Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-10
2004-02-17
Arbes, Carl J. (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S825000, C029S846000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06691408
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to printed circuit boards, such as those commonly used to facilitate electrical interconnection of components in electronic assemblies. The present invention relates more particularly to integrally formed electrical interconnects for printed circuit boards. The electrical interconnects may be configured so as to either provide electrical communication between a plurality of printed circuit boards or so as to define terminations for such printed circuit boards. The electrical interconnects may additionally be configured to define electrical connectors. The present invention also comprises a method for forming such electrical interconnects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electrical interconnections for facilitating electrical communication between printed circuit boards are well known. Typically, printed circuit boards are electrically interconnected either via flexible conductors, i.e., cables, or via rigid conductors such as the traces of a printed circuit board bus. The use of cables is advantageous in that cables facilitate electrical communication between printed circuit boards having various different orientations with respect to one another. For example, two printed circuit boards may be oriented parallel to one another, perpendicular to one another, or at any other desired relative angle or orientation, when electrically interconnected via cables.
However, the use of such flexible conductors generally requires that cable connectors be fabricated or purchased and then attached, e.g., soldered, to each of the printed circuit boards and that cables with complimentary connectors also be provided. Thus, such electrical interconnection of printed circuit boards via flexible conductors suffers from the inherent disadvantage of increased cost due to the substantial costs of materials and labor associated therewith.
Further, cables do not typically provide a robust electrical connection, i.e., an electrical connection which is desirably reliable and effective. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the connectors utilized to attach such cables to printed circuit boards inherently introduce substantial problems. The electrical connection of a cable to the complimentary cable connector of a printed circuit board may not be either reliable or effective for several reasons. Mechanical contact between the individual electrical contact members, e.g., pins and sockets, of such cable connectors may not be sufficient to provide the desired electrical connection therebetween. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, good mechanical contact between the electrical contact members of cable connectors is necessary in order to provide the desired electrical interconnection. Poor mechanical contact may be due to poor design and/or bending of the contacts during handling. Further, wear of the electrical contacts due to repeated attachment and detachment of the electrical connectors also commonly results in such poor mechanical contact.
Further, such electrical contacts are subject to degradation caused by environmental factors, such as moisture, air pollutants and soiling. Such degradation of the electrical contracts frequently results in the formation of a high resistance layer thereupon, which substantially inhibits the flow of electric current therethrough. Thus, such degradation of the electrical contacts frequently renders the electrical contracts unsuitable for the reliable transmission of electrical signals. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, even when handled and assembled properly, the reliability of electrical cable connectors is substantially lower than desirable.
Printed circuit board buses for rigidly interconnecting a plurality of separate printed circuit boards are also well known. A common example of such a printed circuit board bus is the ISA/PCI bus of a contemporary IBM compatible personal computer (PC) which is utilized to interconnect a plurality of different printed circuit board add-on cards, such as a display adaptor, a sound card, and/or a modem card with the central processing unit (CPU) and the random access memory (RAM) of the personal computer. Such printed circuit board buses comprise a plurality of female card edge connectors which are rigidly attached to the printed circuit board, i.e., the motherboard of the personal computer. The add-on cards attach to the female card edge connectors via complimentary male card edge connectors formed of conductive traces at an edge of each add-on card. A plurality of conductive conduits or traces extend in a generally parallel fashion between the female card edge connectors and provide electrical communication therebetween.
Although such rigid printed circuit board buses may be somewhat more reliable than flexible cables, since relative movement between the printed circuit boards attached thereby is inhibited by such rigid attachment of the boards to one another, the printed circuit boards attached to such a printed circuit board bus must generally be oriented approximately parallel to one another and must be oriented approximately perpendicular to the printed circuit board upon which the bus is formed. Thus, the physical layout of such printed circuit boards is undesirably constrained. Further, such bus connectors suffer from some of the same inherent deficiencies as cable connectors, i.e., they are subject to degradation caused by moisture, air pollutants and soiling, as well as by handling and wear.
It is desirable to be able to orient printed circuit boards at various different angles with respect to one another. For example, in some instances it may be desirable to provide electrical communication between printed circuit boards which are oriented such that they are parallel to one another. This may be done to minimize the space occupied by the printed circuit boards. In other instances, it may be desirable to provide electrical communication between printed circuit boards which are oriented such that they are perpendicular to one another. They may be done so that each printed circuit board can be mounted to each one of two adjacent perpendicular walls of a rectangular enclosure, for example.
It may even occasionally be desirable to orient printed circuit boards at other desired angles or orientations relative to one another in order to accommodate packaging requirements. For example, it may be necessary to orient one printed circuit board at an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to the other printed circuit board in order to accommodate the desired packaging of large components, e.g., transformers, mounted to or near one or both of the printed circuit boards. That is, such large components may prevent orientation of the printed circuit boards parallel to one another and may similarly prevent mounting of a printed circuit board close to the perpendicular walls of an enclosure and thus prevent mounting of the printed circuit boards perpendicular to each other.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide robust electrical interconnects between printed circuit boards which are oriented at substantially any desired angle with respect to one another.
Additionally, it is frequently desirable to piggyback a small printed circuit board to a larger printed circuit board. This frequently occurs when, for example, the smaller printed circuit board defines a multi-chip module or contains hybrid circuitry, i.e., a combination of discrete and integrated circuit components, and is to be placed in electrical communication with a larger printed circuit board. One common example of such attachment of a small printed circuit board to a larger printed circuit board is the attachment of a random access memory (RAM) module to a personal computer motherboard. Such attachment is typically accomplished by providing a connector (such as a SIMM connector) on the larger printed circuit board for receiving complimentary leads or terminations from the smaller printed circuit board.
Such terminations typically comprise a plurality of pins permanently attac
Arbes Carl J.
Mack Technologies Florida, Inc.
Rutan & Tucker
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