Printed circuit board having commoned ground plane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10784608-B2
Application number	US-201816614048-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2018
Priority date	May 15, 2017
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

An electrical connector includes a substrate that includes a plurality of ground traces at first and second surfaces of the substrate, and a ground coupling assembly that couples pairs of ground traces at each of the first and second surfaces, and further couples the ground traces at the first surface to the ground traces at the second surface.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A substrate comprising:
a body defining:
a leading end and a trailing end opposite the leading end along a longitudinal direction, the leading end configured to be inserted into a receptacle of a complementary electrical connector in a mating direction that is oriented along the longitudinal direction,
first and second sides spaced from each other along a lateral direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and
first and second outer surfaces that are spaced from each other along a transverse direction that is substantially perpendicular to each of the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction;

at least one electrically conductive signal trace at the first outer surface and elongate along the longitudinal direction;
at least one electrically conductive ground trace at the first outer surface and elongate along the longitudinal direction, wherein 1) at least a portion of the at least one ground trace is aligned with at least a portion of the at least one signal trace along the lateral direction, and 2) the at least one signal trace and the at least one ground trace have respective mating ends that are configured to mate with complementary signal and ground contacts, respectively, of the complementary electrical connector;
an electrically conductive ground plate disposed between the first outer surface and the second outer surface, wherein the ground plate is aligned with the mating end of the at least one ground trace along the transverse direction, and no portion of the ground plate is aligned with the mating end of the at least one signal trace along the transverse direction.

2. The substrate as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one electrical signal trace comprises a plurality of signal traces at the first outer surface and the at least one electrical ground trace comprises a plurality of ground traces at the first outer surface having at least respective portions that are aligned with at least respective portions of the signal traces along that lateral direction, wherein no portion of the ground plate is aligned with the mating ends of the signal traces along the transverse direction.

3. The substrate as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one electrical signal trace comprises a plurality of signal traces at the first outer surface and the at least one electrical ground trace comprises a plurality of ground traces at the first outer surface having at least respective portions that are aligned with at least respective portions of the signal traces along that lateral direction, wherein the ground plate is aligned with the mating ends of each of the ground traces along the transverse direction.

4. The substrate as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ground plate comprises a trailing plate end and a leading plate end opposite the trailing plate end in the mating direction, wherein the leading plate end is aligned with the mating end of each of the at least one ground trace along the transverse direction, and an entirety of the leading plate end is offset from an entirety of each of the at least one signal trace along a plane that includes the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction.

5. The substrate as recited in claim 4 , wherein the trailing plate end is aligned with each of the at least one signal trace along the transverse direction.

6. The substrate as recited in claim 4 , wherein the trailing plate end is aligned with each of the at least one ground trace along the transverse direction.

7. The substrate as recited in claim 4 , wherein the ground plate defines a void that extends from the leading plate end to the trailing plate end, and the void is aligned with the mating end of each of the at least one signal trace.

8. The substrate as recited in claim 7 , wherein the ground plate further comprises at least one rib that extends across the void from the trailing plate end to the leading plate end, and at least a portion of the at least one rib is aligned with at least a portion of a corresponding at least one of the at least one ground trace along the transverse direction.

9. The substrate as recited in claim 8 , further comprising at least one microvia that extends from the at least one rib to the aligned corresponding one of the at least one ground trace.

10. The substrate as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a group of microvias that are spaced from each other along the longitudinal direction that extend from the at least one rib to the aligned corresponding one of the at least one ground trace.

11. The substrate as recited in claim 10 , wherein the microvias of the group are aligned with each other along the longitudinal direction.

12. The substrate as recited in claim 8 , further comprising a plurality of ribs that extend from the leading plate end to the trailing plate end and spaced from each other along the lateral direction so as to define gaps therebtween.

13. The substrate as recited in claim 12 , further comprising a plurality of microvias that extend from a corresponding one of the ribs to an aligned corresponding one of the at least one ground trace.

14. The substrate as recited in claim 13 , wherein the plurality of microvias comprises a plurality of groups of microvias, each group of microvias extends from a common one of the plurliaty of ribs to the aligned corresponding one of the at least one ground trace, and the microvias of each group are spaced from each other along the longitudinal direction.

15. The substrate as recited in claim 1 , further comprising at least one microvia that extends from the ground plate to the at least one of the ground traces.

16. The substrate as recited in claim 15 , further comprising a plurality of microvias that extend from the ground plate to the at least one ground trace.

17. The substrate as recited in claim 16 , wherein the plurality of microvias comprises a group of microvias, the microvias of the group extend from the ground plate to the at least one ground trace, and the microvias of the group are spaced from each other along the longitudinal direction.

18. The substrate as recited in claim 17 , wherein the microvias of the plurality of microvias are arranged in a plurality of groups of microvias, the microvias of each of the plurality of groups is spaced from each other along the longitudinal direction, and the groups are spaced from each other along the lateral direction.

19. The substrate as recited in claim 18 , wherein the groups of microvias extend from the ground plate to a corresponding different one of the at least one ground trace.

20. The substrate as recited in claim 9 wherein each at least one microvia terminates at both the ground plate and the at least one ground trace with respect to the transverse direction.

21. A substrate comprising:
a body defining:
a leading end and a trailing end opposite the leading end along a longitudinal direction, the leading end configured to be inserted into a receptacle of a complementary electrical connector in a mating direction that is oriented along the longitudinal direction,
first and second sides spaced from each other along a lateral direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and
first and second outer surfaces that are spaced from each other along a transverse direction that is substantially perpendicular to each of the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction;

at least one electrically conductive signal trace at the first outer surface and elongate along

Assignees

• Samtec Inc

Inventors

• Buck Jonathan E

Classifications

• H05K2201/09781

  Dummy conductors, i.e. not used for normal transport of current; Dummy electrodes of components · CPC title

• H05K2201/09727

  Varying width along a single conductor; Conductors or pads having different widths · CPC title

• H05K2201/09672

  Superposed layout, i.e. in different planes · CPC title

• H05K2201/09336

  Signal conductors in same plane as power plane · CPC title

• H05K2201/09236

  Parallel layout · CPC title