Interconnect Alignment Using Compliant Contacts for Dense Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current interconnection systems face challenges in providing a separable electrical interface with a dense array of contacts for high-density interconnects, particularly for optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical components, due to the difficulty in fabricating small, strong, and compliant metal fingers, and the need for precise alignment and high bandwidth data transmission.
Innovation Solution
The use of an anisotropically conductive compliant contact layer, such as PariPoser, or other electrically conductive elements like fuzz buttons, which deform to establish reliable electrical connections between a mating substrate and a main board, allowing for precise alignment and high-speed signal transmission without the need for precise alignment of conductive columns, and enabling easy replacement of components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If metal fingers are made smaller to achieve high-density contacts, then contact pitch is reduced, but manufacturing difficulty and fabrication complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the contact structure by transitioning from rigid metal fingers to compliant contacts made of elastomeric material with embedded conductive elements. This material parameter change enables smaller contact pitches while maintaining manufacturability, as the compliant nature of elastomeric materials allows for easier fabrication of high-density contact arrays compared to traditional metal fingers.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite materials consisting of elastomeric material combined with conductive elements (such as conductive balls, beads, or particles). This composite structure provides both the compliance needed for high-density packaging and the electrical conductivity required for signal transmission, resolving the contradiction between achieving small contact pitches and maintaining ease of manufacture.
2Reliability
If alignment tolerance is reduced to ensure reliable connections at small pitch, then connection reliability improves, but alignment precision requirements become more stringent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic compliance through elastomeric materials that can deform and adapt during the mating process. This dynamic property allows the contacts to self-align and compensate for misalignment errors, maintaining connection reliability without requiring extremely tight alignment tolerances. The compliant contacts can elastically deform to accommodate variations in positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the mechanical properties of the contacts from rigid to compliant, the patent fundamentally alters the alignment behavior. The compliant contacts can deform to bridge gaps and accommodate misalignment, effectively reducing the impact of alignment errors on connection reliability without requiring higher measurement precision during assembly.
3Reliability
If rigid metal fingers are used for electrical contact, then electrical conductivity is ensured, but mechanical compliance and ability to withstand misalignment are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials combining elastomeric material with conductive elements. The elastomeric component provides mechanical compliance and shock absorption, while the embedded conductive elements ensure electrical conductivity. This composite structure simultaneously achieves both electrical connection reliability and mechanical compliance, resolving the contradiction between these two properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastomeric material acts as an intermediary between the rigid conductive elements and the mating substrate. It provides mechanical compliance and shock absorption while transmitting electrical signals through the embedded conductive elements, mediating between the requirements for electrical conductivity and mechanical resilience.
4Ease of repair
If separable interface is implemented for component replacement, then ease of repair and replacement improve, but alignment accuracy and connection reliability become more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic compliance of elastomeric contacts enables the separable interface to maintain high alignment accuracy through elastic deformation during mating. When components are mated, the compliant contacts can deform to accommodate minor misalignments, ensuring reliable electrical connections even in separable interfaces where alignment tolerance may be looser than in permanent connections.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides a reliable, high-bandwidth separable electrical interface with improved alignment accuracy and mechanical strength, allowing for easy installation and replacement of components without soldering, while maintaining signal integrity and reducing the risk of damage from solder reflow temperatures.
Implementation Method 1
one or both of the contacts on opposite sides of the interface typically elastically deform as the two sides of the separable interface are mated. A restoring force produced by the elastic deformation urges contacts on opposing sides of the separable interface together resulting in an electrical connection.
Data Source
AI summary
An interconnection system includes a mating substrate that is configured to be placed in electrical communication with a main board along an insertion direction so as to define a separable interface. The interconnection system is configured to align the mating substrate with the main board along first and second transverse directions that are perpendicular to each other and to the insertion direction.