JP2003243918A - Antenna for non-contact ic tag, and non-contact ic tag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an antenna for mount of a non-contact IC tag label with higher stability than a normal antenna employing printing of conductive ink. <P>SOLUTION: This non-contact IC tag antenna consists of antenna patterns 11, 12 for non-contact IC tag label mount made of a metallic thin film formed on a base member 1b, and the thickness of the metallic film ranges from 0.01 to 0.1 μm. The non-contact IC tag label is mounted on an antenna face made of the metallic thin film formed on the side of the base member and the metallic thin film is made by a putting leaf method or a vapor deposition method. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a non-contact IC tag antenna and a non-contact IC tag. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for forming a non-contact IC tag label mounting antenna with a metal thin film without using a photo-etching method or a printing method using conductive ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A "contactless IC tag" capable of recording and reading information in a contactless manner (generally, "contactless data carrier", "wireless IC tag", "contactless IC", "contactless I").
It may be expressed as “C label” or the like. ) Has come to be widely used for information management of goods and merchandise, logistics management, and the like. Non-contact in the field of packaging of foods and beverages I
It is about to be used for distribution, quality control, expiration date management, etc. by attaching a C tag.

When the form of the non-contact IC tag is examined here, (1) a form in which a winding-shaped plane coil pattern is formed on a label base material, and an IC chip is directly attached to this,
(2) There is a form in which an antenna pattern is printed on the surface of a base material or a packaging material with a conductive ink, and an IC tag label in the form of an interposer is attached to this. In the case of (1), since the coil pattern is also provided on the label substrate surface, the IC tag label is relatively expensive. However, when the antenna pattern can be continuously formed on the packaging material or the like, the IC tag label is attached and used ( The embodiment of 2) has a merit in cost and is suitable for mass consumption applications such as packaging materials.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of a non-contact IC tag. This means the embodiment of (2) above. Figure 4
4A is a plan view in which the IC tag label 2 is attached so as to be connected to both the antenna patterns 11 and 12 on the surface of the base material, and FIG.
The state where the C tag label 2 is partially peeled off, as shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an enlarged cross section taken along the line AA of FIG. In the case of this embodiment, the non-contact IC tag 10
Has a configuration in which the antenna pattern is directly printed on the package base 1b and the IC tag label 2 is attached to the antenna patterns 11 and 12.

The shape of the antenna pattern is not particularly limited, and may be any shape (circular, rectangular, triangular, linear, rhombic, etc.) as long as it is a pattern divided into two pieces, so that the pattern is electrically connected to this pattern. Attach the IC tag label to.
The reason why the antenna pattern is a two-piece patch antenna is that the antenna side having a low resistance functions as a ground side with respect to one of the grounds. For example, if a person holds the antenna pattern 11 side by hand, the side becomes the ground side.

Incidentally, the IC tag label 2 is an I / C in which an integrated circuit and / or a memory are provided on a silicon substrate.
The C chip (semiconductor device) 5 is connected to the antenna patterns 11, 1
2 means that the label is tackable so that it can be attached to the label 2, and the label itself has small antenna parts 21 and 22 connected to the IC chip 5 (FIG. 4 (B),
(See (C)). The antenna part and antenna pattern 1
Between 1 and 12 is anisotropic conductive adhesive 6 (X part in the figure)
And the like, and the IC chips 5 are attached to the antenna parts 21 and 22.
Bumps (not shown) are connected (see FIG. 4B). Specifically, "BiSt manufactured by Motorola
aix ”(trademark) interposer form.

[0007]

Conventionally, such an IC has been used.
When the tag label is attached to a packaging material or the like, an antenna pattern is gravure-printed on the packaging material base material with a conductive ink such as carbon, and the antenna of the IC tag label is aligned and attached. However, if a base material made of a liquid-permeable material such as paper is used, the antenna may not be formed with a sufficient film thickness, and the sensitivity may become unstable. Therefore, in the present invention, the antenna is formed as a metal thin film on the surface of the base material to surely form the antenna having high conductivity on the surface of the packaging material or the like to improve the antenna sensitivity. By performing the above-mentioned metal thin film by a hot stamping foil stamping method or a metal deposition method, an antenna can be formed continuously and at high speed. Conventionally, an antenna made of carbon ink has a black color and has a design problem, but the design problem can be solved by a metallic luster of a metal thin film and a colored hot stamp foil.

[0008]

The first aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is an antenna for mounting a non-contact IC tag label, which is formed of a metal thin film on a surface of a base material, and is a metal thin film. In the antenna for a non-contact IC tag, the film thickness is in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 μm. With such an antenna, stable sensitivity can be obtained. In the above, the metal thin film may be formed by the foil pressing method, or the metal thin film may be formed by the vapor deposition method.

A second aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is a non-contact IC tag in which a non-contact IC tag label is attached to an antenna surface made of a metal thin film formed on a base material surface. Is a non-contact IC tag characterized by being formed by a foil stamping method.

A third aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is a non-contact IC tag in which a non-contact IC tag label is attached to an antenna surface made of a metal thin film formed on a base material surface. Is formed by a vapor deposition method.

In the second and third aspects of the present invention described above, the thickness of the metal thin film may be in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 μm, and the non-contact I including the base material and the antenna surface.
A sealant film may be laminated on the C tag surface.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An IC tag antenna and a non-contact IC tag according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an IC tag antenna of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a non-contact IC tag in which an IC tag label is attached to the IC tag antenna. Both
FIG. (A) is a plan view and FIG. (B) is an enlarged cross section taken along line AA of (A). Since the non-contact IC tag antenna of the present invention is an antenna for mounting a non-contact IC tag label, the antenna has two separate patterns 1.
1 and 12 are formed. The antenna is characterized by being formed of a metal thin film layer and having a film thickness of 0.01 to 0.1 μm. In the first embodiment, the metal thin film is
It is formed by a foil pressing method, and in the second embodiment, it is formed by a metal vapor deposition method.

Conventionally, conductive ink is used for printing the antenna patterns 11 and 12, and printing is performed by offset, gravure, silk screen printing or the like. For this conductive ink, it is common to use an ink in which carbon, graphite, silver powder, aluminum powder, or a mixture thereof is dispersed in a vehicle, but the conductive ink itself uses a conductive material in the vehicle. There is a problem that the dispersed film has a high resistance, and when it is printed on a paper material having a high absorptivity, a continuous film cannot be formed, a conductive film cannot be obtained as described above, and the sensitivity becomes unstable. It was

By performing the above-mentioned metal thin film by the hot stamping foil stamping method, the antenna can be surely formed mainly on the paper material by the conventional simple method. On the other hand, by using the metal vapor deposition method, the antenna can be formed continuously and at high speed on the base material 1b such as a plastic film or a paper material.

As shown in FIG. 2, both antenna patterns 1
After attaching the non-contact IC tag label 2 to 1 and 12, finally I
It is formed on the C-tagged package 1 and the like. In FIG. 2 (B),
Although the sealant film 3 is laminated on the surface of the non-contact IC tag label to prevent the peeling of the IC tag label, the sealant film may be omitted. Normally, the antenna of the non-contact IC tag label is attached so as to contact the antenna patterns 11 and 12, but even when the antenna of the label is attached to the antenna patterns 11 and 12 via the label base material, the antenna is attached. It is recognized that as long as they are close to each other, ohmic contact is made to function as an IC tag.

(1) When a metal thin film is formed by hot stamping a hot stamp foil FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the layer structure of the hot stamp foil.
As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the hot stamp foil is obtained by forming a metal vapor deposition layer 32 on a film base material 30 with a transparent release layer 31, and further forming a heat-sensitive adhesive layer 33 on the metal vapor deposition layer. Then, from the side of the film base material 30 side, the film base material
By scanning from the side, a desired shape can be transferred onto the transfer target material (base material).

Aluminum is generally used for the metal vapor deposition layer 32, but copper, silver or the like may be vapor deposited. It may be a transparent conductive tin oxide film. The metal film thickness of a general-purpose hot stamp foil is 0.03 to 0.
Although the film thickness is about 05 μm, a film thickness up to about 0.10 μm can be formed depending on the vapor deposition time. However, if the film thickness exceeds 0.1 μm, the metal film becomes brittle and it takes time to form the deposited film, which is not practical. The transparent release layer 31 can be formed so as to remain on the film substrate 30 side during transfer, and the conductivity with the antenna of the IC tag label can be secured. When the film base material 30 has a characteristic that the metal vapor deposition layer is naturally easily peeled off, it is not necessary to provide the transparent peeling layer 31.

As shown in FIG. 3 (B), a colored ink layer 34 can be partially provided between the metal vapor deposition layer 32 and the transparent release layer 31 to form a colored hot stamp foil. If the ink layer is deleted, the conductivity of the IC tag label with the IC tag antenna can be secured and the design effect can be enhanced. As shown in FIG. 3 (C),
It is also possible to provide the metal vapor deposition layer 32 in a pattern shape to form an antenna shape originally, and it is possible to form an antenna having a high design effect in which a colored ink layer is also provided. In this case, it is not necessary to press with a thermal pressing tool or use a thermal head, and a desired pattern can be transferred and formed by uniformly pressing with a heating roll.

The stamping with a hot stamp foil is generally performed by transferring to a paper material having a cushioning property, but the heat sensitive adhesive layer 33 can be selected to transfer to various plastic films. The IC tag label 2 is attached to the IC tag antenna thus formed, as shown in FIG. The IC tag label 2 and the antenna patterns 11 and 1
The non-contact IC tag 10 is composed of the two. The position where the antenna for the IC tag is provided is not particularly limited, but it is preferably a position where the reader / writer can easily read when it is packaged.

The IC chip 5 is an IC tag label base material 2b.
The bumps (not shown) of the IC chip are connected to the small antenna parts 21 and 22 printed on the antenna parts 21 and 22 and the antenna patterns 11 and 12 by the anisotropic conductive adhesive 6 or the like. The connection is as described above. Antenna patterns 11 and 12 of the IC tag label 2
The upper mounting is performed by an automatic label sticking machine or the like on the traveling package base 1b or the like with reference to the antenna pattern or a separately provided alignment mark or the like.

(2) When a metal thin film is formed by a vapor deposition method When a metal thin film is vapor-deposited on the package substrate 1b or the like, the substrate film is introduced into a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus, mounted on a paper feed roll and placed in a rotary cooling can. Wind it up with a take-up roll while running along it. In the meantime, the metal material is heated so that vaporized metal material vapor is applied to the film base material. As the metal material to be vapor-deposited, pelletized materials are sequentially supplied from outside the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus. When depositing a thin metal film in a pattern, a patterning mask is usually overlaid so that the mask is in close contact with the film base material, and material vapor is formed in a predetermined shape on the base material through the opening of the mask. Vapor deposition is performed. A stainless plate having a thickness of 100 μm or more is usually used for the patterning mask. This is because the stainless steel plate does not rust, has appropriate rigidity, and is easy to handle. If the thickness of the stainless steel plate is 100 μm or less, there arises a problem that it is warped or is too thin and easily damaged.

The stainless steel plate is provided with a plurality of antenna pattern-shaped openings, and the base material film is intermittently moved with respect to the openings to wind up, or the mask is intermittently moved to form a base material surface. The antenna pattern can be continuously formed. The mask can be used repeatedly by washing. However, the antenna for the IC tag label can have any shape, and thus may have two strip-shaped stripes. Alternatively, one band may be vapor-deposited and a separation band may be formed in the center of the band-shaped vapor deposition by post-processing. In these cases, the exposed portion may be vapor-deposited in a band shape, covering a portion other than the vapor deposition portion, instead of the specific antenna shape. The separation zone can be formed by a method of scattering the metal vapor deposition layer by a heating method in which a thermal head is scanned, or a method of partially destroying the vapor deposition layer by a discharge breakdown printing device.

As the vapor deposition metal, aluminum, copper,
Although gold, silver, tin, etc. can be used, the use of aluminum or copper is the most practical in consideration of cost and safety for use in food applications. It may be a transparent conductive material such as tin oxide. The metal film thickness is about 0.03 to 0.05 μm as in the case of the hot stamp foil, but a film thickness up to about 0.1 μm can be formed depending on the vapor deposition time.
If the film thickness exceeds 0.1 μm, the metal film also becomes brittle. If it is 0.01 μm or less, it becomes difficult to form a stable film. The range of high practicability is from the conductivity and the formation time of the deposited film to about 0.01 to 0.1 μm.

The IC tag label is attached to the formed antenna pattern in the same manner as with the hot stamp foil. The package or the like will be supplied to the market after recording necessary data on the IC tag or filling the contents.

In the present invention, the IC tag label antenna is formed of a metal thin film and the IC tag label is attached. The packaging body is formed with an antenna pattern, the IC tag label is attached, and then a sealant film is laminated. The package may be subjected to subsequent processing required. As for the lamination of the sealant film, various materials are laminated by dry lamination or extrusion coating. By laminating the sealant film, heat sealability can be imparted, and peeling of the non-contact IC tag label can be prevented.

Next, other materials used in the present invention will be described. As the IC tag label base material 2b used for the IC tag label 2, various materials such as paper, PET, polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene and nylon can be used. In the case of paper, it is preferable to use paper that has been subjected to water resistance treatment and has high insulation. A thickness of 15 to 300 μm can be used, but from the viewpoint of strength, workability, cost, etc., 20 to
100 μm is more preferable.

The IC chip is formed by forming an integrated circuit and a memory on a silicon substrate. In the case of being practically used at present, the IC chip has a size of about 2 mm × 2 mm and has a thickness. It is about 0.5 mm. In the case of IC memory, 128 with 1024 Bits
Characters can be recorded, and information necessary for a normal IC tag antenna can be recorded.

[0028]

[Example] (Example 1) coated ball base paper (310 g /
A conventional metal foil film (“UP” manufactured by Murata Gold Leaf Co., Ltd.) was used for m ² ) to form 2000 antenna patterns 11 and 12 having the shape shown in FIG. The metal foil is made of aluminum foil, and its thickness is
It is 0.05 μm. Next, on the antenna formation surface side, I
C tag labels (manufactured by Motorola, product name: IC chip mounting label “BiStatix” (trademark)) were sequentially mounted using a label sticking machine so that the IC chip side faces the antenna printing surface.

Example 2 A polyethylene aluminum terephthalate (PET) film having a thickness of 12 μm (“E5100” manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.) was coated with a metal aluminum layer having a thickness of 0.02 μm by using an aluminum vapor deposition machine. It vapor-deposited on the shaped antenna pattern, and 2000 pieces were continuously formed. The mask pattern for the antenna has a thickness of 120 μm.
The stainless steel plate of was used. Next, an IC tag label (manufactured by Motorola, product name: IC chip mounting label "BiStatix" (trademark)) is attached to the antenna formation surface side of the IC.
The chips were sequentially mounted using a label sticking machine so that the chip side faces the printed surface of the antenna.

Comparative Example 1 Coated ball base paper (310 g)
/ M ² ) was gravure-printed on the antenna pattern having the shape shown in FIG. 1 with a conductive ink using carbon (manufactured by The Inktech Co., Ltd.) to continuously form 2000 antenna patterns. Next, an IC tag label (manufactured by Motorola, product name: IC chip mounting label "BiStatix" (trademark)) is sequentially attached to the antenna forming surface side by using a label sticking machine so that the IC chip side faces the antenna printing surface. I put it on.

For each of 1000 samples of Examples 1, 2 and Comparative Example 1, a laminate film was prepared by using an EC machine as described below. With a single EC machine,
An AC (anchor coat) agent ("A3210 / A3075" manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., aromatic ester type, solid content 5%) is applied to the side of the IC tag label, dried, and then extruded PE at a resin temperature of 320 ° C (Mitsui "Millason 16P" manufactured by Kagaku Co., Ltd .; extrusion was performed at a thickness of 20 μm, and a PE film having a thickness of 40 μm (“SKL film” manufactured by Dainippon Resin Co., Ltd.) was supplied from the other side for extrusion lamination. Those according to Example 1 are referred to as Example 3, those according to Example 2 are referred to as Example 4, and those according to Comparative Example 1 are referred to as Comparative Example 2.

Using the non-contact IC tags of each Example and Comparative Example (each 1000 pieces), the non-contact IC tag 1 is a confirmation item.
After recording the predetermined data to 0, as a reading device, BiStatix reader "WA manufactured by Motorola"
The information reading test was performed using "VE". As a result of the test, as shown in Table 1, in each example, read / write could be performed without trouble, but in the comparative example, some reading failure was observed.

[0033]

[Table 1]

Although the above embodiment of the present invention has been described mainly using a package as an example, various products other than the package, such as books, advertising media, signs and exhibits, electrical equipment and daily commodities. It is obvious that the present invention can be applied to the field of business form, and does not fall outside the scope of the present invention.

[0035]

As described above, since the antenna for mounting a non-contact IC tag label of the present invention is formed of a metal thin film and the film thickness is in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 μm, it has high conductivity. Thus, the function of the antenna can be fully exerted. Since the antenna of the non-contact IC tag of the present invention is formed by the foil pressing method or the metal vapor deposition method, stable reading and writing can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an IC tag antenna of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a non-contact IC tag in which an IC tag label is attached to an IC tag antenna.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a layer configuration example of a hot stamp foil.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a non-contact IC tag.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Package with IC tag 1b Package base material 2 IC tag label 2b IC tag label base material 3 sealant film 5 IC chip 6 Anisotropically conductive adhesive 10 Non-contact IC tag 11,12 antenna pattern 21,22 Small antenna 30 film base 31 Transparent release layer 32 metal deposition layer 33 Heat-sensitive adhesive layer 34 Colored ink layer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // B42D 15/10 521 G06K 19/00 K

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An antenna for mounting a non-contact IC tag label, comprising a metal thin film formed on a substrate surface, wherein the metal thin film has a thickness in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 μm. An antenna for non-contact IC tags. 2. The antenna for a non-contact IC tag according to claim 1, wherein the metal thin film is formed by a foil stamping method. 3. The antenna for a non-contact IC tag according to claim 1, wherein the metal thin film is formed by a vapor deposition method. 4. A non-contact IC in which a non-contact IC tag label is attached to an antenna surface made of a metal thin film formed on a base material surface.
A non-contact IC tag, wherein the metal thin film is formed by a foil stamping method. 5. A non-contact IC in which a non-contact IC tag label is attached to an antenna surface made of a metal thin film formed on a base material surface.
A non-contact IC tag, wherein the metal thin film is formed by a vapor deposition method. 6. The metal thin film has a thickness of 0.01 to 0.1 μm.
The non-contact IC tag according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that it is in a range of m. 7. A non-contact IC including a base material and an antenna surface.
The non-contact IC tag according to claim 4, wherein a sealant film is laminated on the tag surface.