Connector ground shield terminal walls

Abstract

Connectors with ground shield terminal walls and compliant shield pads are described. An example connector includes a housing with a slot for insertion of a board card edge interface and a wafer assembly positioned in the housing. The wafer assembly includes a channel shield and a pair of signal terminals that extend along a channel of the channel shield. The channel shield includes a channel floor wall, a pair of channel sidewalls, and a pair of ground shield terminal walls. Contact tip surfaces of the signal terminals and the ground shield terminal walls are configured to intersect a single contact tip plane, when the board card edge interface is inserted into the housing. Compliant shield pads are secured to the ground shield terminal walls, and a compliant ground strip is secured across the ground shield terminal walls. The shield pads and ground strip can be embodied as conductive foam.