Housing of socket connector and conductive terminal thereof

Details Housing of socket connector and conductive terminal thereof Housing of socket connector and conductive terminal thereof

2001-12-27

2003-05-13

Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

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

Including compound movement of coupling part

C439S083000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06561831

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a socket connector for mounting an electronic device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) module, to a circuit board, and more particular to a housing of the socket connector and a conductive terminal retained in the housing. A method for making a socket connector by two forming operations is also provided.
2. The Related Arts
Socket connectors for mounting an electronic device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) module, to a circuit board are well known and commonly used in the computer industry.
FIG. 1
of the attached drawings shows an example of the socket connectors that is referred to as ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket connector. The socket connector, generally designated with reference numeral
10
, comprises a housing
12
defining an array of open cells
14
in which conductive terminals
26
(
FIG. 2
) are received and a cover
16
movably supported on the housing
12
. The cover
16
defines through holes
18
corresponding to the cells
14
of the housing
12
. The cover
16
carries a CPU module
20
with pin legs
22
of the CPU module
20
extending through the holes
18
of the cover
16
and partially into the cells
14
. An actuator
24
drives the cover
16
in such a manner to bring the pin legs
24
of the CPU module
20
into contact with the terminals
26
of the housing
12
thereby forming electrical connection therebetween. Examples of socket connectors of this type are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,498,725, 5,833,483, 6,059,596, 6,142,810, and 6,159,032.
The housing
12
has a top face
28
and an opposite bottom face
30
. The cells
14
defined in the housing
12
can be wide-open on either the top face
28
or the bottom face
30
for receiving the terminal
26
therein, respectively referred to as “top-loading” and “bottom-loading”. In a top loading structure, the cell defined in the housing
12
has a closed bottom with a slit defined in the closed bottom for the extension of a tail of the terminal. The tails of the terminals in a top loading structure are maintained substantially straight for being soldered to a circuit board with the so-called “through-hole” technique. However, in a bottom loading structure, the tails of the terminals are bent to be substantially normal to the terminal to form a solder pad (such as the portion
32
of the terminal
26
shown in
FIG. 2
) for carrying solder balls that connect the terminals to a circuit board by means of the so-called “surface mount technique (SMT)”. Since a bottom loading structure requires a wide opening of each cell in the bottom of the housing, it is in general difficult to firmly hold the terminal to perform a bending operation. Thus, the solder pad is usually formed before the terminal is loaded into the corresponding cell.
Since SMT provides an efficient way of mounting a socket connector to a circuit board, the SMT type socket connectors are prevailing recently. However, the SMT process requires the solder pads of all the terminals
26
to be substantially flush with each other or in perfect alignment. Forming the solder pads before the terminals
26
are loaded into the cells
14
of the housing
12
leads to troubles in ensuring that the solder pads
32
can be substantially flush with each other. This is because the terminals
26
may be loaded into the cells
14
to difference depth. Thus, a method employing a second forming operation for making the solder pad after the terminal is loaded into the corresponding cell to ensure perfect alignment of the solder pads is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a socket connector having a housing that allows a second forming operation to be carried out on a terminal retained therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a socket connector having a housing firmly retaining a terminal in a cell thereof.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, a socket connector comprises a housing having top and bottom faces. The housing defines an array of cells and each cell has an opening in the top face and a closed bottom with a slit defined in the bottom and exposed to the bottom face of the housing. A bump is formed on the bottom face next to each slit. A conductive terminal made by a first forming operation carried out on a metal plate is received in each cell through the top opening. The terminal has a base section positioned in the cell and a solder pad connected to the base section by a neck portion. The base section, the solder pad and the neck portion are substantially coplanar. The solder pad and the neck portion extend through the slit and beyond the bottom face of the housing. A second forming operation is carried out on the neck portions of all the terminals to bend all the neck portions about the bumps whereby the solder pads are substantially parallel to the bottom face. The neck portions are subject to an over-forming operation so as to have a perfect alignment of the solder pads. The bump provides a spring back clearance for the over-forming operation.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4498725 (1985-02-01), Bright et al.
patent: 5833483 (1998-11-01), Lai et al.
patent: 6059593 (2000-05-01), Pei et al.
patent: 6142810 (2000-11-01), Hsiao et al.
patent: 6152757 (2000-11-01), Szu
patent: 6159032 (2000-12-01), McHugh et al.
patent: 6319038 (2001-11-01), Howell et al.
patent: 6450826 (2002-09-01), Howell et al.
patent: 6461183 (2002-10-01), Ohkita et al.
patent: 6471534 (2002-10-01), Lee
patent: 6471535 (2002-10-01), Walkup et al.

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