, respectively, and mating contacts 301 of conductors 300 on the same side of conductive subassemblies 200 may be arranged in a row to facilitate mating of contacts on corresponding sides of add-on card 910. While the mounting tails 302 of conductors 300 on the conductive subassemblies 200 on the same side of the card slot 110 may be arranged in the same number of columns as the conductive subassemblies 200 on that side. That is, on the side, the mounting tails 302 of each conductive subassembly 200 are in a column, and when the side includes two conductive subassemblies 200, the mounting tails 302 of the two conductive subassemblies 200 are arranged in two columns. This has the advantage that each column includes a smaller number of mounting tails 302, and thus the mounting tails 302 may occupy a narrower peripheral area 922 on motherboard 920, resulting in a larger area in the middle area on motherboard 920, allowing more conductive traces to be routed.

As shown in fig. 2-3, the mounting tail 302 of each conductor 300 may be connected to a motherboard 920. Typically, the mounting tails 302 may be inserted into conductive vias on the motherboard 920 and form electrical connections with corresponding conductive vias. In this embodiment, the mounting tail 302 may be shaped as a press-fit flexible segment. The peripheral area 922 on the motherboard 920 may be provided with rows and columns of conductive vias arranged in a pattern corresponding to the pattern of mounting tails 302 on the card edge connector 10 to be connected. Motherboard 920 may be implemented as a circuit board as described below. A metal conductive layer may be plated on the sidewalls of each conductive via. The mounting tails 302 are inserted into corresponding conductive vias and may make electrical contact with the metal conductive layer. While the metal conductive layers of these conductive vias may be electrically connected to different conductive traces within the circuit board to form the desired circuit. In other embodiments not shown, the mounting tails of the plurality of conductors may be mounting tails based on technologies that may be Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and/or through-hole interposer technology (THT), etc. The mounting tails may be soldered to pads on motherboard 920 by surface mount technology and/or via insertion technology, etc., to make electrical connection to the circuitry of the circuit board. No matter what manner the mounting tail is electrically connected to the circuit board, the card edge connector 10 may be used to interconnect additional cards to circuits on the circuit board.

The card edge connector 10 may also include a housing 240. For example, the housing 240 may be metallic, such as die cast aluminum or machined parts. The housing 240 may be covered on the insulating housing 100. The housing 240 may extend rearward and cover a portion of the conductive subassembly 200. The housing 240 may provide sufficient mechanical support and protection for the insulating housing 100 and the conductive subassembly 200. According to some embodiments, the dimension of the card edge connector 10 along the longitudinal direction X-X may be less than 40mm, or approximately that value. The dimensions of the card edge connector 10 in the longitudinal direction X-X are mainly determined by the housing 240. According to some embodiments, the dimension may be between 30mm and 42mm, or approximately between these values, so that the connector may be used with a standard unit of components that accommodate an IT equipment rack. In alternative embodiments, the height may be greater than 42mm.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 6, the conductors 300 may include a plurality of ground conductors 310 and a plurality of differential signal conductors 320. The plurality of ground conductors 310 may be interspersed between the plurality of differential signal conductors 320. The plurality of ground conductors 310 and the plurality of differential signal conductors 320 may be arranged in a variety of desired patterns. The ground conductors 310 may be spaced apart differential signal conductors 320. The differential signal conductors 320 are present in pairs to form differential signal conductor pairs. The differential signal conductor pairs may be configured to transmit high data rate signals (e.g., signals with data rates exceeding 25 Gb/sec in the case of PAM4 encoding) or high frequency signals (e.g., exceeding 56 or 112 Gb/sec). The ground conductors 310 may be located between any adjacent two pairs of differential signal conductors 320. Differential signal conductor pairs may be used to transmit high-speed signals to reduce cross-talk.

Additionally, as shown in fig. 6, the conductor 300 may also include a plurality of additional conductors 330. A plurality of additional conductors 330 may be located at the periphery of the plurality of ground conductors 310 and the plurality of differential signal conductors 320. According to some embodiments, the additional conductor 330 may include a single trace conductor 330a. The single trace conductor 330a may transmit low frequency signals (e.g., less than 500MHz in frequency), lower data rate signals (e.g., less than 100 Mb/s), logic control signals, bias potentials, or reference potentials. According to some embodiments, the additional conductor 330 may include a common conductor 330b. The common conductor 330b may have more than one mounting tail and more than one mating contact. The common conductor 330b may transmit direct current. In addition or alternatively, the common conductor 330b may transmit other high current and low frequency signals.

Referring back to fig. 3, the card edge connector 10 may also include an interface shield structure 400. The interface shield structure 400 is disposed within the insulating housing 100. The interface shield structure 400 may be located on one side of the mating contact 301 of the plurality of conductors 300. In embodiments that include additional conductors 330, the interface shield structure 400 may be located on one side of the plurality of ground conductors 310 and the plurality of differential signal conductors 320. While the interface shield structure 400 is not provided on one side of the additional conductor 330.

As shown in fig. 6, each of the ground conductors 310 may include a ground mating contact portion 311 and a ground mounting tail portion 312 at both ends thereof in the extending direction thereof. Each differential signal conductor 320 may include signal mating contact portions 321 and signal mounting tail portions 322 at both ends thereof along its extension direction. Each single trace conductor 330a may include a single trace mating contact 331a and a single trace mounting tail 332a at both ends thereof along its extension. Each of the common conductors 330b may include a common mating contact portion 331b and a common mounting tail portion 332b at both ends thereof along an extending direction thereof. In this case, the foregoing mating contacts 301 may include the ground mating contacts 311, the signal mating contacts 321, the single trace mating contacts 331a, and the common mating contacts 331b. The mating contact 301 may extend into the card slot 110. The aforementioned mounting tails 302 may include ground mounting tails 312, signal mounting tails 322, single trace mounting tails 332a, and common mounting tails 332b. The mounting tail 302 may be mounted to the motherboard 920. Depending on the type of conductors 300 included in the card edge connector 10, the mating contact 301 may include fewer or more than the types mentioned above, and the mounting tail 302 may also include fewer or more than the types mentioned above.

In some embodiments, ground mounting tails 312, signal mounting tails 322, single trace mounting tails 332a, and common mounting tails 332b may be mounted to motherboard 920 via a through-hole-insertion technique. Preferably, the smaller and shorter the dimensions of the ground mounting tail 312, the signal mounting tail 322, the single trace mounting tail 332a, and the common mounting tail 332b, which is more advantageous for increasing signal transmission speeds. Illustratively, the widths of the ground mounting tails 312, signal mounting tails 322, single trace mounting tails 332a, and common mounting tails 332b may be on the order of about 0.42 mm. Illustratively, the signal mounting tails 322 may be smaller and shorter than the ground mounting tails 312. So configured, stub resonance (stub resonance) of differential signal conductor 320 is smaller, thereby allowing for high speed signal transmission and improving signal integrity. In this way, the card edge connector 10 is able to operate at higher frequencies while meeting the dimensional requirements of the relevant industry standards.

The interface shield structure 400 may be formed of, for example, a metallic material using a molding process or a stamping process. The interface shield structure 400 may be disposed within the insulating housing 100 by any suitable means, such as plugging, bonding, or welding. The interface shield structure 400 may be located on one side of the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300. The interface shield structure 400 may be inserted into the card slot 110 or at least partially within the slot wall of the card slot 110. The interface shield structure 400 may be electrically coupled to the ground structure of the card edge connector 10. Illustratively, the grounding structure of the card edge connector 10 may include any suitable structure in the ground conductor 310 and the housing 800, etc., as long as it may be capable of grounding.

The provision of the interface shield structure 400 allows shielding to be formed at the card slot 110, so that good shielding can be obtained in the transmission path of the card edge connector 10. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better. Accordingly, the card edge connector 10 provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may have better electrical performance, which may make the electronic system faster and functionally more complex.

The structure of the interface shielding structure 400 may be arbitrary, including but not limited to a shielding strip or a shielding frame, etc. In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 8-9, the interface shielding structure 400 may include an interface shielding plate 410. The interface shield plate 410 may be disposed outside the mating contact 301 of the plurality of conductors 300. The azimuthal term "outward" as used herein and hereinafter refers to the side away from within the card slot 110; and the azimuthal term "inner" refers to the side adjacent to the inside of the card slot 110. The interface shield 410 may be located entirely within the slot wall within the card slot 110 or at least partially within the slot wall of the card slot 110. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 10, an interface shield mounting slot 140 may be provided on the insulating housing 100. The interface shield mounting slot 140 may be located outside of the conductor mounting slot 130. The interface shield plate 410 may be plugged into the interface shield plate mounting slot 140. When the interface shield plate 410 is inserted into the card slot 110, the interface shield plate 410 may be positioned between the mating contact 301 of the plurality of conductors 300 and the insulating housing 100 in the lateral direction Y-Y. The interface shield 410 is typically made of a metallic material, and the mating contacts 301 of the plurality of conductors 300 are spaced apart from the interface shield 410 to prevent shorting between the conductors 300. The interface shield plate 410 may be located outside of the signal mating contact 321 of the differential signal conductors 320. And between two adjacent differential signal pairs is shielded by a ground conductor 310. The crosstalk can be well isolated by the grounding conductor 310, and the grounding conductor 310 and the interface shielding plate 410 can form shielding to the differential signal conductor 320, so that the card edge connector 10 has good crosstalk shielding performance, further has good common mode rejection efficiency, and ensures the signal transmission speed of the differential signal conductor 320. The inner side of the signal mating contact 321 needs to be in electrical contact with the add-on card 910. Whereby there are shields on the other three sides of the signal mating contact 321 within the insulative housing 100, except for the side to be electrically connected to the add-on card 910. The interface shield plate 410 has a simple structure and low manufacturing cost. And, the interface shield plate 410 is easy to plug into the card slot 110.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4B, the conductive subassembly 200 may further include an insulating molding 600 wrapped around the middle of the plurality of conductors 300. Referring to fig. 9, the conductive sub-assembly 200 may further include an outer shield plate 510 covering the outside of the insulation molding 600. The outer shield plate 510 may be formed of, for example, a metal material using a molding process or a stamping process. The outer shield plate 510 may be disposed outside the plurality of conductors 300. The outer shield 510 may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 310 of the plurality of conductors 300. The interface shield 410 is in electrical contact with an outer shield 510.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 9, the interface shield 410 may be offset toward the outside of the plurality of conductors 300 relative to the outer shield 510. In the lateral direction Y-Y, the interface shield 410 may be located outside the outer shield 510 and the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may be located inside the outer shield 510.

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that providing shielding at the card slot 110 of the insulating housing 100 is challenging because the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may flex outwardly under compression of the edge of the add-on card when the edge of the add-on card is inserted into the card slot 110. The mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may electrically contact the outer shield 510 if the outer shield 510 extends into the card slot 110 along its inherent structure. This increases the risk of shorting the differential signal conductors 320. Providing the interface shield 410 outside of the outer shield 510 may facilitate electrical contact with the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300, thereby avoiding shorting of the differential signal conductors 320.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 8-9, the middle of the interface shield plate 410 may have a plurality of spring beams 411. The plurality of elastic beams 411 may be bent toward the outer shield plate 510. The plurality of spring beams 411 may be attached to the plate body 414 of the interface shield plate 410 by any suitable means, such as welding, bonding, or molding. Illustratively, the elastic beams 411 may be formed by forming a U-shaped cutout on the interface shield plate 410 and then bending the outer shield plate 510, for example. The elastic beam 411 and the interface shield plate 410 may be one piece. In order to clearly show the structure of the elastic beams 411, the inner side and the outer side of the interface shield plate 410 are shown from different directions in fig. 8 and 9, respectively. The plurality of spring beams 411 may have curved sections 411a thereon as shown in fig. 8. Curved section 411a may abut and electrically contact a corresponding outer shield plate 510. By providing a plurality of spring beams 411, the interface shield plate 410 facilitates making electrical contact with the outer shield plate 510. Also, when the interface shield plate 410 is clamped between the insulating housing 100 and the outer shield plate 510, the plurality of elastic beams 411 may have a tendency to rebound toward the initial position, so that the interface shield plate 410 may be securely held between the insulating housing 100 and the outer shield plate 510. In addition, the provision of the curved section 411a ensures that the plurality of elastic beams 411 and the outer shield plate 510 move smoothly with respect to each other, thereby facilitating assembly. This will be described in detail below.

Illustratively, each spring beam 411 may be a cantilever beam. Each elastic beam 411 may include a curved section 411a, a free end 411b, and a fixed end 411c along its extension direction. Curved section 411a may be located between free end 411b and fixed end 411c. The fixed end 411c may be connected to the plate body 414 of the interface shield plate 410. The free end 411b may be spaced apart from the plate body 414 so as to have elasticity. In one embodiment, a slit may be cut in the plate body 414 of the interface shield plate 410, and a portion in the slit may be bent, so that the elastic beam 411 may be formed. The fixed end 411c may be connected to one end of the opening. The free end 411b may be spaced apart from the slit. Thus, the plate 414 may have an opening 413 formed therein. The free ends 411b are closer to the abutment surface 101 than the curved sections 411a of the corresponding spring beams 411. Thus, the interface shield plate 410 may be inserted from the outside of the mating face 101 in a direction toward the mating face 101. Since the outer side of the mating surface 101 is required for inserting the additional card, the space at this position is generally larger, and inserting the interface shield plate 410 in this direction is more convenient for the relevant personnel to operate, so that the difficulty of assembly can be reduced.

Illustratively, as shown in FIGS. 8-9, the interface shield plate 410 is further provided with a plurality of first protrusions 412. The plurality of first protrusions 412 may be connected to the plate body 414. The plate 414 may have a front edge 415 facing the abutment surface 101. The first plurality of protrusions 412 may extend from the front edge 415 in the direction of the abutment surface 101. Specifically, the plurality of first protrusions 412 may extend forward to the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300. The plurality of first protrusions 412 may be an extension of the interface shield plate 410 to further enhance the shielding effect. The plurality of first protrusions 412 may be integral with the interface shield plate 410. The plurality of first protruding portions 412 extend substantially forward such that, although the plurality of first protruding portions 412 are closer to the mating contact portion 301 than the interface shield plate 410 in the forward direction, since the mating contact portion 301 is bent toward the card slot 110, a sufficient distance can be provided between the interface shield plate 410 and the mating contact portion 301 without bringing the interface shield plate 410 and the mating contact portion 301 into electrical contact even if the additional card 910 is inserted into the card slot 110, causing the mating contact portion 301 to incline toward the outside. Illustratively, the front end of the first protruding portion 412 preferably does not exceed the curved portion of the mating contact portion 301, i.e., the front end of the first protruding portion 412 is preferably located behind the curved portion of the mating contact portion 301, which is the portion of the mating contact portion 301 that is in electrical contact with the add-on card 910.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 10, a plurality of limiting grooves 120 may be provided on the insulating housing 100. The openings of the plurality of limiting grooves 120 may face away from the abutment surface 101. In embodiments in which the interface shield mounting slot 140 is provided on the insulating housing 100, the openings of the plurality of limiting slots 120 may communicate with the interface shield mounting slot 140. As shown in fig. 8-9, the first protruding portions 412 may be inserted into the limiting grooves 120 in a one-to-one correspondence. In this way, the interface shield plate 410 may be more securely fixed. The interface shield 410 may be fixed to the insulating housing 100 in advance, and then the insulating housing 100 is plugged with the interface shield 410. Of course, the interface shield plate 410 may be electrically contacted with the outer shield plate 510 in advance and then plugged into the insulating housing 100.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4C, the conductive subassembly 200 may also include an inner shield 520. The inner shield 520 may be formed of, for example, a metal material using a molding process or a stamping process. The inner shield 520 may be disposed inside the middle of the plurality of conductors 300. Illustratively, the inner shield 520 may cover the inside of the insulation molding 600. The outer shield 510 may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 310 of the plurality of conductors 300. The front 521 of the inner shield 520 facing the mating surface 101 may extend into the card slot 110. The inner shield 520 may be disposed inside the mating contact portion of the plurality of conductors 300. The inner shield plate 520 is provided to form a shield at the card slot 110, so that the transmission path of the card edge connector 10 can be well shielded. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4C, the front 521 of the inner shield 520 may include a plurality of second protrusions 522. The plurality of second projections 522 may be disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the ground conductors 310 of the plurality of conductors 300 and the plurality of differential signal conductors 320 separated by the ground conductors 310 along the longitudinal direction X-X. By providing the plurality of second protrusions 522, the extension distance of the inner shield plate 520 can be increased, so that the shielding effect can be further improved.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 9, in embodiments in which the conductive subassembly 200 further includes an outer shield plate 510, a plurality of conductors 300 may be located between the outer shield plate 510 and the inner shield plate 520 along the lateral direction Y-Y. The front portion 521 of the inner shield 520 may protrude from the front portion 511 of the outer shield 510 in a direction toward the mating face 101. When the edge of the add-on card is inserted into the card slot 110, the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 may flex outwardly under the compression of the edge of the add-on card 910. Accordingly, the mating contact 301 of the conductor 300 does not electrically contact the inner shield 520. The shielding effect can be further improved by appropriately increasing the extension distance of the inner shielding plate 520.

In other embodiments, as shown in fig. 2-3 and 9, the conductive subassembly 200 may also include a shielding cage. The shield frame may be comprised of one or more shields including, but not limited to, an interface shield structure 400, an outer shield plate 510, an inner shield plate 520, and/or a conductive lossy structure 700 (described in detail below). In some embodiments, the inner shield 520, the outer shield 510, and the conductive loss structure 700 connecting both the inner shield 520 and the outer shield 510 to the ground conductor 310 through the ground conductor 310 may form a shield frame, as shown by the dashed box in fig. 12. The shielding frame has simple structure and low manufacturing cost. Each pair of differential signal conductors 320 may pass through the shield frame along its length (i.e., in the direction between the signal mating contact 321 and the signal mounting tail 322). The shield frame may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 310. In this way, the shielding frame may fully shield at least a portion of the corresponding differential signal conductor 320 along the length direction. The at least a portion may comprise 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or more of the length. The shield frame may be located outside the card slot 110.

By providing the shielding frame, shielding can be formed in the longitudinal direction of the differential signal conductors 320, so that the transmission path of the card edge connector 10 can be well shielded. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better. Accordingly, the card edge connector 10 provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may have better electrical performance, which may make the electronic system faster and functionally more complex.

Illustratively, as shown in FIGS. 2-3, 7A-7B, and 9, the conductive subassembly 200 may also include a conductive loss structure 700. The conductive loss structure 700 may be electrically coupled between the ground conductor 310 and the inner shield 520. And, the conductive loss structure 700 may be electrically coupled between the ground conductor 310 and the outer shield plate 510.

Illustratively, the conductive lossy structure 700 can be made of lossy material. Such materials may be considered lossy: the material will interact with the material to dissipate a sufficient portion of the electromagnetic energy that significantly affects the performance of the connector. The important effects are caused by attenuation in the frequency range of interest to the connector. In some configurations, the lossy material may suppress resonance within the ground structure of the connector, and the frequency range of interest may include the natural frequency of the resonant structure without the lossy material in place. In other configurations, the frequency range of interest may be all or part of the operating frequency range of the connector.

To test whether a material is lossy, the material may be tested in a frequency range that can be less than or different from the frequency range that is of interest to the connector in which the material is used. For example, the test frequency may range from 10GHz to 25GHz or from 1GHz to 5GHz. Alternatively, the lossy material may be identified from measurements made at a single frequency, such as 10GHz or 15 GHz.

The losses may be caused by interactions of the electric field component of the electromagnetic energy with the material, in which case the material may be referred to as electrically lossy. Alternatively or additionally, the loss may be caused by an interaction of a magnetic field component of electromagnetic energy with a material, in which case the material may be referred to as magnetically lossy.

The electrically lossy material can be formed from lossy dielectric material and/or poorly conductive material. The electrically lossy material can be formed from materials conventionally considered dielectric materials, such as those having an electrical loss tangent (electric loss tangent) greater than about 0.01, greater than 0.05, or between 0.01 and 0.2 over the frequency range of interest. The "electrical loss tangent" is the ratio of the imaginary part to the real part of the complex dielectric constant of a material.

Electrically lossy materials can also be formed from materials that are generally considered conductors, but are relatively poor conductors in the frequency range of interest. These materials may be conductive in the frequency range of interest, but with some loss, such that the material is less conductive than the conductors of the electrical connector, but better than the insulator used in the connector. Such materials may comprise conductive particles or regions that are sufficiently dispersed such that they do not provide high conductivity, or that are otherwise prepared to have such properties: this property results in a relatively weak bulk conductivity compared to good conductors such as pure copper in the frequency range of interest. For example, die cast metal or poorly conductive metal alloys may provide adequate loss in certain configurations.

Electrically lossy materials of this type typically have bulk conductivities of about 1 siemens/meter to about 100,000 siemens/meter, or about 1 siemens/meter to about 30,000 siemens/meter, or 1 siemens/meter to about 10,000 siemens/meter. In some embodiments, materials having bulk conductivities between about 1 siemens/meter and about 500 siemens/meter may be used. As a specific example, a material having a conductivity between about 50 siemens/meter and 300 siemens/meter may be used. However, it should be appreciated that the conductivity of the material may be selected empirically or through electrical simulation using known simulation tools to determine the conductivity that provides the appropriate Signal Integrity (SI) characteristics in the connector. For example, the SI characteristic measured or simulated may be low crosstalk combined with low signal path attenuation or insertion loss, or low insertion loss bias as a function of frequency.

It should also be appreciated that the lossy member need not have uniform properties throughout its volume. For example, the lossy member may have, for example, an insulating skin or a conductive core. A component may be identified as lossy if its properties are, on average, sufficient to attenuate electromagnetic energy in the region of interaction with the electromagnetic energy.

In some embodiments, the lossy material is formed by adding a filler comprising particles to the binder. In such embodiments, the lossy member may be formed by molding or otherwise shaping the binder with filler into a desired form. The lossy material may be molded over and/or through openings in the conductors, which may be ground conductors or shields of the connector. Molding the lossy material over or through the openings in the conductor may ensure intimate contact between the lossy material and the conductor, which may reduce the likelihood that the conductor will support resonance at frequencies of interest. Such intimate contact may, but need not, result in ohmic contact between the lossy material and the conductor.

Alternatively or additionally, the lossy material may be molded over or injected into the insulating material, for example in a two shot molding operation, or vice versa. The lossy material may be positioned against or sufficiently close to the ground conductor to provide significant coupling with the ground conductor. Close contact does not require electrical coupling between the lossy material and the conductor, as sufficient electrical coupling, such as capacitive coupling, between the lossy member and the conductor can produce the desired result. For example, in some cases, a coupling of 100pF between the lossy member and the ground conductor may have a significant effect on suppressing resonance in the ground conductor. In other examples employing frequencies in the range of about 10GHz or greater, the reduction in electromagnetic energy in the conductor may be provided by a sufficient capacitive coupling between the lossy material and the conductor having a mutual capacitance of at least about 0.005pF, such as a mutual capacitance in the range of about 0.01pF to about 100pF, about 0.01pF to about 10pF, or about 0.01pF to about 1 pF. To determine whether the lossy material is coupled to the conductor, the coupling may be measured at a test frequency such as 15GHz or in a test range such as 10GHz to 25 GHz.

To form the electrically lossy material, the filler can be conductive particles. Examples of conductive particles that may be used as fillers to form electrically lossy materials include carbon or graphite formed as fibers, flakes, nanoparticles, or other types of particles. Various forms of fibers may be used, either in woven or nonwoven form, coated or uncoated. Nonwoven carbon fibers are one suitable material. Metals in the form of powders, flakes, fibers or other particles may also be used to provide suitable electrical loss characteristics. Alternatively, combinations of fillers may be used. For example, metal plated carbon particles may be used. Silver and nickel are suitable metal coatings for the fibers. The coated particles may be used alone or in combination with other fillers such as carbon flakes.

Preferably, the filler will be present in a volume percentage sufficient to allow formation of a conductive path from particle to particle. For example, when metal fibers are used, the fibers may be present at about 3% to 30% by volume. The amount of filler can affect the conductive properties of the material and the volume percent of filler can be low in this range to provide adequate loss.

The binder or matrix may be any material that will solidify to position the filler, cure to position the filler, or can be otherwise used to position the filler. In some embodiments, the bonding agent may be a thermoplastic material conventionally used in the manufacture of electrical connectors to facilitate molding the electrically lossy material into a desired shape and into a desired location as part of the manufacture of the electrical connector. Examples of such materials include Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP) and nylon. However, many alternative forms of binder materials may be used. Curable materials such as epoxy resins may be used as the binder. Alternatively, a material such as a thermosetting resin or an adhesive may be used.

While the binder materials described above may be used to form electrically lossy materials by forming a binder around the conductive particulate filler, other binders or other ways of forming lossy materials may be used. In some examples, the conductive particles may be impregnated into the formed matrix material or may be coated onto the formed matrix material, such as by applying a conductive coating to a plastic or metal part. As used herein, the term "binder" includes materials that encapsulate, impregnate, or otherwise act as a substrate to hold a filler.

For example, the magnetically lossy material may be formed from materials conventionally considered ferromagnetic materials, such as those having a magnetic loss tangent (magnetic loss tangent) greater than about 0.05 over a range of frequencies of interest. The "magnetic loss tangent" is the ratio of the imaginary part to the real part of the complex dielectric constant of a material. Materials with higher loss tangent values may also be used.

In some embodiments, the magnetically lossy material may be formed from a binder or matrix material filled with particles that provide magnetically lossy properties to the layer. The magnetically lossy particles can be in any convenient form, such as flakes or fibers. Ferrite is a common magnetically lossy material. Materials such as magnesium ferrite, nickel ferrite, lithium ferrite, yttrium garnet, or aluminum garnet may be used. In the frequency range of interest, ferrites generally have a magnetic loss tangent of greater than 0.1. Presently preferred ferrite materials have a loss tangent between about 0.1 and 1.0 in the frequency range of 1GHz to 3GHz, and more preferably have a magnetic loss tangent above 0.5 in this frequency range.

The actual magnetically lossy material or mixtures containing magnetically lossy material may also exhibit dielectric or conductive loss effects of useful magnitude over portions of the frequency range of interest. Similar to the manner in which the electrically lossy material can be formed as described above, suitable materials can be formed by adding a filler to the binder that produces magnetic losses.

The material may be both a lossy dielectric or a lossy conductor and a magnetically lossy material. Such materials may be formed, for example, by using partially conductive magnetically lossy fillers or by using a combination of magnetically lossy fillers and electrically lossy fillers.

The lossy portion can also be formed in a variety of ways. In some examples, the binder material and filler may be molded into a desired shape and then secured to the shape. In other examples, the binder material may be formed into a sheet or other shape from which lossy members having a desired shape may be cut. In some embodiments, the lossy portion may be formed by interleaving layers of lossy and conductive materials, such as metal foil. The layers may be firmly attached to each other, such as by using epoxy or other adhesive, or may be held together in any other suitable manner. The layers may have a desired shape before they can be secured to each other, or may be stamped or otherwise formed after they are held together. As a further alternative, the lossy portion may be formed by plating a plastic or other insulating material with a lossy coating, such as a diffusion metal coating.

The conductive loss structure 700, which is made of a conductive loss material, effectively suppresses resonance in the ground conductor 310, thus forming a shield between adjacent signal conductors or pairs of signal conductors, thereby preventing signals carried on one differential signal conductor 320 from producing crosstalk on the other differential signal conductor 320. Therefore, the signal interference can be reduced by suppressing resonance, so that the signal transmission speed and the signal integrity are effectively improved. The shielding may also affect the impedance of each conductor 300, which may further help to achieve desired electrical properties.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 2-3, 7A-7B, and 11-12, the conductive subassemblies 200 may be arranged in pairs. Each pair of conductive subassemblies 200 is disposed opposite with respect to card slot 110. The conductive subassemblies 200 are respectively located at two sides of the card slot 110 along the transverse direction Y-Y. In each pair of conductive subassemblies 200, two inner shield plates 520 are disposed opposite each other between a pair of conductive subassemblies 200. The conductive loss structure 700 may form a joint 730 inside the inner shield plate 520. The joint 730 of each pair of conductive subassemblies 200 may be connected to each other. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the engagement portions 730 of each pair of conductive subassemblies 200 may include protrusions and recesses, respectively. The protrusions may be inserted into the grooves, thereby achieving the connection. With this arrangement, the relative position of each pair of conductive subassemblies 200 can be fixed.

As illustrated in fig. 6 and 7A-7B, the ground conductor 310 may be provided with a first opening 313, for example. The number and shape of the first openings 313 may be arbitrary. The conductive loss structure 700 passing through the through holes on any adjacent two of the ground conductors 310 may be electrically connected with the inner shield plate 520 and the outer shield plate 510 so as to form a shield frame around the inner shield plate 520 and the outer shield plate 510. The conductive loss structure 700 forms a ground post 710 within the first opening 313. Typically, the conductive loss structure 700 is formed on the inner shield 520, the insulation molding 600, and the outer shield 510, which are stacked together, with a plurality of conductors 300 wrapped, using an injection molding process, and openings are provided at corresponding positions on the inner shield 520, the conductors 300, the insulation molding 600, and the outer shield 510, through which conductive loss material can pass and form the ground posts 710. For each shield frame, the corresponding differential signal conductors 320 may pass through in pairs, so that shielding may be formed in the length direction of the differential signal conductors 320, resulting in good shielding in the transmission path of the card edge connector 10. Thus, the signal transmission speed can be improved, and the signal integrity is better. Accordingly, the card edge connector 10 provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may have better electrical performance, which may make the electronic system faster and functionally more complex.

Illustratively, the shielding frame may be plural. The shield frames may be spaced along the length of the differential signal conductor pairs. In this way, a plurality of shields can be formed, thereby improving the shielding effect.

Fig. 4A-4D illustrate a process flow of the conductive subassembly 200. As shown in fig. 4A-4B, an insulating molding 600 may first be injection molded over a plurality of conductors 300. The insulating molding 600 may function to support and fix the conductor 300. In practice, the plurality of conductors 300 shown in fig. 4A may be connected together at their edges by a lead frame at the periphery of the conductors 300 prior to forming the insulating molded article 600 so that the plurality of conductors 300 are referred to as a whole. The lead frame may be made of the same material as the plurality of conductors 300. The monolith may be stamped or cut from sheet metal, for example. The metal used for the monolith may include, but is not limited to, copper or copper alloys such as phosphor bronze, chrome plated copper or beryllium copper, or aluminum, chrome plated aluminum, aluminum alloys, and the like. During or after the molding step of the insulating molding 600, the lead frame may be cut and/or removed in order to electrically insulate the plurality of conductors 300 from each other.

Then, as shown in fig. 4C, the outer shield plate 510 and the inner shield plate 520 may be disposed at both sides of the above-mentioned components, respectively. The outer shield plate 510 and the inner shield plate 520 may be provided with a plurality of second openings 512 and a plurality of third openings 523 along the length direction of the ground conductors 310. The plurality of second openings 512 and the plurality of third openings 523 are each aligned with the first opening 313 on the ground conductor 310. And the insulating molding 600 exposes the first opening 313 when the insulating molding 600 is injection-molded as described above. As shown in fig. 4D, a conductive lossy material may then be injection molded over the component formed in fig. 4C, through the first opening 313, the second opening 512, and the third opening 523, and forming a conductive lossy structure 700. Thereby, the fabrication of the conductive subassembly 200 is completed.

Next, as shown in fig. 5A-5C, the outer shield plates 510 of both conductive subassemblies 200 may be positioned outwardly and the conductive subassemblies 200 may be plugged onto the insulating housing 100. The two conductive subassemblies 200 and the insulating housing 100 are secured together by a first retaining member 811. The housing 800 may then be assembled to the components described above. The housing 800 may be preferably made of a material having high strength such as metal. The case 800 may play a role of protection against the damage of the internal components by external force. The two conductive subassemblies 200 may be secured together with the second retention member 812 either before or after the first retention member 811 is connected. Of course, this method is merely exemplary, and any other suitable method may be employed for the card edge connector 10, so long as the assembly of the card edge connector 10 is completed.

Illustratively, a rear portion of each conductive subassembly 200 may be provided with a second mounting portion 612, as shown in fig. 9. The second holder 812 may be snapped into the second mounting portion 612 in the longitudinal direction X-X. So configured, the two conductive subassemblies 200 can be relatively fixed. Illustratively, the card edge connector 10 may further include a pair of U-shaped clamps 830, as shown in FIGS. 2-3. A pair of U-shaped clamps 830 may be inserted to both sides of the card slot 110 in the longitudinal direction X-X. A pair of U-shaped clamps 830 may be clamped between the insulating housing 100 and the outer case 800, respectively, so that the insulating housing 100 and the outer case 800 are relatively fixed.

Thus, the present disclosure has been described in terms of several embodiments, but it will be appreciated that numerous variations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art in light of the teachings of the present disclosure, and are within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as claimed. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. The foregoing embodiments are provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the disclosure to the embodiments described.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the azimuth or positional relationships indicated by the azimuth terms such as "front", "rear", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "transverse", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", etc., are generally based on the azimuth or positional relationships shown in the drawings, merely to facilitate description of the present disclosure and simplify the description, and these azimuth terms do not indicate and imply that the apparatus or elements referred to must have a specific azimuth or be configured and operated in a specific azimuth, and thus should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the present disclosure; the orientation terms "inner" and "outer" refer to the inner and outer relative to the outline of the components themselves.

Various changes may be made to the structures illustrated and described herein. For example, the interface shield structures and/or shield frames described above may be used with any suitable electrical connector, such as a backplane connector, a daughter card connector, a stacked connector (stacking connector), a mezzanine connector (mezzanine connector), an I/O connector, a chip socket, a Gen Z connector, and the like. When these connectors need to transmit data using high-speed data channels, the interface shielding structure and/or shielding frame can improve signal transmission quality well and reduce crosstalk, ensuring signal integrity.

Moreover, while many of the inventive aspects are described above with reference to orthogonal connectors, it should be understood that aspects of the present disclosure are not limited in this regard. As such, any one of the inventive features, either alone or in combination with one or more other inventive features, may also be used with other types of connectors, such as coplanar connectors, vertical connectors, right angle connectors, or the like.

Spatially relative terms, such as "above … …," "above … …," "upper surface at … …," "above," and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one or more components or features' spatial positional relationships to other components or features as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass not only the orientation of the elements in the figures but also different orientations in use or operation. For example, if the element in the figures is turned over entirely, elements "over" or "on" other elements or features would then be included in cases where the element is "under" or "beneath" the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term "above … …" may include both orientations of "above … …" and "below … …". Moreover, these components or features may also be positioned at other different angles (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or other angles), and all such cases are intended to be encompassed herein.

It is noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments in accordance with the present application. As used herein, the singular is also intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, and furthermore, it is to be understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" when used in this specification are taken to specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, components, assemblies, and/or combinations thereof.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present application and the above figures are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that embodiments of the present application described herein may be implemented in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein.

Claims

1. A card edge connector, comprising:

an insulating housing having a mating face with a card slot configured to receive an edge of an add-on card; and

The conductive subassembly, the front portion of conductive subassembly is fixed on the insulating casing, the conductive subassembly includes a plurality of conductors and interface shielding structure, each of a plurality of conductors includes the cooperation contact portion that is located its front portion, cooperation contact portion follow the side of draw-in groove crooked to in the draw-in groove, interface shielding structure sets up in the insulating casing and is located one side of cooperation contact portion, interface shielding structure with the ground structure electric coupling of card edge connector.

2. The card edge connector of claim 1, wherein the interface shield structure includes an interface shield plate disposed outside of the mating contact portions of the plurality of conductors.

3. The card edge connector of claim 2, wherein the conductive subassembly further comprises an insulating molding surrounding a middle portion of the plurality of conductors and an outer shield plate covering an outer side of the insulating molding, the outer shield plate being electrically coupled with a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, the interface shield plate being in electrical contact with the outer shield plate.

4. The card edge connector of claim 3, wherein the interface shield is offset toward the outside of the plurality of conductors relative to the outer shield.

5. The card edge connector of claim 3, wherein a central portion of the interface shield plate has a plurality of spring beams bent toward the outer shield plate, the bent sections of the plurality of spring beams abutting and in electrical contact with the corresponding outer shield plate.

6. The card edge connector of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of spring beams is a cantilevered beam having a free end, and wherein the free end is closer to the mating surface than the curved section of the corresponding spring beam.

7. The card edge connector of claim 3, wherein a front edge of the interface shield plate facing the mating face is provided with a plurality of first projections extending forward to the mating contact.

8. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 7, wherein the insulating housing is provided with a plurality of limiting grooves with openings facing away from the mating surface, and the plurality of first protruding parts are inserted into the plurality of limiting grooves in a one-to-one correspondence.

9. The card edge connector of claim 1, wherein the conductive subassembly further comprises an inner shield disposed inside the plurality of conductors, the inner shield electrically coupled to a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, a front portion of the inner shield facing the mating face extending into the card slot.

10. The card edge connector of claim 9, wherein the conductive subassembly further comprises an outer shield disposed outside of the middle of the plurality of conductors, the outer shield electrically coupled to a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors, a front portion of the inner shield protruding from a front portion of the outer shield in a direction toward the mating face.

11. The card edge connector of claim 10, wherein the conductive sub-assembly further comprises a conductive loss structure electrically coupled between the ground conductor and the inner shield and between the ground conductor and the outer shield.

12. The card edge connector of claim 11, wherein the ground conductors are provided with vias through which the conductive loss structures extend, the conductive loss structures passing through the vias on any adjacent two of the ground conductors forming a shield frame around the inner shield plate and the outer shield plate, the corresponding differential signal conductor pairs passing through the shield frame.

13. The card edge connector of claim 12, wherein the shielding frames are plural and spaced apart along the length of the differential signal conductor pairs.

14. The card edge connector of claim 11, wherein the conductive subassemblies are arranged in pairs, each pair of conductive subassemblies being disposed opposite with respect to the card slot, the conductive loss structure forming a junction on an inner side of the inner shield plate, the junctions of each pair of conductive subassemblies being connected to each other.

15. The card edge connector of claim 9, wherein the front portion of the inner shield includes a plurality of second projections disposed in one-to-one correspondence with ground conductors of the plurality of conductors and a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductors.

16. The card edge connector of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conductors includes a ground conductor, a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductor, and additional conductors located on the periphery of the ground conductor and the differential signal conductors, the interface shield structure being located on one side of the differential signal conductors and the ground conductor.

17. The card edge connector of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conductors includes a ground conductor and a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductor, the ground conductor having a ground mounting tail opposite its mating contact, each of the plurality of differential signal conductors having a signal mounting tail opposite its mating contact, the signal mounting tail being smaller than and shorter than the ground mounting tail.

18. A card edge connector, comprising:

the conductive subassembly is fixed on the insulating shell, the conductive subassembly comprises a plurality of conductors, the matched contact parts of the conductors are positioned on the side face of the clamping groove, the conductors comprise grounding conductors and a plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors which are spaced by the grounding conductors, and each pair of differential signal conductors passes through a shielding frame electrically coupled with the grounding conductors along the length direction of the differential signal conductors so as to fully shield at least one part of the corresponding differential signal conductors along the length direction.

19. The card edge connector of claim 18, wherein the conductive subassembly further comprises an inner shield disposed inside the plurality of conductors and an outer shield disposed outside the plurality of conductors, the inner shield and the outer shield each being electrically coupled with a ground conductor of the plurality of conductors to form the shield frame.

20. The card edge connector of claim 19, wherein the conductive sub-assembly further comprises a conductive loss structure electrically coupled between the ground conductor and the inner shield plate and between the ground conductor and the outer shield plate to form a portion of the shield frame.

21. The card edge connector of claim 20, wherein the ground conductors are provided with vias through which the conductive loss structures extend, the conductive loss structures passing through the vias on any adjacent two of the ground conductors forming the shield frame around the inner shield plate and the outer shield plate.

22. The card edge connector of claim 20, wherein the conductive subassemblies are arranged in pairs, each pair of conductive subassemblies being disposed opposite with respect to the card slot, the conductive loss structure forming a junction on an inner side of the inner shield plate, the junctions of each pair of conductive subassemblies being connected to each other.

23. The card edge connector of claim 19, wherein the front portion of the inner shield includes a plurality of second projections disposed in one-to-one correspondence with ground conductors of the plurality of conductors and a plurality of differential signal conductors separated by the ground conductors.

24. The card edge connector of claim 19, wherein a front portion of the inner shield plate facing the mating surface extends into the card slot.

25. The card edge connector of claim 19, wherein a front portion of the inner shield plate protrudes from a front portion of the outer shield plate in a direction toward the mating face.

26. The card edge connector of claim 19, further comprising an interface shield plate, each of the plurality of conductors including a mating contact portion at a front portion thereof, the mating contact portion being bent into the card slot from a side of the card slot, the interface shield plate being disposed within the insulative housing outside the mating contact portions of the plurality of conductors, the interface shield plate being in electrical contact with the outer shield plate.

27. The card edge connector of claim 26, wherein the interface shield is offset toward an outside of the plurality of conductors relative to the outer shield.

28. The card edge connector of claim 26, wherein a central portion of the interface shield plate has a plurality of spring beams bent toward the outer shield plate, the bent sections of the plurality of spring beams abutting and in electrical contact with the corresponding outer shield plate.

29. The card edge connector of claim 28, wherein each of the plurality of spring beams is a cantilevered beam having a free end, and wherein the free end is closer to the mating surface than the curved section of the corresponding spring beam.

30. The card edge connector of claim 26, wherein a front edge of the interface shield plate facing the mating face is provided with a plurality of first projections extending forwardly to the mating contact.

31. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 30, wherein the insulating housing is provided with a plurality of limiting grooves with openings facing away from the mating surface, and the plurality of first protrusions are inserted into the plurality of limiting grooves in a one-to-one correspondence.

32. The card edge connector of claim 18, wherein the plurality of conductors further includes additional conductors located about the periphery of the ground conductors and the plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors.

33. The card edge connector of claim 18, wherein the ground conductors have ground mounting tails opposite their mating contacts, and wherein each of the plurality of pairs of differential signal conductors have signal mounting tails opposite their mating contacts, the signal mounting tails being smaller than and shorter than the ground mounting tails.

34. The card edge connector of claim 18, wherein the shielding frames are plural and spaced apart along the length of the pairs of differential signal conductors.