Abstract: The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a heat sink for use with a circuit board having a predetermined thickness and an opening formed therein. In one particularly embodiment the method comprises forming a heat sink body, forming a support shoulder in the heat sink body by protruding a portion of the heat sink body to a predetermined first height, and forming a button shoulder in the heat sink body by protruding a portion of the support shoulder to a predetermined second height. Preferably, the heat sink body comprises aluminum or aluminum alloy. However, it should, of course, be recognized that other extrudable or malleable materials may be used in place of aluminum or its alloys. Additionally, it should be understood that a plurality of such support shoulders and button shoulders may be formed to provide a plurality of coupling points with the circuit board, which could also have a corresponding number of openings.

Abstract: In accordance with the invention, a low inductance surface-mount connector comprises a slotted, hollow rectangular parallelepiped. The device permits interconnection by pick-and-place techniques, and the interconnection has advantageous qualities of compactness, low inductance, and mechanical compliance. A first circuit device having one or more circuit components is interconnected with a second circuit device by surface mounting such connectors on the first circuit device, providing corresponding solder pads on the second circuit device, and mounting the connectors of the first circuit device onto the pads of the second.

Abstract: In accordance with the invention, a variety of magnetic devices can be made up of two or more low-profile surface components on a printed circuit board. For example, low profile devices comparable to gapped U-core pair and gapped E-core pair inductors or transformers can be formed of two and three components, respectively, and four components can be assembled into a gapped toroidal transformer or inductor. The components can be made in form for both linear and non-linear inductors.