JP2002007969A - Inspection instrument for noncontact ic card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve quality by determining the quality in a card base sheet state that a plurality of inlets are aligned and arranged in a card manufacturing intermediate process including a connection defect between an IC chip and an antenna, the mixing of a defective IC chip, and a defect of an antenna sec tion such as severance of wire even when the makers and types of the IC chips mounted for manufacturing a card differ. SOLUTION: This inspecting device is provided with an inspection measuring means measuring the scattering parameters in noncontact for individual inlets and an inspection determining processing means making measurement via the measuring means to determine whether the inlets are normal or defective on the card base sheet on which a plurality of noncontact IC card inlets each integrated with an IC chip and an antenna are aligned and arranged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card inspection apparatus which is a non-contact type information medium. More specifically, a defective IC chip, a defective antenna, a defective connection between the IC chip and the antenna, or the like mixed into the manufactured non-contact IC card causes trouble due to a defective inlet, particularly, a defective communication performance inlet. The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card inspection device which is effective for preventing the occurrence of a problem.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a non-contact IC card, a field of vibration energy such as a high-frequency electromagnetic field is provided in a space by a non-contact card read / write device, and the energy is absorbed and rectified to drive an electronic circuit built in the card. A DC power source to generate an identification signal using the frequency of the AC component (for example, 13.56 MHZ), and use the identification signal as a signal through a non-contact transmission element such as an antenna or a coil. Is to be transmitted.

[0003] In general, an IC card has a card body made of plastic or the like as a base, and an IC chip such as a semiconductor memory and an antenna or a coil as a non-contact transmission element are built in. Then, an electromagnetic field or an AC magnetic field radiated from the communication function unit of the read / write device is detected by an antenna or a coil inside the card, and the data is coupled to each other to perform data communication with the read / write device.

[0004] Generally, the above-mentioned non-contact IC card is manufactured as follows. On the card base sheet,
An antenna or a coil for non-contact transmission is formed by etching a metal foil or printing a conductive ink, and a pattern portion for connecting to an IC chip is provided at a terminal portion of the antenna or the coil. . And the connection part of the IC chip with the antenna or coil is
The pattern portion is connected to the pattern portion by soldering or using a conductive adhesive or the like to form a non-contact IC card inlet. Then, the card base sheet on which the IC chip is mounted and the inlet is formed is sandwiched between the front and back sheets and laminated, whereby a card body is manufactured.

[0005] The non-contact IC card manufactured in this way is checked by an inspection device using a non-contact IC card read / write device in order to confirm the operation and function after completion.
A final inspection is performed. And such technology, for example,
This is disclosed in JP-A-9-102221.

[0006]

However, in such an inspection apparatus, since the inspection is performed after the completion of the non-contact IC card, a defective IC chip,
Even when a defective antenna or a defective connection between the IC chip and the antenna is mixed, the production is performed as usual, and it is determined that the defective product is obtained only after the completion of the card. For this reason, a large amount of loss is generated, and the production cost is significantly affected.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-353433 discloses an inspection communication means that performs a non-contact read / write communication operation in a state of a card base sheet in which a plurality of inlets are arranged before carding. Thus, a technique is disclosed in which operation and function can be checked, manufacturing of a defective card is prevented, useless material is reduced, and manufacturing cost is suppressed.

However, the read / write device of the IC card, the communication procedure between the IC card and the read / write device, and the like differ depending on the manufacturer and model of the IC chip mounted on the IC card.

Therefore, when an IC card or inlet inspection device and a method of reading and writing through a read and write communication means as inspection means and judging pass / fail from the result are adopted, an IC chip mounted on the IC card is required. A read / write device for inspection must be prepared for each type of
The increase in inspection equipment cost, the complexity of setup change, and the like affect the manufacturing cost.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is possible to judge whether IC chips mounted on an IC card are of different types such as a maker and a model. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inspection apparatus that contributes to reduction of manufacturing cost and improvement of quality.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a non-contact IC card inlet comprising a semiconductor IC chip and an antenna or a coil as a non-contact transmission element is integrated with a base sheet. Inspection measuring means for measuring a scattering parameter in a non-contact manner for each of the non-contact IC card inlets on a plurality of card base sheets which are aligned and arranged on the upper side, and measurement is performed via the inspection measuring means. A non-contact IC card inspection apparatus, comprising: an inspection judgment processing means for judging whether the inlet is a normal product or a defective product from the result.

The invention according to claim 2 and claim 3 respectively specifies the measuring means for inspection according to claim 1 of the present invention. First, the invention according to claim 2 is ,
Each of the non-contact IC card inlets has a plurality of detection heads equipped with a small antenna or a small coil having a measurement area that does not cause interference by other inlets other than the one during the measurement operation. The head unit is individually arranged at a position corresponding to each non-contact IC card inlet on the base sheet, and each detection head unit is connected to the scattering parameter measurement device via a detection head switching device. And selecting a non-contact IC card inlet to be inspected by using a selection function of the detection head switching device, and measuring a scattering parameter of the non-contact IC card inlet. I do.

A third aspect of the present invention is a small-sized antenna or small-sized antenna having a measurement area that does not receive interference from any other of the non-contact IC card inlets other than the inlet during the measurement operation. A detection head unit having a coil mounted thereon, and a non-contact IC provided on the base sheet
A detection head unit moving device for moving the detection head unit and a scattering parameter measuring device are provided at any non-contact IC card inlet to be inspected from among the card inlets. It is characterized in that it can be connected to a parameter measuring device.

According to the present invention, as described above, the quality of the non-contact IC card is determined by measuring the scattering parameter of the inlet.

A non-contact IC card exchanges data through communication with a card reading / writing device. For this purpose, first, a vibration function of a high-frequency electromagnetic field is introduced into a space from a communication function unit of the card reading / writing device. A power source that generates an electric field, absorbs and rectifies the energy, and drives an electronic circuit built in the card. The energy absorbed by the card activates an electronic circuit built into the card, and is used as return energy when a reply to the card reading / writing device is required.

Therefore, if the energy absorbed by the card is large and the energy consumed as a loss inside the card is small, the energy for return becomes large. That is, a sufficient communication distance between the IC card and the card reading / writing device is secured.

According to the present invention, the ratio of the high frequency electromagnetic field energy created in the space by the measuring means for inspection to be absorbed by the IC card inlet, that is, the scattering parameter which is the ratio between the reflected traveling wave and the transmitted traveling wave is measured. By the way, IC
This is to determine the quality of the communication performance of the inlet, such as a poor connection between the chip and the antenna, the mixing of a defective IC chip, or a defect in the antenna section such as a disconnection.

Hereinafter, description will be made based on drawings, measurement data, and the like.

FIG. 1 shows an IC card 1 for data measurement.
An antenna 3 is formed on a glass epoxy substrate 2 by copper foil etching, and an IC chip 4 is mounted on a terminal portion of the antenna 3. Further, a part of the antenna 3 is cut out and the variable resistor 5 is inserted, so that the antenna resistance value can be simulated.

FIG. 2 shows the communication distance OD between the read / write communication function unit 6 of the IC card read / write device 7 and the data measurement IC card 1 by changing the resistance value R of the variable resistor on the data measurement IC card 1. FIG. Table 1 shows data measured based on the apparatus described in the schematic diagram.

[0021]

[Table 1]

As is apparent from Table 1, the communication distance OD increases as the variable resistance value, that is, the equivalent antenna resistance value increases.
Is monotonically decreasing.

Next, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for measuring the scattering parameter of the data measurement IC card by changing the variable resistor R on the data measurement IC card.

As the scattering parameter measuring device 9, a general-purpose network analyzer is used. Detection head 10
Use a small coil 11 of one or several turns. FIG. 4 shows the measured data based on such an apparatus.
Shown in

In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents frequency, and IC
Card carrier frequency, including 13.56 MHZ 10
The frequency is swept in the range from MHZ to 25 MHZ. The vertical axis is a scattering parameter in which the ratio between the reflected traveling wave and the transmitted traveling wave is expressed in decibels.
It is calibrated beforehand to be 0 db over the entire sweep frequency in the absence of the C card.

When the IC card is placed on the detection head, a dip occurs as shown in FIG. That is, the energy of the traveling wave is absorbed by the IC card, and the reflected traveling wave is reduced accordingly. Therefore, the deeper the dip, the more I
This indicates that the C card has absorbed a large amount of energy. In particular, the larger the depth (absolute value in decibels) at the carrier frequency of the IC card, 13.56 MHZ, the greater the practical energy absorption.

The scattering parameter “S11at1” of the data measurement IC card at 13.56 MHZ is changed by changing the resistance value R of the variable resistor on the data measurement IC card.
Table 2 shows data obtained by measuring 3.56 ″.

[0028]

[Table 2]

As is clear from Table 2, as the variable resistance value, that is, the equivalent antenna resistance value increases, “S11
The absolute value of at 13.56 ″, that is, the absorbed energy of the IC card monotonously decreases.

Therefore, when the equivalent antenna resistance increases, the value of the scattering parameter decreases due to disconnection of the antenna, poor connection between the IC chip and the antenna, poor printing in the case of a printed antenna, and occurrence of cracks. Is measured, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of the cause of the defect.

FIG. 4 shows the resonance characteristics of the IC card. In the electric equivalent circuit of the IC card shown in FIG. 5, the resonance frequency is represented by fR = 1 / 2π√LC.
That is, in the example of FIG. 4, the resonance frequency fR of the IC card is 1
It is 4.5 MHZ, and the scattering parameter S11 at the resonance frequency is -4.3 db.

The scattering parameter “S11at13.56” at the carrier frequency fC = 13.56 MHZ communicated with the read / write device is −3.0 db.

As is clear from FIGS. 4 and 5, if the values of the inductance L and the capacitance C in the equivalent circuit are appropriately selected and fR = fC, the carrier frequency f
The dip in C is the deepest, that is, the energy transfer between the IC card and the read / write device is maximized, and a sufficient communication distance OD is secured.

Therefore, when the inductance L deviates from the above-mentioned appropriate value due to a short circuit of the antenna coil or the capacitance C built in the IC chip or the external capacitance C deviates from the above-mentioned appropriate value, the resonance frequency fR becomes Deviating from the carrier frequency fC so that the carrier frequency f
The absolute value of the scattering parameter “S11at13.56” in C becomes smaller.

As is apparent from the above description, in order to check the communication performance of the IC card, the scattering parameter is measured in addition to the method of confirming the communication availability and the communication distance by applying the card reading / writing device. This makes it possible to determine whether the communication performance of the IC card is good or not.

Specifically, for example, from the data in Tables 1 and 2, the communication distance “OD” and the scattering parameter “S11at”
When the relationship with 13.56 ″ is obtained, it becomes as shown in Table 3 and FIG.

[0037]

[Table 3]

As can be seen from Table 3, if the communication distance "OD" of the IC card is 100 mm or more, it is determined that the absolute value of "S11at13.56" is 1.3 or more.

[0039]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a stage before laminating, in which an IC chip and an antenna or a coil are integrated, 13 is a card base sheet on which a plurality of inlets 12 are arranged and arranged, and 14 is an interference caused by another inlet. A detection head 15 composed of a small antenna or a small coil having a small electromagnetic field area is a detection head unit on which a plurality of detection heads 14 are mounted. Each of the detection heads 14 is arranged corresponding to the center of each of the aligned inlets, and the card base sheet 13 and the detection head unit 15 are closely arranged within several cm. Reference numeral 16 denotes a switching device for electrically switching a plurality of detection heads. In addition, 9 is a scattering parameter measuring device, and 8 is a controller including determination processing means.

Based on the above-mentioned device configuration, first, the detection head switching device 16 operates according to an instruction from the controller 8,
Detection head 14 corresponding to measurement target inlet 12
Is selected and connected to the scattering parameter measuring device 10.

Next, an instruction for measuring the scattering parameter of the inlet 12 is sent from the controller 8 to the scattering parameter measuring device 10. The measured scattering parameter information is sent to the controller 8 including the pass / fail judgment processing means, and the pass / fail judgment is performed on the controller side based on the information, and the result is shown on a display, or an external device (not shown) is controlled. To work.

When the measurement and inspection of any desired inlet are completed, the controller 8 sends an instruction to change the connection to the next inlet to the switching device 16, and the corresponding detection head 14 measures the scattering parameter. Connected to device 9. Then, the same measurement inspection is performed again.

In the inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 7, the detection heads are fixedly arranged corresponding to the center portions of the respective inlets. (Not shown), and the inspection may be performed by moving the detection head to an arbitrary center of the inlet 12 on the card base sheet 13.

[0045]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since a card reading / writing device is not used as an IC card or inlet inspection device but a scattering parameter measuring device is used, an IC chip mounted on an IC card is used. It is possible to determine the quality of the inlet due to a defective IC chip, a defective antenna, or a poor connection between the IC chip and the antenna, especially the quality of the communication performance of the inlet, even if the type and the type are different. became.

Accordingly, there is no need to prepare a read / write device for inspection for each type of IC chip, and it is possible to suppress an increase in inspection equipment costs and complicated setup changes, thereby contributing to a reduction in manufacturing costs.

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, each inlet can be inspected one by one.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an experimental data measurement IC card which is a backing of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for measuring a communication distance of an IC card.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for measuring a scattering parameter of an IC card.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a scattering parameter and a resonance characteristic of an IC card.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing an electric equivalent circuit of the IC card.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a relationship between a communication distance and a scattering parameter value.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a non-contact IC card inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 IC card for data measurement 2 Glass epoxy board 3 Antenna or coil 4 IC chip 5 Variable resistor 6 Communication function unit for read / write device 7 IC card read / write device 8 Controller 9 Scattering parameter measurement device 10 Detection head 11 Small coil 12 Inlet 13 Card Base material sheet 14 Detection head 15 Detection head unit 16 Detection head switching device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A non-contact IC in which a semiconductor IC chip and an antenna or a coil as a non-contact transmission element are integrated.
A non-contact IC is provided for a card base sheet in which a plurality of C card inlets are arranged on the base sheet.
Inspection measuring means for measuring the scattering parameter in a non-contact manner for each card inlet, and measurement is performed via the inspection measuring means, and it is determined whether the inlet is normal or defective based on the result. A non-contact IC card inspection apparatus, comprising: 2. The inspection measuring means includes a small antenna or a small coil having a measurement area of such a degree as not to be interfered by any other of the non-contact IC card inlets other than the inlet during the measurement operation. A plurality of detection heads, and each detection head is individually arranged at a position corresponding to each non-contact IC card inlet on the base sheet, and each detection head is a detection head It is connectable to the scattering parameter measuring device via a switching device. After selecting a non-contact IC card inlet to be inspected using a selection function of the detection head switching device, the non-contact IC card The non-contact IC card inspection device according to claim 1, wherein a scattering parameter of the inlet is measured. 3. The inspection measuring means includes a small antenna or a small coil having a measurement area of such a degree as not to be interfered by any other of the non-contact IC card inlets other than the inlet during the measuring operation. A detection head unit, and a detection head unit moving device that moves the detection head unit to any non-contact IC card inlet to be inspected from among the non-contact IC card inlets provided on the base sheet. The inspection apparatus for a non-contact IC card according to claim 1, further comprising a scattering parameter measuring device, and wherein the detection head portion is connectable to the scattering parameter measuring device.