TW201801421A - Electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing, two rows of contacts retained in the insulative housing and a shielding plate positioned between the two rows of contacts. The two rows of contacts are isolated from the shielding plate. The shielding plate has two opposite surfaces faced the contacts. The conductivity of the two surfaces is higher than the conductivity of stainless steel. The shielding plate has high conductivity and can improve the differential insertion loss of high frequency signals of the electrical connector.

Description

Electric connector

The invention relates to an electrical connector having a shielding plate.

On August 11, 2014, the USB Association announced a new type of electrical connector. The plug connector can be inserted into the corresponding socket connector in both directions, and the socket connector can transmit USB2.0 and USB3.0 or USB3. .1 signal, this connector is named USB Type C connector. The plastic body of the board-end connector is provided with a shielding plate, which is located between the upper and lower rows of terminals. The shielding plate has the effect of improving the interference of the high-frequency signal terminals of the upper and lower rows, especially the transmission of USB3.0 or USB3. .1 For high-frequency capable signals, at the same time, the two side edges of the shield plate are provided with locking parts for holding with the locking arms of the mating connector for locking and grounding. At present, the shielding plate of USB Type C is generally made of stainless steel. When it is suitable for transmitting USB 3.0 signals, it cannot reach the high-frequency electrical performance specified in the specification, especially the differential insertion loss (IL) of the differential pair signal. That is, when the signal is transmitted from the transmitting end to the receiving end, how much is left of the signal accepted by the receiving end, the closer the value is to 1 (0dB), the smaller the loss during the transmission process.

Therefore, it is necessary to improve the above-mentioned electrical connector or other similar electrical connectors that transmit high-frequency signals.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector, which can improve the shielding effect of the shielding plate.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an electrical connector, which includes an insulating body, two rows of terminals fixed on the insulating body, and a shielding plate, the shielding plate is disposed between the two rows of terminals and is isolated from the two rows of terminals. The shielding plate has two opposite surfaces facing the terminal, and the two surfaces have a higher conductivity than a stainless steel material.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has at least the following beneficial effects: The shielding plate of the present invention has good electrical conductivity and improves the insertion loss of high-frequency signals of the electrical connector.

The first diagram is a schematic diagram of a circuit board having a differential line and a ground foil layer according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

The second figure is an insertion loss simulation diagram with a distance of 1.016 mm between the differential line and the ground foil layer in the first figure;

The third figure is a simulation diagram of the insertion loss with a distance of 2.032 mm between the differential line and the ground foil layer in the first figure;

The fourth diagram is a perspective view of a USB Type C connector according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

The fifth diagram is a perspective view of the fourth diagram with the metal case removed;

The sixth figure is a perspective view without the insulating body in the fifth figure;

The seventh diagram is a simulation diagram of the insertion loss of the connector of the fourth diagram;

The eighth figure is the actual test chart of the insertion loss of the stainless steel material in the shielding plate in the fourth figure;

The ninth picture is the actual test chart of the insertion loss of the shield plate in the fourth picture in the surface of gold-plated stainless steel;

The tenth figure is a perspective view of a Displayport connector according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and

The eleventh figure is the actual test chart of the insertion loss of the shielding plate in the surface of the silver-plated stainless steel material in the tenth figure.

Each embodiment of the present invention is a high-frequency electrical connector. The high-frequency electrical connector includes upper and lower rows of high-frequency signal terminals and a shielding plate located between the two rows of high-frequency signal terminals. At present, high-frequency signal terminals in electrical connectors generally use differential terminal pairs. For example, electrical connectors such as USB Type C, HDMI, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt use differential terminal pairs to transmit high-frequency signals. Different from the traditional method of one signal line and one ground line, differential transmission transmits signals on two lines at the same time, and the amplitudes of the two signals are the same and the phases are opposite. At present, the transmission rate is getting higher and higher (for example, 10Gbps per channel) and the size is getting smaller and smaller (for example, the terminal spacing is less than 0.5 mm). The coupling interference between the upper and lower signals is getting more and more serious.

The first to third figures simulate the positional relationship between a pair of differential lines (T +, T-) (functionally equivalent to a differential terminal pair) and the ground foil layer SP (functionally equivalent to a shield plate). Differential Insertion Loss )Impact. In the first figure, a pair of differential lines (T +, T-) and a ground foil layer SP are provided on a circuit board PCB. The distance H between the differential line and the ground foil layer is 4mil (1mil = 0.0254mm), that H = 1.016 mm and impedance is 100 ohms. When the ground foil layer SP is made of copper or stainless steel, the simulation diagram of the insertion loss is shown in the second figure, S11 shows the insertion loss of the ground foil layer made of stainless steel, and S21 shows the insertion loss of the ground foil layer of copper. It can be seen that copper with a higher conductivity (80% conductivity) gets a better insertion loss, while stainless steel (4% conductivity) gets an unsatisfactory insertion loss. In the third figure, increase the distance between the differential line (T +, T-) and the ground foil layer SP. H is 8mil, that is, H1 = 2.032 mm. Obviously, the copper ground foil layer SP is still better than the stainless steel ground foil layer. Has better insertion loss, but the gap between the two is significantly reduced. For example, when the horizontal axis is 10GHz, S22 is significantly better than S21. Through the above-mentioned simulated insertion loss, it is explained that the smaller the distance between the ground foil layer and the differential line, the farther the insertion loss is from the target value. At this time, the conductivity of the ground foil layer SP has a greater effect on the insertion loss, and the ground foil layer is conductive. The higher the rate, the more effective it is to improve insertion loss. This principle applies to differential terminal pairs and shielding plates.

The fourth to sixth figures show a USB Type C socket connector 100 having a high-frequency differential terminal pair. The socket connector 100 includes an insulating body 10, two rows of terminals 20, a shielding plate 30, and a cover covering the docking tongue plate. The metal housing 40 includes an insulating body including a base portion 12 and a butt tongue plate 11 extending from the base portion. A docking cavity 101 is formed between the metal case and the butt tongue plate. The two rows of terminals 20 are flat and have contact portions 21 exposed on two opposite surfaces of the butt tongue plate and pins 22 extending from the insulating body. The shielding plate 30 is fixed in the insulation body and is located between the two rows of terminals 20. In the meantime, the shielding plate 30 extends from the butt tongue plate 11 into the base portion 12. The docking tongue plate 11 has two side surfaces 111 connecting two opposite surfaces, and the shielding plate 30 has two latching side edges 311 exposed on the sides of the docking tongue plate. Each row of terminals includes a USB2.0 signal terminal pair, a ground terminal, a power terminal, and a USB3.1 signal terminal pair 24. USB3.1 is a differential terminal pair for transmitting high-frequency signals. The strip 23 is cut in the final product. The seventh figure shows the simulated insertion loss of the upper and lower terminals of USB3.1. S is the loss value specified in the USB Type C connector specification as a reference value. When the shielding plate 30 is made of copper, the upper row of USB3.1 The insertion loss S31 of the lower row and the insertion loss S32 of the lower row USB3.1 both meet the requirements; when the shielding plate 30 is still made of stainless steel, the insertion loss S41 of the upper row USB3.1 and the insertion loss S42 of the lower row USB3.1 also meet Claim. However, when the high-frequency experimental analysis is performed on the actual product, the test data of the stainless steel shielding plate 30 is shown in the eighth figure. The insertion loss S51 of USB3.1 is lower than the reference value S specified in the specification at the middle section A, which meets Can't meet the demand; when the stainless steel shielding plate 30 is gold-plated on its two opposite surfaces (gold has good conductivity, and the two opposite surfaces of the actual shielding plate are entirely gold-plated), the insertion loss S61 of USB3.1 is higher than the benchmark Value S, meet the requirements.

The shielding plate 30 can be directly formed from a material with high conductivity, such as a copper alloy, or it can be coated with a material with high conductivity, such as gold or silver. In the preferred embodiment, as shown in the sixth figure, the shielding plate 30 includes a bottom plate 31 and a coating layer 32 coated on two opposite surfaces of the bottom plate. The bottom plate 31 is made of stainless steel, and the coating layer 32 is a metal with high conductivity. material. This coating can be applied to the two opposite surfaces of the entire bottom plate, or it can be applied locally, but at least the portion aligned with the upper and lower rows of differential terminal pairs and including pins (as indicated by reference numeral 32 in the sixth figure) The shaded portion defines that the differential pair terminal corresponds to a shaded area formed on the shielding plate, and the coating coats at least the shaded area). The coating of the shielding plate may also be formed by using other high-conductivity materials, such as copper, silver, etc., until the conductivity is at least higher than 10%. Compared with the copper material shield plate, the gold plated rust steel material shield plate has a better strength due to its stainless steel bottom plate, which can provide a better locking effect. The structure of the shield plate 30 buried in the butt tongue plate of the insulating body can also be Enhance the strength of the butt tongue. The most important thing is that the structure cost of stainless steel material plus coating is also very low. In summary, the effect of the shielding plate 30 on the differential terminal pair is mainly the surface conductivity. In the present invention, the upper and lower opposing surfaces of the shielding plate have at least a higher conductivity than that of a stainless steel material. The layer is formed of a layer or the entire bottom plate, and the high-conductivity coating is a conductive material having a conductivity of more than 10%.

The tenth to eleventh figures show the structure 200 and high-frequency test data of another DisplayPort connector that transmits high-frequency signals. A shield plate is buried in the tongue plate of the DisplayPort connector (the shield plate does not protrude from the front and side surfaces of the tongue plate). When the shielding plate is made of stainless steel, part of the insertion loss S71 of the differential terminal pair (position indicated by B) is lower than the base value S, which cannot meet the requirements. When the shielding plate is made of stainless steel and plated with silver, the insertion of the differential terminal pair The loss S72 is higher than the base value S, which meets the demand.

Of course, based on the consideration of the mold, for example, when the USB Type C only transmits the USB2.0 signal, the above-mentioned shielding plate for improving the conductivity can also be used. Of course, the above shielding plate can also be applied to a plug connector. Generally, the insulating body of the plug connector is provided with a docking cavity, and the two rows of terminals include elastic contact portions protruding into the docking cavity and pins extending out of the insulation body; It is located at the rear of the containing cavity, and the shielding plate is located between the two rows of terminals.

In summary, the plug connector of the present invention includes an insulating body, two rows of terminals fixed on the insulating body, and a shielding plate, and the shielding plate is disposed between the two rows of terminals and is isolated from the two rows of terminals. The upper and lower opposite surfaces of the shielding plate have a higher conductivity than that of the stainless steel material, so as to improve the insertion loss of the high-frequency signal of the electrical connector.

In summary, the present invention complies with the elements of an invention patent, and a patent application is filed in accordance with the law. However, the above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The mating direction is defined as the front-rear direction. For example, the present invention is also applicable to vertical electrical connectors. All equivalent modifications or changes made by those skilled in the art of this case with the aid of the spirit of the present invention should be covered by the scope of patent application below.

H‧‧‧distance

SP‧‧‧ ground foil

T +, T-‧‧‧ differential line

100‧‧‧USB Type C socket connector

10‧‧‧Insulated body

101‧‧‧ Butt cavity

11‧‧‧ Butt tongue plate

111‧‧‧ side

12‧‧‧ base

20‧‧‧Terminal

21‧‧‧Contact

22‧‧‧pin

23‧‧‧ Strip

24‧‧‧Signal terminal pair

30‧‧‧shield

31‧‧‧ floor

311‧‧‧Lock side edge

32‧‧‧ Coating

S11, S21, S31, S32, S41, S42, S51, S61, S71, S72‧‧‧ Insertion loss

A‧‧‧ middle section

S‧‧‧ benchmark

200‧‧‧DisplayPort connector

40‧‧‧metal case

no

20‧‧‧Terminal

21‧‧‧Contact

22‧‧‧pin

23‧‧‧ Strip

24‧‧‧Signal terminal pair

30‧‧‧shield

31‧‧‧ floor

311‧‧‧Lock side edge

32‧‧‧ Coating

Claims (10)

An electrical connector includes:
Insulation body
Two rows of terminals are fixed to the insulating body; and a shielding plate is disposed between the two rows of terminals and isolated from the two rows of terminals, and the shielding plate has two opposite surfaces facing the terminals;
Wherein, both surfaces of the shielding plate have a higher conductivity than a stainless steel material. The electrical connector according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the material of the shielding plate is a copper alloy. The electrical connector according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the shielding plate includes a base plate and a coating layer coated on two opposite surfaces of the base material, the base plate is a stainless steel material, and the coating layer has a conductivity greater than 10% Conductive material. The electrical connector according to item 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the coating is formed by electroplating of a gold material. The electrical connector according to item 1 or item 2 or item 3 or item 4 of the scope of patent application, wherein the upper and lower rows of terminals respectively include differential pair terminals for transmitting high-frequency signals. The electrical connector according to item 5 of the scope of patent application, wherein it is defined that the differential pair terminal corresponds to a shadow area formed on a shielding plate, and the coating coats at least the shadow area. The electrical connector according to item 6 of the scope of patent application, wherein the insulating body includes a base portion, a butt tongue plate extending from the base portion, and a metal shell covering the outside of the butt tongue plate, and the metal case and the butt tongue A docking cavity is formed between the boards, and the terminal includes a flat plate-shaped contact portion exposed on two opposite surfaces of the docking tongue plate and a pin extending out of the insulating body; the shielding plate extends from the docking tongue plate into the base. The electrical connector according to item 7 of the scope of patent application, wherein the docking tongue plate has two sides connecting two opposite surfaces, and the shielding plate has two latching side edges exposed on the side of the docking tongue plate. The electrical connector according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the insulating body is provided with a docking cavity, and the terminal includes an elastic contact portion protruding into the docking cavity and a pin extending out of the insulating body; the shielding plate Located behind the containment. The electrical connector according to item 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the coating is formed by electroplating of a silver material.