Circuit board interposer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11006524-B2
Application number	US-201815875886-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2018
Priority date	Sep 8, 2017
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

An interposer for mechanically and electrically connecting two circuit boards is described. The interposer can be bent to enclose an area of a circuit board. The interposer can include a first layer external to the enclosed area. The first layer can be conductive and can serve as an EMI shield. The interposer can also include a second layer internal to the enclosed area. The second layer can be non-conductive but can carry multiple discrete pins that can electrically couple the first and second circuit boards and provide signal transmission pathways between the circuit boards. The interposer can be formed by folding a sheet of conductive material having different cutout regions that forms a comb pattern into multiple stacked layers. Then, the bent regions that connect the stacked layers can be removed so that the conductive bars in the comb patterns can be separated and isolated to form discrete pins.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An interposer for mechanically and electrically coupling together a first circuit board having first electrical components at a first surface and a second circuit board having second electrical components at a second surface, the first and second circuit boards having a circuit board shape and the first and second surfaces are separate from each by a separation distance and face each other in a face to face arrangement, the interposer comprising:
an external wall, formed from an electrically conductive substrate, partially defines an electrically shielded volume and has: (i) a height, and (ii) a length in accordance with a shape of the first and second circuit boards;
an electrically insulating substrate abuts an interior surface of the external wall and has a first mounting surface at a first end and a second mounting surface at a second end opposite the first end, the first and second mounting surfaces separated by the separation distance equal to the height; and
a pin, formed from the electrically conductive metal and having a length that at least equals the height of the external wall, abuts an interior surface of the electrically insulating substrate from the first to the second mounting surfaces.

2. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein in an assembled state, the first and second circuit boards face each other and are secured to and supported by the external wall in such a way that (i) the first and second electrical components are located within the electrically shielded volume, and (ii) the pin is electrically coupled to, at the first and second mounting surfaces, respectively, the first and second circuit boards so as to facilitate communication therebetween.

3. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the electrically insulating substrate electrically isolates the pin from the external wall.

4. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the electrically insulating substrate has a length that corresponds to a perimeter of the first and second circuit boards.

5. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the external wall includes a castellation feature that is recessed in the first mounting surface.

6. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the pin is one of an array of pins that are arranged in rows and columns.

7. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the pin is one of an array of pins that are arranged in an alternating pattern.

8. The interposer as recited in claim 1 , wherein the exterior wall, the pin and the electrically insulating substrate are conformally bendable.

9. A circuit assembly, comprising:
a first circuit board has a first electrical component at a first surface;
a second circuit board has a second electrical component at a second surface that is facing and separated from the first surface by a separation distance;
an interposer includes (i) an external wall in the form of a sheet of electrically conductive metal having a height equal to the separation distance, wherein the external wall secures together the first and second circuit boards in a manner that defines a closed volume that is electrically shielded by the external wall such that the first and second electrical components located therein are electrically isolated from an environment outside of the external wall and (ii) an electrically insulative substrate abutting an interior surface of the external wall includes a first mounting surface that abuts the first circuit board at the first surface, and a second mounting surface that abuts the second circuit board at the second surface, the first and second mounting surfaces separated by the separation distance; and
an electrically conductive pin has a length at least equal to the height of the external wall is embedded within the electrically insulative substrate electrically and connects to the first electrical component at the first mounting surface and the second electrical component at the second mounting surface so as to facilitate communication therebetween.

10. The circuit assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the external wall has a length in accordance with a perimeter of the first circuit board.

11. The circuit assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the internal volume has a cross sectional area in accordance with an area of the first and the second surfaces.

12. The circuit assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein a portion of the interposer is bent around a standoff.

13. The circuit assembly as recited in claim 9 , wherein the pin is one of an array of pins arranged in an alternating pattern on the first mounting surface.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Myers Scott A
• Smith James B
• Morgan Dale T
• Malek Shayan

Classifications

• H05K2203/0235

  Laminating followed by cutting or slicing perpendicular to plane of the laminate; Embedding wires in an object and cutting or slicing the object perpendicular to direction of the wires · CPC title

• H05K2201/2018

  Presence of a frame in a printed circuit or printed circuit assembly · CPC title

• H05K2203/302

  Bending a rigid substrate; Breaking rigid substrates by bending · CPC title

• H05K2201/042

  Stacked spaced PCBs; Planar parts of folded flexible circuits having mounted components in between or spaced from each other · CPC title

• H05K3/202

  using self-supporting metal foil pattern · CPC title