阅读说明：本技术 用于平衡的高频连接器的pcb和电缆组件 (PCB and cable assembly for balanced high frequency connector ) 是由 史蒂文·A·诺伊 丹尼斯·L·多伊 于 2020-03-25 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种连接器组件,该连接器组件包括外壳、电路板和多根电缆,每根电缆包括多个导体。该电路板设置在该外壳的腔体中,并且包括上主表面、相反的下主表面、前边缘和与该前边缘相反的后边缘。该电路板包括导电前焊盘,该导电前焊盘靠近该前边缘设置在该上主表面和该下主表面上；和导电后焊盘,该导电后焊盘靠该近后边缘设置在该上主表面和该下主表面上并且电连接到该前焊盘。该后焊盘在该上主表面和该下主表面中的每者上形成第一行后焊盘和第二行后焊盘,其中该第一行靠近该后边缘设置,并且该第二行设置在该第一行与该前焊盘之间。该多个导体端接在该上主表面和该下主表面上的该第一行后焊盘和该第二行后焊盘处。(A connector assembly includes a housing, a circuit board, and a plurality of cables, each cable including a plurality of conductors. The circuit board is disposed in the cavity of the housing and includes an upper major surface, an opposing lower major surface, a front edge, and a rear edge opposite the front edge. The circuit board includes an electrically conductive front pad disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the front edge; and an electrically conductive back pad disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the back edge and electrically connected to the front pad. The back pads form a first row of back pads and a second row of back pads on each of the upper and lower major surfaces, wherein the first row is disposed proximate the back edge and the second row is disposed between the first row and the front pads. The plurality of conductors terminate at the first and second rows of back pads on the upper and lower major surfaces.)

1. A connector assembly, the connector assembly comprising:

a housing including a top housing portion and a bottom housing portion assembled to one another and defining a housing cavity therebetween, the housing including a mating end for mating with a mating connector and opposing cable ends for receiving one or more cables;

a circuit board disposed in the housing cavity and comprising:

an upper major surface and an opposing lower major surface;

a front edge proximate the mating end and a rear edge opposite the front edge and proximate the cable end;

a plurality of conductive front pads disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the front edge; and

a plurality of conductive back pads disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the back edge and electrically connected to the front pads, the back pads forming a first row of back pads and a second row of back pads on each of the upper and lower major surfaces, wherein the first row of back pads is disposed proximate the back edge and the second row of back pads is disposed between the first row of back pads and the front pads; and

a plurality of cables comprising a plurality of conductors, uninsulated front ends of the conductors of the plurality of cables terminating at the back pads of the first and second rows of back pads on the upper and lower major surfaces, wherein for one of the first row of back pads, at least a portion of each uninsulated front end is disposed between upper and lower planes defined by the respective upper and lower major surfaces.

2. The connector assembly of claim 1, being an eight-channel small form factor pluggable (OSFP) connector assembly.

3. The connector assembly of claim 1, being a quad small form factor pluggable dual density (QSFP-DD) connector assembly.

4. The connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the front pads form a first row of front pads disposed on the upper surface and a second row of front pads disposed on the lower surface.

5. The connector assembly of claim 1, wherein at least one cable of the plurality of cables is substantially flat.

6. The connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cables comprises four cables.

7. A connector assembly, the connector assembly comprising:

a housing;

a circuit board disposed at least partially inside the housing and including a plurality of electrically conductive pads disposed on a first major surface of the circuit board opposite a second major surface; and

a cable comprising a plurality of conductors having uninsulated leading ends terminated at the conductive pads, at least a portion of each uninsulated leading end disposed between first and second planes defined by the first and second major surfaces.

8. The connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the housing comprises a top housing portion and a bottom housing portion assembled to one another and defining a housing cavity therebetween, and wherein the circuit board is disposed in the housing cavity.

9. The connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the cable is substantially flat.

10. The connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the cable comprises a plurality of insulated conductors and a plurality of non-insulated, non-load carrying conductors.

11. The connector assembly of claim 7, further comprising a pull tab assembled to the housing.

12. The connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the housing is made of metal.

13. A circuit board assembly, comprising:

a circuit board including opposing first and second major surfaces;

an uninsulated portion of a first insulated conductor and an uninsulated portion of a second insulated conductor that terminate at conductive pads disposed on the respective first and second major surfaces, wherein in a side plan view, the uninsulated portion of only one of the first and second conductors extends beyond an edge of the circuit board.

14. The circuit board assembly of claim 13, wherein a diameter of a conductor of the insulated conductors is no greater than 22 American Wire Gauge (AWG).

15. The circuit board assembly of claim 13, wherein the uninsulated portion of the conductor extending beyond the edge of the circuit board is disposed between upper and lower planes defined by the first and second major surfaces.

16. The circuit board assembly of claim 13, wherein the uninsulated portion of the first insulated conductor and the uninsulated portion of the second insulated conductor are soldered to the conductive pads.

Disclosure of Invention

In some aspects of the present description, a connector assembly is provided that includes a housing, a circuit board, and a plurality of cables, each cable including a plurality of conductors. The housing includes a top housing portion and a bottom housing portion assembled to one another and defining a housing cavity therebetween; the housing includes a mating end for mating with a mating connector and an opposite cable end for receiving one or more cables.

The circuit board is disposed in the housing cavity and includes an upper major surface, an opposing lower major surface, a front edge proximate the mating end, and a rear edge opposite the front edge and proximate the cable end. The circuit board includes a plurality of electrically conductive front pads disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the front edge; and a plurality of conductive back pads disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces proximate the back edge and electrically connected to the front pads. The back pads form a first row of back pads and a second row of back pads on each of the upper and lower major surfaces, wherein the first row is disposed proximate the back edge and the second row is disposed between the first row and the front pads.

The plurality of conductors of the plurality of cables include uninsulated front ends (uninsulated front ends) terminated at the back pads of the first and second rows of back pads on the upper and lower major surfaces. For one of the first rows, at least a portion of each non-insulated front end is disposed between upper and lower planes defined by the respective upper and lower major surfaces.

In some aspects of the present description, a connector assembly is provided that includes a housing, a circuit board, and a cable. The circuit board is at least partially disposed within the housing and includes a plurality of electrically conductive pads disposed on a first major surface of the circuit board opposite a second major surface. The cable includes a plurality of conductors. The non-insulated front ends of the conductors terminate at the conductive pad such that at least a portion of each non-insulated front end is disposed between first and second planes defined by the first and second major surfaces.

In some aspects of the present description, a circuit board assembly is provided that includes a circuit board including opposing first and second major surfaces. The uninsulated portions of the first and second insulated conductors terminate at conductive pads disposed on the respective first and second major surfaces such that the uninsulated portion of only one of the first and second conductors extends beyond an edge of the circuit board in side plan view.

Drawings

Fig. 1A and 1B are perspective views of a connector assembly according to embodiments herein;

fig. 2 is a perspective cut-away view of a connector assembly according to embodiments of the present description;

fig. 3A and 3B are perspective views of a printed circuit board for a connector assembly according to embodiments of the present description;

fig. 4A and 4B are exploded views of a connector assembly according to embodiments of the present description;

fig. 5A and 5B are perspective views of a cable terminated on a printed circuit board in a connector assembly according to embodiments of the present description; and is

Fig. 6 provides a side view of a cable termination for a connector assembly according to embodiments of the present description.

Detailed Description

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodiments. The figures are not necessarily to scale. It is to be understood that other embodiments are contemplated and may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the present description. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

For high speed cable assemblies, low input differential insertion loss in the connector assembly (represented by the differential scattering parameter SDD 21) is a key factor in minimizing errors as the signal propagates through the assembly. A number of components contribute to insertion loss, including the interface with the mating connector, the configuration of circuit traces, vias and pads on the PCB, the quality of the solder connection, the size of the conductors within the cable, the impedance design of the components, and several other factors.

Among these factors, the PCB can contribute significantly to the overall loss of the assembly and mating connector. For example, the PCB may contribute 6 decibels (dB) or more loss to a total component of 17.5 dB. Such losses can be minimized by good PCB design practices, such as using PCB materials with lower dielectric constants, and shortening the length of circuit traces on the PCB. Shortening the trace length on the PCB can significantly reduce insertion loss.

The standard form factor of high speed cable connector assemblies, such as eight-lane small form factor pluggable module OSFP or four-lane small form factor pluggable dual density QSFP-DD, have space limitations between the bottom of the PCB and the backplane of the bottom connector back shell. This space limitation typically requires three of the four cables introduced to be attached to the upper side of the PCB and the fourth cable to be attached to the bottom or lower side of the PCB. Placing three rows on the upper side requires a longer PCB with longer circuit traces, which contributes to the overall insertion loss of the system. Moving the third cable and associated solder pad from the upper side of the PCB to the lower side of the PCB to be close to the edge of the PCB may shorten the required circuit traces and reduce insertion loss. For example, the PCB traces may be shortened by 10mm or more, resulting in about a 0.3dB insertion loss improvement, such as in the case of standard OSFP and QSFP-DD form factor connectors.

It should be noted that while many of the examples and figures provided herein describe the use of four cables, these examples are not intended to be limiting. Generally, a cable is defined as a group of two or more electrical conductors (e.g., two or more conductors in a shared sleeve of insulating material) present in a single bundle or package. The example embodiments described herein having four cables (e.g., cables 60, 61, 62, and 63 of fig. 4A) may be completed with any suitable number of cables. For example, the cable 60 of fig. 4A (shown in the figures as having 16 conductors) may be replaced with two smaller cables each having eight connectors, four smaller cables each having four conductors, eight smaller cables each having two conductors, one cable having 12 conductors, and one cable having four conductors or any other suitable combination of smaller cables and conductors. It should also be noted that one or more of the "cables" depicted in the examples and drawings herein may be replaced with a single insulated conductor without departing from the intent of the concepts described herein. For the purposes of this specification, the term "cable" shall be defined to include any suitable combination of smaller cables and/or individual conductors.

According to some aspects of the present description, a connector assembly is provided that includes a housing, a printed circuit board (also referred to as a "circuit board" or "PCB"), and a plurality of cables, each cable including a plurality of conductors. In some embodiments, the housing comprises a top housing portion and a bottom housing portion assembled to one another and defining a housing cavity therebetween; the housing includes a mating end for mating with a mating connector and an opposite cable end for receiving one or more cables.

In some embodiments, a circuit board is disposed in the housing cavity and includes an upper major surface, an opposing lower major surface, a front edge near the mating end, and a rear edge opposite the front edge and near the cable end. In some embodiments, the circuit board includes a plurality of conductive front pads (e.g., conductive pads corresponding to mating connection points in a mating connector assembly) disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces near the front edge; and a plurality of conductive back pads disposed on the upper and lower major surfaces near the back edge and electrically connected to the front pads. In some embodiments, the front pads form a first row of front pads disposed on the upper major surface of the circuit board and a second row of front pads disposed on the lower surface of the circuit board. In some embodiments, the back pads form a first row of back pads and a second row of back pads on each of the upper and lower major surfaces, wherein the first row is disposed proximate the back edge and the second row is disposed between the first row and the front pads. In other words, each of the upper and lower main surfaces of the circuit board includes two rows of back pads: a first row of back pads near a back edge of the circuit board, and a second row of back pads remote from the back edge.

In some embodiments, the cable end of the housing receives and connects to a plurality of drop cables (e.g., four drop cables). In some embodiments, at least one cable of the plurality of cables can be substantially flat (i.e., the thickness or height of the cable is relatively small compared to the width and/or length of the cable). The plurality of conductors of the cable include an uninsulated front end terminated at the back pads of the first and second rows of back pads on the upper and lower major surfaces. In some embodiments, for one of the first rows, at least a portion of each non-insulated front end is disposed between upper and lower planes defined by the respective upper and lower major surfaces (i.e., by connecting to a rear land located near a rear edge of the circuit board, the main body of the insulated portion of the cable may be positioned behind the edge of the circuit board and substantially coplanar with the circuit board, rather than above or below the circuit board).

In some embodiments, the connector assembly may be an eight-channel small form factor pluggable module (OSFP) connector assembly. In other embodiments, the connector assembly may be a quad small form factor pluggable dual density (QSFP-DD) connector assembly.

According to some aspects of the present description, a connector assembly is provided that includes a housing, a printed circuit board ("circuit board" or "PCB"), and at least one cable. In some embodiments, the circuit board is at least partially disposed within the housing and includes a plurality of electrically conductive pads disposed on a first major surface of the circuit board opposite a second major surface. The cable includes a plurality of conductors. In some embodiments, the uninsulated front ends of the conductors terminate at conductive pads on the circuit board such that at least a portion of each uninsulated front end is disposed between first and second planes defined by the first and second major surfaces. In some embodiments, the conductive pad may be disposed near an edge of the circuit board such that the body of the insulated portion of the cable may be positioned behind the edge of the circuit board and substantially coplanar with the circuit board when the non-insulated front end is terminated at the conductive pad.

In some embodiments, the cable may be substantially flat. In some embodiments, a cable may include a plurality of insulated conductors and a plurality of uninsulated conductors. For example, the uninsulated conductor may comprise an uninsulated unloaded conductor (uninsulated drain conductor).

In some embodiments, the housing may include a top housing portion and a bottom housing portion assembled to one another and defining a housing cavity therebetween. In some embodiments, the circuit board may be disposed within the housing cavity. In some embodiments, the housing may be metal. In some embodiments, the connector assembly may further include a pull or push-pull tab assembled to the housing (e.g., an extended material tab for mating and/or unmating with the connector in highly crowded applications).

According to some aspects of the present description, a circuit board assembly is provided that includes a circuit board including opposing first and second major surfaces. In some embodiments, the uninsulated portions of the first and second insulated conductors terminate at conductive pads disposed on the respective first and second major surfaces such that the uninsulated portion of only one of the first and second conductors extends beyond an edge of the circuit board in side plan view. In some embodiments, the non-insulated portion of the conductor that extends beyond the edge of the circuit board may be disposed between upper and lower planes defined by the first and second major surfaces of the circuit board.

In some embodiments, the uninsulated portions of the first and second insulated conductors may be soldered to conductive pads on the first and second major surfaces of the circuit board. In some embodiments, the diameter of the conductor of the insulated conductor may be no greater than 22 American Wire Gauge (AWG).

Turning now to the drawings, fig. 1A and 1B are perspective views of a connector assembly according to embodiments described herein. Fig. 1A provides a top perspective view of the connector assembly 200 and fig. 1B provides a bottom perspective view of the connector assembly 200. For the following description, fig. 1A and 1B should be viewed together.

The connector assembly 200 includes a housing 10 including a mating end 14 and a cable end 15. In some embodiments, the housing 10 includes a top housing 11 and a bottom housing 12 that are assembled together to form the housing 10 and define a housing cavity (not shown in fig. 1A/1B, but discussed in additional figures herein). In some embodiments, a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)30 is disposed in the housing cavity.

Conductors from one or more cables enter the cable end 15 of the housing 10 and terminate at conductive pads (not shown) on the PCB 30. In some embodiments, four cables 60, 61, 62 and 63 terminate at PCB 30. For example, a connector assembly 200 designed according to a standard such as OSFP or QSFP-DD may have four cables 60 through 63 as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In a typical connector assembly of the prior art, three of these cables 60, 61 and 62 would terminate on the upper major surface of the PCB 30 and one cable 63 would terminate on the lower major surface of the PCB 30. However, according to embodiments described herein, cable 62 may be moved from the upper major surface of PCB 30 to the lower major surface of PCB 30 (i.e., cables 60 and 61 would terminate on the upper major surface, while cables 62 and 63 would terminate on the lower major surface).

Fig. 2 is a perspective cut-away view of the connector assembly 200 of fig. 1A-1B detailing the termination of the cables 60-63. In fig. 2, one side of the connector housing 10 is cut away to show details of the housing cavity 13. The PCB 30 is shown extending from the mating end 14 of the housing cavity 10, held in place between the top housing 11 and the bottom housing 12. The PCB 30 extends partially back into the housing cavity 13 where it meets and connects with cables 60 and 61 on the upper major surface and cables 62 and 63 on the lower major surface. The cables 60 to 63 enter the connector housing 10 via the cable end 15. In some embodiments, and as shown in fig. 2, at least one electrical cable (in this embodiment, electrical cable 62) terminates near the rear edge of PCB 30, and at least a portion of each conductor of electrical cable 62 (including at least a portion of the non-insulated front portion of each conductor) is disposed between the upper and lower planes defined by the respective upper and lower major surfaces of PCB 30 (i.e., by connecting to a rear pad located near the rear edge of the circuit board, at least a portion of the body of electrical cable 62 may be positioned behind the edge of the circuit board and substantially coplanar with electrical cables 60, 61, and 63 and the circuit board, rather than above or below the circuit board, as shown in fig. 2).

Fig. 3A and 3B are perspective views of an embodiment of a PCB for a connector assembly, such as PCB 30 of fig. 1A, 1B, and 2. Fig. 4A and 4B are exploded views of an embodiment of a PCB and corresponding cable, showing in detail how the cable may be terminated on the PCB. Fig. 3A and 4A provide top perspective views. Fig. 3B and 4B provide bottom perspective views. For the following description, all four figures should be examined.

PCB 30 includes an upper major surface 31 and a lower major surface 32. The PCB 30 also includes a front edge 33 proximate the mating end 14 (mating end 14 of the connector assembly 200, see at least fig. 1A) and a rear edge 34 opposite the front edge and proximate the cable end 15 (see at least fig. 1A) of the connector assembly 200. PCB 30 includes a plurality of electrically conductive front pads 40 disposed on upper and lower major surfaces 31 and 32. In some embodiments, the conductive front pads 40 may form a first row 41 disposed on the upper major surface 31 and a second row 42 disposed on the lower major surface 32 (i.e., the front pads 40 may be divided into the first row 41 and the second row 42, each disposed on opposite sides of the PCB 30).

In some embodiments, PCB 30 may also include a plurality of conductive back pads 50 disposed on upper major surface 31 and lower major surface 32. The back pads 50 may form a first row of back pads 51 and a second row of back pads 52 on the upper major surface 31, and a first row of back pads 53 and a second row of back pads 54 on the lower major surface 32.

In some embodiments, the first row of back pads 51 may be disposed on the upper major surface 31 proximate the back edge 34 of the PCB 30, and the first row of back pads 53 may be disposed on the lower major surface 32 proximate the back edge 34 of the PCB 30. In some embodiments, second row of back pads 52 may be disposed on upper major surface 31 between first row of back pads 51 and first row of front pads 41, and second row of back pads 54 may be disposed on lower major surface 32 between first row of back pads 53 and second row of front pads 42.

Fig. 4A provides a top perspective view of PCB 30 detailing how cables 60 and 61 terminate on upper major surface 31 of PCB 30 and cables 62 and 63 terminate on lower major surface 32 in some embodiments. Fig. 4B shows a bottom perspective view of the same assembly. It should be noted that the exploded views of fig. 4A and 4B show the conductors of cables 60-63 directly above rather than terminating on corresponding sets of conductive pads for clarity. In some embodiments, the uninsulated portion of the conductor of cable 60 may terminate at a second row of back pads 52 on the upper major surface 31 of PCB 30. In some embodiments, the uninsulated portion of the conductor of cable 61 may terminate at the first row of back pads 51 on the upper major surface 31 of PCB 30. In some embodiments, the uninsulated portion of the conductor of cable 63 may terminate at the second row of back pads 54 on the lower major surface 32 of PCB 30. In some embodiments, the uninsulated portion of the conductor of cable 62 may terminate at the first row of back pads 53 on the lower major surface 32 of PCB 30.

Fig. 5A and 5B are perspective views of a cable termination on a PCB and show additional detail regarding the termination. Fig. 5A provides a top perspective view and fig. 5B provides a bottom perspective view. In the embodiment of fig. 5A and 5B, four cables 60-63 are shown terminated at corresponding sets of conductive pads on PCB 30. Each cable 60, 61, 62 and 63 includes a plurality of conductors 64. In some embodiments, the conductors 64 may include insulated conductors 67 and uninsulated conductors 68 (e.g., uninsulated drain wires). In some embodiments, each conductor 64 includes an uninsulated front end 65 that terminates at a corresponding conductive pad on PCB 30. For example, as in the embodiment of fig. 5A, the uninsulated leading ends 65 of the conductors 64 of the cable 60 may terminate at the second row of back pads 52 on the upper major surface 31. In some embodiments, the uninsulated front ends 65 of the conductors 64 of the cable 61 may terminate at the first row of back pads 51 on the upper major surface 31.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5B, the uninsulated front ends 65 of the conductors 64 of the cable 62 may terminate at the first row of back pads 53 on the lower major surface 32. In some embodiments, the uninsulated leading ends 65 of the conductors 64 of the cable 63 may terminate at the second row of back pads 54 on the lower major surface 32.

Finally, fig. 6 provides a side view of a cable termination for a circuit board assembly according to embodiments disclosed herein. Fig. 6 shows a circuit board assembly 400 that includes terminations to two cables 61 and 62. For simplicity, only the cables 61 and 62 are shown in fig. 6 with emphasis on the termination between the two inner cables near the rear edge 34 of the PCB 30, and in particular with emphasis on the termination of the first insulated conductor 61a of the cable 61 and the second insulated conductor 62a of the cable 62. The first insulated conductor 61a has a non-insulated portion 61b that terminates on the PCB 30 at a conductive pad 51 a. The second insulated conductor 62a has an uninsulated section 62b that terminates on the PCB 30 at the conductive pad 53 a. It should be noted that the uninsulated portion 62b extends beyond the back edge 34 of the PCB 30 such that at least a portion 66 of the uninsulated portion 62b (and each uninsulated front end of the conductors of the cable 62) is disposed between planes P1 and P2 defined by the first (upper) major surface 31 and the second (lower) major surface 32. By terminating the cable 62 near the rear edge 34 of the PCB 30 in such a manner that the uninsulated front end (uninsulated portion) 62b extends beyond the rear edge 34, at least a portion of the body of the cable 62 may rest behind and be coplanar with the PCB 30, rather than being disposed above or below the PCB 30 (which may consume valuable volume).

Terms such as "about" will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the use and description herein. If the use of "about" in the context of the use and description herein is unclear to those of ordinary skill in the art as applied to quantities expressing feature sizes, quantities, and physical characteristics, then "about" will be understood to mean within 10% of the specified value. An amount given as about a specified value may be exactly the specified value. For example, if it is not clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the use and description in this specification, an amount having a value of about 1 means that the amount has a value between 0.9 and 1.1, and the value can be 1.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that terms such as "substantially" are used and described in the context of this specification. If the use of "substantially equal" is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the use and description in this specification, then "substantially equal" will refer to the situation where about is approximately as described above. If the use of "substantially parallel" is not clear to one of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the use and description herein, then "substantially parallel" will mean within 30 degrees of parallel. In some embodiments, directions or surfaces that are described as being substantially parallel to each other may be within 20 degrees or within 10 degrees of parallel, or may be parallel or nominally parallel. If the use of "substantially aligned" is not clear to one of ordinary skill in the art in the context of use and description in this specification, "substantially aligned" will refer to alignment within 20% of the width of the alignment object. In some embodiments, objects described as substantially aligned may be aligned within 10% or within 5% of the width of the aligned object.

All cited references, patents, and patent applications cited above are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety in a consistent manner. In the event of inconsistencies or contradictions between the incorporated reference parts and the present application, the information in the preceding description shall prevail.

Unless otherwise indicated, descriptions with respect to elements in the figures should be understood to apply equally to corresponding elements in other figures. Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific embodiments discussed herein. Accordingly, the disclosure is intended to be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.