Patent attributes
An electrical interconnection system with high speed, differential electrical connectors. The connectors are formed with columns of conductive elements, some of which carry signals some of which act as ground conductors. The conductive elements may contain projections to secure the conductive elements in a housing or to facilitate desirable current flow patterns. To avoid impedance discontinuities caused by the projections, adjacent conductive elements may be formed with complementary portions to provide a relatively uniform edge-to-edge spacing between signal and ground conductors along the length of the signal conductor. To manufacture such a connector in which both the signal and the ground conductive elements contain projections, the conductive elements carrying signals may be inserted into a housing from one side and the conductive elements acting as ground conductors may be inserted from an opposite side.