Patent Application
20200295491
The present disclosure relates to interposer assemblies used for forming electrical connections between spaced contact pads on circuit members.
Interposer assemblies form electrical connections between contact pads arranged in very close proximity to each other. The pads are generally arranged on a grid spaced equidistantly from each other. Each assembly may include thousands of contacts. Thus, the contacts must establish a reliable electrical connection with the pads when they are placed between circuit members. In many cases, if a single contact fails to make a reliable connection, it could render the entire assembly useless.
Typically, contacts used in assemblies include contact surfaces, which mechanically engage the contact pads and form electrical connections. Conventional formed metal contact interposer assemblies have a surface contacts which engage a mating pad at an upper and lower interface thereby forming an electrical connection between the two pads along a single conduction path.
What is needed is an interposer assembly design that can create a higher-signal-speed connection by means of dual conduction paths. As discussed herein, various improvements are provided to enhance the function and reliability of interposer assemblies.
Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:
The present description and claims may make use of the terms “a,” “at least one of,” and “one or more of,” with regard to particular features and elements of the illustrative embodiments. It should be appreciated that these terms and phrases are intended to state that there is at least one of the particular feature or element present in the particular illustrative embodiment, but that more than one can also be present. That is, these terms/phrases are not intended to limit the description or claims to a single feature/element being present or require that a plurality of such features/elements be present. To the contrary, these terms/phrases only require at least a single feature/element with the possibility of a plurality of such features/elements being within the scope of the description and claims.
In addition, it should be appreciated that the following description uses a plurality of examples for various elements of the illustrative embodiments to further illustrate example implementations of the illustrative embodiments and to aid in the understanding of the mechanisms of the illustrative embodiments. These examples are intended to be non-limiting and are not exhaustive of the various possibilities for implementing the mechanisms of the illustrative embodiments. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the present description that there are many other alternative implementations for these various elements that may be utilized in addition to, or in replacement of, the embodiments provided herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
As used herein, the term “includes” means “comprises.” For example, a device that includes or comprises A and B contains A and B but can optionally contain C or other components other than A and B. A device that includes or comprises A and B may contain A and B, and optionally one or more other components such as C.
In accordance with the present invention, various embodiments of a high performance electronic interposer are disclosed herein. In previous solutions, an array of spring metal contacts would be retained in cavities within a molded plastic housing using a molded ramp feature in each housing cavity that engages a gap at the mouth of one or more C-shaped contacts. Various examples of previous designs may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,290,507; 6,730, 134; and 6,315,576.
As discussed herein, various improvements are possible over the above-listed designs. For example, in one embodiment, the contact is retained in the housing cavity by means of a molded ramp that engages a detent in the spine of the contact. Thus, in some embodiments, the front arms of the C-shaped contact are allowed to deflect freely in the cavity (i.e., without having to deflect along the molded ramp) during contact deflection.
In a further embodiment, the freely acting arms of the contact may have various improvements, such as, for example a tab-and-slot design, or matching offset protrusions. Thus, when pressure is applied to the contact (e.g., via dielectric plates), the mouth of the contact is closed, and the two ends securely interlock with each other. It should be understood that, although various specific examples may be used herein, the contact may sit within the interposer and between a variety of planar surfaces. Some non-limiting examples of planar surfaces may be circuit boards, flexible circuits, integrated circuits, and/or any other electronic surface that includes wiring and/or pads suitable for connection to another surface.
As would be understood by one skilled in the art, the interlocked ends of the contact arms ensure that the arms do not slip off of each other and/or that one arm does not flex or move more than the other. In some embodiments, when the contact arms meet, the force applied may cause the arms of the contact to deflect inward toward the center, thereby significantly adding to the contact's resultant normal force and meeting minimum standard normal force requirements for a low-voltage electronic connector. Thus, ensuring a secure connection between the two arms is critical not only for improved conductivity, but also to ensure that each contact maintains the proper required resultant force. The interlocked ends of the contact arms also ensure a consistent electrical path length, as compared to the variable electrical path length of a similar contact without interlocking ends and rather a ‘rolling’ contact end interface.
In a further embodiment, one or more domes may be placed at the upper and lower contact points of the contact. As discussed herein, such domes may allow for an increased point-contact force at the contact interface and for easier alignment with the one or more mating contact pads.
Referring now to
It should also be noted that although
Referring generally to
In a further embodiment, one or more contacts may have a first upper flat spring arm 204 that angles upwardly and inwardly from an upper contact support 205 to the rounded upper contact support 202 at the top of the contact 200. In another embodiment, a second upper flat spring arm 206 may angle downwardly and outwardly from the rounded upper contact support 202 to an upper support bend 207 which faces away from the spine 201. A contact 200 may also have a upper end strip 208 that extends downwardly and inwardly from upper support bend 207 to an upper tip 260.
In a further embodiment, the contact 200 may be vertically symmetrical to either side of the center point of the spine 201, such that the lower half of the contact has a lower contact support 209, first lower flat spring arm 210, rounded lower contact support 203, a second lower flat spring arm 211, lower support bend 212, lower end strip 213 and a lower tip 280. In a further embodiment, the contact 200 may have a pair of domes (i.e., upper dome 214 and lower dome 215) provided on the opposed edges of rounded upper contact support 202 and rounded lower contact support 203.
As shown in
Referring generally to
The flat cam surfaces on wall 104 extend from the tip 110 toward the top and bottom surfaces 106 and 107 at a shallow outward angle. As shown in
In a further embodiment, passages 101 have opposed sidewalls extending between end walls 103 and 104. In a further embodiment, each sidewall may include a flat portion extending perpendicularly between the top surface 106 and the bottom surface 107 and perpendicularly from one edge of wide end wall 103. A yet further embodiment may have flat, inwardly tapered sidewall portions extend from the edge of second end wall 104 away from first end wall 103. As illustrated in
In some embodiments, the one or more contacts 200 may be inserted into one or more passages 101 by positioning a contact above a passage, as shown in
In some embodiments, the contact 200 may have a loose fit in passage 101 with limited free vertical movement. Accordingly, at least a portion of the upper contact support 205 and the lower contact support 209 may rest on a portion of wall 104, specifically the contact retention protrusion 109. In a further embodiment, at least a portion of the upper support bend 207 and the lower support bend 212 rest on a portion of wall 103. As shown in
In one or more embodiments, the interposer assembly 100 may have one or more contacts 200 inserted and in the gravity down position as shown in
In a further embodiment, the upward biasing force may cause the lower support bend 212 to further engage the first end wall 103, thereby forcing the tip 280 to move in an upward and inward direction as shown in
In some embodiments, when the contact 200 is in the position shown in
Accordingly, in some embodiments and as shown in
In additional embodiments, as the contact 200 is compressed, the spine 201 may remain in approximately the same location during compression. As shown in
Referring now to
Referring briefly to
As shown in
Thus, according to some embodiments, the upper dome 214 and/or the lower dome 215 may wipe or scrape along the contact pad of the upper substrate 114 and/or the lower substrate 111, which can improve the quality of the electrical connection. Over time, impurities, oxides, or contaminants may build up on either the contact surface or the pad and can impair the electrical connection. As should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the redundant circuit paths described herein reduce electrical resistance between the upper substrate 114 and the lower substrate 111 to help reduce high speed inductance between contacts in plate 105.
In some embodiments, when the contact 200 is being compressed and the second redundant electrical connection between tip 260 and tip 280 is formed, variables inherent in the manufacture of interposer assemblies, their components, and the location of the components may affect the connection between the substrates. Generally, mating with contact pads (not shown) on opposing substrates (e.g., 111 and 114) is unlikely to be perfectly symmetrical. This is because, in some embodiments, the manufactured parts may have dimensional tolerances or design characteristics that may affect mating. In a further embodiment, the result of having these manufacturing variables is that during compression of the contact 200 and formation of the connections between tips 260 and 280, the upper 107 and lower 212 support bends may engage the end wall 103 at different times, such that tips may not align and perfectly deflect together.
As illustrated in
As discussed herein, the tips 260 and 280 may not perfectly align during compression between the upper substrate 114 and the lower substrate 111 based on manufacturing tolerances. As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the upper and lower tips 260 and 280 could potentially slide off of each other or lose connection in another way if the tips are blunt and/or not interlocking. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the tips 260 and 280 may have corresponding interfaces that improve the connection strength of the tips and decrease the likelihood of a failed connection (i.e., where upper tip 260 and lower tip 280 do not touch and thus fail to create a conductive path).
As shown in
In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein.
The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.
With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (for example, bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (for example, the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” et cetera). While various compositions, methods, and devices are described in terms of “comprising” various components or steps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), the compositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the various components and steps, and such terminology should be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present.
For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (for example, “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations.
In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (for example, the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example, “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example, “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.
As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, et cetera. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, et cetera. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as “up to,” “at least,” and the like include the number recited and refer to ranges that can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.
Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.
