Flex circuit connector assembly and method for manufacturing the same

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention recognizes the need for an improved flex circuit connector assembly that can be used to interconnect a flex circuit to a rigid circuit board or to another flex circuit while addressing economic considerations for manufacturing and assembling such connectors.
Accordingly, the preferred embodiment of the flex circuit connector assembly includes a male contact portion formed by folding one end of the flex circuit.
A row of contact pads is formed on opposite sides of the male contact portion, and is positioned to align with a row of mating contacts disposed within a female socket of an edge connector.
Each contact pad can serve as an individual electrical connection in order to achieve a high density connection or can be paired with a contact pad on the opposite side of the male contact portion to increase the contact area and thus the reliability of the connection.
Preferably, the edge connector is a commonly available card-edge connector used for receiving a rigid wired board.
Since these connectors are manufactured for receiving a rigid circuit board having a standard thickness, a spacer is used as a gap filler to ensure electrical contact when the male contact portion is inserted into the female socket of the card-edge connector.
The flex circuit and the spacer are preferably notched to receive a key located in the female socket of the card-edge connector to ensure proper alignment of the mating connections.
The notch in the spacer can be larger than the notch in the flex circuit which is appropriately sized to mate with the key and provide accurate location of the flex circuit contact pads with the mating contacts in the card-edge connector.