Tyco Electronics Corporation

Te Connectivity Corporation

Te Connectivity Nederland Bv

Thomas Taake De Boer

Michael John Phillips

John Joseph Consoli

Bruce Allen Champion

Linda Ellen Shields

Sandeep Patel

Chad William Morgan

Randall Robert Henry

James Lee Fedder

David Allison Trout

Michael David Herring

Michael Eugene Shirk

Timothy Robert Minnick

Richard Elof Hamner

Rutger Wilhelmus Smink

Leo Joseph Graham

Hubertus Maria Van Het Bolscher

An interconnect system includes a circuit board including a substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors including respective contact pads in a mating area of the substrate for engaging corresponding contacts of an electrical connector, and a plurality of ground vias extending at least partially through the substrate between the first and second surfaces. The ground vias are coupled to corresponding ground conductors. The ground vias include lossy plugs at least partially filling the ground vias. The lossy plugs are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the substrate.

Circuit board having selective vias filled with lossy plugs

A plug connector includes a circuit card and a guide frame mounted to the circuit card. The circuit card is held by a housing. The circuit card includes a front edge and opposing outer edges. The circuit card defines a datum hole in a first surface. The circuit card further includes a set of contact pads along the first surface proximate to the front edge. The contact pads are registered relative to the datum hole. The guide frame has a base that has a post. The guide frame includes a frame member that extends from the base. An outer wall of the frame member is registered relative to the post. The post is received in the datum hole of the circuit card such that the outer wall of the frame member is registered relative to the contact pads, independent of locations of the outer edges of the circuit card.

Plug connector having a guide frame

An electrical connector includes a housing having a first end and a second end with a mating slot formed between the first and second ends configured to receive a mating connector having contact pads. A leadframe assembly is disposed in the housing. The leadframe assembly has a contact array including ground contacts and signal contacts interspersed between corresponding ground contacts. The leadframe assembly has an overmold body supporting the ground and signal contacts. The overmold body has lossy ground absorbers coupled to corresponding ground contacts. The lossy ground absorbers are manufactured from lossy material absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the leadframe assembly.

Electrical connector having resonance control

A ground contact module includes a ground leadframe having a ground contact with a transition portion extending between mating and terminating ends. A ground dielectric body holds the ground leadframe. The ground dielectric body has a low loss layer overmolded over the ground leadframe. The ground dielectric body has a lossy band separate and discrete from the low loss layer and attached thereto in proximity to the ground contact such that the lossy band is electrically coupled to the ground contact. The lossy band is manufactured from lossy material having conductive particles in a dielectric binder material and absorbs electrical resonance propagating through the contact module stack.

Ground contact module for a contact module stack

A plug connector includes a plug body having a terminating end terminated to an electrical component and a mating end mated with a mating electrical connector. The plug body has first and second outer sides. The plug body has pockets between the first and second outer sides. A plug shroud extends from the plug body at the terminating end that is configured to be coupled to the electrical component. A contact array is held by the plug body and includes signal and ground contacts. The signal and ground contacts are exposed along the first and second outer sides. At least some of the ground contacts are aligned with corresponding pockets. Resonance-control lossy inserts are provided in corresponding pockets adjacent corresponding ground contacts. The lossy inserts are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the plug body.

Plug connector having resonance control

An electrical connector includes an array of conductors held within a housing and a ground tie bar extending across the conductors. The conductors include signal conductors and configurable conductors, the latter being selectively configurable between a ground state and a signal state to define a ground conductor and a signal conductor, respectively. The ground tie bar includes a stem and plural ground fingers extending therefrom. The ground fingers align with associated configurable conductors to engage and electrically connect to the configurable conductors. The ground tie bar is programmable to selectively remove at least one ground finger from the ground tie bar. A respective configurable conductor is in the ground state when engaged by the associated ground finger, and is in the signal state when the associated ground finger is removed from the ground tie bar to increase a number of the signal conductors in the array of conductors.

Electrical connector with a programmable ground tie bar

An electrical connector includes a housing having a terminating side and a front side that is configured to mate with a mating connector. The electrical connector also includes signal and ground conductors extending through the housing. The signal and ground conductors are configured to engage the mating connector. The signal conductors form a plurality of signal pairs configured to carry differential signals. The ground conductors are interleaved between the signal pairs. The electrical connector further has at least one resonance-control ground bus that includes a ground frame and a support body. The support body at least partially covers the ground frame. The support body comprises a lossy material. The ground frame includes multiple arms that each engage and electrically connect to a respective one of the ground conductors in order to electrically common the ground conductors that are engaged by the arms.

Electrical connector and connector system having bussed ground conductors

An electrical connector includes a housing having a mating housing and a contact organizer. The mating housing has a mating slot configured to receive a mating connector having contact pads. The contact organizer has signal and ground contact channels separated by separating walls with inner ends between the separating walls. The contact organizer has lossy fillers at the inner ends of the ground contact channels. The lossy fillers are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the housing. The electrical connector includes a contact assembly disposed in the housing with ground contacts and signal contacts interspersed between corresponding ground contacts in corresponding ground and signal contact channels of the contact organizer. The ground contacts are positioned adjacent the lossy fillers at the inner ends of the corresponding ground contact channels.

A contact module stack includes signal contact modules and ground contact modules flanking the signal contact modules in a ground-signal-signal-ground contact module arrangement. The signal contact modules each include signal leadframes and signal dielectric bodies. The ground contact modules each include ground leadframes and ground dielectric bodies. The ground leadframes each have at least one ground contact. Each ground dielectric body has a low loss layer on a first side of the ground leadframe and a lossy layer on a second side of the ground leadframe. The lossy layer and the low loss layer substantially enclose a transition portion of the ground contact. The lossy layers are manufactured from lossy material having conductive particles in a dielectric binder material. The lossy layers absorb electrical resonance propagating through the contact module stack.

Communication connector having a contact module stack

An electrical connector includes a housing having a first end and a second end. The housing has a mating slot formed between the first and second ends configured to receive a mating connector having contact pads. A contact array is received in the housing. The contact array includes ground contacts and signal contacts interspersed between corresponding ground contacts. The ground contacts include attachment portions thereon. At least one lossy ground absorber is received in the housing and is coupled to at least one corresponding ground contact. Each lossy ground absorber includes at least one opening. The at least one opening receives the attachment portion of the corresponding ground contact.

Electrical connector includes a connector housing having a front side configured to mate with a mating connector and a mounting side configured to be mounted to a circuit board. The electrical connector also includes signal and ground conductors that extend through the connector housing between the front and mounting sides. The signal conductors form a plurality of signal pairs. The ground conductors are positioned relative to the signal pairs to form a plurality of ground-signal-signal-ground (GSSG) sub-arrays. Each GSSG sub-array includes a corresponding signal pair and first and second ground conductors that separate the corresponding signal pair from adjacent signal pairs. The electrical connector also includes a plurality of resonance-control bridges in which each resonance-control bridge electrically couples the first and second ground conductors of a corresponding GSSG sub-array. Each of the resonance-control bridges includes at least one of a capacitor or a resistor.

Electrical connector assembly including an electrical connector having signal contacts and ground contacts that are coupled to a connector housing and disposed along a mounting side of the connector housing. The electrical connector assembly also includes a contact organizer that is positioned along the mounting side of the connector housing. The contact organizer has signal windows and ground passages extending therethrough that are defined by respective inner surfaces of the contact organizer. The ground contacts engage the inner surfaces of the ground passages when the contact organizer is held in a pre-loaded position away from the mounting side. The contact organizer moves to a seated position against the mounting side when the electrical connector is mounted to the circuit board. Each of the signal contacts is surrounded by an air gap that exists between the signal contact and the inner surface of the corresponding signal window.

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Hummelstown, PA, United States of America

Thomas Taake De Boer