TWM639114U - Electrical conducting terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrical conducting terminal for an electrical connector is provided. The electrical conducting terminal has an electrical docking section for electrically contacting to another electrical terminal of another electrical connector. The electrical docking section has a substrate and a plurality of electroplating layers disposed on the substrate, wherein the electroplating layers includes a copper layer disposed on the substrate, at least one nickel or nickel alloy layer disposed above the copper layer, a first platinum or platinum alloy layer disposed above the nickel or nickel alloy layer, at least one wear-resistant layer disposed above the first platinum or platinum alloy layer, and a second platinum or platinum alloy layer disposed above the wear-resistant layer. The Vickers Hardness ranges of the wear-resistant layer is HV400 to HV900. The wear-resistant layer is a metal layer with positive potential in the standard electrode potential sequence.

Description

Conductive terminal

The present invention relates to a conductive terminal.

In the prior art, in addition to meeting the general performance requirements of the electrical connector, the particularly important requirement is that the electrical connector must achieve good contact, reliable operation, and convenient maintenance. Whether the electrical connector is reliable or not directly affects the normal operation of the circuit. The safety of the entire electronic device of the electrical connector.

Generally speaking, taking electronic devices such as mobile phones as an example, they often need to be recharged due to their high power consumption due to long usage times. The contact area of the terminal is often plugged or rubbed, and the sweat of the human body or the moisture in the air will stain the contact area of the terminal close to the connector interface, making the contact area of the terminal more susceptible to corrosion. Plugging or friction will accelerate the corrosion of the terminal copper, which in turn will affect the service life of electronic equipment. It can be seen that it is particularly important to design an electrical connector that improves the corrosion resistance of the terminals.

This new creation provides a conductive terminal with a simple plating structure and It has the conductive properties required for conductive terminals, corrosion resistance properties and more importantly wear resistance properties.

The conductive terminal created by the present invention is suitable for electrical connectors. The conductive terminal has a connecting section for electrically abutting with a conductive terminal of another electrical connector. The butt section includes a base material and multi-layer electroplating layers arranged on the base material. The multi-layer electroplating layer includes: a copper layer arranged on the surface of the substrate; at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer arranged on the copper layer; a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer arranged on the nickel element or nickel alloy layer above; at least one wear-resistant layer configured above the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer; and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer configured above the wear-resistant layer. The Vickers Hardness of the wear-resistant layer ranges from HV400 to HV900. The wear layer is the metal with positive potential in the standard electrode potential series.

In an embodiment of the new creation, the above-mentioned multi-layer electroplating layer also includes a multi-layer gold layer, which are respectively arranged between at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer, and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer layer and at least one wear-resistant layer, and between at least one wear-resistant layer and the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of each gold layer is 1 μinch to 40 μinch.

In an embodiment of the new creation, the thickness of the copper layer is 10 μinch to 80 μinch, the thickness of at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer is 1 μinch to 600 μinch, and the thickness of the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer is 1 μinch to 100 μinch, The thickness of at least one wear-resistant layer is 1 μinch to 600 μinch, and the thickness of the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer is 1 μinch to 100 μinch.

In one embodiment of the new creation, the above-mentioned at least one nickel element or nickel The alloy layer is a nickel-tungsten alloy layer, a nickel-phosphorus alloy layer, a nickel-cobalt alloy layer, a nickel-palladium alloy layer or a nickel-tin alloy layer, and at least one wear-resistant layer is a platinum group metal layer.

In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one wear-resistant layer mentioned above is a platinum layer, a palladium layer, a ruthenium layer, a rhodium layer or an alloy layer thereof.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned conductive terminals are blanking terminals, bent terminals, pogo pins or crown spring terminals.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the material of the above-mentioned base material is copper or its alloy.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned multi-layer electroplating layer further includes a gold layer, which is disposed on the above-mentioned second platinum element or platinum alloy layer to become the appearance layer of the above-mentioned conductive terminal.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned multi-layer electroplating layer further includes a gold layer disposed between the above-mentioned nickel element or nickel alloy layer and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer.

Based on the above, the butt section of the conductive terminal is sequentially configured with a copper layer, at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer, a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer, at least one wear-resistant layer, and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer from the surface of the substrate. layer, in addition to simplifying the structural features of the multi-layer electroplating layer in the prior art, the nickel element or nickel alloy layer is further provided with the functions of resisting electrolytic corrosion and chemical corrosion.

Furthermore, the Vickers hardness of the wear-resistant layer ranges from HV400 to HV900. The wear layer is the metal with positive potential in the standard electrode potential series. in other words, Due to the structural characteristics of the above-mentioned multi-layer electroplating layer, the conductive terminal has sufficient corrosion resistance and wear resistance to withstand frequent friction caused by plugging and unplugging of the electrical connector. In the new creation, the metal plating layer with reduced number of layers is arranged on the base material, so that the conductive terminal can simultaneously have the required conductive properties and corrosion resistance properties, especially the wear resistance properties.

20, 30: electrical connector

21, 31: insulating body

22, 32, 100: conductive terminal

110: Substrate

120: copper layer

130: nickel element or nickel alloy layer

140: gold layer

150: the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer

160: wear-resistant layer

170: second platinum element or platinum alloy layer

180: gold layer

311: inner side

A1, B1: welding section

A2, B2: docking section

A21, B21: contact area

A3, B3: connecting section

CT, CT1, CT2: multi-layer plating

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the plating structure of a conductive terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. .

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one terminal of the electrical connector of FIG. 2 .

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electrical connector according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of one terminal of the electrical connector of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic diagrams of coating structures of different embodiments, respectively.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a plating structure of a conductive terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1 , in this embodiment, a conductive terminal 100 is suitable for an electrical connector, which includes a substrate 110 and a multilayer electroplating layer CT disposed thereon, wherein the multilayer electroplating layer CT starts from the surface of the substrate 110 It is arranged in sequence and includes: a copper layer 120 , at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 , a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 , at least one wear-resistant layer 160 and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 . Here, the copper layer 120 The thickness of the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 is 1 μinch to 600 μinch, the thickness of the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 is 1 μinch to 100 μinch, and the at least one wear-resistant layer The thickness of 160 is 1 μinch to 600 μinch, and the thickness of the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 is 1 μinch to 100 μinch.

In detail, the material of the base material 110 of the conductive terminal 100 is copper or its alloy, such as a plate made of metallic copper or other shaped structural parts, which depends on the type of electrical connector to which the conductive terminal 100 is applicable. . Furthermore, the copper layer 120 is disposed on the surface of the base material 110 , which is used to initially provide surface filling for the aforementioned base material 110 , and at the same time, it is used to enhance the adhesion strength of the subsequent electroplating layer. To put it simply, the substrate 110 needs to be stamped, bent or molded to form the shape of the conductive terminal 100 smoothly. Therefore, it is easy to cause damage to the surface of the substrate 110 during the processing, so the copper layer 120 can A preliminary repair effect is provided to the surface of the substrate 110 first.

Next, the conductive terminal 100 is disposed on the aforementioned copper layer 120 with at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130, and the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 is a nickel-phosphorus alloy layer, a nickel-cobalt alloy layer, a nickel-palladium alloy layer or Nickel-tin alloy layer. Furthermore, the wear-resistant layer 160 of this embodiment is a platinum group metal layer, and especially a platinum layer, a palladium layer, a ruthenium layer, a rhodium layer or an alloy layer thereof, except that it is used to refine the surface of the conductive terminal 100 In addition to reducing the surface roughness, the anti-corrosion properties of the nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 can also initially provide a preliminary protection effect for the substrate 110 and copper layer 120 covered by it, and can also provide protection for the subsequent The electroplating layer provides an isolation effect to prevent impurities on the substrate 110 from affecting the plating process and quality of the subsequent electroplating layer. More importantly, the wear-resistant layer 160 has anti-wear characteristics due to the above-mentioned hardness characteristics, so that the conductive terminal 100 can cope with the butt wear of the counterpart terminal (not shown). The standard electrode potential sequence described here uses a hydrogen electrode as a standard electrode, that is, a so-called standard hydrogen electrode (standard hydrogen electrode, SHE), to constitute a working electrode based on a standard electrode potential (E ⁰ ) at 25°C.

Next, in this embodiment, a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 , at least one wear-resistant layer 160 , and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 are disposed sequentially on the nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 . The first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 has a similar effect to that of the nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 , that is, it provides sealing, protection, and isolation effects on the surface of the nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 . Besides, the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 can also provide the anti-corrosion effect required by the conductive terminal 100 . Furthermore, the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 as the outermost structure of the conductive terminal 100 also provides the required corrosion resistance (resistance) of the conductive terminal 100 . More importantly, in this embodiment, the second nickel element or nickel alloy 160 is disposed between the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 and the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170, which can further ensure the stability of the conductive terminal 100. Corrosion resistance and wear resistance properties, while also effectively reducing the production cost while maintaining the above properties. Here, the Vickers hardness of the at least one wear-resistant layer 160 ranges from HV400 to HV900, and is especially gold with positive potential in the standard electrode potential series. Furthermore, the wear-resistant layer 160 of this embodiment is used to allow the conductive terminal 100 to cope with the abrasion of the contact terminal (not shown) as described above.

It should also be mentioned that the multilayer electroplating layer CT also includes a multilayer gold layer 140, which is respectively configured on at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150, between the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 and at least one wear-resistant layer 160, and between at least one wear-resistant layer 160 and the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170, wherein the thickness of each gold layer 140 It is 1μinch to 40μinch. Since there will be a certain internal stress between the electroplating layers of different layers, and the internal stress will further affect (reduce) the adhesion between these electroplating layers, so these gold layers 140 have better ductility, which can reduce The internal stress between the plating layers may be used as a buffer layer. In this embodiment, these gold layers 140 are used to provide the adhesion between different electroplating layers, so as to effectively improve the structural strength of the multilayer electroplating layer CT, and avoid electroplating due to excessive thickness of the nickel element or nickel alloy layer and the platinum element or platinum alloy layer. The layer cracks or even falls off.

It should also be mentioned that although the present embodiment takes a single-layer nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 and a single-layer wear-resistant layer 160 as an example, in another unillustrated embodiment, the designer can (For example, wear-resistant or corrosion-resistant requirements) to provide a multi-layer wear-resistant layer with the above-mentioned characteristics, and make the total thickness less than or equal to 600μinch.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1 , the multi-layer electroplating layer CT of the conductive terminal 100 in this embodiment also includes another gold layer 180 with a thickness of 3 μinch, which is disposed on the second platinum element or platinum alloy 170 And become the appearance layer of the conductive terminal 100 to enhance the aesthetics.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one terminal of the electrical connector of FIG. 2 . Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 at the same time. In this embodiment, the aforementioned electroplating layer CT is applied to the electrical connector 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the electrical connector 20 includes an insulating body 21 and a plurality of conductive terminals 22 disposed thereon. These conductive terminals 22 are, for example, bent terminals, and each conductive terminal 22 is shown in FIG. 3 It is further divided into a welding section B1, a docking section B2 and a connecting section B3, wherein the electrical connector 20 is, for example, a socket connector, and the welding section B1 is, for example, used for welding on a circuit board (not shown), and the connecting section B3 is connected to Between the welding section B1 and the butt section B2 , the connecting section B3 is substantially inserted into the insulating body 21 . Accordingly, the multi-layer electroplating layer CT of this embodiment is suitable to be arranged in the contact area B21 of the butt joint section B2, that is, the part where the insulating body 21 is exposed, so as to facilitate the butt joint with another conductive terminal of another electrical connector. Under the premise of maintaining its electrical conduction characteristics, the contact region B21 can also have the required wear resistance and corrosion resistance characteristics due to the multi-layer electroplating layer CT.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electrical connector according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of one terminal of the electrical connector of FIG. 4 . Please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 at the same time. The electrical connector 30 of this embodiment is, for example, a receptacle connector, which includes an insulating body 31 and a plurality of conductive terminals 32. These conductive terminals 32 are, for example, blanking type terminals, and each conductive terminal 32 is further divided into welding section A1, butt joint section A2 and connection section A3, the connection section A3 is connected between the welding section A1 and the butt joint section A2, and the butt joint section A2 has a contact area A21 that exposes the inner surface 311 of the insulating body 31, so as to It is electrically connected to another conductive terminal of another electrical connector smoothly, so the contact area A21 of this embodiment is equipped with the aforementioned multi-layer electroplating layer CT, so that the conductive terminal 32 has wear resistance and corrosion resistance in the contact area A21 .

In addition to the above-mentioned embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 5, the multi-layer electroplating layer CT disclosed in this new creation can be further applied to pogo pins or crown spring terminals, that is, in The aforementioned multi-layer electroplating layer CT is disposed on the electrical contact area of the terminal.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic diagrams of coating structures of different embodiments, respectively. Please refer to Figure 6 and compare it with Figure 1. The difference from the previous embodiments is that, in consideration of the overall thickness, the coating structure of this embodiment is equivalent to further simplifying that shown in Figure 1, that is, it is arranged on the base The multilayer electroplating layer CT1 on the material 110 only includes a copper layer 120 , a nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130 , a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 , a wear-resistant layer 160 and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 . Please refer to FIG. 7 and compare FIG. 1. Unlike the foregoing embodiments, the multilayer electroplating layer CT2 disposed on the substrate 110 in this embodiment only includes a copper layer 120, a nickel element or nickel alloy layer 130, a gold layer 140, and A platinum element or platinum alloy layer 150 , a wear-resistant layer 160 , a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer 170 and a gold layer 180 . Those coatings that are the same as those in the foregoing embodiments are marked with the same symbols, and their corresponding features refer to the foregoing embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

In summary, in the above embodiments of the new creation, the butt section of the conductive terminal is sequentially arranged with a copper layer, at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer, a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer, at least A wear-resistant layer and a second platinum element or platinum alloy layer, in addition to simplifying the structural features of the multilayer electroplating layer in the prior art, further provide electrolytic corrosion resistance and chemical corrosion resistance, especially wear resistance, with the platinum group metal layer Function. Simply put, the conductive terminal of the present invention uses a wear-resistant layer, especially a wear-resistant layer disposed between the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer and the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer, so that the conductive terminal can It still maintains its conductivity and wear resistance during the plugging and unplugging process of the electrical connector.

In other words, due to the structural characteristics of the above-mentioned multi-layer electroplating layer, the conductive terminal has sufficient corrosion resistance and can withstand frequent friction due to plugging and unplugging. wipe. In the new creation, the metal plating layer with reduced number of layers is arranged on the base, so that the conductive terminal can simultaneously have the required conductive properties and corrosion resistance properties, especially wear resistance.

100: Conductive terminal

110: Substrate

120: copper layer

130: nickel element or nickel alloy layer

140: gold layer

150: the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer

160: wear-resistant layer

170: second platinum element or platinum alloy layer

180: gold layer

CT: multi-layer electroplating

Claims (10)

A conductive terminal is suitable for an electrical connector, the conductive terminal has a butt joint section, and the butt joint section is used to electrically abut with a conductive terminal of another electrical connector, and the butt joint section includes a base material and a base material arranged on the A multilayer electroplating layer on a substrate, the multilayer electroplating layer comprising: a copper layer configured on the surface of the substrate; At least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer is disposed above the copper layer; a first platinum element or platinum alloy layer disposed above the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer; At least one wear-resistant layer, arranged above the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer, the Vickers hardness range of the at least one wear-resistant layer is HV400 to HV900, and the at least one wear-resistant layer is a standard electrode potential sequence metals with positive potential in The second platinum element or platinum alloy layer is disposed above the at least one wear-resistant layer. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, further comprising multiple layers of gold, respectively arranged between the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer, the first platinum element or Between the platinum alloy layer and the at least one wear-resistant layer, and between the at least one wear-resistant layer and the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer. In the conductive terminal according to claim 2, the thickness of each of the gold layers is 1 μinch to 40 μinch. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, the thickness of the copper layer is 10 μinch to 80 μinch, the thickness of the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer is 1 μinch to 600 μinch, and the thickness of the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer is 1 μinch to 100 μinch, the thickness of the at least one wear-resistant layer is 1 μinch to 100 μinch, and the thickness of the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer is 1 μinch to 100 μinch. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, the at least one nickel element or nickel alloy layer is a nickel-tungsten alloy layer, a nickel-phosphorus alloy layer, a nickel-cobalt alloy layer, a nickel-palladium alloy layer or a nickel-tin alloy layer, and the at least one The wear resistant layer is a platinum group metal layer. In the conductive terminal according to claim 1, the at least one wear-resistant layer is a platinum layer, a palladium layer, a ruthenium layer, a rhodium layer or an alloy layer thereof. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, wherein the conductive terminal is a blanking type terminal, a bent type terminal, a pogo pin terminal or a crown spring terminal. In the conductive terminal according to claim 1, the material of the base material is copper or its alloy. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a gold layer disposed on the second platinum element or platinum alloy layer to become an appearance layer of the conductive terminal. The conductive terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a gold layer disposed between the nickel element or nickel alloy layer and the first platinum element or platinum alloy layer.

Images