US-12620751-B2 - Connector with pair of terminals and coupling portion

US12620751B2US 12620751 B2US12620751 B2US 12620751B2US-12620751-B2

Abstract

A board connector includes a pair of inner terminals. The board connector includes a terminal body. Further, the board connector includes a low-dielectric constant portion having a relative dielectric constant set to be lower than that of the terminal body and interposed between the intermediate extending portion of one of the inner terminals and the intermediate extending portion of the other one of the inner terminals. An spacing between the intermediate extending portion of the one inner terminal and the intermediate extending portion of the other inner terminal is set to be smaller than at least one of an spacing between the fitting-side extending portion of the one inner terminal and the fitting-side extending portion of the other inner terminal or an spacing between the board-side extending portion of the one inner terminal and the board-side extending portion of the other inner terminal.

Inventors

Daisuke Noguchi
Hiroaki YUKUTAKE

Assignees

IRISO ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230920
Priority Date: 20220929

Claims (4)

1 . A connector comprising: a pair of terminals comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, each of which includes a first connecting portion to which a first connection target object is connected, a second connecting portion to which a second connection target object is connected, and a coupling portion that couples the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion to each other, the pair of terminals being arranged with a spacing therebetween and a differential signal being transmitted via the pair of terminals; a dielectric portion that holds the pair of terminals; and a low-dielectric constant portion that has a lower relative dielectric constant than a relative dielectric constant of the dielectric portion and that is interposed between the coupling portion the first terminal and the coupling portion of the second terminal, wherein a spacing between the coupling portion of the first terminal and the coupling portion of the second terminal is smaller than at least one of a spacing between the first connecting portion of the first terminal and the first connecting portion of the second terminal or a spacing between the second connecting portion of the first terminal and the second connecting portion of the second terminal, and wherein an intermediate portion of the coupling portion of the first terminal bulges only toward an opposite side from a side of the low-dielectric constant portion, and a width of the intermediate portion of the coupling portion of the first terminal is larger than a width of either of respective end portions of the coupling portion of the first terminal.
2 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein: the pair of terminals is held in a state of being embedded in the dielectric portion, and the low-dielectric constant portion is a gap formed between the coupling portion of the first terminal and the coupling portion of the second terminal.
3 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the dielectric portion includes a cover portion which covers part of the coupling portion of the second terminal at a side opposite from the low-dielectric constant portion.
4 . A connector, comprising: a pair of terminals comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, each of which includes a first connecting portion to which a first connection target object is connected, a second connecting portion to which a second connection target object is connected, and a coupling portion that couples together the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion, the pair of terminals being arranged with a spacing therebetween and a differential signal being transmitted via the pair of terminals; a dielectric portion that holds the pair of terminals; and a low-dielectric constant portion that has a lower relative dielectric constant than a relative dielectric constant of the dielectric portion and that is interposed between the coupling portion of the first terminal and the coupling portion of the second terminal, wherein a spacing between the coupling portion of the first terminal and the coupling portion of the second terminal is smaller than at least one of a spacing between the first connecting portion of the first terminal and the first connecting portion of the second terminal or a spacing between the second connecting portion of the first terminal and the second connecting portion of the second terminal, and wherein an intermediate portion of the coupling portion of the second terminal comprises a first portion that is substantially parallel to the coupling portion of the first terminal, a second portion that extends from the first portion toward the coupling portion of the first terminal such that an entire width of the second portion approaches the coupling portion of the first terminal, and a third portion that extends from the first portion such that an entire width of the third portion withdraws from the coupling portion of the first terminal.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-156399, filed on Sep. 29, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a connector. Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2011-18655 discloses a connector for transmitting a differential signal. In the connector described in this literature, a middle portion of an inner terminal of a pair of terminals is configured to approach an outer terminal in the middle of its length. That is, the lengths of transmission paths of the inner terminal and the outer terminal are made as equal as possible by adjusting the length of the inner terminal. In this way, signal skew is reduced, and occurrence of transmission errors can be suppressed. In the connector described in JP-A No. 2011-18655, a common mode impedance increases in a close arrangement portion where the outer terminal and the inner terminal are close to each other. As a result, common mode noise that has occurred is less likely to propagate beyond the close arrangement portion, and occurrence of transmission errors caused by the common mode noise can be suppressed. SUMMARY As described above, the common mode impedance increases as the outer terminal and the inner terminal approach each other, and propagation of the common mode noise is suppressed. On the other hand, in a case where the outer terminal and the inner terminal are brought close to each other, a differential impedance (characteristic impedance) decreases. That is, the connector described in JP-A No. 2011-18655 has room for improvement from the viewpoint of achieving both a countermeasure against the common mode noise and impedance matching. In consideration of the above fact, an object of the present disclosure is to obtain a connector capable of achieving both a countermeasure against common mode noise and impedance matching. According to a first aspect, a connector includes: a pair of terminals, each of which includes a first connecting portion to which a first connection target object is connected, a second connecting portion to which a second connection target object is connected, and a coupling portion that couples the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion to each other, the pair of terminals being arranged with a spacing therebetween and a differential signal being transmitted via the pair of terminals; a dielectric portion that holds the pair of terminals; and a low-dielectric constant portion that has a lower relative dielectric constant than a relative dielectric constant of the dielectric portion and that is interposed between the coupling portion of one of the terminals and the coupling portion of another of the terminals, wherein a spacing between the coupling portion of the one of the terminals and the coupling portion of the other of the terminals is smaller than at least one of a spacing between the first connecting portion of the one of the terminals and the first connecting portion of the other of the terminals or a spacing between the second connecting portion of the one of the terminals and the second connecting portion of the other of the terminals. In the connector of the first aspect, the differential signal is transmitted between the first connection target object and the second connection target object through the pair of terminals. Here, the pair of terminals is held by the dielectric portion. In addition, the low-dielectric constant portion having a relative dielectric constant set to be lower than that of the dielectric portion is interposed between the coupling portion of the one of the terminals and the coupling portion of the other of the terminals. As a result, a decrease in impedance can be suppressed as compared with a configuration in which a part of the dielectric portion is interposed between the coupling portion of the one of the terminals and the coupling portion of the other of the terminals. An spacing between the coupling portion of the one of the terminals and the coupling portion of the other of the terminals is set to be smaller than at least one of the interval between the first connecting portion of the one of the terminals and the first connecting portion of the other of the terminals or the interval between the second connecting portion of the one of the terminals and the second connecting portion of the other of the terminals. As a result, it is possible to reduce skew of a differential signal as compared with a configuration in which the interval between the coupling portion of the one of the terminals and the coupling portion of the other of the terminals is set outside the above range. In addition, it is possible to increase a common mode impedance at the coupling portions of the pair of terminals as compared with a configuration in which the interval between the coupling portio