JP2002288620A - Ic card and manufacturing method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an IC card, in which a stack will not be inclined, even if a large number of IC cards are superposed to form a high stack. SOLUTION: A part 1 is projected to a projection shape due to the effects of an IC chip and a module part existing on the inside. A part 2 is slightly projected to a projection shape, due to a thin flat substance in the form of a strip of fancy paper existing in the the inside. The part 1 and the part 2 substantially become the same thickness. In the case where the IC cards are superposed in the same direction, the slightly thick parts of the upper and lower IC cards become a symmetrical position. Since the thickness of the two positions is approximately the same, in the case with a plurality of IC cards being superposed, only the part 1 where the IC chip and the module part exist will not become high, and the part 2 positioned at the approximately symmetrical position and having substantially the same thickness becomes the same height, so that the IC cards are balanced and are will not be inclined.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an IC card and an IC card.
The present invention relates to a card manufacturing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A new information recording medium called an IC card is formed into a card-like or sheet-like form such as a credit card, a bank card, a point card, a telephone card, etc. which are currently widely available on the market. It is a generic term for those with integrated ICs. IC cards are roughly classified into three types: contact type, non-contact type, and combination type having both functions. In the contact type, a terminal is provided on the card surface, and signals are exchanged through the terminal. At present, disposable types are widely distributed as telephone cards in Europe and the like. In addition, experiments using various types of information rewritable types as money cards have been conducted in various countries, and are attracting attention as cards used in financial fields.

The contact type IC card has a simple structure in which a modularized IC chip is mounted on a plastic card. The plastic card includes a method in which a hole having a size and a depth in which the IC module can be inserted is formed in advance in a portion where the IC module is bonded, and a method in which the plastic card is formed by injection. There are two ways to make a hole: engraving a single plastic card with a counterbore machine, or attaching a through hole to one of two sheets. Currently, IC chips with one IC chip are the mainstream, but there are also contact IC cards that include multiple components for each function, and circuit patterns are used to connect between components and to connect to special terminals. ing.

[0004] On the other hand, non-contact IC cards are further divided into those with built-in batteries and those that operate by receiving power from external electromagnetic waves. The one with a built-in battery has a large output of the radio wave transmitted from the non-contact IC card. On the other hand, non-contact IC cards, which are driven by external power from electromagnetic waves, generate a small output power from the card and optimize the matching with the reader / writer to maximize the communication distance. There is a need to. As a component, the non-contact IC card is configured by embedding built-in components such as an IC chip and an antenna in a rigid electrically insulating plastic base material.
These cards include holograms to prevent forgery,
Thermoplastic resins such as PVC resin are used on the front and back to meet the demands of the market to mount rewrite display labels etc. so that a part of the contents can be visually displayed. Glycol-modified polyester resins are preferred in that display function sheets such as holograms and rewrites can be embedded on the IC card surface by heat fusion. PETG, a glycol-modified polyester resin, is a non-crystalline polyester resin under the trademark of Eastman Chemical Company, and is obtained by copolymerizing ethylene glycol, cyclohexanedimethanol, terephthalic acid, and the like.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] An IC card is a product in which an IC chip or the like is embedded in a film made of a thermoplastic resin, and a large IC chip has a size of 4 mm × 4 mm × 250 μm or more. In addition, since important information is stored in the IC chip, a reinforcing member is inserted or it is modularized, and the thickness is 350 μm with respect to the card thickness
It is increasing to ~ 450μm. Therefore, when an IC card is used, the part of the IC chip may be several tens μm thicker than other parts. An IC card having a thick IC chip portion has a disadvantage that it is inclined when stacked in the same direction. In the conventional method, IC
As means for preventing the chip portion from being thickened, means such as making a hole in the film or using a material having high fluidity when applying heat to the film have been used, for example,
JP-A-2000-67199 discloses that the volume of a film facing an IC chip part is partially reduced. The present invention relates to an IC
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an IC card that does not tilt even if a large number of cards are piled up and piled up.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IC card including an IC chip, wherein a thickness of a portion including the IC chip is larger than that of a portion other than the IC chip portion. It is thick and has at least one or more portions having substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip at a position substantially symmetric with the IC chip portion. The IC card according to claim 2, wherein the substantially symmetric position is line-symmetric with respect to a center line parallel to the long side direction of the IC card, line-symmetric with respect to a center line parallel with the short side direction, or with respect to the center point. One of point symmetry. In the IC card according to the third aspect, since a portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion in which the IC chip is built is in a band shape, a strip-shaped one can be easily used for insertion. The IC card according to claim 4, wherein the band-shaped portion is parallel to a long side or a short side of the IC card, so that a plurality of IC cards are vertically arranged.
When manufactured side by side, a strip-shaped portion can be arranged vertically or horizontally across a plurality of cards. I according to claim 5
The manufacturing method of the C card is such that a strip having a thickness substantially the same as the portion containing the IC chip is formed inside the portion having a thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the portion containing the IC chip. Is manufactured by hot pressing. In the method for manufacturing an IC card according to the sixth aspect, since the strip-shaped thin leaf is made of a thermoplastic resin, it can be adhered to an adjacent layer with a stronger interlayer strength.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is effective for a non-contact IC card, a contact type IC card, and a combination card. Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a non-contact IC card as an example. explain. FIG. 1 is a front view of an example of the non-contact IC card of the present invention. The portion 1 protrudes in a convex shape under the influence of the IC chip and module components present inside. In addition, since the portion 2 has a strip-shaped thin leaf existing inside, the portion 2 is slightly protruded under the influence of the influence, and the portions 1 and 2 have substantially the same thickness and are substantially the same. Of thickness. That is, the portion 2 is a portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion incorporating the IC chip. Therefore, the IC card has a portion 2 having the same thickness as the portion having the IC chip and the module portion, and the positional relationship is substantially symmetric with the portion 1 having the IC chip and the module portion. Are stacked in the same direction, the slightly thicker portions of the upper and lower IC cards become substantially symmetrical. At this time, since the thickness of the two portions is substantially the same, I
When the C cards are stacked, only the portion 1 having the IC chip and the module portion does not become high, and the portions 2 having substantially the same thickness at substantially symmetric positions also have the same height. The card does not tilt. Usually IC
The chip portion has a small area, but the portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip contains a symmetric position or is slightly larger if located near the symmetric position,
It may be shifted. This was expressed as a substantially symmetric position. In short, it is only necessary that the size and the position of the range can balance the inclination when they are overlapped. As described above, the present invention provides a conventional IC
Change the idea of flattening a small projecting part, such as a chip, somehow, and set another small projecting part at a substantially symmetrical position on the card to prevent the card from tilting. This is based on the idea of

When the IC chip is located at the center of the IC card, the portion having the same thickness as the IC chip may be located on a concentric circle around the IC chip. More than one I
What is necessary is just to position in the place where the angle matches in C card. Here, the substantially symmetric position means a symmetric position such as line symmetry with respect to the center line parallel to the long side direction of the IC card, line symmetry with respect to the center line parallel with the short side direction, or point symmetry with respect to the center point. No. Since the IC card is generally rectangular in shape, it is more preferable that the position is symmetrical with respect to the long side direction because the balance can be easily obtained.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'of the IC card of FIG. It has an antenna 3 formed on an inlet substrate 4, and an IC chip 5 is adhered on the antenna 3. Hereinafter, in the present invention, an inlet in which electronic components are stacked is collectively referred to as an inlet. Intermediate layers 7, 8
Are arranged above and below the inlet.
Is the outermost layer. Internal filling 10 which is a strip-shaped thin leaf
Exists symmetrically with the IC chip, and the thickness measured from the side is the same in the IC chip portion and the filling portion.

FIG. 3 is a front view of another example of the non-contact IC card of the present invention. The portion 21 protrudes in a convex shape under the influence of the IC chip and module components present inside.
In addition, the portion 22 has a strip-shaped thin leaf existing inside, and further, is positioned parallel to the short side direction of the card,
The part 21 and the part 22 have substantially the same thickness. for that reason,
The IC card can have the same thickness as the IC chip and module parts in the form of a strip, and the part corresponding to the substantially symmetrical position of the IC chip has the same thickness as the IC chip part. The protruding portions are in contact with each other at two substantially symmetrical positions, so that they are balanced and do not tilt.

FIG. 4 shows an antenna 23 formed on an inlet substrate 24, which is a sectional view taken along line BB 'of the IC card shown in FIG.
, And an IC chip 25 is bonded on the antenna. The intermediate layers 27 and 28 are arranged above and below the inlet, and the card bases 26 and 29 are the outermost layers. The strip-shaped thin material 30 of the internal filling exists in a strip shape symmetrically with the IC chip, and the thickness measured from the side is the same for the IC chip portion and the filling portion.

The manufacturing method of the IC card shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a layer structure when assembling an IC card. Using a PET film on the inlet base material 24, a copper foil was attached with an adhesive, and the antenna 23 was formed by an etching method. An ACF is attached to the antenna, and the IC chip 25 is placed at a predetermined position, heated, and connected to the antenna and the bumps of the IC chip to form an inlet sheet. Middle layer 27, 28
As a thermoplastic resin film is arranged, another thermoplastic resin film is placed as a strip-shaped thin sheet 30 at a position symmetrical with the IC chip, and sandwiched between card base materials 26 and 29, and a laminate of card members is laminated. create. Furthermore, the metal compression plate 46
a, 46b, and heat-press to create a raw IC card. An IC card is created by punching into the size of an IC card. In practice, a plurality of sets of IC chips, antennas and the like are arranged in rows and columns so that a plurality of IC cards can be manufactured at a time, and one chip is punched at a time.

The above-mentioned strip-shaped thin leaf is thin, and if it is strip-shaped, the material may be paper, plastic film, metal foil, inorganic thin plate such as ceramics, or the like. Although the material does not matter, the workability is simplified if the film is made of a thermoplastic resin. Furthermore, when the strip-shaped thin leaf is formed into a strip, when producing a sheet in which a number of IC cards are arranged vertically and horizontally, for example, a single strip-shaped film is laid in the vertical direction parallel to the short side direction of the card, Efficiency is high because it is only necessary to arrange the films by the number of cards in the horizontal direction. In mass production, efficiency is increased when manufacturing multiple IC cards with a single press for a plurality of IC cards. The thermoplastic resin constituting the strip-shaped thin leaf is preferably a thermoplastic polymer material having a Vicat softening point of 100 ° C. or less, preferably 80 ° C. or less. The material of the thermoplastic resin includes PETG, for example, olefin resin, ionomer, vinyl chloride resin, ABS resin, AS resin, polystyrene, acrylic resin, methacryl resin, polyvinyl acetate, vinyl butyral resin, EVA, cellulose derivative resin, urethane Resins, polyester resins, polyamide resins, nylons, polyacetals, polycarbonates, fluororesins, polyester resins, polyetherimides, polyimides, etc. alone, in a mixture, a copolymer and the like.

If the strip-shaped thin-leaf thermoplastic resin and the card base material are simultaneously melted during the molding of the IC card, a stronger interlayer strength can be obtained. In addition, when the IC chip is sandwiched between metal compression plates, the heat transfer is transmitted quickly, so that the card base material is softened quickly and easily buried in the card base material or thermoplastic resin. I
It need not be the same thickness as the C chip. It is more effective to actually perform the pressing while changing the thickness of the strip-shaped thin object and adjust the thickness so that the thickness becomes the same as the IC chip portion. In the present invention, as a method of forming a portion having the same thickness as the IC chip portion in another portion of the IC card, a concave portion may be provided in a part of the metal compression plate 46a facing the portion 22.

The material of the card base material used in the present invention is PE
Other than TG, for example, vinyl acetate resin, vinyl chloride resin, acrylic resin, olefin resin, diene resin, natural rubber, gelatin, glue, abietic resin, cellulose derivative resin, polyester resin, epoxy resin, vinyl butyral resin , Urethane resins, polyamide resins, alkyd resins, melamine resins, urea resins, phenol formalin resins, petroleum resins, maleic acid copolymers, and the like, and mixtures thereof.

The card base material may be formed of a release varnish for imparting releasability to the metal plate for compression, a varnish for imparting luster, or a varnish for improving abrasion resistance to a thickness of 0.05%.
It may be printed and coated to 0 mm or less. In addition, by using a varnish that shows a higher temperature than the card base material in terms of melting point, TG and softening point, a card with a smooth surface without being affected by the flow of printing or the built-in antenna or IC chip Is obtained. The varnish can be cured without applying heat if it is a UV-curable resin or an EB-curable resin, and an IC card with excellent surface properties can be obtained. As a UV-curable resin,
Known materials may be used, for example, monomers such as acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, isodecyl acrylate, phenoxy acrylate, stearyl acrylate, n-hexyl acrylate, lauryl acrylate ethoxy ethyl acrylate, Glycidyl acrylate,
Monoacrylates such as cyclohexyl acrylate,
Trifunctional or more functional acrylates such as 1,3-butanediol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, dipentaerythritol, hexaacrylate, methacrylates such as methacrylic acid, lauryl methacrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, and maleic Acid, itaconic acid,
N-methylolacrylamide, vinyltoluene, vinyl acetate, acrylonitrile and the like can be mentioned. Other polymers and oligomers that can be polymerized by ultraviolet rays can be used. For example, polyacrylate, polyester acrylate, urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate,
Silicon acrylate, polyether acrylate, pobutadiene acrylate, thiol / polyene and the like are available.

On the other hand, as the EB-curable resin, a UV-curable resin can be used as it is. Examples of the photopolymerization initiator include known materials such as acetophenone, benzophenone, and quinone derivatives. It is more preferable to use a sensitizer such as n-butylamine and tri-n-butylphosphine.

The intermediate layer used in the present invention uses a thermoplastic resin or an adhesive. As the thermoplastic resin or the adhesive, a thermoplastic polymer material having a Vicat softening point of 100 ° C. or less, preferably 80 ° C. or less is good. Including thermoplastic resin used for card base material, for example, vinyl acetate resin, vinyl chloride resin, acrylic resin, olefin resin, diene resin, natural rubber, gelatin, glue, abietic resin,
Cellulose derivative resin, polyester resin, epoxy resin, vinyl butyral resin, urethane resin, polyamide resin, alkyd resin, melamine resin, urea resin, phenol formalin resin, petroleum resin, maleic acid copolymer, etc. There are homopolymers, mixtures, copolymers and the like.

When the IC card is molded, the intermediate layer and the card base material
If they are melted at the same time, stronger interlayer strength can be obtained.
is there. Thermoplastic resin has a high softening point,
If the temperature is close to the mold temperature, the front and back card substrates will
Because of the effects of shape, etc., lower the softening point using a plasticizer, etc.
Preferably. If the softening point is too low,
Use to raise the softening point or add pigments to aggregate
It can also be improved by increasing the power. Thermoplastic tree
Materials added to fats or adhesives include dispersants and thickeners
Agents, fats and oils, cross-linking agents, curing agents, plasticizers, release agents, antioxidants
Stoppers, stabilizers, UV absorbers, stilts, foamed particles, conductive
Electric agents, fiber fillers, rubbery particles, coloring pigments,
Transparent materials, catalysts, etc. as appropriate as long as insulation is not impaired
use. 10 in volume resistivity ¹²Ωcm or more is good.

The curing agent may be added within a range where heat fusion is possible. For example, there are an epoxy resin, an isocyanate compound, a metal crosslinking agent, and the like. The cross-linking reaction proceeds after bonding by the moisture in the air, and a moisture-curable isocyanate group-containing urethane resin or the like obtained with a required hardness with a time delay is also obtained, when bonding, sufficient fluidity for adhesion is obtained.
It is preferably used because it hardens over time to obtain the required strength. In addition, a method of using a curing agent by partially spraying it to reinforce only a specific portion is also used. These can be used alone or as a mixture, and subjected to hot melt coating, water-based or solvent-based coating, and if necessary, hot-air drying to obtain a film-like thermoplastic resin. The amount of coating depends on the final thickness of the target IC card, but is usually 10 to 700 g / m ² in dry weight and 5 to 1000 μm in thickness.

On the surface of the front and back card base material used in the present invention, desired patterns, explanatory characters, etc. are printed by offset printing or silk screen printing. After molding, the IC card is punched and formed into a card, but printing is performed before and after punching. The varnish may be coated and printed after printing a picture or an explanatory note, and then molded. Alternatively, the varnish may be printed and coated after the IC card is molded. The softening temperature of the thermoplastic resin is 50-200 ° C and the pressurizing condition is 9.8KP
a to 980 KPa Pressurization time is about 50 to 5000 seconds. It can also be degassed during pressurization to prevent entrapment of bubbles. When the pressing is performed at a pressing speed of 5 mm / min or less, preferably 1 mm / min or less, the unevenness of the built-in material is absorbed, and a flat card surface is selected. Furthermore, lamination processing of transparent over sheet, counterbore processing, hybrid IC processing, barcode, numbering processing, magnetic stripe processing, photo pasting,
Processed into multifunctional IC cards through processes such as embossing and rewrite film processing.

[0022]

EXAMPLES Example 1 (1) An IC card having a cross section shown in FIG. 4 was prepared.
Using a milky white polyethylene terephthalate film (U2 manufactured by Teijin Limited) with a thickness of 125 μm as the inlet base material 24,
An antenna circuit 23 was formed thereon by an etching method using a 35-μm-thick copper foil. Furthermore, an IC chip (4 mm × 4 mm, 250 μm thickness) on which a connection bump having a height of 50 μm is printed 25
Was connected to the antenna circuit using an anisotropic conductive film adhesive having a thickness of 50 μm.

(2) PETG sheets (product name: PG-WHI, thickness 300 μm, TG 60 ° C.,
Using a softening temperature of 70 ° C), the card was placed on the front and back of the card, and the inlet connecting the antenna and the IC chip was replaced with a thermoplastic resin (TOA Gosei Co., Ltd. polyester adhesive film PES-111E
Intermediate layer 27,2 made of ES thickness 150μm Vicat softening point 65 ℃
8, and the strip-shaped thin leaf 30 is disposed at a position on the opposite side that is line-symmetric with the IC chip in the long side direction. This strip-shaped thin leaf 30 is made of Mitsubishi Plastics P having a thickness of 40 μm.
ETG sheets (product name: PG-WHI) are cut to a width of 5 mm and arranged in parallel in the short side direction. Using a hot press, the IC card structure having such a configuration is stacked at a temperature of 120 ° C., a press-in speed of 0.01 mm / min, and a pressure of 196 KPa.
Pressed.

(3) After compression, the card is punched by a punching machine,
Got a C card. 500 obtained IC cards were stacked, and the height difference between the four corners of the IC cards was measured to be 1 mm. This value sufficiently satisfies the management target of 3 mm or less, and was an excellent one in which the IC card was not tilted.

Comparative Example 1 An IC card was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 (2), except that no filler was added. 500 obtained IC cards were stacked, and the height difference between the four corners of the IC cards was measured to be 20 mm. This value exceeded the management target of 3 mm or less, and the inclination of the IC card was too large.

[0026]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IC card having an IC chip built therein, wherein a card thickness of a portion incorporating the IC chip is thicker than a portion other than the IC chip portion.
Since there is at least one or more portions having substantially the same thickness as the portion where the IC chip is built in at a position substantially symmetric with the IC chip portion, a thick portion having substantially the same thickness at a substantially symmetric position is provided. Since the IC card is mainly supported at two or more places, the IC card is supported substantially in parallel. The IC card according to claim 2, wherein the substantially symmetric position is line-symmetric with respect to a center line parallel to the long side direction of the IC card, line-symmetric with respect to a center line parallel with the short side direction, or with respect to the center point. Since any one of the point symmetry is used, the IC card is supported substantially in parallel. In the IC card according to the third aspect, since the portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip is in the shape of a band, the thin portion is inserted into such a portion, that is, substantially into a strip shape. It is easy to produce a portion having the same thickness. The IC card according to claim 4, wherein the band-shaped portion is parallel to a long side or a short side of the IC card,
For example, if the band-like portion is made parallel to the short side, when producing a sheet in which a number of IC cards are arranged vertically and horizontally,
For example, it is only necessary to lay one strip-shaped film in the vertical direction and arrange the films by the number of IC cards in the horizontal direction, thereby improving the efficiency. 6. The method of manufacturing an IC card according to claim 5, wherein the portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip is made to have substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip. Since a strip-shaped thin leaf is arranged inside the box and manufactured by hot pressing, manufacture is facilitated. In the method for manufacturing an IC card according to the sixth aspect, since the strip-shaped thin leaf is made of a thermoplastic resin, the interlayer strength between adjacent layers constituting the IC card after the manufacturing is increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an example of a contactless IC card of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the IC card shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of another example of the non-contact IC card of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the IC card shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a layer structure when assembling an IC card.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 The part which contains an IC chip 2 The part which has substantially the same thickness as the part which incorporates an IC chip 5 The IC chip

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Hitoshi Fujii 1st Yoshida, Toyosu-cho, Anan-shi, Tokushima Prefecture Oji Paper Co., Ltd. Tomioka Mill F-term (reference) 2C005 NA09 NB13 QC09 RA04 RA09 TA21 TA22 5B035 BA03 BA05 BB09 CA01 CA23

Claims (6)

[Claims] An IC card having an IC chip built therein, wherein a card thickness of a portion having the IC chip built therein is thicker than a portion other than the IC chip portion, and the IC card is provided at a position substantially symmetrical with the IC chip portion.
An IC card having at least one portion having substantially the same thickness as a portion in which a chip is built. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substantially symmetric position is line symmetric with respect to a center line parallel to a long side direction of the IC card, line symmetric with respect to a center line parallel with the short side direction, or point symmetric with respect to a center point. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the IC card is only one. 3. The IC card according to claim 1, wherein the portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion in which the IC chip is built has a band shape. 4. The IC card according to claim 3, wherein the band-shaped portion is parallel to a long side or a short side of the IC card. 5. A strip-shaped thin leaf inside a portion having substantially the same thickness as the portion containing the IC chip so that the thickness is substantially the same as the thickness of the portion containing the IC chip. An article is arranged and manufactured by a hot press.
7. The method for manufacturing an IC card according to claim 1. 6. The method of manufacturing an IC card according to claim 5, wherein the strip-shaped thin leaf is a thermoplastic resin.