The present invention relates to a sheet-type connector for use in connection of CPUs or other type semi-conductors, and more particularly, to a sheet-type connector having a configuration so that its conductive contacts are arranged in an array of rows and columns with high density.
In the art, sheet-type connectors have been made by subjecting a metal sheet to etching and forming to produce a plurality of conductive contacts thereon in a matrix of rows and columns. Thereafter, the metal sheet is integrated with an square insulation sheet as shown in Japanese Patent No. 2620502 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003/124404.
As described above, the sheet-type connectors of the prior art have been manufactured so that the conductive contacts corresponding to conductive parts of the CPU and other semi-conductor elements are produced by etching and forming the metal sheet. Every time a semi-conductor with different number of contact pads poles is manufactured, or the number of rows and columns in the matrix is changed, it becomes necessary to change the etching mask and the material. This makes the manufacturing of the connector extremely complicated.
The etching of the metal sheet may also restrict improvement in precision for shape and pitch of the conductive contacts, which makes it difficult to provide stable conductive contacts with higher density. The present invention is directed to a sheet connector that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a new configuration of a sheet that permits changing the number of pads in the conductive sections of the semi-conductor integrated circuit elements.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet-type connector and method of making the same, which improves the precision of the shape and pitch of the contacts of the sheet connector.
A further object of the present invention is to provide method of manufacturing conductive contacts for a sheet type connector, which can improve in precision for shape and pitch of the conductive contacts.
To attain such objects the present invention provides, in one aspect thereof, a sheet type connector, comprising an insulation sheet and a plurality of conductive contacts provided on said insulation sheet in an array of “M” rows and “N” columns, with the contacts being successively stamped and formed in a metal sheet are disposed on a belt-like insulation sheet in an array of “m” rows and “n” columns to produce an intermediate sheet, where “m” is an integer greater than “M” and “n” is an integer greater than “N”, and thereafter, said intermediate sheet is cut into such size that the conductive contacts in “M” rows by “N” columns are included.
In this connection it is noted that “M” and “N” are integers of not less than one. However, the present invention is not applied to the case where “M”=“N”=1 which means that the number of poles is 1.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a sheet type connector, comprising an insulation sheet and a plurality of conductive contacts provided on said insulation sheet in an array of “M” rows and “N” columns, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: providing a belt-like metal sheet, and successively producing one or more columns of conductive contacts by a stamping and forming process in said metal sheet in the longitudinal direction thereof, said conductive contacts coupled to each other by carriers, said carriers including carriers at one or both sides of the metal sheet, side-carriers, and center carriers; providing a belt-like insulation sheet having carriers at one or both sides thereof and a plurality (“m”) of through-holes formed between said carriers at the predetermined interval in the column direction, where “m” is an integer greater than “M”, and separating the stamped and formed conductive contacts in a unit of “m” rows from the metal sheet, and thereafter, adhering that conductive contacts to the insulation sheet while registering the conductive contacts with the through-holes of the insulation sheet, respectively, to form an intermediate sheet;
According to the present invention, as described above, the intermediate sheet having the conductive contacts in the array of “m” rows (“m” is greater than “M”) and “n” columns (“n” is greater than “N”) can be cut to produce the sheet type connector having desired configuration of the conductive contacts in the array of “M” rows and “N” columns. Therefore, it is possible to easily manufacture the sheet type connector having the conductive contacts configured to correspond to the conductive section of the semi-conductor integrated circuit element with which the present connector is mated.
Furthermore, there is no need to provide various kinds of molds each for molding the metal sheet for each of various kinds of semi-conductor integrated circuit elements. Instead, a common mold is used for all kinds of semi-conductor integrated circuit elements, which can realize extremely reasonable and economical manufacturing for the connector.
In addition, the metal sheet is successively stamped and formed to produce the conductive contacts, which makes possible to improve in precision for shape and pitch of the conductive contacts in order to meet the higher density requirement for the conductive contacts and to provide higher stability in connection for the conductive contacts, and thus, higher reliability in performance for the connector. In particular, even for the case where the conductive contacts become reduced in height with the progress of lower profile configuration of the connector the conductive contacts of the present invention can still maintain adequate contact pressure.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.
In the course of this detailed description, the reference will be frequently made to the attached drawings in which:
Referring to
The process of producing the conductive contacts 20 by a stamping and forming process in the belt-like metal sheet 10 is performed in steps S1 to S5, as illustrated in
Then, at steps S2 and S3, the metal sheet 10 is stamped to remain such shape that corresponds to external shape of the conductive contacts 20 between the carriers 12, 12 of the metal sheet 10 which is intermittently feed in the direction indicated by an arrow “P” at the predetermined pitch with the aid of the pilot holes 11, 11. At step S2, i.e. in a first stamping for external shape of the conductive contacts 20, two columns of openings 13 in the form of a leaf of a gingko tree are formed with joints of the leaves faced to each other. At step S3, i.e. in a second stamping for external shape of the conductive contacts 20, openings 14 in the form of a balance weight are formed between the two columns of openings 13. As the result, two columns of generally circular contact-forming portions 15 are formed at the predetermined pitch. The two columns of contact-forming portions 15 are coupled to each other by center carriers 16 in the form of a cross remaining between the columns, and are coupled to the carriers 12 via side carriers 17 remaining outside the columns.
As seen in
After the first and second stamping for external shape of the conductive contacts 20, at step S4, a contact-stamping is performed in the contact-forming portion 15 to produce an annular conductive portion 21 and a pair of spiral conductive portions 22. Each of base ends of the spiral conductive portions 22 are formed to continue to the annular conductive portion 21. Then, at step S5, a contact-raising is performed to raise the spiral conductive portions 22 in the axial direction of the annular conductive portion 21 to form a coiled conductive portion 23. As the result, a conductive contact 20 including the annular conductive portion 21 and the coiled conductive portions 23 projected in the axial direction of the annular conductive portion 21 is completed.
The raising of the spiral conductive portion 22 at step S5 is performed, as shown in
The process of adhering the stamped and formed conductive contacts 20 to the belt-like insulation sheet 30 to produce the intermediate sheet 40 includes a step of separating two columns of the conductive contacts 20 in a unit of the predetermined number of rows from the metal sheet 10 and adhering them to the insulation sheet 30, and a step of removing the center carriers 16 by which the adhered conductive contacts 20 are coupled to each other.
The belt-like insulation sheet 30 is provided with an adhesive layer (not shown) at the lower side thereof in
Furthermore, the spacing between columns of the through-holes 33 is equal to that of the conductive contacts 20 on the metal sheet 10, and the pitch of the through-holes 33 within a column is equal to that of the conductive contacts 20 within a column. Accordingly, it is possible to register the metal sheet 10 with the insulation sheet 30 with the aide of the pilot holes 11, 31 so that two columns of conductive contacts 20 separated from the metal sheet 10 coincides with the two columns of the through-holes 33 in the insulation sheet 30 with 1:1 relationship.
In this embodiment each of columns of the through-holes 33 in the insulation sheet 30 has 12 rows. Accordingly, separation of the conductive contacts 20 from the metal sheet 10 is performed with 12 rows. It is noted, here, that the number of rows (“m”) of the through-holes 33 in the insulation sheet 30 is determined depending on the number of rows (“M”) of the sheet type connector 50, 51, 52 that is finally manufactured. Therefore, “m” is an integer that is greater than the number of rows (“M”) of the sheet type connector 50, 51, 52. Separation of the conductive contacts 20 is performed by cutting the side carriers 17 coupling between the carriers 12 and the annular conductive portions 21 of the conductive contacts 20. The separated conductive contacts 20 in the array of 12 rows and 2 columns are still coupled to each other by the center carriers 16.
The separated and registered conductive contacts 20 in the array of 12 rows and 2 columns are then adhered to the bottom surface of the insulation sheet 30 (as viewed in
Thereafter, the center carriers 16 still remaining on the insulation sheet 30 to which the conductive contacts 20 in the array of 12 rows and 2 columns are adhered are removed to produce an intermediate sheet 40. The process of removing the center carriers 16 is performed in such manner that the center carrier 16 itself and a portions of the insulation sheet 30 that is directly over the center carrier 16 are concurrently removed by a stamping process to produce a second through-hole 34. By removing the center carriers 16 the conductive contacts 20 are electrically separated from each other to form individual independent poles. Now, the intermediate sheet 40 having the conductive contacts 20 disposed in the array of 12 rows and “n” columns is prepared.
In this embodiment the insulation sheet 30 is formed from polyimide material, but it may be formed from other synthetic resin insulation material. Furthermore, as described above, the center carrier 16 is removed in such manner that the center carrier 16 itself and a portions of the insulation sheet 30 that is directly over the center carrier 16 are concurrently removed by a stamping process to produce a second through-hole 34. Alternatively, the second through-hole 34 may be provided in advance, e.g. at such time that the through-hole 33 is provided, and only the center carrier 16 may be removed by a stamping process via the second through-hole 34.
Then, the intermediate sheet 40 having the conductive contacts 20 disposed in the array of 12 rows and “n” columns is processed by arbitrary cutting the insulation sheet 30 to produce a sheet type connector having different number of poles or conductive contacts 20 (in an array of “M” rows and “N” columns). Referring to
In this way, the sheet type connector having the conductive contacts 20 in “M” rows by “N” columns is produced by cutting the intermediate sheet 40 in which the conductive contacts 20 are adhered to the insulation sheet 30 in “m” rows (“m” is greater than “M”) by “n” columns (“n” is greater than “N”. Accordingly, it is possible to easily manufacture the sheet type connector having the conductive contacts configured to correspond to the conductive section of the semi-conductor integrated circuit element with which the connector is mated.
Furthermore, the conductive contacts 20 are produced by so-called “successive feeding process” in which the metal sheet 10 is continuously fed for a stamping and forming process. Accordingly, it is possible to improve in precision for shape and pitch of the conductive contacts in order to meet the higher density requirement for the conductive contacts and to provide higher stability in connection for the conductive contacts, and thus, higher reliability in performance for the connector.
FIGS. 6 to 8 shows some examples for usage of the sheet type connector 50. In each figure, “70” represents a semi-conductor integrated circuit element, and “80” conceptually represents a circuit board. In addition, “71” represents a conductive section of the semi-conductor integrated circuit element, and “81” represents a conductive pad on the circuit board 80.
Referring to
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While the preferred embodiment of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-228751 | Aug 2004 | JP | national |