Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket

Details Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket

1999-10-28

2001-02-13

Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...

Including compound movement of coupling part

Reexamination Certificate

active

06186817

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact, and especially to a fine pitch contact for use with a zero insertion force (ZIF) socket.
2. Description of Prior Art
As computer functions continue to expand, an IC package, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), requires an increasing number of memory processing units, thus pins of the IC package are arranged to be more compact. Correspondingly, a socket for coupling with the IC package has more contacts. A conventional contact used in a ZIF socket related to the present invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,310 and in Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 83203222, 83208396, 83212081 and 83212046.
Referring to
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, a conventional contact
1
used in a ZIF socket
7
comprises a base
12
for being fixed in the socket
7
, a tail
13
downwardly extending from the base
12
for electrically connecting with a printed circuit board (not shown), a mating portion
14
formed at a free end thereof, and a beam
15
interconnecting the base
12
and the mating portion
14
. The mating portion
14
is a cantilevered beam and includes an engaging section
144
and a lead-in section
142
outwardly extending from the engaging section
144
distanced from the beam
15
. The engaging section
144
is adapted for engaging with a CPU pin
2
to implement an electrical connection therebetween. When the CPU pin
2
is moved in a direction as indicated by the arrow “A” to contact the engaging section
144
, the lead-in section
142
deforms to exert a normal force on the pin
2
and guides the CPU pin
2
to connect with the engaging section
144
.
The mating portion
14
of the conventional contact
1
has a significant length L
1
due to the provision of the outwardly extending lead-in section
142
. The mating portion
14
usually extends within and therefore occupies a certain portion of a corresponding passageway
8
defined in the socket
7
. Due to the trend of miniaturization, the passageways
8
of the socket
7
are required to have smaller dimension. However, the mating portion
14
of the conventional contact
1
remains to occupy a significant portion of the corresponding passageway
8
of the socket
7
, which prevents the length D
1
of the passageway
8
from being reduced. Thus, the conventional contact
1
cannot satisfy requirements of an IC package having more compact pins.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fine pitch contact used in a ZIF socket having a body acting as both a lead-in portion and an engaging portion for promoting an increase in the density of the contacts of the ZIF socket.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, a fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket comprises a base for being fixed in the socket, a curved twisted body upwardly extending from the base and a tail downwardly extending from the base for being connected to a PCB (printed circuit board). The body is twisted about a central line thereof for acting as both a lead-in portion and an engaging portion to reduce the size of the contact thereby promoting an increase in the density of the contacts of the ZIF socket.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, a fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket comprises a base for being fixed in the socket, a body extending from the base and a tail for being connected to a PCB. The body includes a first bent portion formed proximate a free end thereof and a second bent portion bent in a reverse direction relative to the-first bent portion. The first and the second bent portions respectively act as a lead-in portion and an engaging portion to reduce the size of the contact thereby promoting an increase in the density of the contacts of the ZIF socket.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4498725 (1985-02-01), Bright et al.
patent: 5989049 (1999-11-01), Walkup et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fine pitch contact for a ZIF socket will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2580216