USRE38381E1

Movatterモバイル変換

Info

Publication number: USRE38381E1
Application number: US10/023,176
Authority: US
Inventors: Mark E. Martich
Original assignee: Kearney National Inc
Current assignee: COTO Tech Inc
Priority date: 2000-07-21
Filing date: 2002-04-23
Publication date: 2004-01-13
Anticipated expiration: 2021-04-12

Abstract

A new board mounted electromechanical device is provided that mounts to a relay substrate to form a low profile reed relay. The reed relay is electrically connected to the electrical contacts via a signal traces and additional electrical traces located on the same side of the relay substrate which connect to the relay's signal and shielding. Additional traces on both sides of the signal traces of the reed relay provide a co-planar wave guide to maintain the desired impedance of the signal path. The reed relay is mounted in an inverted manner into a cut-out in the main circuit board so that the other portion of the reed relay itself is sits within the cut-out in the main circuit board. As a result, the reed relay component is recessed below the surface of the main circuit board resulting in an overall low profile circuit board.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This application claims priority from Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/219,817, filed Jul. 21, 2000.

The present invention relates generally to switching devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to improved packaging and circuit integration for electromagnetic devices, such as reed switches and electromagnetic devices such as reed relays.

Electromagnetic relays have been known in the electronics industry for many years. Such electromagnetic relays include the reed relay which incorporates a reed switch. A reed switch is a magnetically activated device that typically includes two flat contact tongues which are merged in a hermetically sealed glass tube filled with a protective inert gas or vacuum. The switch is operated by an externally generated magnetic field, either from a coil or a permanent magnet. When the external magnetic field is enabled, the overlapping contact tongue ends attract each other and ultimately come into contact to close the switch. When the magnetic field is removed, the contact tongues demagnetize and spring back to return to their rest positions, thus opening the switch.

Reed switches, actuated by a magnetic coil, are typically housed within a bobbin or spool-like member. A coil of wire is wrapped about the outside of the bobbin and connected to a source of electric current. The current flowing through the coil creates the desired magnetic field to actuate the reed switch within the bobbin housing. Some applications of reed devices require the switch to carry signals with frequencies in excess of 500 MHz. For these applications, a ground shield conductor, commonly made of copper or brass is disposed about the body of the reed switch. The ground shield conductor is commonly in a cylindrical configuration. The shield conductor resides between the reed switch and the bobbin housing to form a co-axial high frequency transmission system. This co-axial system includes the outer shield conductor and the switch lead signal conductor co-axially through the center of the reed switch. The ground shield conductor is employed to contain the signal through the switch conductor in order to maintain the desired impedance of the signal path.

Currently available reed devices are then incorporated into a given circuit environment by users. For application at higher frequencies, a reed switch device must be ideally configured to match as closely as possible the desired impedance requirements of the circuit in which it is installed.

Within a circuit environment, a co-axial arrangement is preferred throughout the entire environment to maintain circuit integrity and the desired matched impedance. As stated above, the body of a reed switch includes the necessary co-axial environment. In addition, the signal trace on the user's circuit board commonly includes a “wave guide” where two ground leads reside on opposing sides of the signal lead and in the same plane or a “strip line” where a ground plane resides below the plane of the signal conductor. These techniques properly employed provide a two-dimensional, co-axial-like environment which is acceptable for maintaining the desired impedance for proper circuit function.

However, the reed switch device must be physically packaged and electrically interconnected to a circuit board carrying a given circuit configuration. It is common to terminate the shield and signal terminals to a lead frame architecture and enclose the entire assembly in a dielectric material like plastic for manufacturing and packaging ease. These leads may be formed in a gull-wing or “J” shape for surface mount capability. The signal leads or terminals exit out of the reed switch body and into the air in order to make the electrical interconnection to the circuit board. This transition of the signal leads from plastic dielectric to air creates an undesirable discontinuity of the protective co-axial environment found within the body of the switch itself. Such discontinuity creates inaccuracy and uncertainty in the impedance of the reed switch device. As a result, circuit designers must compensate for this problem by specifically designing their circuits to accommodate and anticipate the inherent problems associated with the discontinuity of the protective co-axial environment and the degradation of the rated impedance of the reed switch device. For example, the circuit may be tuned to compensate for the discontinuity by adding parasitic inductance and capacitance. This method of discontinuity compensation is not preferred because it complicates and slows the design process and can degrade the integrity of the circuit. There is a demand to reduce the need to tune the circuit as described above. The prior art uses a structure of carefully designed vias, which are expensive and difficult to manufacture, to control the impedance from the relay to the board transition.

In view of the foregoing, there is a demand for a reed switch device that includes a controlled impedance environment through the entire body of the package to the interconnection to a circuit. There is a particular demand for a reed switch device to be compact and of a low profile for installation into small spaces and for circuit board stacking. There is further a demand for reed switch devices that are of a surface mount configuration to optimize the high frequency of the performance of the system. Further, there is a demand for a reed switch device that can reduce the need to tune a circuit to compensate for an uncontrolled impedance environment. Also, there is a demand for a reed switch device that has a small footprint and is of a standard shape and configuration for simplified manufacture and installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention preserves the advantages of prior art electromagnetic switch devices, such as reed relays. In addition, it provides new advantages not found in currently available switching devices and overcomes many disadvantages of such currently available devices.

The invention is generally directed to the novel and unique reed switch device with particular application in effectively interconnecting a reed switch device to a circuit on a circuit board in a low profile configuration. The reed switch package of the present invention enables the efficient and effective interconnection to a circuit board while being in an inexpensive construction.

A new electromechanical device is provided that mounts to a relay substrate to form a low profile, board mountable reed relay. A portion of the reed relay extends through an aperture in the relay substrate. The substrate includes a series of electrical contacts, such as solder balls array (BGA), land grid array (LGA), column grid array (CGA), or pin grid array (PGA), mounted to the same side of the substrate that the relay mounts to electrically connect to the main circuit card. The reed relay itself is directly electrically connected to the electrical contacts via signal traces and additional electrical traces located on the bottom of the relay substrate which connect to the relay's shielding. These additional traces are routed in a parallel position on both sides of the signal traces to provide a co-planar wave guide to maintain the desired impedance of the signal path. The reed relay substrate is mounted into a cut-out in the main circuit board in an inverted manner so that a portion of the reed relay not within the substrate recess sits within a cut-out in the main circuit board. As a result, the reed relay component is recessed below the surface of the main circuit board resulting in an overall low profile circuit board.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a compact, low profile reed switch package.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a reed switch device with a controlled impedance environment throughout the entire package.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reed switch package that is easily matched to the impedance of an existing circuit environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a reed switch package that is capable of efficiently conducting high frequency signals.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reed switch package that is inexpensive to manufacture by not requiring the use of plated through hole vias.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a reed switch package with a small footprint.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a reed switch package that can be easily surface mounted to a main circuit board.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features which are characteristic of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. However, the invention's preferred embodiments, together with further objects and attendant advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art reed relay configuration;

FIG. 2 is an perspective view a reed relay device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view a reed relay device in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the reed relay card in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the reed relay card in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a circuit board for receipt of the reed relay card in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view the reed relay card installed in the circuit board shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the reed relay card installed in the circuit board shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of a circuit commonly used with reed relays; and

FIG. 10 is pictorial implementation of the circuit shown in FIG.9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning first to FIG. 1, a perspective view of a prior artreed switch configuration10 is shown. A knownreed switch11 includes aglass envelope12 as well as two signal leads14 emanating from opposing ends of thereed switch11 and coil termination leads15. The construction of areed switch11 is so well known in the art, the details thereof need not be discussed. Ashield conductor16, commonly made of brass or copper, is provided in the form of a cylindrical sleeve which receives and houses thereed switch11. Thereed switch11 andshield16 are housed within thecentral bore18 of a bobbin orspool20. About thebobbin20 is wound aconductive wire22. As a result, a co-axial arrangement is formed to protect thereed switch11 device and to control the impedance of the environment and to improve the overall transmission of the signal. Thereed switch11,shield conductor16 andbobbin20 are shown in general as cylindrical in configuration. It should be understood that various other configurations, such as those oval in cross-section, may be employed and still be within the scope of the present invention.

As can be understood and known in the prior art, the free ends of the coil ofwire22, theshield16 andsignal terminals14 of thereed switch11 are electrically interconnected to a circuit as desired. The respective components of thereed switch11 configuration are interconnected to a circuit by lead frame or other electrical interconnection (not shown). The lead frame or other electrical interconnection introduces a discontinuity of the desirable co-axial environment.

As described above, the overallreed switch device10 must be designed to be easily accommodated within a user's circuit. For example, a circuit used to operate at high frequency is designed with a defined characteristic impedance environment. The goal of designing and manufacturing areed device10 to the specifications of a circuit customer is to match the desired impedance of thedevice10 to the circuit environment as closely as possible. It is preferred that there is no discontinuity of impedance from thereed device10 itself to a circuit board trace of the circuit that will receive thedevice10. The characteristic impedance, Z₁, is generally a function of the outer diameter of thesignal conductor14, the inner diameter of theshield16 and the dielectric constant of the insulation (not shown) between thesignal conductor14 and theshield16.

Turning now to FIGS. 2-8, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. Referring to FIG. 2, a modifiedreed device103 is provided to include anouter bobbin102 withcoil109 wrapped around it for introducing the necessary magnetic field to actuate thereed switch111. Ends ofwire109 may be connected to posts, pins, or the like (not shown) connected to bobbin102 to provide for electrical interconnection of the magnetic field current. Emanating from thereed switch111 are two signal leads106 which correspond to opposing sides of thereed switch111. Also emanating from thebobbin body102 are a pair of shield orground tabs108 on each side of thebobbin body102 that are electrically interconnected to, as shown in FIG. 6, the ends of theinner shield sleeve110. As shown in FIG. 3, an exploded perspective view thereed switch111 of FIG. 2, theseground tabs108 are extensions from theshield sleeve110 itself on opposing sides thereof.

In particular, thereed switch111 includes asignal conductor106 within a glass capsule with an inert gas or vacuum surrounding it. Positioned about the glass capsule is aground shield110 which is preferably of a cylindrical or tubular configuration but may be of an oval cross-section to accommodatecertain reed switches111 or multiple reed switches in a multiple channel environment. The foregoing assembly is housed within thebobbin102 which includes an energizingcoil109.

Referring to FIG. 4, a perspective view of areed switch package100 is shown. This completereed switch package100 includes thereed switch111 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 affixed to thesurface120 of arelay card122. In particular, therelay card122 includes anaperture124 which is large enough to receive at least a portion of the bobbin ormain body102 of thereed switch111 therein to reduce the overall height of thepackage100. For example, about ⅓ of the volume of thebobbin102 resides within theupper seat aperture124 in therelay card122.

Referring both to FIGS. 4 and 5, therelay card122 includes a number ofcontact pads126a-f for respectively receiving the signal leads106 and ground leads108 of thereed switch111. Preferably, three

contact pads

126a,126b and126c are provided on the left side of theupper seat aperture124 to correspond with thesingle signal lead106 and two ground leads108 on the left side of thereed switch111. The opposing

contact pads

126d,126e and126f are provided on the right side of theupper seat aperture124 to correspond with thesingle signal lead106 and two ground leads108 on the right side of thereed switch111.

Pads

126g and126h are provided for termination of coil leads115.

Further,interconnection members128, such as solder balls, are also provided on thesame surface120 of therelay card122 to electrically interface with the circuit board into which thereed switch package100 is installed, which will be described in detail below. Theelectrical interconnection members128, may also be of other types, such as a land grid array (LGA), column grid array (CGA) or pin grid array (PGA) as well as solder bumps and solder paste dots. Theelectrical interconnection members128 are electrically connected to respective ones of thecontacts pads126a-h to provide electrical continuity to the signal leads106, ground leads108 and coil leads or ends115 are terminated in the same fashion, although their physical location may vary widely with respect to the switch and signal topology. Circuit board traces130 are preferably employed to provide the electrical connection between thecontact pads126a-h and theelectrical interconnection members128. Any other type of electrical interconnection may be employed to replace the circuit board traces130.

In accordance with the present invention, the signal through thereed switch111 is optimized because the co-axial configuration of thereed switch111 is maintained to theinterconnection members128 due to the presence of circuit board traces130 connected to the ground leads108 which are on opposing sides of thetraces130 connected to the signal leads106 to maintain a wave guide across thelower surface120 of therelay card122 to ensure a complete controlled impedance environment.

Referring now to FIGS. 6-8, installation of thereed switch package100 to amain circuit board132 is shown. FIG. 6 illustrates asample circuit board132 in a accordance with the present invention where in arelief aperture134 is provided therethrough for seating. A complete through-aperture134 is provided; however, a recess (not shown) in the component-mounting surface of themain circuit board132 is also contemplated and within the scope of the present invention. Themain circuit board132 includes an array ofcontact pads136 which are complementary to theelectrical interconnection members128 on thebottom surface120 of therelay card122. Electrical traces138 are also provided on themain circuit board132 to electrically interconnect thereed switch package100 into the circuit at hand.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, thereed switch package100, with thereed device111 mounted on arelay card122, is installed into theaperture134 on the component-mountingsurface140 of themain circuit board132 in an inverted manner, such that approximately ⅓ of thebobbin102 of thereed device111 residing within theseating aperture134 of themain circuit board132. Theelectrical interconnection members128 are mated tocorresponding contact pads136 on thetop surface140 of thecircuit board132 and secured in place to electrically interconnect thereed device111 into the circuit, representationally referenced by numeral142 on thecircuit board132. As best seen in FIG. 8, a low profilereed switch package100 is provided where thebobbin portion102 of thereed device111 partially resides through therelay card122 and partially within themain circuit board132. As a result, the overall height of thereed switch package100 is greatly reduced thus allowing for a low height installation of components on thecircuit board132 to permit installation into smaller environments and to facilitate closer stacking of populatedmultiple circuit boards132 together.

The present invention provides a wave guide to simulate a true coaxial environment. This unique wave guide extends from thereed device111 itself to theelectrical interconnections128 at the bottom of thereed switch package100. Unlike the prior art, the wave guide or simulated co-axial arrangement is continuous from thereed switch111 itself to theelectrical interconnections124 where a microstrip or wave guide is typically present on thecircuit board132. Such a wave guide on thecircuit board132 is provided bytraces138 connected to the ground leads. As a result, the signal is protected from uncontrolled discontinuities. The shielding protection for thesignal lead106 is extended and controlled from the actual body of thereed switch111 to the actual electrical interface to thecircuit board132. In accordance with the present invention, the impedance of the signal transmission path is maintained substantially consistent through its entire length withinpackage100 and is matched to the desired overall impedance value thus obviating the need for substantial circuit tuning by the user.

As can be understood, present invention provides either an actual or simulated co-axial environment for superior protection of thesignal lead106 of thereed switch111. This continuous co-axial protection without the use of vias through the relay substrate is not found in prior art packages. The integrated wave guide on thereed switch package100 enable a continuous co-axial environment to be provided from the reed switch directly down to the electrical interconnection to thecircuit board132. In most applications, due to the frequency of the signal transmitted by thereed switch111, a complete continuous ground loop is not needed to provide a co-axial arrangement for signal lead protection. In the present invention, the ground conductor traces130, which are connected to ground leads108, are preferably spaced apart from one another a distance of 1.27 mm or 1.00 mm; however, other distances may be employed. Common frequencies for thereed switch111 are in the 1.0 to 8.0 GHz range. At these frequencies, the wavelengths are in the 300 mm to 40 mm range. The wavelengths are too long to sense any discontinuities of the “simulated” co-axial arrangement. Therefore, the simulated co-axial arrangement is essentially identical in effectiveness compared to a true full co-axial arrangement. As a result, this topology provides for effective shielding until the wavelength gets so small that the conductor trace spacing will be seen as discontinuous. For the trace spacing as discussed above, effective shielding can be realized with the present invention with wavelengths as low as 8 mm with a frequency of 37 GHz. Greater or fewerconductive traces130 may be employed depending on the device within the package and the application at hand.

Thepackage100 of the present may be easily modified to accommodate more than onereed switch111 at a time to provide multiple channels. In this arrangement, the appropriateelectrical contacts128, e.g. solder ball interconnections, are employed for eachreed switch111 corresponding to a given channel. Further, many different types ofinterconnections128 may be employed by thepackage100 of the present invention. It should be understood that thepackage100 of the present invention can accommodate a wide array of electronic devices that require signal lead shielding with a controlled impedance environment.

Thepackage100 of the present invention may be employed to carry out many different types of circuit arrangements usingreed switches111 with the added unique capability of superior protection of thesignal lead106 of areed switch111 by simulating the co-axial environment in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a specific sample application of the package of the present invention. The diagram of FIG. 9 illustrates acircuit300 that is commonly employed in ATE (Automatic Testing Equipment) for the purpose of testing circuit devices, generally referenced as313, and the like. Thiscircuit300 sets forth a three terminal device that may be “stackable” in series, end to end, depending on the application. A threeterminal device306 with afirst reed switch302 and asecond reed switch304 is shown in FIG. 9 as generally referenced by the dotted lines. For example, the firstreed switch device302 provides a connection for a high frequency AC signal while thesecond reed switch304 provides a connection for a DC signal or low frequency AC signal.

More specifically, asignal generator308 is connected to thefirst terminal310 of thefirst reed switch302. Asecond reed switch304 is provided with afirst terminal312 and asecond terminal314. Asecond terminal316 of thefirst reed switch302 is connected to thesecond terminal314 of thesecond reed switch304 atnode318. Thisnode318 becomes theoutput terminal326 to thedevice306. A second pair of

reed switches

320,322 is employed to receive the stimulus from the device under test, (DUT)313.Receiver317 receives the output from the second pair of

reed switches

320,322. The serial nature of the pair of switches enables a circuit to be designed with a number of different test operations to a different number of DUTs which are independently selectable and isolatable. FIG. 10 illustrates a representational schematic of one of the pair of reed relays that carry out the circuit diagram of FIG.9.

In the prior art, to carry out this circuit, two individual reed switches are connected to a circuit board (not shown) with theappropriate connection324 comprised of the leads of the switches and the trace on the circuit board therebetween. This results in a long, unprotected and vulnerable connection between the terminals of the reed switches and the circuit board which is commonly termed a “stub connection.” As a result of this long,unprotected stub connection324, significant parasitic capacitance C to ground will be present. This is termed a “stub capacitance” and acts to load the high frequency path, thus limiting the frequency of the circuit to a value in the range of about 5.0 GHz, for example. However, to properly test very fast devices under test (DUT), such as high-speed microprocessors, the frequency of the test circuit must reach the 7 GHz range and higher in the future. Therefore, with a prior art mounting of the reed switches302,304 andstub connection324 on the circuit board, thiscircuitry300 is incapable of testing high-speed devices. The protection of a this stub connection is an example of many different ways to employ the present invention.

However, employing the present invention,circuit300 may easily operate at frequencies in the 7 GHz range and above to accommodate the testing of high-speed devices because the high-frequency path is protected using the simulated co-axial signal protecting environment as discussed in detail above. The stub connection resides inside the device, thus minimizing its length which inherently minimizes the capacitive parasitic load. Moreover, the fact that the stub resides in the device allows the use of other techniques for capacitance control and compensation.

While the package of the present invention is shown to employ solder balls in a BGA package for electric interconnection to acircuit board132, other types ofinterconnections128 may be employed such as pin grids, land grids or column grids. Further, ball grid array socket arrangement may be used to facilitate removal or replacement of the package when desired. The relay card is preferably made of typical circuit board material but may be manufactured of any other material suitable for electronic device packages. The

electrical traces

130,138 employed in the present invention may be made of known conductive materials, such as copper, aluminum, tin and other alloys known in the industry.

Since thereed relay package100 is mounted on a relay card instead of being completely encapsulated into a closed package, the relay card can be made much thinner. A thin relay card results in lower cost because a thin, single layer, non-laminated construction can now be employed. Also, with a thin relay card providing the substrate for thepackage100, controlled depth routing can be eliminated and the signal path can be reduced thus providing better maintenance of the desired impedance of the signal path.

The reed switch package, in accordance with the present invention, is preferably fully enclosed in metal or non-metallic shell or may be fully overmolded for additional protection of the device. Alternatively, the reed switch package may be partially enclosed with a metal or non-metallic shell, partially overmolded with plastic or partially encapsulated using other materials to provide an air-tight and/or liquid-tight seal in a low profile configuration.

It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. All such modifications and changes are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A reed device package, comprising:

a reed switch having a main body with first and second electrical signal terminals emanating from opposing sides thereof;

a ground shield surrounding said main body of said reed switch;

a first ground terminal connected to said ground shield;

a second ground terminal connected to said ground shield; said first electrical signal terminal being positioned between said first ground terminal and said second ground terminal;

a support substrate with a top surface and a bottom surface; said support substrate defining an seat aperture therethrough;

said reed switch device being affixed to said bottom surface of said support substrate with said main body of said reed switch residing at least partially within said seat aperture;

a first electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said first electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said first ground terminal;

a second electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said second electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said second ground terminal; and

a signal electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said signal electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said first signal terminal.

2. The reed device package ofclaim 1, wherein said first electrical interconnection member, said second electrical interconnection member and said signal electrical interconnection member are solder balls.

3. The reed device package ofclaim 1, wherein said first electrical interconnection member is electrically connected to said first ground terminal by a circuit board trace.

4. The reed device package ofclaim 1, wherein said second electrical interconnection member is electrically connected to said second ground terminal by a circuit board trace.

5. The reed device package ofclaim 1, wherein said signal electrical interconnection member is electrically connected to said signal terminal by a circuit board trace.

6. A reed device package, comprising:

a reed switch having a main body with a first electrical signal terminal and a second electrical signal terminal emanating from opposing sides thereof;

a ground shield, having a first end and a second end, surrounding said main body of said reed switch;

a first pair of ground terminals connected to said first end of said ground shield; said first electrical signal terminal positioned between said first pair of ground terminals;

a second pair of ground terminals connected to said second end of said ground shield; said second electrical signal terminal positioned between said second pair of ground terminals;

a first pair of ground electrical interconnection members on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said first pair of said ground electrical interconnection members being electrically connected to said first pair of ground terminals;

a second pair of ground electrical interconnection members on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said second pair of said ground electrical interconnection members being electrically connected to said second pair of ground terminals;

a first signal electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said first signal electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said first electrical signal terminal; and

a second signal electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said second signal electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said second electrical signal terminal.

7. The reed device package ofclaim 6, wherein said first signal electrical interconnection member is positioned between said first pair of ground electrical interconnection members and said second signal electrical interconnection member is positioned between said second pair of ground electrical interconnection members.

8. The reed device package ofclaim 6, wherein said first pair of ground electrical interconnection members, said second pair of ground electrical interconnection members, said first signal electrical interconnection member and said second signal electrical interconnection member are solder balls.

9. A reed device package, comprising:

a ground shield surrounding said main body of said reed switch;

a first ground terminal connected to said ground shield;

a support substrate with a top surface and a bottom surface; said support substrate defining an upper seat aperture therethrough;

said reed switch device being affixed to said bottom surface of said support substrate with said main body of said reed switch residing at least partially within said upper seat aperture;

a second electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said second electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said second ground terminal;

a signal electrical interconnection member on said bottom surface of said support substrate; said signal electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to said first signal terminal;

a circuit board having an upper surface and a lower surface; said circuit board defining a lower seat aperture therethrough;

a first circuit board contact on said circuit board and electrically connected to said first electrical interconnection member;

a second circuit board contact on said circuit board and electrically connected to said second electrical interconnection member; and

a third circuit board contact on said circuit board and electrically connected to said signal electrical interconnection member.

10. A reed device package, comprising:

a reed switch having a main body with first and second electrical signal terminals emanating from opposing sides thereof;

a ground shield surrounding the main body of the reed switch;

a first ground terminal connected to the ground shield;

a second ground terminal connected to said ground shield; the first electrical signal terminal being positioned between the first ground terminal and the second ground terminal;

a support substrate with a first surface and a second surface; the support substrate defining a substrate seat;

the reed switch device being affixed to the second surface of the support substrate with the main body of said reed switch residing on the substrate seat;

a first electrical interconnection member on the second surface of the support substrate; the first electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to the first ground terminal;

a second terminal interconnection member on the second surface of the support substrate; the second electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to the second ground terminal;

a signal electrical interconnection member on the second surface of the support substrate; the signal electrical interconnection member being electrically connected to the first signal terminal;

a circuit board;

a first circuit board contact on the circuit board and electrically connected to the first electrical interconnection member;

a second circuit board contact on the circuit board and electrically connected to the second electrical interconnection member; and

a third circuit board contact on the circuit board and electrically connected to the signal electrical interconnection member.