This application relates to the field of electronic device technologies, and in particular, to a connector and an electronic device.
In electronic devices, electrical elements (such as chips and main boards) may be connected by using connectors, to implement functions such as electrical signal transmission between the electrical elements. For example, in a computer, various electrical elements such as main boards and chips are usually included. The chip may be installed on the main board by using the connector, and an electrical connection between the chip and the main board is implemented. However, a current connector has a defect in structure design. As a result, an electrical signal is attenuated significantly when passing through the connector, which is not conducive to improving signal transmission performance.
This application provides a connector that is conducive to improving signal transmission performance and an electronic device.
According to an embodiment, this application provides a connector. The connector includes a substrate and M conductive terminals. The substrate is provided with M through holes, the M conductive terminals are disposed to penetrate through the M through holes in a one-to-one correspondence, and the conductive terminal includes a first conductive part, a second conductive part, and a holding part. The first conductive part is located at one end of the conductive terminal, the second conductive part is located at the other end of the conductive terminal, and the holding part is located between the first conductive part and the second conductive part. The holding part is fastened in the through hole by using a fastening medium. M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. In some embodiments, the M conductive terminals are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence with the M through holes. One conductive terminal is disposed to penetrate through each through hole, and each conductive terminal is fastened to the substrate by using the fastening medium that is located in the through hole. According to the connector provided in this application, the conductive terminal may be fastened to the substrate by using the fastening medium, so that disposing of a stub structure may be avoided, to facilitate improving signal transmission performance of the conductive terminal.
In some embodiments, structure types of the first conductive part and the second conductive part may be various.
For example, the first conductive part may be of an elastic arm structure or a solder ball structure. The second conductive part may be of an elastic arm structure or a solder ball structure. Structure types of the first conductive part and the second conductive part may be the same or different.
In another example, the conductive terminal may alternatively include a first segment and a second segment that are separated from each other. For example, the first conductive part and a part of the holding part may be located in the first segment, and the second conductive part and another part of the holding part may be located in the second segment. In other words, installation convenience of the conductive terminal can be improved by disposing a separation structure. For example, when the conductive terminal penetrates through the through hole, interference may occur between the first conductive part or the second conductive part and the through hole, which may reduce assembly convenience between the conductive terminal and the substrate. Therefore, the first conductive part and the second conductive part can be prevented from penetrating through the through hole after the conductive terminal is separated into the first segment and the second segment. In this way, the interference between the first conductive part and the second conductive part, and the through hole can be avoided.
In addition, in an assembly process of the connector, to maintain relative locations of the conductive terminal and the substrate, the connector may further include a support base. A support part that is configured to be fastened to the support base may be disposed in the conductive terminal. The support base may be first fastened to the support part of the conductive terminal before the conductive terminal is installed on the substrate. Then, the conductive terminal with the support base may be placed on an upper plate surface of the substrate, so that the support base abuts against one of plate surfaces (for example, the upper plate surface) of the substrate, and the holding part extends into the through hole. In other words, the conductive terminal may be stably placed on the substrate by using the support base, and therefore, correct relative locations of the conductive terminal and the substrate are maintained.
In addition, when the connector is disposed between a chip and a main board, under an effect of an extrusion force, the first conductive part or the second conductive part may be broken or generate another bad condition due to excessive deformation. The first conductive part is used as an example. After the support base is disposed, one side of the support base may abut against the plate surface of the substrate, and another side of the support base may abut against a lower surface of the chip, so that a minimum distance between the chip and the substrate can be limited, to avoid overpressure on the first conductive part.
Alternatively, a protrusion part may alternatively be disposed on the support base. The protrusion part can effectively increase a height of the support base without significantly increasing weight of the support base, which is conducive to avoiding overpressure on the first conductive part.
During disposing, the protrusion part may extend in a direction away from the substrate, so that the top of the protrusion part can abut against the chip, to increase a minimum distance between the chip and the substrate. In other words, the protrusion part can increase the height of the support base while not significantly increasing the weight of the support base, which is conducive to implementing lightweight design of the connector.
In addition, to implement an electrical connection between some conductive terminals, a conductive layer may further be disposed in the through hole. In addition, a conductive circuit may further be disposed on the substrate, and the conductive circuit may be electrically connected to a conductive layer that needs to be electrically connected. In some embodiments, the conductive terminal may be electrically connected to a conductive layer in a corresponding through hole by using the fastening medium, and conductive layers in different through holes may be connected by using the conductive circuit, so that electrical connections between a plurality of conductive terminals are implemented.
The fastening medium may be a conductor material such as tin or silver, which facilitates implementing an efficient electrical connection between the conductive terminal and the conductive layer.
The conductive circuit may be disposed on one of the plate surfaces of the substrate, or on both the plate surfaces of the substrate.
Alternatively, the substrate may be of a stacked structure of a plurality of sub-substrates. When the conductive circuit is disposed, the conductive circuit may alternatively be disposed between two adjacent (or stacked) sub-substrates.
According to another embodiment, this application further provides an electronic device. The electronic device includes a first electrical element, a second electrical element, and a connector. The first electrical element includes a pad, and the second electrical element also includes a pad on the top. The pad of the first electrical element may be connected to a first conductive part of a conductive terminal. The pad of the second electrical element may be connected to a second conductive part of the conductive terminal. In other words, the conductive terminal can implement an electrical connection between the first electrical element and the second electrical element.
In an embodiment, the first electrical element may be an electrical element such as a chip, and the second electrical element may be an electrical element such as a main board. Types of the first electrical element and the second electrical element are not limited in this application. In addition, the electronic device may be a type such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, or a television. In other words, the connector may be applied to a plurality of different types of electronic devices, to implement an electrical connection between electrical elements that need to be connected.
To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following further describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
For ease of understanding a connector provided in embodiments of this application, the following first describes an application scenario of the connector.
As shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
As shown in
In
It can be learned by comparing
Therefore, embodiments of this application provide a connector that can effectively avoid disposing a stub structure to improve signal transmission performance.
To make objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the following further describes this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.
Terms used in the following embodiments are only intended to describe embodiments, but are not intended to limit this application. Terms “one”, “a”, and “the” of singular forms used in this specification and the appended claims of this application are also intended to include plural forms like “one or more”, unless otherwise specified in the context clearly. It should be further understood that in the following embodiments of this application, “at least one” refers to one, two, or more.
Reference to “an embodiment”, or the like described in this specification indicates that one or more embodiments of this application include a feature, structure, or characteristic described with reference to the embodiments. Therefore, statements such as “in an embodiment”, “in some implementations”, “in other implementations”, and the like that appear at different places in this specification do not necessarily refer to a same embodiment. Instead, the statements mean “one or more but not all of embodiments”, unless otherwise emphasized in another manner. The terms “include/comprise”, and “have”, and variants thereof all mean “include but are not limited to”, unless otherwise emphasized in another manner.
As shown in
During disposing, structures of the first conductive part 121 and the second conductive part 122 may be various.
For example, as shown in
During manufacturing, a process such as cutting or bending may be used to form an elastic arm structure (the first conductive part 121) in the conductive terminal 12. The conductive terminal 12 may be made of a material with good conductivity, such as copper, aluminum, silver, or an alloy of the copper, the aluminum, and the silver. The material of the conductive terminal 12 is not limited in this application.
For the second conductive part 122, in an embodiment, a solder ball may be implanted at a lower end of the conductive terminal 12 by using a welding process, to fasten the solder ball to the lower end of the conductive terminal 12.
When the connector 10 is assembled, the conductive terminal 12 may be inserted into the through hole 111 from an upper side of the substrate 11. Then the fastening medium 13 is injected into the through hole 111 through a process such as reflow soldering or sintering, so that the holding part 123 is fastened to the inner wall of the through hole 111. Finally, the solder ball may be implanted at the lower end of the conductive terminal 12, and the solder ball is stably fastened at the lower end of the conductive terminal 12 through secondary reflow soldering, to form the second conductive part 122.
In an embodiment, the second conductive part 122 may be electrically connected to the pad 31 in a manner of abutting or welding. In some embodiments, the solder ball may directly abut against the pad 31, to implement an electrical connection between the conductive terminal 12 and the pad 31. Alternatively, the solder ball may be welded to the pad 31 through a process such as reflow soldering, to improve a connection effect between the conductive terminal 12 and the pad 31. In embodiment, the solder ball structure may be a conductive spherical structure such as a tin ball or a silver ball, or another shape of structure. A material of the solder ball structure is not limited in this application.
In some embodiments, both the first conductive part 121 and the second conductive part 122 may be of the solder ball structure. Alternatively, the second conductive part 122 is of the solder ball structure and the second conductive part 122 is of the elastic arm structure. Alternatively, both the first conductive part 121 and the second conductive part 122 may be of the elastic arm structure.
For example, as shown in
In addition, to facilitate installing the conductive terminal 12 on the substrate 11, in some embodiments, the conductive terminal 12 may further include two separated parts.
For example, as shown in
Refer to
In addition, in an assembly process of the connector 10, to maintain relative locations of the conductive terminal 12 and the substrate 11, the connector 10 may further include a support base.
As shown in
The support base 14 may be a structural member that is made of a material with good insulation properties, such as plastic, nylon, or liquid crystal polymer. During manufacturing, the support base 14 may be manufactured in a manner such as injection molding, and then is fastened to the conductive terminal 12 in a manner such as bonding. Alternatively, the support base 14 may be directly molded on the support part of the conductive terminal 12 by using a process such as in-mold injection molding, and combination between the support base 14 and the conductive terminal 12 is implemented. A molding manner of the support base 14 and a connection manner between the support base 14 and the conductive terminal 12 are not limited in this application.
In addition, in an embodiment, shapes of the support base 14 may also be various.
For example, as shown in
In addition, in an embodiment, the support base 14 can further play a support role, to avoid a bad condition such as damage due to overpressure on the conductive terminal 12.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, a height of the support base 14 may be properly set according to an actual requirement.
Alternatively, as shown in
During disposing, the protrusion part 144 may extend in a direction (an upward direction in the figure) away from the substrate 11, so that the lower surface of the chip 20 can abut against an upper surface of the protrusion part 144. Alternatively, the protrusion part 144 may alternatively extend towards a direction of the substrate 11, so that the upper plate surface of the substrate 11 can abut against the protrusion part 144. In other words, the protrusion part 144 can increase the height of the support base 14, to increase the minimum distance between the chip 20 and the substrate 11.
It may be understood that, when a second conductive part 122 is of the elastic arm structure, the support base 14 may also be disposed on the lower side of the substrate 11, to ensure a minimum distance between the lower plate surface of the substrate 11 and the main board 30.
In addition, to improve manufacturing convenience of the connector 10 and simplify an assembly process, one support base 14 may also be connected to a plurality of conductive terminals 12 at the same time.
For example, as shown in
In summary, the support base 14 may be fastened to only one conductive terminal 12, or to more than one conductive terminal 12 at the same time.
In addition, in an embodiment, a disposing quantity of conductive terminals 12 and a location arrangement of the plurality of conductive terminals 12 may also be correspondingly adjusted according to an actual requirement.
In summary, there may be M conductive terminals 12. Correspondingly, M through holes 111 may be disposed in the substrate 11, and the M conductive terminals 12 are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence with the M through holes 111. Alternatively, it may be understood that each conductive terminal 12 is fastened to a corresponding through hole 111. A disposing location of the through hole 111 on the substrate 11 may be flexibly disposed according to an actual requirement. In addition, a shape and a size of a cross section of the through hole 111 may also be flexibly selected and adjusted according to an actual requirement, which is not limited in this application.
In addition, in an embodiment, some conductive terminals 12 are configured to implement an electrical connection between the chip 20 and the main board 30. Some conductive terminals 12 further need to be grounded. For ease of understanding this technical solution, the conductive terminal 12 configured to implement the electrical connection between the chip 20 and the main board 30 may be referred to as a signal terminal. The conductive terminal 12 configured to be grounded is referred to as a ground terminal.
In a current connector 10, ground terminals are separately grounded, and an entire ground network is not formed. Therefore, signal transmission performance of the connector 10 is also reduced.
For example,
In
In
Therefore, in an embodiment provided in this application, a conductive circuit 113 may be disposed on the substrate 11 to implement an electrical connection between the ground terminals.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, the conductive circuit 113 may be disposed on the lower plate surface of the substrate 11, or disposed on both the upper plate surface and the lower plate surface of the substrate 11.
Alternatively, the substrate 11 may be of a multilayer-plate structure, and the conductive circuit 113 may be disposed between adjacent sub-substrates 11.
For example, as shown in
It may be understood that, in some embodiments, the conductive circuits 113 may alternatively be disposed only between two adjacent sub-substrates. Alternatively, the conductive circuit 113 may alternatively be disposed between every two adjacent sub-substrates. A disposing location and a structure of the conductive circuit 113 are not limited in this application.
In addition, to improve signal transmission performance of the signal terminal and avoid a bad condition such as crosstalk, during disposing, signal terminals may be isolated from each other by using the ground terminals as much as possible.
For example, as shown in
It may be understood that, in some embodiments, a disposing quantity and a location arrangement of signal terminals and ground terminals may be flexibly disposed according to an actual situation, which is not limited in this application.
In addition, as shown in
In addition, in an embodiment, the first electrical element 20 may be an electrical element such as a chip, and the second electrical element 30 may be an electrical element such as a main board. Types of the first electrical element 20 and the second electrical element 30 are not limited in this application.
In addition, the electronic device may be a type such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, or a television. In other words, the connector 10 may be applied to a plurality of different types of electronic devices, to implement an electrical connection between electrical elements that need to be connected.
The foregoing descriptions are merely embodiments of this application, but are not intended to limit a protection scope of this application. Any variation or replacement readily figured out by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should fall within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202110109129.6 | Jan 2021 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/075811, filed on Feb. 10, 2022, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202110109129.6, filed on Jan. 27, 2021. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2022/075811 | Feb 2022 | US |
Child | 18359246 | US |