Shielded zero insertion force socket

Details Shielded zero insertion force socket Shielded zero insertion force socket

1999-12-20

2003-03-18

Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Electromagnetic or electrostatic shield

Multi-part shield body

C439S070000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06533613

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets.
Zero insertion force sockets are commonly used to attach integrated-circuit (IC) modules to printed circuit (PC) boards. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a known ZIF socket includes a top plate
100
that is slideably attached to a base
102
. Top plate
100
contains apertures
104
and the base
102
contains a corresponding number of openings
106
. The openings
106
house spring elements
108
, each of which has a tail portion
110
that is soldered to the PC board. The ZIF socket further includes a camshaft
114
located inside a raised portion
116
of top plate
100
. Rotating a lever
118
causes camshaft
114
to act on base
102
, displacing top plate
100
with respect to base
102
, which is anchored to the PC board via the tail portions
110
.
The terminals or pins of an IC module, such as a microprocessor, are inserted into an open ZIF socket, and protrude through apertures
104
of top plate
100
. With the socket in its open position, apertures
104
and corresponding spring elements
108
are not aligned, so that no contact exists between the pins of the IC module and spring elements
108
. The lever
118
is then rotated downwards, the camshaft
114
exerts a force on base
102
which causes top plate
100
to translate relative to base
102
, such that the pins of the IC module and spring elements
108
align and engage.
New, faster, lower voltage microprocessor bus circuits are more susceptible to failure or performance degradation due to noise on many signal lines. Conventional ZIF sockets for use with such circuits do not prevent crosstalk or other noise which could occur between adjacent pins.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A shielded socket for use in a zero-insertion-force (ZIF) socket assembly is presented. The socket includes a conducting plate including a plurality of apertures, and an insulating layer. The insulating layer surrounds the conducting plate and lines at least one signal carrying passageway. In an implementation, the conducting plate includes at least one grounding site. A slider plate assembly may be included that slideably connects to an outside wall of the insulating layer to form the ZIF socket assembly.
A ZIF socket assembly according to the invention is compatible with high front or back-side bus speeds (i.e. speeds currently being developed for future central processing unit (CPU) components) because it reduces cross-talk between the pins of the CPU. In addition, the shielded ZIF socket has a low profile configuration, which minimizes the potential for signal degradation and timing problems due to excessive trace length. Thus, such a shielded, low-profile ZIF socket finds applications in high-bus-speed CPU socketing, especially for thin notebook computers.
Other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the claims.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4440463 (1984-04-01), Glina, Jr. et al.
patent: 4606598 (1986-08-01), Drzymlowski et al.
patent: 5286926 (1994-02-01), Kimura et al.
patent: 5707247 (1998-01-01), Konstad
patent: 5734555 (1998-03-01), McMahon
patent: 5923179 (1999-07-01), Taylor

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