JP2000276569A - Ic chip and memory medium having the same built in - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the cost of an IC chip for memory medium such as a non- contact IC card and a non-contact tag and to improve the reliability. SOLUTION: A dedicated chip 30 provided with an antenna is obtained by forming an antenna on a general purpose IC chip by rewiring by means of electroplating or the like. It is possible to manufacture a memory medium such as a non-contact IC card 20 and a non-contact tag simply by embedding the chip in a card and a tag without having to use a conventional antenna sheet or a dedicated mounting substrate with an antenna.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external device in a non-contact manner, an IC chip for a memory medium such as a non-contact IC tag, and a memory medium having the IC chip mounted thereon. Belongs to the technical field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, IC cards have been used in various information fields. However, in order to improve convenience and durability, a contact type IC card which mechanically connects to an external device such as a reader has been used. Recently, a non-contact type IC card has been known in which data can be transmitted and received just by approaching without contacting an external device.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Non-contact I as described above
Initially, the C card was of the type in which the antenna was formed in the card base, so the manufacturing process was complicated,
The percentage of non-defective products did not increase. Therefore, as another form, a method has been considered in which an antenna is formed directly on a substrate on which an IC chip is mounted, and an IC module having the antenna is inserted into a card or a tag. However, a memory medium such as a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag of this type has a drawback that it has a high number of components and a long manufacturing process, and thus has a high cost.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is to manufacture a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag with a minimum number of parts, thereby reducing costs. , To improve reliability.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An IC chip according to the present invention is a non-contact IC chip.
An IC chip for a memory medium such as a C card and a non-contact IC tag, wherein an antenna for transmitting and receiving data is provided on the chip itself.

That is, a dedicated chip with an antenna is obtained by forming an antenna on a general-purpose IC chip on which a circuit is formed by re-wiring such as electroplating, so that a conventional antenna sheet or a dedicated antenna is used. A memory medium such as a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag can be manufactured only by embedding it in a card or a tag without using a mounting board with a tag.

When an antenna is formed on the chip itself, an insulating layer may be formed on a portion of the chip where a circuit has been formed, and the antenna may be formed on the insulating layer by wiring by plating, or The antenna may be formed by plating wiring on a portion of the chip other than the circuit surface. In addition, the antenna can be formed of a plurality of antenna layers with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, depending on the communication distance and the characteristics of the external device.

Further, since the antenna is directly formed on the chip itself, a future semiconductor such as a spherical semiconductor, for which a connection method with a mounting substrate has not been established, can be easily processed into an IC card or a tag.

According to the present invention, an IC for a non-contact IC card in a wafer state having an interface circuit with an antenna is provided.
An antenna is formed by forming wiring again on the chip or the IC chip for a non-contact IC tag via an insulating layer. The manufacturing process will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the first step, as shown in FIG. 1A, polyimide, SiN, or the like is formed on the portion of the wafer-state IC chip 10 excluding the connection portion with the antenna, that is, on the Al circuit wiring pattern 11. To form a passivation film 12. Instead of this step, a semiconductor maker may purchase a wafer on which the passivation film 12 is formed in advance.

In the second step, as shown in FIG. 1B, a passivation film 1 is formed in order to secure conduction with the connection portion of the chip circuit and to enhance the adhesion of the insulating layer formed in the next step.
The seed layer 13 is formed on the wafer so as to cover the wafer 2. This is, specifically, using a sputtering device,
metal thin film of i, Ta, TiN, TaN, Cu, etc.
It is formed with a thickness of about μm.

In a third step, a photoresist 14 is patterned on the seed layer 13 as shown in FIG. As a procedure, first, a photoresist is applied over the entire surface by a spin coater. The photoresist used has an optimum viscosity according to the required film thickness. Next, using a photomask on which an antenna pattern having a required function is formed, the photoresist is baked by alignment exposure. It is preferable to use a positive photoresist in consideration of resolution and stability. After exposure, the uncured portions of the photoresist are removed by development.

In a fourth step, as shown in FIG. 1D, a patterned antenna 15 is formed by electrolytic copper plating, and after plating, the photoresist 14 is peeled off with an alkali such as sodium hydroxide. The plating thickness is 10 μm or more. The resist may be removed by a dry process such as oxygen plasma.

In a fifth step, as shown in FIG. 1E, the seed layer 12 is removed by reactive ion etching using a halogen-based gas. At this time, the antenna 15
Is etched at the same time, but the thickness is
m or more, there is no problem in function.

Depending on the communication distance and the characteristics of the external device, communication may not be possible using only the antenna formed as described above. In such a case, the above-described steps are repeated to obtain two or more layers. It is preferable to form an antenna with an antenna layer. Specifically, in order to perform connection and conduction of each antenna layer, an insulating layer is formed on a lower antenna layer by a spin coater or the like, and then the insulating layer is formed by, for example, laser processing using a carbon dioxide gas laser. Is removed to expose the lower antenna layer, and then the above-described steps are performed again to form the upper antenna layer. The connection portion between the antenna layers may be formed by a mechanical processing method such as cutting other than laser processing, or an insulating layer is formed by applying a mask to a portion to be a connection portion with a resist or the like. After the formation, the resist may be peeled off to be formed.

In the above steps, the patterned antennas 15 are formed on the individual IC chips 10 on the wafer. In the present invention, FIG.
As shown in (1), molding with the sealing resin 16 is performed. Specifically, an epoxy resin is applied to the surface of the wafer by a silk screen printing method using a metal stencil. Thereby, when the IC chip is mounted on a card, a tag, or the like, the durability against external stress and corrosion of the chip circuit is improved. Here, if restrictions on the thickness of the memory medium incorporating the IC chip allow, the front and back surfaces of the wafer are resin-sealed by transfer molding to prevent warpage and residual stress during curing and shrinkage of the resin, thereby further improving the reliability. An improvement in reliability can be expected.

Finally, the IC chips each having an antenna are cut out from the wafer and mounted on a memory medium such as a card or a tag.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an example in which the IC chip of the present invention is mounted on a card to form a non-contact IC card. For applications that require reliability against external stress when carrying, such as the non-contact IC card 20, it is effective to mount the IC chip 30 together with the reinforcing sheet 31 in the card 20, as shown. This reinforcing sheet 3
As 1, a metal plate made of stainless steel, titanium or the like, or a plastic plate made of polycarbonate or the like having high mechanical strength processed into a size equal to or larger than the chip size is used. A chip-sized hole 41a is provided in the center PVC sheet 41, and the IC chip 30 with the reinforcing sheet 31 is inserted into the hole 41a from below and sandwiched by the PVC sheets 42 and 43 from both the upper and lower sides. Constitutes a card C on which an IC chip is mounted.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since an antenna for transmitting and receiving data is provided on the chip itself, a dedicated chip with an antenna can be easily obtained only by forming the antenna on a general-purpose IC chip on which a circuit is formed by rewiring such as electroplating. By embedding the dedicated chip with the antenna in a card or tag, a memory medium such as a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag can be manufactured, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process chart showing a procedure for manufacturing an IC chip according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an example in which the IC chip of the present invention is mounted on a card to form a non-contact IC card.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 IC chip 11 Circuit wiring pattern 12 Passivation film 13 Seed layer 14 Photoresist 15 Antenna 16 Sealing resin 20 Non-contact IC card 30 IC chip 31 Reinforcement sheet 41, 42, 43 PVC sheet

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An IC chip for a memory medium such as a non-contact IC card and a non-contact IC tag, wherein an antenna for transmitting and receiving data is provided on the chip itself. 2. The IC chip according to claim 1, wherein an insulating layer is formed on a portion of the chip where a circuit is formed, and an antenna is formed on the insulating layer by plating wiring. 3. The IC chip according to claim 1, wherein an antenna is formed on a portion of the chip other than a circuit surface. 4. The antenna according to claim 2, wherein the antenna is constituted by a plurality of antenna layers each having an insulating layer interposed therebetween.
C chip. 5. The IC chip according to claim 4, wherein upper and lower antenna layers are connected via a connection terminal portion formed by partially removing an insulating layer between the antenna layers. 6. The IC chip according to claim 5, wherein a part of the insulating layer is removed by laser processing. 7. The IC chip for an IC card according to claim 1, wherein the IC chip is spherical. 8. A memory medium, such as a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag, which incorporates the IC chip according to claim 1.