JP4043843B2 - Non-contact IC card - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card including an antenna sheet.
In particular, in a non-contact IC card manufactured by press laminating a plurality of sheets including an antenna sheet, an object is to realize a product that satisfies both stable communication characteristics and excellent appearance quality at the same time.
Therefore, the application field of the present invention relates to the manufacture and application field of non-contact IC cards.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The non-contact IC card includes an antenna sheet (generally sometimes referred to as “inlay”) in which a coil is formed inside the card in order to obtain electric power and signals from the outside in a non-contact manner based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. An IC chip that processes and stores signals to be transmitted and received is used when connected to a coil antenna and integrated with an antenna sheet, and is mounted on a card surface as an IC module with a substrate. May be connected.
When both the IC chip (which may be modularized) and the coil antenna are embedded in the card base, the coil antenna is arranged on the front side or the back side in the thickness direction of the card base, There is a difference in communication characteristics between the case where the front side is held over the card reader and the case where the back side is held over, and there has been a problem that communication failure occurs in the worst case.
[0003]
In view of this, a layer structure has been conventionally formed in consideration of placing the coil antenna at the center of the layer of the card base. However, since the IC chip has a certain thickness, even if the coil antenna is arranged at the center, the IC chip is arranged at a biased position.
If the IC chips are arranged unevenly, there is a problem that the appearance quality of the card is deteriorated. That is, when an IC chip having a thickness of 150 to 250 μm is included with respect to the thickness of the card base defined as 680 to 840 μm by the standard, the remaining margin is only 215 to 345 μm on one side of the IC chip. If it is arranged in a biased manner, the remaining allowance is further reduced.
As a result, various problems such as the IC chip can be seen through even when the card is visually observed, and the printed pattern is distorted due to irregularities on the card surface.
Further, when the coil antenna or the IC chip is arranged in a biased manner, when they are press-laminated together with the core sheet, the card base material is warped, and the appearance quality is significantly deteriorated.
[0004]
Here, an embodiment of a conventional non-contact IC card will be described.
FIG. 4 is an exploded cross-sectional view showing a layer structure of a conventional non-contact IC card, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state after press lamination in FIG. In each drawing of the present specification, the scale in the thickness direction is enlarged for easy understanding.
[0005]
In FIG. 4, an antenna sheet 10 is made of a film such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) having a thickness of about 50 μm, and has a planar coiled coil antenna 11 formed by etching a metal thin film such as an aluminum foil, and both end portions of the coil antenna. An IC chip 12 is mounted on the. The IC chip has a height of about 150 to 300 μm.
Adhesive sheets 33 and 34 and spacer sheets 35 and 36 are inserted between the antenna sheet 10 and the front and back printed sheets 40 and 50, respectively. The adhesive sheet has a thickness of about 50 μm, the spacer sheet 36 on the protruding side of the IC chip 32 has a thickness of about 250 μm, and the non-projecting side spacer sheet 35 has an amorphous polyester (PET-G) resin of about 150 μm. Are preferably used.
[0006]
Through holes 341 and 361 are formed in the portion of the adhesive sheet 34 and the spacer sheet 35 where the IC chip 12 abuts, so that the thickness of the IC chip can be absorbed. A through hole is not formed in the adhesive sheet 33 and the spacer sheet 35 on the other side.
For the front and back printed sheets 40 and 50, a biaxially stretched white PET sheet having a thickness of about 100 μm is used. It may be a biaxially stretched white PET sheet having fine cavities. The front and back printed sheets 40 and 50 are core materials in the case of this specification, and are subjected to front surface printing 41 and back surface printing 51.
[0007]
The IC card 1 that has been press-laminated in such a laminated state is arranged in a state in which the protruding portion of the IC chip 12 is biased to one side as shown in FIG. The through holes 341 and 361 are almost filled by melting the adhesive sheet 34 and the like.
In this state, only the thickness of the printing sheet 50 remains between the protrusion tip of the IC chip 12 and the back surface printing 51, so that there is a problem that the IC chip can be seen through or has an uneven shape.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, the conventional non-contact IC card is designed to position the coil antenna itself at the center of the card base material. As a result, either or both of the IC chip and the coil antenna are base materials. Therefore, it was not located in the center. Therefore, there is a drawback that the above-mentioned appearance quality is deteriorated.
Therefore, in the present invention, a spacer sheet and / or an adhesive sheet is provided on the front surface side and the back surface side of the antenna sheet on which the IC chip is mounted. The total thickness of the front and back spacer sheets and the adhesive sheet is equal to the thickness of the IC chip. The above-mentioned problem is sought to be solved by providing through holes having the same dimensions as the outer shape of the IC chip at the front and back symmetrical positions so that the IC chip can be accommodated.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
This onset bright to solve the above problems, to place the antenna sheet equipped with IC chips in the thickness direction center of the card, and sandwiched between the front and back surfaces of the printed sheets through the adhesive sheet and the spacer sheet, and hot pressing together in the non-contact IC card in the substrate, absorption adhesive sheet and the spacer sheet to be laminated on both sides of the antenna sheet, and the thickness of each of the printing sheet in the same, and the thickness of the IC chip to the both-faced adhesive sheet and the spacer sheet A contactless IC card, wherein an IC chip portion of the antenna sheet is bent in the through hole, and each through hole is buried by melting of the adhesive sheet and the spacer sheet. ,It is in.
[0010]
In the non-contact IC card, the spacer sheet is made of PET-G, and the adhesive sheet is a polyester-based hot melt adhesive.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
There are various types of non-contact IC cards, but in order to make the card thickness stipulated by JIS and ISO and to make the card surface smooth, the antenna sheet with the IC chip mounted is sandwiched between the card substrates on the front and back sides. It is common to have a form.
Even if a metal thin film is formed by etching without using a wire, the antenna forms a protrusion of 20 μm to 40 μm from the sheet surface as described above.
Since the IC chip to be attached to both ends of the antenna further has a thickness (projection) of about 150 μm to 300 μm, the antenna sheet has inevitable projections or irregularities, and in the conventional layer configuration centering on the antenna coil, Since the IC chip is biased to one side of the card, an IC card excellent in appearance and smoothness cannot be obtained.
[0012]
The present invention seeks to solve this problem by changing the conventional layer structure. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an exploded sectional view showing a layer structure of a card of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of an antenna sheet used in the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a state after press laminating the layer structure of FIG. It is sectional drawing.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the antenna sheet 10 has a planar coil antenna 11 on a sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like, and IC chips 12 are attached to both ends 111 and 112 of the coil antenna.
Although not limited to an IC chip, an IC module sealed with resin may be used, but hereinafter, it will be collectively expressed as an IC chip.
[0014]
When the card bases are stacked, as shown in FIG. 1, adhesive sheets 13 and 14 and spacer sheets 15 and 16 are inserted between the antenna sheet 10 and the front and back printed sheets 20 and 30, respectively. For the spacer sheets 15 and 16, an amorphous polyester (PET-G) resin is preferably used. This is because the adhesiveness between the front and back printed sheets 20 and 30 can be secured.
The reason why the adhesive sheets 13 and 14 are used is that the PET film as the antenna sheet does not have heat-fusibility, and serves to firmly bond the antenna sheet 10 and the spacer sheets 15 and 16. For this, a hot-melt adhesive sheet can be suitably used.
[0015]
Through holes 131, 141, 151, and 161 are formed in portions where the IC chips 12 of the adhesive sheets 13 and 14 and the spacer sheets 15 and 16 abut or are positioned so that the thickness of the IC chip can be absorbed. ing.
In the drawing, the IC chip 12 does not have protrusions on the surface-side printed sheet 20 side, but when press laminating, it affects even the degree of difference on the surface that is not on the protrusion side. It is a feature of the present invention that through holes are also formed in the spacer sheet 15.
[0016]
Biaxially stretched white PET sheets are used for the front and back printed sheets 20 and 30. Since it is biaxially stretched, there is a feature that almost no lateral displacement occurs. This is in contrast to an adhesive sheet or a spacer sheet that flows laterally by heating.
In general, the front side print sheet 20 is often provided with a decorative front side print 21 before pressing, and the back side print sheet 30 is often provided with a back side print 31 such as letters after pressing. It is not limited.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the antenna sheet 10 has a planar coil antenna, but the coil antenna 11 forms a resist on aluminum foil or the like laminated on the sheet and leaves only the coil shape by a well-known photo-etching technique. It is a thing.
The coil antenna 11 is formed so as to be wound about several turns on the card surface.
The inner end 111 of the coil can be directly connected to the IC chip, but the outer coil 112 is connected to the IC chip through the back surface of the sheet.
[0018]
After press laminating the layer configuration of FIG. 1, a non-contact IC card 1 as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. In this case, since the IC chip 12 is positioned substantially at the center of the card base, the appearance is not significantly impaired by the influence of the IC chip.
In FIG. 3, the antenna sheet 10 is bent only in the IC chip portion, and the coil antenna 11 itself is in the plane portion, so that the communication characteristics are not affected. Each through-hole is almost filled with the adhesive sheets 13 and 14 and the spacer sheets 15 and 16 melted.
[0019]
The non-crystalline polyester resin (PETG) sheet used for the spacer sheet is generally a dehydration condensate of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid and a diol, and has a particularly low crystallinity among the copolyesters. And a sheet made of an amorphous aromatic polyester resin.
Examples of the dicarboxylic acid include terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, adipic acid, and naphthalenedicarboxylic acid. Examples of the diol include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol.
A combination of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component is appropriately performed. For example, a non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin in which 30 mol% of an ethylene glycol component in polyethylene terephthalate is substituted with 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol is a trade name. It is commercially available from Eastman Chemical Co. as “PETG”.
[0020]
【Example】
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
(Example)
<Preparation of antenna sheet>
A coil antenna 11 was formed by bonding an aluminum foil having a thickness of 20 μm to an PET film having a thickness of 50 μm via an adhesive and etching the aluminum foil. Further, an IC module having a thickness of 300 μm was mounted by being electrically connected to both ends of the coil, and the antenna sheet 10 included in the card was completed.
The IC module is obtained by adding a reinforcing plate of 100 μm and an anisotropic conductive sheet of 50 μm to an IC chip having a thickness of 175 μm and, after receiving pressure from the press lamination, a total thickness of 300 μm.
[0021]
<Manufacture of card base>
The card base is composed of adhesive sheets 13 and 14 having a thickness of 50 μm on the front and back sides of the antenna sheet 10, spacer sheets 15 and 16 made of PET-G having a thickness of 100 μm on the outside, and two layers having a thickness of 200 μm on the outside. The axially-stretched PET printed sheets (“Lumirror” manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) 20 and 30 were arranged so that the front and back sides were symmetrical, and a seven-layer structure was adopted for convenience. The total thickness of the materials used excluding the thickness of the coil antenna 11 and the IC chip is 750 μm.
[0022]
A polyester hot melt adhesive (melt viscosity 2000 poise: 190 ° C.) was adopted for the adhesive sheets 13 and 14 in consideration of the adhesion suitability between the PET film of the antenna sheet and the PET-G of the spacer sheets 15 and 16. .
The adhesive sheets 13 and 14 and the spacer sheets 15 and 16 on both sides of the antenna sheet 10 penetrate in advance with the same size as the IC chip 12 (about 5 mm × 5 mm) so that the IC chip mounted on the antenna sheet penetrates. The holes 131, 141, 151, 161 were punched out.
[0023]
The antenna sheet 10 and the adhesive sheet provided with the through hole and the spacer sheet were aligned by fitting the antenna sheet, each adhesive sheet, and the spacer sheet with a hole provided in the pin.
The seven-layer laminate was placed on a hot plate of a press machine and press laminated. The conditions of the pressing process were as follows: hot plate temperature 120 ° C, pressure 2.0 MPa, molding (heating) time 20 min. I went to set.
[0024]
The pattern prints 21 and 31 were performed on the front and back surfaces of the card base integrated by the press, and finally, a card shape was punched in accordance with the pattern. Printing was performed by printing offset printing on silk screen printing.
In this way, a non-contact IC card 1 having a total thickness of 0.75 mm was completed.
[0025]
A comparative example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
(Comparative example)
<Preparation of antenna sheet>
The antenna sheet was prepared using the same material as in the example and having the same thickness.
[0026]
<Manufacture of card base>
The layer structure of the card substrate consists of an adhesive sheet 33 and 34 having a thickness of 50 μm on the front and back sides of the antenna sheet 10, a spacer sheet 35 made of PET-G having a thickness of 150 μm on the outer surface side of the card, and a thickness of 250 μm on the back side of the card. The PET-G spacer sheet 36 and a 100 μm thick biaxially stretched PET printed sheet (“Lumirror” manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) 40, 50 are arranged on the outer side of the spacer sheet 36 to obtain a 7-layer structure. . The total thickness of the materials used excluding the thickness of the coil antenna and the IC chip is 750 μm.
[0027]
The adhesive sheets 33 and 34 were made of the same material as in the examples.
The adhesive sheet 34 and the spacer sheet 36 on the side where the IC chip of the antenna sheet 10 protrudes have the same size (about 5 mm × 5 mm) as the IC chip 12 in advance so that the IC chip mounted on the antenna sheet penetrates. The through holes 341 and 361 were provided by punching.
[0028]
The alignment of each layer was performed in the same manner as in the example, and the laminate composed of the seven layers was placed on a hot plate of a press machine and press laminated. The conditions of the pressing process were as follows: hot plate temperature 120 ° C, pressure 2.0 MPa, molding (heating) time 20 min. I went to set.
[0029]
The pattern prints 41 and 51 were performed on the front and back surfaces of the card base integrated by the press, and finally, a card shape was punched in accordance with the pattern. Printing was performed by printing offset printing on silk screen printing.
In this way, a non-contact IC card having a total thickness of 0.75 mm was completed.
[0030]
In the IC card of the comparative example, since the thickness from the back of the card to the surface of the IC chip 12 is about 100 μm, the IC chip can be seen through, but in the IC card of the example, this thickness is secured about 200 μm. As a result, the IC chip was not seen through.
Moreover, when the magnitude | size of the curvature of the non-contact IC card of an Example and a comparative example was measured, in the comparative example, there existed curvature of 1.5-3.0 mm, but in the IC card of an Example, 1. It was 0 mm or less. The warpage is measured by measuring the maximum height of the convex portion from the surface plate when the IC card is placed on the surface plate so that the convex portion of the warpage is convex at the center of the card. According to the method.
With regard to the communication characteristics, in the example, a good communication state could be ensured when either the front or back surface was held over the reader / writer, but in the comparative example, a communication error might occur.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the layer configuration of the non-contact IC card of the present invention is configured such that the thicknesses of the front and back sides are symmetric with respect to the antenna sheet. Since the through hole is formed, the thickness of the IC chip can be absorbed and the IC chip can be positioned at the center of the card base.
Therefore, the IC chip and the coil antenna are provided at the center of the card base, so that there is no difference in the communication characteristics between the front and back sides, and the protrusion of the IC chip does not approach the back side of the card. There is no problem of appearing or losing smoothness and appearance.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an exploded sectional view showing a layer structure of a card according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of an antenna sheet used in the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state after press laminating the layer configuration of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 4 is an exploded sectional view showing a layer structure of a conventional non-contact IC card.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state after press lamination in FIG. 4;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Non-contact IC card 10 Antenna sheet 11 Coil antenna 12 IC chip 12m IC module 13, 14, 33, 34 Adhesive sheet 15, 16, 35, 36 Spacer sheet 20, 30, 40, 50 Printing sheet 21, 41 Surface printing 31 , 51 Back side printing

Claims (2)

In a non-contact IC card in which an antenna sheet mounted with an IC chip is arranged in the center of the card in the thickness direction , sandwiched between front and back printed sheets via an adhesive sheet and a spacer sheet, and hot-pressed into an integral substrate, The adhesive sheet laminated on both sides of the antenna sheet, the spacer sheet, and the print sheet have the same thickness, and the adhesive sheet and the spacer sheet on both sides are formed with through holes that absorb the thickness of the IC chip . A non-contact IC card, wherein an IC chip portion is bent in a through hole, and each through hole is filled with melting of an adhesive sheet and a spacer sheet . A non-contact IC card, wherein the spacer sheet is made of PET-G, and the adhesive sheet is a polyester-based hot melt adhesive .

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