LGA socket pins for improved differential signaling performance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12563686-B2
Application number	US-202217728099-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2022
Priority date	Apr 25, 2022
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

An apparatus and method for reducing differential cross-talk in a pin arrangement of a socket are described. Socket pins within a differential pair use a modified shape to tighten the intra-pair pin coupling to reduce the crosstalk without changing the pin map. The middle vertical segment of one pin of a diagonally adjacent differential pin pair is modified to be closer to the other pin than other corresponding locations of the pins. The spring beam that extends from the middle vertical segment of the one pin is modified to accommodate the package landing pad that the spring beam contacts to maintain a uniform pitch.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for a socket, the apparatus comprising a pin arrangement in the socket, the pin arrangement including an adjacent differential pin pair comprising a front pin and a rear pin that have substantially similar shapes, the adjacent differential pin pair having a distance between corresponding locations of the front and rear pins that varies with location on the front and rear pins,
wherein:
the pin arrangement includes transmit pairs, receive pairs, a power pin, and ground pins, and
the adjacent differential pin pair is one of the transmit pairs or receive pairs.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the front and rear pins includes:
a main body having an asymmetric cross-section, and a spring beam that extends from the main body, the spring beam configured to contact a contact pad inserted into the socket.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the asymmetric cross-section has substantially orthogonal sides in a substantial “L” shape.

4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
for each of the front and rear pins:
the main body includes a first side and a second side connected by a curved portion, the first and second side being substantially planar, and
the spring beam extends from the first side, and
the main bodies of the front and rear pins have mirrored cross-sections.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the spring beam of each of the front and rear pins includes a hook configured to contact the contact pad, and a distance between the hook of the front and rear pins is larger than a distance between the first side of the front and rear pins.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the spring beam of the front pin further includes a front beam base that extends substantially linearly from the first side of the front pin, and the spring beam of the rear pin further includes a rear beam base that initially curves from the first side of the rear pin backwards towards a center of the rear pin.

7 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the spring beam of each of the front and rear pin further includes a bent connector, and a radius of curvature of the bent connector of the front pin is larger than a radius of curvature of the rear pin.

8 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
for each of the front and rear pins:
the main body includes a first side and a second side connected by a curved portion, the first and second side being substantially planar, and
the spring beam extends from the first side, and
a difference between a minimum distance and maximum distance between the corresponding locations of the front and rear pins is about a width of the second side.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent differential pin pair is limited to a pin pair disposed at an edge of the socket, each of the front and rear pin of the adjacent differential pin pair is arranged to carry a differential portion of a same signal.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent differential pin pair is a diagonally adjacent pin pair, each of the front and rear pin of the adjacent differential pin pair is arranged to carry a differential portion of a same signal.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent differential pin pair is a high speed communication differential pin pair, each of the front and rear pin of the adjacent differential pin pair is arranged to carry a differential portion of a same signal.

12 . An apparatus for a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) 5 th Generation (Gen5.0) or later socket, the apparatus comprising a pin arrangement in the socket, the pin arrangement including a plurality of differential pin pairs that include transmit pairs and receive pairs, one of the differential pin pairs comprising an adjacent differential pin pair for high speed communications, the adjacent differential pin pair including a front pin and a rear pin, the adjacent differential pin pair having middle vertical sections that are substantially closer to each other than other corresponding sections of the adjacent differential pin pair are to each other,
wherein for each of the front and rear pins:
the middle vertical section is formed from substantially orthogonal sides,
a spring beam extends from a first side of the substantially orthogonal sides, the spring beam configured to contact a contact pad inserted into the socket, and
the middle vertical sections of the front and rear pins have cross-sections that are mirrored from each other.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:
the spring beam of each of the front and rear pins includes a hook configured to contact the contact pad, the spring beam of the front pin further includes a front beam base that extends substantially linearly from the first side of the front pin, the spring beam of the rear pin further includes a rear beam base that initially curves from the first side of the rear pin backwards towards a center of the rear pin, and a distance between the hook of the front and rear pins is larger than a distance between the first side of the front and rear pins.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a difference between a minimum distance and maximum distance between corresponding locations of the front and rear pins is about a width of one of the substantially orthogonal sides.

15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the adjacent differential pin pair is limited to a pin pair disposed at an edge of the socket.

16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the adjacent differential pin pair is a diagonally adjacent pin pair.

17 . A method of fabricating a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) 5 th Generation (Gen5.0) or later socket, the method comprising:
attaching a first set of pins in a pin arrangement of the socket, the first set of pins having a middle vertical segment with a substantially “L” shaped cross-section oriented in a first direction; and attaching a second set of pins in the pin arrangement of the socket, each pair of the first and second set of pins providing a differential pair, one of the differential pairs having a front pin and a rear pin that are diagonally adjacent to each other, the front pin and the rear pin each having a middle vertical segment with adjoining substantially orthogonal sides, the middle vertical segments having mirrored orientations from each other and aligned to be closer to each other than pins having middle vertical segments with a same orientation.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein:
the front pin and the rear pin each include a spring beam that extends from a first side of the substantially orthogonal sides, the spring beam of each of the front and rear pins includes a hook configured to contact a conductive pad inserted into the socket, the spring beam of the front pin further includes a front beam base that extends substantially linearly from the first side of the front pin, the spring beam of the rear pin further includes a rear beam base that initially curves from the first side of the rear pin backwards towards a center of the rear pin, and a distance between the hook of the front and rear pins is larger than a distance between the first side of the front and rear pins.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Li Xiang
• Li Shaohua
• Hanks Landon
• Xiao Kai
• Liu Mo
• Li Jingbo

Classifications

• H05K7/1038

  with spring contact pieces (H05K7/1046 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K2201/10719

  Land grid array [LGA] · CPC title

• G06F13/409 Primary

  Mechanical coupling (back panels H05K7/1438) · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• H05K7/1084

  pin grid array package carriers · CPC title