CONNECTORS AND INTERFACES

Abstract

The invention relates to connectors with ground-protected contact wall and compliant protective pads. The connector consists of a housing with a slot for inserting a board edge interface and a semiconductor wafer assembly located within the housing. The semiconductor wafer assembly comprises a groove protection layer and a pair of signal contact pins extending along the groove with groove protection. The groove protection layer comprises a groove floor wall, a pair of groove side walls, and a pair of ground-protected contact wall. The contact surfaces of the signal contact pins and the walls of the ground-protected terminal are textured to intersect with a contact surface plane when the board edge interface is fitted into the housing. Compliant protective pads are fixed to the ground-protected contact wall and compliant ground strips are fixed on the walls of the ground-protected contact pins. The protective pads and ground strips may be represented as conductive foam.

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