EP1269496A1

EP1269496A1 - Method for producing a tag or a chip card, device for implementing said method and tag or chip card produced according to said method

Info

Publication number: EP1269496A1
Application number: EP01915614A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Werner Vogt
Original assignee: Interlock AG
Current assignee: HID Global AG
Priority date: 2000-03-31
Filing date: 2001-03-31
Publication date: 2003-01-02
Also published as: CN1432182A; DE10016037B4; WO2001073800A1; US7047624B2; KR20030022783A; US20030112202A1; DE10016037A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for producing a tag, a chip card or an ID card, a transponder unit and the like, comprising an antenna or a coil for wireless transmission of information to remote receivers and/or for receiving information from remote transmitters. The shape of the antenna or coil is punched out of an electrically conducting flat foil which is subsequently joined to other layers including an electric chip module.

Description

Method for producing a label or a chip card, device for carrying out the method and a label or chip card produced thereafter

The present invention relates to a method for producing a label comprising an antenna or coil, a chip or identification card or a similar transponder unit according to the preamble of claim 1, a device for carrying out the method according to the preamble of claim 6 and an antenna or Label containing the coil or a corresponding chip card according to the preamble of claim 7.

A chip or identification card containing an antenna or a coil or similar small arrangements such as labels, transponder units and the like are known in a variety of embodiments and are used in the usual way to record and process information wirelessly, but also information, for example about location, Forward the quality of the goods and the like associated with them to appropriate recipients.

In addition to many other areas of application, the use of so-called labels is becoming increasingly important, for example in baggage sorting at airports, where hundreds of thousands of suitcases are routed to the right places using automated conveyor systems, or also for mail items to enable automatic sorting. For this purpose, certain address codes are entered into the labels, the labels are then attached to the respective goods, the labels then wirelessly conveying appropriate information to any polling stations on the automatic transport route, so that switches or distribution belts or sorting devices located in the transport route can react to this, for example.

However, in order to be able to receive or send such information wirelessly, such labels, as they are to be called in the following representative of all other antenna or coil arrangements, chip or ID cards, transponder units or the like, need to be wound, wound or meandering into another Wire lengths in the form of coils, for receiving or delivering electromagnetic signals, mostly in digitally coded form.

When such coils or antennas are attached or applied to the respective substrate, However, there are certain problems that make such labels, which have now been used millions of times, not insignificantly more expensive. In the very frequently used etching process with which individual coil connections can be applied to a film carrier for chip cards (EP 0 481 776 A2), a large number of additional process steps are required, in particular the coating of appropriately vapor-deposited or otherwise applied conductive layers with photoresist, then the exposure with the help of masks and the etching away of intermediate layers, which makes the manufacture of such labels not insignificantly more expensive, especially when one takes into account the large numbers of pieces that are common here.

It is therefore also known to continuously lay coil windings, so to speak, as a wire winding with the help of complicated wire laying and cutting machines on a plastic base in a winding form and at the same time heat the plastic base in a suitable manner in such a way that the wire windings bake and at least partially bake with the heated plastic of the base in this way, in any case, they are secured in shape until additional layers can be applied (US Pat. No. 3,674,602, international PCT application WO 95/26538).

Both wire laying methods are cumbersome and also time-consuming, whereby WO 95/26538 during the laying of the coil wire also simultaneously connects it to a first connection surface of a chip on the chip card, then the Laying the coil wire to form the coil and finally proposes the connection of the running coil wire end to a second connection surface of the chip, the wire being connected to the substrate at least in places during the laying of the coil by heating the latter.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to propose a method with a device for producing a label having an antenna or a coil or some other arrangement, which both drastically simplifies the manufacture and arrangement of the coil on the label or chip card and also does this essential costs minimized.

The invention solves this problem by the characterizing features of claim 1, claim 6 and claim 7, which relates to the label itself.

A particular advantage of the present invention results from the fact that in the course of the automated production of such labels or chip cards for the preparation of the coil or antenna, only a single additional work step, namely a punching process, is required.

This punching enables the production of an antenna shape in any shape, also adapted to the label; are in the preferred and in this respect also simplest embodiment, post-processing steps are not required.

The whole process of the coil or antenna production takes place during the inline automation of the label production without separate additional process steps and consists only in that a foil made of conductive material, usually copper or aluminum foil, is applied to a carrier substrate and a punching tool is fed through one Cutting process cuts the desired antenna shape (spiral, rectangular, following a meandering course or according to another shape) into the copper-clad film. Further processing steps are not necessary, because due to the special properties of the copper or aluminum foil, a functional antenna shape is produced immediately on its carrier substrate, and then the usual chip connection is then realized in further processing steps, whereupon, after additional lamination on both sides, additional layers are used to manufacture Label arrived.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention makes it possible that no punched-out parts have to be removed during the punching process for antenna production, which would require an additional gripping step - a single punching-cutting process, for example in a spiral form, is sufficient to immediately create a spirally wound one Build antenna on the copper-clad substrate, the Start and end points only have to be connected to the respective chip module, for example by conventional crimping or soldering, if desired.

In fact, the invention in one of its main features is based on the knowledge that, based on a special starting material, namely a substrate provided with a conductive coating, preferably made of plastic, for example a copper-clad polyester film, the stamping process, for example in a spiral shape, immediately results in the electrical separation of the copper spiral produced in this way from the adjacent turns has been carried out effectively, so that for this reason no further additional processing steps are required. Why this is the case is explained in more detail below.

It is again pointed out that the invention is suitable for the manufacture or installation in any transponder-like systems, units, labels, chip and identification cards, access cards or keys, credit cards and the like, the following being representative of all such systems only a label is still used, likewise the term antenna is used for any configuration of coil structures or other coils having intertwining turns in the manner of a winding.

The invention not only enables considerably faster production of such considerable amounts of labels required, for example compared to the step-by-step wire laying process with intermediate fastenings according to the two publications mentioned above, but also a decisive reduction in the required process steps, here also compared with the known etching process and thus in connection with the simplification of the structure an effective cost reduction.

Refinements and improvements of the invention are the subject of the subclaims or can be found in the following description.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing and are explained in more detail in the following description.

Show it:

1 schematically shows a top view of a first embodiment of a copper-clad or aluminum-clad carrier film for antenna production;

Fig. 2 schematized and greatly enlarged in one

Side view of the copper or aluminum foil applied to a plastic carrier foil before and after the die cut by a schematically indicated die; Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of a spiral punched out of the flat film of a conductive material, with or without an additional carrier film and

Fig. 4 also schematically shows a possible automated process flow in label production.

The basic idea of the present invention is to create a longer sequence of mutually insulated windings or turns of an antenna or a coil from a flat layer of an electrically conductive material, which can be used in label production, generally in the production of a transponder-like arrangement.

In the following, the preferred embodiment of the invention is immediately discussed in more detail, which consists in starting from a flat foil of an electrically conductive material, usually a copper or aluminum foil, on a carrier substrate, preferably a plastic foil, such as the starting material for the antenna production Polyester is applied or laminated.

The thickness of such a polyester film can be, for example, between 50 to 250μ, but can be set as desired, just as the thickness of the copper foil used is of secondary importance for the actual production process can be derived from the other parameters (for example transmission power) of such a label.

In Fig. 1, the double-layer starting material in the form of a double film is designated 10; it consists (FIG. 2) of an (upper) copper foil 11 and the lower plastic carrier foil 12.

In order to be able to produce an antenna or a coil with a larger number of turns by punching from such a double film 10, a cutting tool is required which has a correspondingly extending cutting shape.

This cutting shape can be designed in cross section as shown in Fig. 2 at 13; it either tapers conically at an acute angle, but can also have a uniform thickness as seen from the two layers 11 and 12 over the height of the double film 10, which is of no great importance for the stamping process. A suitable punching tool can best be imagined with reference to the so-called band steel tools known in printing technology, with which any shape can be made from paper by punching, that is to say by cutting out from a larger sheet of paper or cardboard.

If one applies such a steel strip punching process to the possibility of producing antennas or coils in transponder-like arrangements, the longitudinal course of the lower cutting edge follows Punching tool, i.e. the area with which shapes are punched into the double film 10, the desired course of the coil or antenna to be produced, with a spiral, that is to say tapering, in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but also in FIG. 3 Coil winding is selected.

Of course, the winding or winding form of the antenna can be completely different - the individual windings for the antenna can also follow the outer, for example square, shape of the double film, leaving out certain areas, because other arrangements in the label or the chip card are still accommodated there, for example (e.g. other electronic components, pushbuttons for chip cards and the like) - the structure of the punching tool is always such that the entire winding, which runs spirally inwards, is cut into the double film in a single punching process.

A further possibility that offers itself in this context is to design the punching tool in the punch-cutting area with a double cutting edge, so that, as indicated in FIG. 2 at 13a, two punching edges result at a short distance from one another. If the entire punching tool then has a spiral shape, then a narrow spiral strip 14 is punched out of the double film 10 '(FIG. 3), which then has to be removed during the further processing operation, that is to say must be removed, whereupon a remaining spiral or helical copper or aluminum strip 15 (depending on the material selected) has mutually insulated turns.

The preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention, however, consists in the fact that only a single punching edge 13 is used without such a direct punching process, which has proven to be quite unproblematic, also with regard to the required, mutually insulating distance between the individual turns of the coil or antenna obtained , The reason for this lies in the knowledge that the behavior of the copper or aluminum foil on the plastic carrier 12 proves to be comparatively soft, in any case not elastic, so that after the punching process, i.e. the spiral cutting and cutting through of the double foil 10 the phenomenon results in that the cut copper foil edge regions remain separate from one another, but due to the elastic or flowing behavior of the plastic carrier 12, the cut edges come closer again. This leads to a shape, as is indicated in cross section in a greatly enlarged illustration on the right-hand side of FIG. 2, after the stamping step has been carried out and the stamping tool 13 has been withdrawn again. The downward punching tool first cuts through the copper foil and thereby necessarily pushes it apart a little in order to physically penetrate and penetrate the double foil 10 to be able to perform at all. At the same time, the edge edges 11a, 11b of the copper foil tilt slightly downwards, ie they deform, which also contributes to the A distance that forms between the two copper foil edges. Of course, the plastic carrier 12 is also cut through - although other solutions are also conceivable here - but the plastic film has a different material behavior, so that its wheels approach each other again at least in the area facing away from the copper film, that is to say flow towards one another, while the distance A between the copper foil edges after the punching process.

This punching process alone also achieves a sufficiently insulating distance A between the individual (spiral) windings of the antenna, with the antenna shape being fixed in a processing step that immediately follows immediately after the processing machine continues to pass a band forming the double film 10, for example by applying an adhesive film from below, that is to say to the plastic carrier film. It makes sense to leave the (copper) surface of the antenna or coil obtained in this way uncovered in order to still make the connection with a chip 19 in subsequent processing steps.

It can be seen that the distance between the individual antenna windings obtained by the punching process is definitely a function of a large number of variables, not least the shape of the punching tool. Stuff, the thickness and flowability of the plastic carrier used, the thickness and the inelastic behavior of its copper or aluminum coating, the fact whether the plastic carrier is completely cut or whether it is only cut to a certain depth while at the same time pushing apart the cut by the punching process copper foil edges. In the latter case, there is also the advantage that the turns which are movable relative to one another when completely cut, but which are immediately fixed by the subsequent bonding, in any case retain their shape and their distance from one another, so that the adhesive fixing step is unnecessary.

The entire manufacturing process, for example aimed at the production of a label and greatly simplified by the invention, then proceeds as indicated schematically in FIG. 4; an appropriately trained inline automat, as just described, punches out the antenna shapes from a continuously fed strip 16 at B; at C the individual antennas on the band 16 are completed by individual chip modules supplied by D, whereby, as indicated in FIG. 1, the beginning 17 and end 18 of the punched-out antenna shape are connected to the corresponding connection contact surfaces of the chip module 19, preferably by crimping, possibly also by soldering or by any other connection technology that is available. The band 16 with the antennas completed by the chip module 19 then reaches the laminating station E, where the structure is completed by further upper and lower layers 20, 21, 22 applied by gluing or by heating. The finished tape 16 ', which is then finished and has individual labels in the longitudinal direction, can then be sent to the user, or the labels are separated from the tape by a further cutting or punching process.

Claims

claims

1. A method for producing a label comprising an antenna or coil, thereby wirelessly transmitting information to remote receivers and / or receiving from remote transmitters, a chip or identification card, a transponder unit and the like, characterized in that the coil or Antenna shape is made by punching from an electrically conductive flat film and then connected to other layers including an electronic chip module.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the electrically conductive flat film (copper or aluminum film 11) is arranged on a plastic carrier film (polyester film 12) and the double film 10 thus formed is subjected to the punching process.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that for punching a with a single cutting edge, the desired course of the antenna or coil shape following a band steel tool-like punching tool is used, which completely the upper electrically conductive flat film and the lower plastic carrier film or partially severed, in any case the electrically conductive flat film made of a soft inelastic metal such as copper or aluminum minium exists and therefore maintains the distance (A) caused by the punching after removal of the punching tool.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the punching tool has closely adjacent twin cutting edges which, likewise following the shape of the desired antenna or coil shape, punch out a material strip to be removed from the double film (10).

Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the double film (10) is fed to a processing machine in the form of a longer band for punching out the antenna or coil shapes, and then the connection of the start and end areas (17, 18) the antenna shape with chip contact surfaces of separately supplied chips is carried out and, while continuing the double film strip (16), lamination is carried out with further cover layers (20, 21, 22).

Device for producing a label comprising an antenna or coil, a chip or identification card, a transponder unit and the like for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a punching tool having a single or double cutting edge (13, 13a) is provided, which consists of a, preferably continuously guided double film made of electrically conductive material and a plastic carrier which stamps with its start and end with a chip module the antenna shape to be connected.

A label containing an antenna or coil, a chip or identification card, a transponder unit and the like, characterized in that one of the layers (20, 21, 22, 16) forming the label or chip card is made of a double film of an electrically conductive flat material and a plastic carrier is formed, into which the antenna or coil is stamped in the form of turns which are located one inside the other in an electrically insulating distance and whose start and end regions are connected to a chip module.