JP4382109B2 - Electrical connector and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a required number of electrical contacts that come into contact with a counterpart, and more particularly to the manufacture of an electrical connector in which an electrolytic surface treatment is applied to the electrical contact portion.

For example, in order to inspect the performance of a semiconductor element of a BGA (Ball Grid Array) package having a plurality of electrical contacts made of hemispherical protrusions such as solder, an electrical connector having a socket structure that can be attached to and detached from this element may be used. It has been broken.
This electrical connector is provided with a required number of electrical contacts to be connected to solder balls which are electrical contacts of the BGA. There are many hundreds of electrical contacts, and the pitch between the electrical contacts is a typical one, which is a very narrow pitch of 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm. This electrical contact is often provided on a flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as “FPC”).

As described above, since the electrical contacts of the electrical connector have a very narrow pitch and hundreds of electrical contacts, for example, when 20 columns × 20 rows = 400 contacts, the signal of the central electrical connector contact is sent to the FPC end. In order to pull out the lead wire and extract the signal outside the FPC, it must pass through at least 9 rows of contacts, and the length reaches at least 0.8 mm x 9 = 7.2 mm. Nine leads must be routed between adjacent contacts.
On the other hand, if the contact pitch is 0.3 mm when the adjacent pitch interval is 0.8 mm, the wiring space is 0.5 mm. To install nine lead wires between them, the line / space ratio is set to Even if 50%, the line width is 0.5 mm ÷ 19 divisions = 0.026 mm, and there is a problem that it is difficult to create a circuit as a good transmission line.
Therefore, the present inventor considered that a circuit is provided on the back surface of the FPC by utilizing a commonly used through hole, and the surface of the electrical contact is formed by electroless plating that does not need to be connected to a plating electrode. Tried to process.
However, in electroless plating, it takes a processing time of 1 to 1.5 hours to apply a surface treatment of 5 μm to an electric contactor, and since the processing time is long, the immersion time in the plating solution is long. Due to the alkalinity, the problem that the Cu foil of the FPC board peeled off occurred.
Therefore, the present inventor considered that there is a method of plating the electric contact by electrolytic plating instead of electroless plating.

  The object of the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and is an electrical connector for an extremely short transmission path that takes into account the characteristics of the transmission path and the processing time is short, the Cu foil of the FPC board does not peel off, and its It is to obtain a manufacturing method.

This object is by have a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts, and to place the elastic material behind the electrical contact, the The electrical contact is an electrical connector having slidability, and a plating pattern for performing electroplating on the electrical contact and a wiring pattern connected to the electrical contact are separately wired, and the electrical contact is electrically connected In an electrical connector that performs electrolytic surface treatment in a connected state, when performing electrolytic surface treatment, only the pattern for plating that electrically connected between the electrical contacts is removed by the substantially U-shaped slit after the surface treatment. This can be achieved by cutting the electrical contacts so that they are electrically isolated and independent.

Further, in the case of providing in addition to the through-hole of the electrical contact has a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts and the electrical contact By arranging an elastic material behind the electrical contact, the electrical contact is a slidable electrical connector, and a plating pattern for applying electroplating to the electrical contact and a wiring pattern connected to the electrical contact are provided respectively. In an electrical connector for performing electrolytic surface treatment in a state where the electrical contacts are electrically connected with the electrical contacts being electrically connected, a pair of through holes for obtaining electrical continuity between the electrical contacts and electrical lamination is connected by a conductor. and electrical contacts, only the plating pattern which has been electrically connecting the electrical contact child when performing electrolytic surface treatment, be cut by the substantially U-shaped slit after the surface treatment It is, also be achieved by making the electrically insulated independently the electrical contacts of each pair. Since the substantially U-shaped slit processing is originally provided in the electrical connector, the electrical contact or the electrical contactor is provided after the electrolytic surface treatment without increasing the number of processing steps by performing the processing last. The connection part which electrically connects between can be cut | disconnected.

Then, by have a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts, and to place the elastic material behind the electrical contact, the electrical An electrical connector having a slidable contact , wherein a plating pattern for electroplating the electrical contact and a wiring pattern connected to the electrical contact are separately wired, and the electrical contact and electrical lamination In the method of manufacturing an electrical connector for performing electrolytic surface treatment in a state in which a pair of electrical contacts is formed by connecting through holes for obtaining electrical continuity with a conductor, and the pair of electrical contacts is electrically connected, In creating the electrical contact, first, after forming a pattern on the surface, the unnecessary copper foil part is removed by etching, and secondly, a predetermined electrolytic surface treatment is applied to the electrical contact part, and finally Only plating pattern which has been electrically connected between the serial electrical contact child cut by the substantially U-shaped slits by laser irradiation or punching, electrically insulated independently the electrical contacts of each pair This is a manufacturing method.

The electrical connector described above has been described with respect to an electrical connector (for example, an electrical contact on the surface side) connected to a counterpart on one surface, but two opposing counterparts (first and second counterparts) and It is also possible to use an electrical connector (for example, electrical contacts on both the front and back sides) that can be connected to both.
For example, a support member, a first circuit disposed on one surface of the support member and a plurality of electrical contacts in contact with the first counterpart, and an electrical contact in contact with the second counterpart And a second circuit disposed on the other surface of the support member, and a conductor connecting the first circuit and the second circuit, the electrical contact of the first circuit and the electrical of the second circuit The contactor is optimized along the shape of the contact partner. By doing so, it is not necessary to consider the microstrip line structure, and an electrical connector of an extremely short transmission line can be manufactured in consideration of the characteristics of the transmission line. Optimization here means changing the shape of the electrical contact that contacts the first counterpart and the electrical contact that contacts the second counterpart, depending on the contact shape of the first counterpart and the second counterpart. . For example, when the counterpart is a BGA chip, it is a triangular wave projection, and when the counterpart is flat like a substrate pad, it is a hemispherical projection.
Further, when the first circuit and the second circuit are made conductive, a conductive object is inserted into a through hole provided in the vicinity of the electric contact and then soldered. By doing in this way, an ultrashort transmission line can be made without losing the elasticity of the electrical contact.

  As a function, when the above-mentioned substantially U-shaped slit is provided, the contact of the counterpart slides on the electrical contact of the electrical connector when the counterpart contacts the electrical connector. Solder can be removed forward (excluded to be scraped off). Further, when the counterpart and the electrical connector are fitted, the contact of the counterpart slides on the electrical contact of the electrical connector. The electrical connector is slid in such a manner that an elastic material such as silicon is disposed on the back side of the metal conductor portion, and a substantially U-shaped slit is provided on the substrate around the conductor. This is because the electrical contact of the electrical connector is displaced downward and the contact position is displaced by the contact force pressing the electrical contact of the electrical connector against the electrical contact.

The electrical connector of the present invention can obtain the following remarkable effects by adopting the above-described configuration.
(1) The plating pattern 16 for connecting the electrical contacts 32 necessary for the surface treatment to the electrical contacts 46 or the electrical contacts 32 is such that the electrical contacts 46 or the electrical contacts 32 are electrically connected after the surface treatment. Therefore, it is possible to provide an electrical connector with an extremely short transmission that can be easily cut by laser irradiation, punching, or the like so that the insulation becomes independent.
(2) Each electrical contact necessary for the surface treatment by finally processing the substantially U-shaped slit 18 provided so that the contact 28 of the counterpart slides on the electrical contact 32 of the electrical connector. The plating pattern 16 connecting the 32 can be easily cut, and the number of processing steps is not increased.
(3) By forming the circuit of the FPC board 14 by electrolytic plating, the processing time can be shortened by about 10 hours compared to the electroless plating, and the Cu foil of the FPC board 14 is not peeled off.
(4) It is possible to easily cope with the difference in the thickness of the surface treatment of the electric contactor 32 and the through hole 44, and a circuit can be easily created.
(5) By performing the surface treatment by electrolytic plating, even when the surface treatment of 100 μm is performed on the electric contact 32 portion, the surface treatment can be performed in about one hour, and an electrical connector can be easily manufactured.
(6) When the electrical connector 50 is connected to two opposing objects 62 and 64 (first and second counterparts), the electrical contact 32 of the first circuit 54 and the electrical contact of the second circuit 56 By optimizing the child 32 along the shape of the contact partner, the electrical connector 50 of the present invention makes the conduction distance between the contacts less than 5 mm, so no special consideration is required during measurement inspection. An ultrashort transmission line is possible without using a microstrip line considering the characteristics of the transmission line, which contributes to cost reduction.
(7) When conducting the first circuit 54 and the second circuit 56, by inserting a conductive object 58 into a through hole provided in the vicinity of the electric contact 32 and soldering The first circuit 54 and the second circuit 56 can be easily conducted, and the surface treatment of the required thickness can be applied only to the necessary portion without losing the elasticity of the electric contact 32.

As shown in FIG. 1A, one embodiment of the electrical connector 10 is one in which only a plurality of electrical contacts 12 are provided on the FPC board 14. In order to perform the surface treatment on the electrical contact 12, it is necessary to perform electroless plating because there is no plating pattern 16 necessary for electrolytic plating. However, due to the above-described problems, it is necessary to perform electrolytic plating. As shown in FIG. 1B, it is necessary to electrically connect the electrical contacts 12 with the plating pattern 16 or the like. However, after the electrolytic surface treatment, the plating pattern 16 must be cut in order to electrically insulate the electrical contacts 12 independently. As a method for cutting the plating pattern 16, as shown in FIG. 2, the plating pattern 16 can be cut by processing a hole 18, a slit 22, and a substantially U-shaped slit 20. Examples of the processing method include laser irradiation and punching.

Another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, for example, the structure of the BGA package 24 that is a counterpart to be connected to the electrical connector 30 will be described. The BGA package 24 is made of silicon, ceramics 26, or a rigid hard resin substrate. A plurality of contacts 28 are provided.
The structure of the electrical connector 30 will be described based on FIG. The electrical connector 30 is made of an FPC board 14 made of soft resin or the like having an appropriate rigidity. A conductor 36 made of a disk-like metal layer is formed on one side of the board 14 and an insulation provided on the conductor forming side of the board 14. The protective coating layer 38 is made of a material and the like, and the electrical contact 32 is provided on the conductor 36. The electrical connector 30 has a socket structure so that the BGA package 24 can be detachably mounted.
The final structure of the FPC board 14 portion is as shown in FIG. 4, and the electric contact 46 provided on the conductor and the through hole 44, the electric contact 46 and the through hole leading to the back surface provided in the vicinity thereof. 44 and a conductor 36 that connects to 44.
However, in order to surface-treat the electrical contacts 46 and the conductors 36 by electrolytic plating, it is necessary to electrically connect the electrical contacts 32 to each other as shown in FIG. After the treatment, the plating pattern 16 must be cut and the electrical contact 32 must be electrically insulated and independent. The cutting method and processing method are the same as those described above.
In the electrical connector 30 described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, a substantially U-shape provided around the electrical contact 46 as shown in FIG. 6 so that the contact 28 of the counterpart slides on the electrical contact 32 of the electrical connector 30. It is ideal to cut the connecting portion 16 that electrically connected between the electrical contacts 32 in order to perform electrolytic surface treatment by processing the slit 18 having the shape last.

As described above, when cutting the plating pattern 16 that is electrically connected between the electrical contacts 32, as shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary to provide approximately U that must be provided around the electrical contact 46 after the electrolytic surface treatment. It is good to cut | disconnect by character-shaped slit 18 process. Since the U-shaped slit 18 is originally provided in the electrical connector 30, it is not necessary to increase the number of processing steps by performing the processing last.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, an electrical connector 30 having a required number of electrical contacts 46 that come into contact with a counterpart, and the electrical contacts 46 are made into a pair of electrical contacts 32 connected to the through holes 44 by conductors 36. When the electrolytic surface treatment is performed, the electrical contacts 32 are in an electrically connected state, and after the surface treatment, a substantially U-shaped slit 18 is provided around the electrical contact 46, and a pair of electrical contacts is provided. The manufacturing method of the electrical connector 30 that electrically isolates and isolates 32 is performed in the following order when the electrical contact 32 is produced.
First, surface treatment is applied to the through hole 44 and the entire surface after the through hole pilot hole processing.
Second, after forming a pattern on the surface, unnecessary copper foil portions are removed by etching.
Third, a coverlay is applied to the entire surface.
Fourthly, after opening the cover lay of the electrical contact 46 part, a predetermined electrolytic surface treatment is applied to the electrical contact 46 part.
Fifth, the cover lay on the through hole 44 is opened 68.
Finally, a substantially U-shaped slit 18 is processed around the electrical contact 46.

Next, the structure of another electrical connector 50 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 7, the electrical connector 50 is configured to be connected to two opposing objects (a first opponent 62 and a second opponent 64). That is, the first circuit 54 having the support member 52, the plurality of electrical contacts 32 in contact with the first counterpart 62, and disposed on one surface of the support member 52, and the second counterpart 64, A conductor having an electrical contact 32 (in this case, an electrical contact 46) in contact with the second circuit 56 disposed on the other surface of the support member 52 and connecting the first circuit 54 and the second circuit 56 60 (in this case, a lead wire), and the electrical contact 32 of the first circuit 54 and the electrical contact 32 of the second circuit 56 are optimized along the shape of the contact partner. . That is, two circuits are formed on the front and back surfaces of the support member 52.

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a required number of electrical contacts that come into contact with a counterpart, and more particularly to the manufacture of an electrical connector in which an electrolytic surface treatment is applied to the electrical contact portion.

(A) It is a top view of an electrical connector. (B) It is drawing explaining the processing method of the electrical contact of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 (A). It is drawing explaining the method to cut | disconnect the pattern for plating of FIG. 1 (B). It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-sectional view of another electrical connector. FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3. It is drawing explaining the processing method of the electrical contact of the electrical connector of FIG. It is drawing explaining the method of cut | disconnecting the pattern for plating of FIG. It is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of another electrical connector.

Explanation of symbols

10, 30, 50 Electrical connector 12, 46 Electrical contact 14 FPC
16 Plating pattern 18 Hole 20 U-shaped slit 22 Slit 24 BGA package 26 Silicon or ceramics 28 Contact 32 Electrical contact 34 Protrusion 36 Conductor 40 Metal material 42 Elastic material 44 Through hole 52 Support member 54 First circuit 56 Second circuit 58 pin 60 lead wire 62 first counterpart 64 second counterpart 66 land 68 opening

Claims (3)

Have a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts and, by placing the elastic material behind the electrical contact, the electrical contact is sliding An electrical connector with mobility ,
Wiring patterns for plating to apply electrical plating to the electrical contacts and wiring patterns to be connected to the electrical contacts are separately wired,
In an electrical connector that performs electrolytic surface treatment with the electrical contacts electrically connected,
When the electrolytic surface treatment is performed, only the plating pattern that is electrically connected between the electrical contacts is cut by the substantially U-shaped slit after the surface treatment to electrically insulate the electrical contacts. An electrical connector characterized by being independent. Have a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts and, by placing the elastic material behind the electrical contact, the electrical contact is sliding An electrical connector with mobility ,
Wiring patterns for plating to apply electrical plating to the electrical contacts and wiring patterns to be connected to the electrical contacts are separately wired,
In an electrical connector that performs electrolytic surface treatment with the electrical contacts electrically connected,
A through hole for obtaining electrical contact with electrical laminate between conduction and electrical contacts of a pair by connecting the conductors, when performing electrolytic surface treatment have electrical connection between the electrical contact child was only plating pattern, by cutting by the substantially U-shaped slit after the surface treatment, electric, characterized in that characterized in that the electrically insulated independently the electrical contacts of each pair connector. Have a required number of electrical contacts in contact with the mating object, a slit of substantially U-shaped around the electrical contacts and, by placing the elastic material behind the electrical contact, the electrical contact is sliding An electrical connector with mobility ,
A plating pattern for performing electroplating on the electrical contacts and a wiring pattern to be connected to the electrical contacts are separately wired, and through holes for obtaining electrical continuity between the electrical contacts and the laminate are connected by conductors. A pair of electrical contacts,
In the method of manufacturing an electrical connector for performing electrolytic surface treatment in a state where the pair of electrical contacts are electrically connected,
In making electrical contacts,
First, after forming a pattern on the surface, the unnecessary copper foil part is removed by etching,
Second, a predetermined electrolytic surface treatment is applied to the electrical contact portion,
Finally, only the plating pattern that electrically connects the electrical contacts is cut by the substantially U-shaped slits by laser irradiation or punching, and each pair of the electrical contacts is electrically insulated. A method of manufacturing an electrical connector, characterized by being independent.

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