JP2009081689A - Non-contact ic label - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a non-contact IC label capable of easily adjusting antenna impedance. <P>SOLUTION: The non-contact IC label 1 includes: an IC chip 2 capable of data communication with an external reading device with no contact; a first antenna 3 which is connected with the IC chip 2 and supports data communication; and a second antenna 4 in which film-like first area 4A and second area 4B constituted of conductive material are formed to be connected by a connecting part 4C constituted of conductive material and a first end portion 3A and a second end portion 3B of the first antenna 3 are electrically connected with the first area 4A and the second area 4B, respectively, wherein the IC chip 2 is disposed between the first area 4A and the second area 4B while being spaced apart from the connecting part 4C. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a contactless IC label that can send and receive data to and from an external data read / write device in a contactless manner.

  Conventionally, non-contact IC labels having an IC chip and an antenna are used for merchandise management in retail stores, rental stores, and the like. This is a non-contact IC label, the product to be managed is attached as an adherend, the data stored in the IC chip is read and written by a dedicated data read / write device, and the product entry / exit management, inventory management, lending management etc. are performed Is.

  Usually, the above-described antenna is formed in a linear shape having substantially the same width as the IC chip. With this shape, since the antenna is required to have a certain length or more, it is difficult to attach to a small product or the like.

In order to solve this problem, a non-contact IC label provided with an antenna formed in a substantially square shape with a conductive material such as an aluminum vapor deposition layer has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In this antenna, the central portion in the width direction where the IC chip is mounted is formed to be thin over a certain length. The current value is maximized in the narrowly formed portion, and the current is dispersed toward the outer region in the width direction, so that electromagnetic energy is efficiently concentrated around the IC chip and the antenna efficiency is improved. It can be formed smaller.
JP 2006-25390 A

In general, in a non-contact IC label, it is necessary to match the impedance of the antenna and the IC chip in order to increase the communication distance with the data read / write device. When the non-contact IC label described in Patent Document 1 is attached to a non-metallic adherend, the antenna is affected by the dielectric constant of the adherend and the impedance of the antenna changes. It is necessary to adjust the impedance of the antenna according to the rate.
Generally, in the non-contact IC label described in Patent Document 1, a method is known in which a slit is formed in an antenna and the impedance of the antenna is adjusted by changing the length of the slit.

  However, in many cases, the antenna of the non-contact IC label described in Patent Document 1 is formed by etching a metal thin film such as aluminum or copper formed on a base material. In order to change this, it is necessary to change the etching plate itself. Even when the antenna is formed by printing the conductive paste, it is necessary to change the printing plate. None of these can be changed easily.

  Furthermore, the above-described impedance adjustment usually requires a plurality of trials and errors in which a prototype non-contact IC label is attached to an adherend, the impedance is measured, and fine adjustment is made based on the measurement result. Therefore, in the non-contact IC label described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of etching plates or printing plates every time the adherend is changed, and there is a problem that it is difficult to adjust the impedance.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a non-contact IC label capable of easily adjusting the impedance of an antenna.

  The non-contact IC label of the present invention includes an IC chip capable of non-contact data communication with an external reader, a first antenna connected to the IC chip to assist the data communication, and a film made of a conductive material. The first region and the second region are connected to each other through a connection portion made of a conductive material, and the first end and the second end of the first antenna are connected to the first region and the second region, respectively. A second antenna electrically connected to the second region; and the IC chip is disposed between the first region and the second region in a state of being separated from the connection part. And

  According to the non-contact IC label of the present invention, the impedance of the antenna can be adjusted without changing the shape of the second antenna by adjusting the distance between the connection portion of the second antenna and the IC chip. .

  The second antenna has an insulating layer made of an insulating material on one surface, and the first end and the second end of the first antenna are each in the first region with the insulating layer interposed therebetween. And may be electrically connected to the second region. In this case, the first antenna can be easily formed.

  The second antenna has a width of the connection portion set smaller than a width of an end portion connected to the connection portion of the first region and the second region, and is formed in an H shape as a whole. Also good. In the second antenna, the first region and the second region are formed in a semicircular shape, and the first region and the second region are arranged to face each other with an arc as an outside. Also good. In these cases, the design of the second antenna can be improved.

  The first antenna may be formed of a conductive paste and printed on a base material of the second antenna. In this case, the distance between the IC chip and the connection portion can be easily adjusted by changing the printing position of the second antenna.

  The first antenna may include an insulating antenna substrate and a conductive layer made of a metal thin film or a conductive paste formed on the antenna substrate. In this case, the first antenna can be mass-produced at a high speed in a separate process, and the distance between the IC chip and the connection portion can be easily adjusted by changing the attachment position with respect to the second antenna.

  The non-contact IC label of the present invention may further include an optical change device formed on the second antenna. In this case, the security and design properties of the non-contact IC label can be further improved. It is also possible to use the second antenna as a reflective layer of the optical change device.

  According to the non-contact IC label of the present invention, it is possible to provide a non-contact IC label that can easily adjust the impedance of the antenna.

Hereinafter, a non-contact IC label (hereinafter simply referred to as an “IC label”) according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an IC label 1 of this embodiment. The IC label 1 includes an IC chip 2 for data communication with an external reading device, a first antenna 3 connected to the IC chip 2, a second antenna 4 connected to the first antenna 3, and a second antenna 4 And an optical change device 5 provided on the upper surface of the.

  2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. The IC chip 2 is made of silicon single crystal or the like, and is mounted on the first antenna 3 by heat and pressure bonding using an anisotropic conductive adhesive or the like. Communication is possible.

The second antenna 4 provided on the upper surface of the IC label 1 can be formed by forming a metal thin film such as an aluminum deposited film having conductivity into a shape described later by a known method such as etching. The insulating layer 6 is formed by leaving the mask layer made of polyamideimide or the like used for the etching on the second antenna 4.
In place of this, the IC label is slightly thick, but it is also possible to form the second antenna on an insulating sheet-like base material and use the base material as the insulating layer 6.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the second antenna 4 is configured by connecting a substantially rectangular first area 4 </ b> A and a second area 4 </ b> B arranged on the left and right sides by a strip-shaped connection portion 4 </ b> C. The width w1 of the connecting portion 4C is set smaller than the widths W1 and W2 of the first region 4A and the second region 4B to which the connecting portion 4C is connected, and the first region 4A and the second region 4B have a plan view. It is formed in a substantially H shape having gaps G1 and G2 therebetween.

  The connecting portion 4C is provided apart from the IC chip 2 disposed between the first region 4A and the second region 4B by a predetermined distance so as not to overlap with the IC chip 2 in plan view. As will be described later, the impedance of the antenna of the IC label 1 is determined by the distance between the IC chip 2 and the connection portion 4C.

  The first antenna 3 for assisting data communication of the IC chip 2 is known below the insulating layer 6 using a conductive paste such as silver paste ink, that is, on the surface opposite to the surface on which the second antenna 4 is formed. By being printed by the method, it is formed in, for example, a strip shape shown in FIG. The printed first antenna 3 has a thickness of 5 μm, which is sufficiently thin as compared with a thickness of 100 μm of a label base material to be described later, so that the flatness of the IC label 3 is hardly affected.

  The first end 3A and the second end 3B of the first antenna 3 are capacitively coupled to the first region 4A and the second region 4B of the second antenna 4 using the insulating layer 6 having insulation as a dielectric, respectively. The second antenna 4 reinforces the communication power of the first antenna 3. The electrical coupling capacity between the first antenna 3 and the second antenna 4 is at least about 1 picofarad (PF) when the communication frequency between the IC chip 2 and the external reader is 2.45 GHz (GHz). If possible, high-frequency conduction can be obtained.

The size and shape of the first antenna 3 are preferably set so that the IC chip 2 cannot communicate normally without the second antenna 4. In this way, it is possible to improve security when the IC label 1 is disassembled as will be described later.
On the other hand, if such a security measure is not required due to the specifications of the IC label, the first antenna 3 may be formed in a size and shape that allows the IC chip 2 to communicate normally without the second antenna 4.

The optical change device 5 is a layered structure in which a three-dimensional image is expressed or a color shift in which the color changes depending on the viewing angle, and a relief type or volume type hologram and a plurality of types of diffraction gratings are arranged as pixels. A diffraction grating image such as a grating image or a pixelgram, a ceramic causing color shift, a thin film laminate of a metal material, and the like are appropriately selected and formed by a known method.
The optical change device 5 is formed on a label base material 7 that covers the uppermost surface of the IC label 1, and the label base material 7 faces the second antenna 4 with the surface on which the optical change device 5 is formed. It is fixed on the top surface.
As the label substrate 7, a transparent sheet-like material made of a resin such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene copolymer synthetic resin (ABS), or the like can be used. .

  When the optical change device 5 is provided, the optical change device 5 is provided on the label substrate 7, and the second antenna 4 is formed in an appropriate pattern thereon. As will be described later, when the second antenna is also used as the reflective layer of the optical change device 5, it is generally preferable to manufacture the second antenna 4 when forming the optical change device.

In the case where the second antenna 4 is formed into a pattern by etching, it is preferable to perform etching by providing a mask layer having an appropriate pattern on the deposited film on which metal or the like is deposited.
As described above, when the second antenna and the first antenna are connected by capacitive coupling, if the mask layer is left without being removed, the mask layer can be used as the insulating layer 6. It is also convenient.

In general, the optical change device includes a reflection layer (e.g., a vapor deposition layer made of aluminum) for providing an optical effect, such as a relief hologram or a diffraction grating, and a printing display or security ink or pearl ink. Although there is a layer that does not necessarily require the reflective layer, such as a multilayer interference thin film, any type may be adopted as the optical change device 5 of the present embodiment.
In the case of an optical change device such as a relief hologram or a diffraction grating, a reflective layer (reflection layer) is often provided in order to enhance the diffraction effect. In this case, the second antenna 4 can also be used as a reflection layer of the optical change device.
When the optical change device 5 is a relief hologram or a diffraction grating, it is possible to obtain a beautiful design and to prevent forgery. Further, when the second antenna 4 is also used as a reflection layer of a relief hologram or a diffraction grating, the appearance of the relief hologram or the diffraction grating is impaired if the IC chip 2 is disassembled in an unauthorized manner such as replacement. In addition, since the second antenna is damaged and normal communication becomes difficult, an effect on security measures can be expected.

  An adhesive layer 8 is provided on the entire lower portion of the insulating layer 6 including the IC chip 2 and the first antenna 3, and the IC label 1 is adhered to various adherends such as a credit card by the adhesive force.

In the IC label 1 configured as described above, the current generated by the capacitive coupling described above is applied to the second antenna 4 from one end of the first antenna 3 as indicated by an arrow A1 in FIG. Since a loop that passes through the connecting portion 4C and returns to the other end of the first antenna 3 is formed, the current value becomes maximum at the connecting portion 4C. Then, since the current is radially distributed from each part of the loop to the first region 4A and the second region 4B as indicated by the arrow A2, the communication efficiency of the first antenna 3 is improved by the second antenna 4.
Since the current flowing through the IC label 1 is a high-frequency alternating current, the current flows through the loop indicated by the arrow A1 in the reverse direction. However, the current also flows in the first region 4A and the second region as indicated by the arrow A2. Disperse radially to 4B.

  The impedance of the antenna as the entire IC label 1 including the first antenna 3 and the second antenna 4 is determined by the distance L between the connection portion 4C and the IC chip 2 shown in FIG. Therefore, the printing position of the first antenna 3 on the insulating layer 6 of the second antenna 4 is changed by adjusting the position to be set in the printing apparatus, and the distance L between the connecting portion 4C and the IC chip 2 is changed. By doing so, the impedance of the antenna of the completed IC label can be easily adjusted.

  According to the IC label 1 of this embodiment, the printing position of the first antenna 3 is changed, and the distance L between the connection portion 4C of the second antenna 4 and the IC chip 2 is changed, thereby providing the first by providing a slit or the like. The impedance of the antenna can be adjusted without changing the shape of the two antennas 4. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform complicated steps such as changing the etching plate of the second antenna in order to adjust the impedance of the antenna, and the IC chip 2 can be easily adjusted by adjusting the impedance of the antenna according to the dielectric constant of the adherend. The impedance can be matched.

  In addition, since the optical change device 5 is provided on the second antenna 4, the decoration effect of the IC label 1 can be enhanced and the security can be improved. Further, when the optical change device 5 requires a reflective layer, the second antenna 4 made of a metal thin film can be used as the reflective layer of the optical change device 5, so that an increase in the number of parts and man-hours can be suppressed and the IC can be reduced. The performance of the label 1 can be improved.

  Furthermore, since the insulating layer 6 is interposed between the second antenna 4 and the first antenna 3, it is easy to print the first antenna, and an IC label that is easy to manufacture can be configured.

  Next, an IC label according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The difference between the IC label 11 of the present embodiment and the above-described IC label 1 is the shape of the second antenna. In addition, about the component same as the above-mentioned 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view of the IC label 11. The second antenna 14 is configured such that the first region 12A and the second region 12B are integrally connected by the connecting portion 13. The connecting portion 13 is longer in the width direction than the connecting portion 4C of the first embodiment, and one end portion 13A in the width direction is continuous with the end portions of the first region 12A and the second region 12B. Is formed. For this reason, the space between the first region 12A and the second region 12B is only the gap G1, and has no gap G2.

  Also in the IC label 11 of this embodiment, as indicated by an arrow A3 in FIG. 4, a current loop substantially the same as that of the first embodiment is formed, and the first region is indicated from each part of the loop by an arrow A4. 12A and the second region 12B are distributed radially, so that the communication efficiency of the first antenna 3 is improved by the second antenna 14 as in the IC label 1 of the first embodiment.

  Further, since the connection portion 13 is formed such that the space between the first region 12A and the second region 12B is only one place of the gap G1, the distance between the connection portion 13 and the IC chip 2 is increased. The area of the second antenna can be increased while maintaining the function of easily adjusting the impedance. Therefore, the installable area of the optical change device is expanded, the degree of freedom in design when installing the optical change device is improved, and the decoration effect of the optical change device can be further enhanced.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. .

For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the example in which the first region and the second region of the second antenna are quadrangular has been described, but the shapes of the first region and the second region are not limited to this. For example, like the IC label 21 of the modification shown in FIG. 5, the first region 22A and the second region 22B are formed in a semicircular shape, and are connected to the connecting portion 22C with the arcs facing each other outward. The second antenna 22 may be formed in a substantially circular shape.
In addition, the second antenna of the present invention only needs to have the first region and the second region on the left and right sides of the IC chip and maintain the basic shape as a dipole antenna. You may change the shape of a 1st area | region and a 2nd area | region freely according to the shape of a change device.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the example in which the first antenna is directly printed on the insulating layer has been described. Instead of this, sputtering or vapor deposition is performed on one surface of the antenna substrate made of a sheet-like insulating material. The first antenna may be formed by forming a metal thin film or forming a conductive layer by a method such as printing using a conductive paste or the like and cutting it into a desired shape.
In this case, the distance between the connection portion and the IC chip can be easily changed by changing the bonding and fixing position of the first antenna with respect to the second antenna, so that the first feature is maintained while maintaining the advantages of the present invention. Antennas can be efficiently manufactured in large quantities, and the manufacturing efficiency of IC labels can be improved.

  In the IC label of the present invention, the insulating layer is not essential. Accordingly, the first antenna may be provided directly on the second antenna by a method such as printing, and the IC label may be configured so that the first antenna and the second antenna are directly connected.

  Further, in the IC label of the present invention, an optical change device is not essential. Therefore, when it is not necessary to mount an optical change device according to the specifications, only the second antenna may be formed on the upper surface and configured as an IC label covered with a label base material.

It is a top view which shows the non-contact IC label of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing in the AA of FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of the electric current in the non-contact IC label. It is a top view which shows the non-contact IC label and current flow of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the modification of the non-contact IC label of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 11, 21 Non-contact IC label 2 IC chip 3 First antenna 3A First end 3B Second end 4, 14, 22 Second antenna 4A, 12A, 22A First area 4B, 12B, 22B Second area 4C, 13, 22C Connection 5 Optical change device 6 Insulating layer

Claims (7)

An IC chip capable of data communication without contact with an external reader;
A first antenna connected to the IC chip to assist the data communication;
The film-like first region and the second region made of a conductive material are formed to be connected by a connection portion made of a conductive material, and the first end and the second end of the first antenna are respectively A second antenna electrically connected to the first region and the second region;
With
The non-contact IC label, wherein the IC chip is disposed between the first area and the second area in a state of being separated from the connection portion.   The second antenna has an insulating layer made of an insulating material on one surface, and the first end and the second end of the first antenna are each in the first region with the insulating layer interposed therebetween. The non-contact IC label according to claim 1, wherein the non-contact IC label is electrically connected to the second region.   The second antenna has a width of the connection portion set smaller than a width of an end portion connected to the connection portion of the first region and the second region, and is formed in an H shape as a whole. The non-contact IC label according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:   In the second antenna, the first region and the second region are formed in a semicircular shape, and the first region and the second region are arranged to face each other with an arc as an outside. The non-contact IC label according to claim 1 or 2.   5. The non-contact IC label according to claim 1, wherein the first antenna is formed by printing on the second antenna using a conductive paste. 6. The first antenna is
An insulating antenna substrate;
A conductive layer made of a metal thin film or conductive paste formed on the antenna substrate;
The non-contact IC label according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the non-contact IC label is provided.   The contactless IC label according to claim 1, further comprising an optical change device formed on the second antenna.

Images