JP2014211847A - Contact type ic card and fabrication method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an accommodation part structure on a card base material so that a melting adhesion layer does not spill over a surface of the card base material when accommodating an IC module at a predetermined position of the card base material and anchoring the IC module by the adhesion layer.SOLUTION: An IC module has an external connection terminal provided on one principal surface of a substrate, and an IC mounting part covered by molding resin provided on the other principal surface, and a contact type IC card has the IC module accommodated and anchored at a concavity part formed at a prescribed portion of a card base material provided with a front exterior sheet and a rear exterior sheet on a front/rear of a core sheet via an adhesion layer so that the external connection terminal is exposed on a surface. The concavity part penetrating the front exterior sheet and having a bottom part in the core sheet has a side wall shape and a bottom surface shape almost corresponding to a first principal surface of an IC module substrate and a shape of the IC mounting part, but a concavity part side wall of the front exterior sheet has a tilt in a reverse taper shape. A melt/hardened adhesive fills a gap composed of the reverse taper part and a flange part of the IC module.

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact IC card having an IC chip capable of reading and writing data with an external device, and more particularly to a structure of a contact portion suitable for incorporating an IC module in a card substrate.

  The IC card 10 is roughly composed of an IC module 1 and a card base 11 as shown in FIG. The IC module 1 normally has a contact electrode 1b that can come into contact with an electrode on the external device side on one main surface of a plastic substrate 1a, and an IC chip 3 is mounted on the other main surface (see FIG. 1. See also Fig. 4). A through hole 1c for connecting to the contact electrode 1b on the surface opposite to the IC chip 3 is formed in advance around the IC chip 3 in the plastic substrate 1a. In the IC chip 3 mounted on the plastic substrate 1 a, the chip connection terminal and the contact electrode 1 b exposed at the bottom of the through hole are connected by the metal wire 5. Further, the periphery of the IC and the connection member is covered with a mold resin 4 so as to protect the IC chip 3 and the connection portion from external pressure.

  As shown in FIG. 4 and the like, the IC module is mounted on the card base so that the contact electrode 1b of the IC module is substantially flush with the surface of the card base 11 and is finally exposed on the surface of the card base. It is accommodated in the provided accommodation part (hereinafter referred to as the recess 13). In general, the recess 13 generally has a structure in which a predetermined portion of the card base 11 is arranged in two steps in a concave shape (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the IC module 1, a collar portion 1 d on the outer periphery of the IC module is fixed and accommodated around the stepped portion 13 a in the middle of the concave portion 13 via an adhesive layer 9.

  The IC module 1 is housed in the recess 13 by bonding with an adhesive layer 9 disposed at the contact site. The adhesive layer 9 is composed of a thermosetting adhesive sheet, a substrate side adhesive that adheres to the IC module 1 side on one side of the interlayer paper, and a card base that adheres to the card base 11 side on the opposite side. It has a structure having a side adhesive. Of course, non-sheet type adhesives and non-thermosetting type adhesives can also be used.

  The concave portion 13 on the card substrate 11 is provided slightly larger (for example, about 0.2 mm) than the outer dimension of the IC module 1. If the external dimension of the recess 13 is smaller than the IC module 1, the IC module 1 cannot be stored and the IC module protrudes from the surface of the IC card. On the other hand, if the concave portion 13 is provided too large, the gap becomes conspicuous and the appearance becomes unsightly.

  There is another problem even in moderate cases. After the adhesive sheet 9 is mounted on the step 13 a and the side wall 13 b of the card substrate recess 13, the IC module is picked up and accommodated in the recess 13. Thereafter, the module substrate 1 is pressed against the concave portion 13 side by hot press, but the adhesive sheet is melted by heat, and the melt is deformed and flows by pressure. At this time, if the outer shape and the concave portion of the IC module are the same size, the molten adhesive layer 9 may protrude from the card surface through the gap as shown in FIG.

  For example, there is no particular problem when the card base recess is about 0.2 mm larger than the outer dimension of the IC module. However, in reality, the IC module is rarely mounted straight with respect to the card base recess, and there is little displacement. May be generated or bent. In FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, although it has drawn so that there may be allowance from the level | step difference 13a to the card | curd base material surface, a front and exterior sheet | seat sheet is about 50-100 micrometers and is thin.

  In that case, a defect that a part of the melted adhesive or sheet 9 does not fit in the card recess 13 and protrudes onto the card face occurs. When this defect occurs, not only does the appearance deteriorate, but the card bases stick together when they are stacked during card base transport, and it is difficult to remove them one by one in the issuing machine or printer due to blocking. is there. In addition, there is a problem that a printing defect occurs due to the formation of a convex portion on the card face. Conventionally, the hot-press press conditions have been devised so that the adhesive sheet 9 does not protrude, but this is not a fundamental solution.

JP 2010-073050 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in manufacturing a contact IC card, an adhesive layer or a molten adhesive layer is used when an IC module is accommodated in a predetermined position of a card base and fixed with an adhesive. The object of the present invention is to provide an accommodation structure on the card substrate side that does not overflow on the card substrate surface.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that an external connection terminal is provided in a recess formed in a predetermined portion of a card base provided with a front and back exterior sheet and a back and exterior sheet on the front and back of a core sheet. An IC module provided on one main surface and having an IC mounting portion coated with a mold resin on the other main surface is accommodated and fixed via an adhesive layer so that the external connection terminals are exposed on the surface. A contact IC card,
The concave portion that penetrates the front exterior sheet and has the bottom portion in the core sheet has a side wall shape and a bottom shape substantially corresponding to the shapes of the first main surface and the IC mounting portion of the IC module substrate.
The concave side wall of the front exterior sheet has a reverse taper-like inclination, and the melt-cured adhesive fills the gap formed by the reverse taper part and the collar part of the IC module. It is an IC card.

The invention according to claim 2 is a step of milling an opening having a tapered cut surface in a full-size sheet for a front and exterior sheet,
A step of laminating a back and outer sheet on one side of the core sheet and a front and outer sheet so that the opening is reversely tapered on the other side to form a full-size sheet-like card substrate;
Milling a recess for accommodating the IC module from above the opening into the core sheet;
Attaching a thermosetting adhesive sheet to a predetermined part of the IC module or a predetermined part of the recess;
A step of accommodating the IC module in the concave portion of the front exterior sheet and the card substrate;
A process of accommodating and fixing the IC module to the card substrate by thermocompression bonding the adhesive sheet;
The method for manufacturing a contact IC card according to claim 1, further comprising a step of cutting a full-size sheet into a single-side contact IC card.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the method for producing a contact type IC card according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the outer cover sheet is in the range of 50 to 100 μm.

  According to the present invention, as a result of the adhesive no longer sticking out between the IC module and the housing portion on the card surface, the blocking in the process is reduced, and the appearance is not impaired even in the card surface printing at the post-processing, and the printing failure is reduced. To do. Overall, the IC card manufacturing yield is improved.

It is a figure of sectional view (AA of FIG. 2) explaining the structure of the IC module accommodating part of the contact-type IC card concerning this invention. It is a figure of the front view explaining typically the outline of a contact type IC card, and the position of an IC module. It is process drawing of the cross sectional view explaining a part of manufacturing process of the contact-type IC card which concerns on this invention. It is a figure of the cross-sectional view explaining the position of the adhesive agent when accommodating an IC module in a card base part recessed part. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating how the adhesive overflows from the gap in the state of FIG. 4.

  Since the contact IC card performs data communication by bringing the reader / writer device into contact with each other's electrodes, standards such as the outer shape and size of the card, the electrode position, etc. are internationally determined as schematically shown in FIG. (ISO / IEC7816). Therefore, the contact IC card 10 has a form in which the IC module 1 in which the IC chip and the contact electrode are integrated is embedded at a predetermined position of the card base 11 so that the electrode can be contacted.

  In the IC module 1, the connection terminal of the IC chip 3 and the contact electrode 1b are connected. In general, a plurality of planar electrodes are patterned on the surface of the plastic substrate 1a, and the IC chip 3 is mounted on the back surface. The electrodes are connected to each other above, and have a size of about 1 cm square and a thickness of about 0.5 mm.

  The IC module 1 is accommodated in an opening (recessed portion 13) provided in the card substrate 11, and as shown in FIG. 4, an adhesive 9 is disposed and fixed on the step 13a of the contact portion. In that case, if the size of the IC module 1 and the size of the opening 11 of the card base are substantially the same, the adhesive 9 may overflow from the gap at the boundary to the surface of the card base 11 (see FIG. 5). is there. If there is an allowance in size, a gap is formed between the module substrate 1 and the card base 11, and the appearance is unsightly.

  In the present invention, when the IC card is viewed from the front side, the boundary between the module substrate 1 and the card base 11 is not visible, and the thermosetting adhesive 9 overflows even when melted. A gap 15 having a sufficient volume is provided at the contact portion between the card substrate 11 and the IC module 1 by adopting a simple process.

  The position and shape of the gap 15 in cross-sectional view are as shown in FIG. The boundary between the two is not parallel in a cross-sectional view but is a right-angled triangle with a wide lower side. The apex of the triangle is set in the vicinity of the surface of the card 10 so that the gap 15 that extends downward is difficult to be seen in the top view. The height and bottom area of the triangle can be adjusted according to the amount of the adhesive material 9. Further, the shape is limited to the triangle because it is easy to process, and other shapes may be used as long as the lower side is wide.

In providing the gap 15, the card base 11 is generally manufactured by laminating a plurality of plastic bases. Usually, the thin outer cover sheet 6 and the lower outer cover sheet 8 are bonded to the front and back of the relatively thick core sheet 7 or are integrally formed by heat melting or the like. Each sheet may also consist of a plurality of sheets. Although it is possible to provide the integrated card substrate 11 after lamination with the concave portion 13 having the shape shown in FIG. 1 in a sectional view, it is not easy to handle the milling jig. 1, 4, and 5, the back exterior sheet 8 is omitted, and in FIGS. 4 and 5, these are integrated and depicted as a core sheet 7.

  In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, an opening (through hole) 12 having substantially the same shape as that of the IC module 1 having the tapered cut surface 14 is provided in the front exterior sheet 6. Next, the outer cover sheet 6 was overlaid on the core sheet 7 so that the opening 12 was reverse taper, and then the recess 13 for accommodating the IC module was formed in the core sheet 7. The space formed by the tapered portion 14 and the outer periphery of the mounted IC module is utilized as a gap through which the adhesive layer can flow. For a plus-chip substrate, the taper shape is relatively easy to manufacture by molding or the like, and the taper angle can be set. The front exterior sheet 6 may be a single layer or a plurality of layers.

  Therefore, the accommodation form of the IC module 1 in the card base 11 of the present invention is as shown in FIG. The front exterior sheet 6 has an opening having a taper 14 whose outer shape substantially matches the outer shape of the IC module 1 (a square with rounded corners). The core sheet 7 is provided with a recess 13 having a two-stage structure, and the intermediate step 13a is set such that the width of the IC module collar 1d is mounted and completely adhered.

  The depth to the level difference 13 a is the sum of the depth to the level difference of the core sheet 7 and the thickness of the front exterior sheet 6. If the sum is constant, the thickness of the outer cover sheet 6 can be appropriately set within a range where a sufficient space can be taken. On the other hand, the thickness (depth) up to the step 13a is set equal to or slightly larger than the sum of the thickness of the collar portion 1d of the IC module 1 and the thickness of the solidified adhesive layer 9 (to the extent that there is no problem with electrical contact). ). The thickness (depth) from the surface of the outer packaging sheet 6 to the bottom surface 13c of the recess is set to be the same as or slightly thicker than the total thickness of the IC module. It is preferable that the mold resin 4 does not contact the concave bottom surface 13c.

  Even if the adhesive sheet 9 used for bonding the IC module 1 and the surface of the concave step 13a is heated and melted for bonding, the molten adhesive remains between the IC module and the concave taper portion. It fits in the gap and does not protrude from the card surface. The thickness and taper angle 14 of the outer cover sheet 6 can be adjusted as appropriate. The same effect can be expected for non-sheet type and non-thermosetting type.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in accordance with the manufacturing process of the contact IC card.

<Manufacture of IC module substrate>
A glass epoxy substrate is often used as a base material for an IC module, but the material is not limited to glass epoxy, and any material that can be a substrate such as polyimide or a lead frame may be used. Moreover, although it may be a single-sided board (in the case of a contact IC module) or a double-sided board (in the case of a dual IC module) depending on the form of the IC module, the thickness is about 100 to 170 μm. The IC module is manufactured in a reel-to-reel manner with multiple faces on a strip-shaped glass epoxy substrate.

  First, a plurality of through holes are provided for punching the glass epoxy substrate of the base substrate to expose the electrode surface. (In the case of a dual IC card, strictly speaking, the inside is filled with a conductive paste through holes.)

Next, in order to form an electrode for external connection, lamination of the copper foil is performed on one main surface of the base material, and an electrode pattern is formed on the main surface through a regular etching process. Finally, a nickel / gold or silver plating layer is formed on the copper electrode surface by electrolytic plating or electroless plating. The plating material is not particularly limited, but palladium or the like may be deposited as a base treatment. If it is a through hole, the conductive paste is filled by screen printing or the like.

<IC chip>
The IC chip forms a circuit pattern on a Si wafer and polishes the Si wafer to make the thickness of the wafer a specified thickness. Thereafter, it is separated into individual pieces by a dicing device and separated into one IC chip to be manufactured. After applying an adhesive to a predetermined part on the other main surface of the glass epoxy substrate, an IC chip is mounted on the part.

<Wire bonding>
After the IC chip is mounted on a predetermined portion, wire bonding is performed to connect each terminal of the IC chip to the external connection terminal on one main surface or to connect to the antenna connection terminal. In wire bonding, an electrode surface or a through hole (electrode) on the other main surface side and an IC chip electrode are connected with a gold wire using a bonding apparatus. As the wire, a gold wire is usually used, but other wire materials such as copper and aluminum may be used.

<Resin mold>
After the wire bonding step, sealing molding is performed using a mold resin such as an epoxy resin in order to protect the IC chip and the wire connection part. As a sealing method, there are a transfer molding method, a potting method, a printing method and the like, but the method is not limited. The sealing material is a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, an ultraviolet curable resin, or the like. The IC module is manufactured by curing the sealing resin in each method. At this time, it is desirable to make the mold resin have a taper angle.

<Manufacture of contact type IC card>
The card substrate of the IC card is made of a plastic sheet such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate copolymer (PET-G), polycarbonate (PC) or the like. These plastic sheets are laminated, and the thickness of the card is set to 0.8 mm by heat laminating, an adhesive, or the like to form a card body. Since the front exterior sheet and the back exterior sheet are used with design properties such as letters and figures, a plastic material having printability is used.
Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIG.

<Sheet processing>
First, the exterior sheet 6 is prepared in full size or in a roll shape (FIG. 3A), and the outer exterior sheet 6 is milled by the number to be manufactured by multi-faceting to form the opening 12 (FIG. 3 shows a module). It is shown by itself.) The outer shape of the opening 12 is substantially the same as the outer shape of the IC module. Milling is performed so that the drilled surface is tapered so that a gap is formed between the core sheet, the IC module, and the outer cover sheet (FIG. 3B). The opening 12 may be manufactured by punching, drilling, or the like, or by extrusion molding.

<Lamination>
The exterior sheet 6 in which the opening 12 is formed is used as a front and exterior sheet in a card layer configuration, and the core sheet 7 and the back exterior sheet 8 are laminated and bonded together using heat or an adhesive material to manufacture the card base 11. To do. At that time, the openings 12 are laminated so that the taper of the opening 12 becomes reverse taper (FIG. 3C).

<Milling processing>
A milling tool 16 is inserted from the opening 12 of the completed card base, and the two-stage rectangular recess 13 for embedding the IC module is milled into the core sheet. The shape of the opening on the surface of the core sheet 7 is substantially the same as the shape of the opening on the upper surface of the front exterior sheet 6 (FIG. 3C). The width of the step 13a inside the recess 13 may be close to the mold resin, but it needs to be a width that maintains the adhesive strength. The depth to the step 13a is adjusted as appropriate. The reason why the recesses 13 are formed in two steps is due to the relative relationship between the height of the collar portion of the IC module and the thickness of the outer cover sheet. It is also conceivable that the formation of a simple recess is sufficient.

<Mounting processing>
An IC module is mounted on the card base 11 that has been milled (hereinafter not shown). Prior to mounting, the adhesive sheet is pasted at a position where both the IC module or the recess come into contact. Generally, it is either an appropriate part below the collar part of the module substrate, or above the step in the recess and on the side wall part. The adhesive sheet has a four-layer configuration of substrate side adhesive / interlayer paper / card substrate side adhesive / release paper, and is wound around a core (not shown) from the substrate side adhesive side and configured as a roll. In the same manner as the tape-like substrate, it is formed in a roll shape as a strip-like adhesive sheet that is much longer (for example, 50 m). In this case, it is easier to affix to the collar part of the IC module manufactured in a strip-like manner than to affix on the step of the recess.

  In any case, the IC module is punched into an appropriate size to be mounted on the IC card from the reel-shaped substrate during the mounting process, picked up on a milled card base, and temporarily fixed via an adhesive sheet. The Then, it is accommodated in the concave portion of the card base so that the electrode surface and the outer layer surface are substantially flush with each other by being crimped by a hot press.

  The present invention is functionally applicable to a card adopting a contact module structure such as a hybrid card and a dual card in addition to the contact type IC card described in the present embodiment. Specifically, they are cash cards, credit cards, transportation cards, public cards such as the Basic Resident Register, and various types of identification cards.

1. IC module 1a, (base) base material 1b, contact electrode 1c, through hole 1d, collar part 2, IC chip mounting part 3, IC chip 4, mold resin 5, metal wire 6, front exterior sheet (or exterior sheet) Sheet)
7, Core sheet 8, Back exterior sheet 9, Adhesive layer (sheet, adhesive)
10, (contact type) IC card 11, card substrate 12, opening (through hole)
13, recess (IC module housing)
13a, step 13b, side wall 13c, bottom surface 14, taper 15, gap 16, milling tool

Claims (3)

An IC mounting portion in which external connection terminals are provided on one main surface of a substrate in a concave portion formed in a predetermined portion of a card base material having front and back exterior sheets and back and front exterior sheets on the front and back sides of the core sheet, and coated with a mold resin Is a contact type IC card that is housed and fixed via an adhesive layer so that the external connection terminals are exposed on the surface.
The concave portion that penetrates the front exterior sheet and has the bottom portion in the core sheet has a side wall shape and a bottom shape substantially corresponding to the shapes of the first main surface and the IC mounting portion of the IC module substrate.
The concave side wall of the front exterior sheet has a reverse taper-like inclination, and the melt-cured adhesive fills the gap formed by the reverse taper part and the collar part of the IC module. IC card. Milling an opening having a tapered cut surface on a full-size sheet for a front exterior sheet,
A step of laminating a back and outer sheet on one side of the core sheet and a front and outer sheet so that the opening is reversely tapered on the other side to form a full-size sheet-like card substrate;
Milling a recess for accommodating the IC module from above the opening into the core sheet;
Attaching a thermosetting adhesive sheet to a predetermined part of the IC module or a predetermined part of the recess;
A step of accommodating the IC module in the concave portion of the front exterior sheet and the card substrate;
A process of accommodating and fixing the IC module to the card substrate by thermocompression bonding the adhesive sheet;
The method for manufacturing a contact type IC card according to claim 1, further comprising a step of cutting a full-size sheet into a single side contact type IC card.   3. The method for producing a contact type IC card according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the outer cover sheet is in the range of 50 to 100 μm.