Socket with contact for being soldered to printed circuit board

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the art of electrical connector, and more specifically to a socket for electrically interconnecting two electrical interfaces, such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) package and a printed circuit board.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Generally speaking, a connector to which this invention is applicable is interposed between first and second electronic parts or components having contact pads, respectively, to achieve electrical connection between the first and the second electronic components. In the following description, the first and the second electronic components are a printed circuit board and an IC Package, respectively.

A conventional connector, referring to Korsunsky U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,304 issued to Huang et al. on Sep. 12, 2002, comprises a housing, and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. Each contact is formed by punching and bending an elastic metal plate, so that each contact comprises a generally U-shaped portion comprising a first leg portion, a second leg portion, a bridge portion connecting top ends of the first and the second leg portions and an extension portion obliquely and downwardly extending from a bottom end of the first leg portion. The extension portion has a curved end portion as a lower end portion and a first contact point formed on the curved end portion to be brought into contact with the contact pad of the printed circuit board. The bridge portion has a second contact point on its top portion to be brought into contact with the contact pad of the IC package. The contact is inserted into corresponding contact receptacle hole defined on the housing and held at a predetermined position.

An object of the present invention is to provide a socket, which have a plurality of contacts adapted for being soldered to a printed circuit board to which the socket is mounted.

To fulfill the above object, a socket, adapted for electrically connecting a printed circuit board to an IC package, comprises a housing defining a mating face and a mounting face opposed to the mating face and a plurality of passageways extending through the mating face and the mounting face; and a plurality of contacts arranged in the passageways, each including a bend portion, a first leg and a second leg extending from two opposed ends of the bend portion, the second leg having an arc contacting portion extending out of the mating face for contacting the IC package, the bend portion being soldered to the printed circuit board.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an assembled, perspective view of a socket in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a contact of the socket shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the socket mounted to a printed circuit board;

FIG. 4 is another sectional view of the socket, showing the socket electrically connecting the printed circuit board with the IC package; and

FIG. 5 is similar with FIG. 3 , except the solder balls in FIG. 3 have been replaced by solder.

Reference is now made to the drawings to describe the invention in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4 , a socket 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is arranged between an IC package 30 having a plurality of conductive pads 301 thereon and a printed circuit board 40 having a plurality of conductive pads 401 thereon.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the socket 1 includes a housing 10 and a plurality of contacts 20 . The housing 10 has a conductive field 11 , which defines a plurality of through passageways 110 arranged in longitude rows and adapted for receiving the contacts 20 . The housing 10 has a mating face 12 toward the IC package 30 and a mounting face 13 opposed to the mating face 12 and toward the printed circuit board 40 . The housing 10 further has a plurality of mounting holes 14 on a peripheral thereof.

Referring to FIG. 2 , showing the contact 20 in a vertical state, the contact 20 is stamped from a metal plane and substantially bent to a U-shape, including a bend portion 21 , a first leg 22 and a second leg 23 extending from two opposed ends of the bend portion 21 . The second leg 23 is longer than the first leg 22 and is formed with an arc contacting portion 24 on a free end thereof, which approximately faces to the bend portion 21 in a vertical direction in FIG. 2 .

The bend portion 21 is adapted for being soldered to the printed circuit board 40 , and the contacting portion 24 is adapted for contacting with the IC package 30 . The contact 20 has a substantial slit along its center line thereof. The slit is from the contacting portion 24 end, except that a portion of the two parts is allowing the bend portion 21 and first leg 22 to remain intact as a one piece configuration. So, the contacting portion 24 has two contacting segments. Furthermore, the bend portion 21 can contain a coined recess 25 on the bottom surface thereof.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the passageway 110 of the housing 10 angularly extends through the mating face 12 and the mounting face 13 and defines two opposing inner sidewalls 112 thereof for supporting the contact 20 . The contact 20 is inserted into and retained in the passageway 110 in a angular state, with the first leg 22 and the second leg 23 abutting against the two inner sidewalls 112 of the passageway 110 , respectively, the contacting portion 24 of the second leg 23 extends beyond the mating face 12 , while the first leg 22 remains in the passageway 110 . Then, a solder ball 26 is attached to the bend portion 21 aided in positions by the recess 25 . (Referring to FIG. 5 ) The structure is the same as FIG. 3 except the contacts (Mounting end) do not have solder balls attached. Mounting to the PCB is completed by applying solder paste to the PCB, applying connector & reflowing instead of using solder balls.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the socket 1 electrically connects the IC package 30 and the printed circuit board 40 . The bend portions 21 are soldered to the printed circuit board 40 by the solder balls 26 . When the printed circuit board package 40 mounts to the socket 1 , the IC package 30 contacts with the contacting portions 24 and downwardly presses the second legs 23 , then the second legs 23 will deflect toward the first leg 22 , while the first leg 22 keeps immobile.

Referring to FIG. 5 , in an alternative preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bend portion 21 of the contact 20 also can be soldered to the printed circuit board 40 by SMT (surface mounting technology), and a solder 27 is pre-assembled on the bottom surface of the bend portion 21 .

Furthermore, although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.