JP3037384U - IC card and socket - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) An object of the present invention is to provide an IC card which can prevent electromagnetic noise from entering an integrated circuit at low cost without causing contact failure due to warpage. An integrated circuit (11) is built in, and the integrated circuit (1) is provided.
1 and a plurality of terminals 12a to 12h for transmitting and receiving signals between the external circuit and the external circuit are formed on one main surface, and the plurality of terminals 12a to 12h are dispersed and arranged on almost the entire one main surface. Has been done. Also, the plurality of terminals 12a to 12h
Covers almost the entire one main surface. This IC card 1
Is housed in a socket having a leaf spring that comes into contact with the terminals 12a to 12h with spring pressure, the spring pressure of the leaf spring is applied to the entire surface of the substrate 10 almost uniformly. Also, terminal 1
2e ′ prevents electromagnetic noise from entering the integrated circuit 11.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

 The present invention relates to an IC card and a socket for storing the IC card, and more particularly to the arrangement of its terminals.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 2. Description of the Related Art There have been known electronic devices such as electronic notebooks which are used by mounting an IC card on the apparatus body. In this IC card, generally, a semiconductor integrated circuit placed on a substrate is sealed with resin, and a plurality of terminals for transmitting signals between the semiconductor integrated circuit and an external circuit are provided on the substrate. It has been formed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional IC card. In the IC card 3, a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) 31 placed on the substrate 30 is sealed with a resin 33, and a plurality of terminals 32a to 32h connected to the IC card are provided at end portions of the substrate 30. Is formed in.

On the other hand, the electronic device in which the IC card 3 is mounted has a socket for housing the IC card 3. The socket is provided with a plurality of leaf springs made of a conductor and connected to an external circuit. Each of these leaf springs is pressed against the plurality of terminals 32a to 32h of the IC card 3 by its spring pressure. As a result, the IC 31 and the external circuit are electrically connected.

However, the IC card 3 has the following problems because all of the plurality of terminals 32a to 32h are arranged at one end of the substrate 30.

First, since the IC 31 is covered with an insulator, electromagnetic noise easily enters the IC 31. In order to prevent this, it is conceivable to form a conductor on the surface of the substrate 30 facing the IC 31. However, when this conductor is formed by etching together with the terminals 32a to 32h, there is a space between the conductor and the terminals 32a to 32h, the required chemicals increase, and the manufacturing cost of the IC card 3 increases. . On the other hand, the production cost of the IC card 3 also increases when a sticker made of a conductor is attached.

Further, when the IC card 3 is housed in the socket, as shown in FIG. 6A, the spring pressure P3 of the leaf spring 41 is applied to only one side of the IC card 3. Therefore, if the IC card 3 is stored in the socket for a long time, the spring pressure P3 may cause the substrate 30 to warp. When the IC card 3 in which the substrate 30 is warped is housed in the socket of another electronic device, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the spring pressure of the leaf spring 41 ′ is small, the terminals 32a to 32h and the leaf spring are not formed. 41 'may cause poor contact.

Further, the plurality of terminals 32a to 32h are arranged in a line. Then, the plurality of leaf springs provided in the socket for housing the IC card 3 are also arranged in a line. When the number of leaf springs arranged in a line in this manner increases, as shown in FIG. 7, the spring pressure becomes extremely higher than the average of the spring pressures P4-1 to P4-8 of all the leaf springs 32a to 32h. There is a high possibility that a smaller leaf spring (P4-3 in the figure) (32c in the figure) will occur. If there is a leaf spring whose spring pressure is extremely smaller than the others, contact failure between the leaf spring and the terminal is likely to occur, and the socket becomes a defective product. That is, the greater the number of leaf springs arranged in a row, the worse the yield of sockets.

[0009]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 The present invention has been made in order to solve the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional example, and the first purpose thereof is to prevent warpage due to spring pressure of a leaf spring connected to a terminal of an IC card. The purpose is to provide an IC card that does not cause contact failure due to this warp.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an IC card which can prevent electromagnetic noise from entering the IC and can keep the manufacturing cost low. A third object of the present invention is to provide a socket which can improve the yield.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the first object, an IC card according to a first aspect of the present invention has an integrated circuit built-in, and has a plurality of terminals for exchanging signals between the integrated circuit and an external circuit. It is an IC card formed on one main surface, wherein the plurality of terminals are dispersed and arranged on almost the entire one main surface.

When used, the IC card is usually stored in a socket provided inside the electronic device. When the IC card is stored in the socket, the spring pressure of the leaf spring provided in the socket is applied to each terminal of the IC card. Here, by arranging a plurality of terminals dispersed over the entire IC card, the spring pressure of the leaf spring is dispersed over the entire IC card. Therefore, even if the IC card is stored in the socket for a long time, the IC card does not warp. Therefore, even when the IC card is housed in the socket of another electronic device in which the spring pressure of the leaf panel is weak, there is no contact failure between the terminal of the IC card and the leaf spring of the socket.

In order to achieve the second object, the IC card according to the second aspect of the present invention has an integrated circuit built-in, and exchanges a signal between the integrated circuit and an external circuit. Is an IC card having a plurality of terminals formed on one main surface, wherein the plurality of terminals are formed on substantially the entire one main surface.

As a result, the size of each terminal inevitably increases. Therefore, even if the positions of the plurality of terminals are slightly deviated, the leaf springs of the sockets can contact the respective terminals. Therefore, when forming the plurality of terminals on the IC card, fine positioning is not required for the positioning, and the ratio of defective products can be reduced. Further, by forming the plurality of terminals on substantially the entire one main surface, it is possible to reduce the amount of the drug required when forming the plurality of terminals. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the IC card can be kept low.

Further, since the plurality of terminals are formed on substantially the entire one main surface, electromagnetic noise that enters the integrated circuit can be suppressed.

Here, by forming a terminal connected to the reference potential at a position facing the integrated circuit, it is possible to further prevent intrusion of electromagnetic noise into the integrated circuit.

Further, if the plurality of terminals are regularly arranged at substantially equal intervals, the amount of the drug used can be further reduced.

The above IC card is not limited to the case where it is used as an IC card literally, which can be attached to and detached from an electronic device. That is, with the same configuration, even when mounted on a printed wiring board of an electronic device, the effects of preventing intrusion of electromagnetic noise and reducing the amount of chemicals used during manufacturing are the same. That is, the IC card includes a case where it is used as an IC chip as long as it has the same configuration.

Further, in order to achieve the third object, a socket according to a third aspect of the present invention has an integrated circuit built-in, and is for transmitting and receiving a signal between the integrated circuit and an external circuit. A socket for accommodating an IC card, in which a plurality of terminals are formed on substantially the entire one main surface, comprising a plurality of terminals that elastically contact the plurality of terminals of the IC card, respectively. Is characterized by.

In this socket, the plurality of terminals provided in the socket are leaf springs made of conductors, and each of the plurality of terminals of the IC card can be brought into contact with the other with spring pressure.

In this socket, the leaf springs connected to the terminals of the IC card are arranged in a distributed manner, so that the number of leaf springs arranged in a line does not increase. Even if there is a leaf bar with a small spring pressure, if the spring pressure of the leaf springs in the same row is also low, contact failure will not occur. Here, if the number of leaf springs in the same row is small, it is less likely that leaf springs having a considerably higher spring pressure will be arranged in the same row than leaf springs having a small spring pressure. For this reason, the proportion of sockets in which a contact failure between the leaf spring and the IC card terminal is likely to occur is reduced. That is, according to this socket, the yield is improved.

[0022]

[Embodiment of the invention]

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an IC card according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in the IC card 1, a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) 11 placed on a substrate 10 is sealed with resin 13, and terminals 12a to 12h connected to the IC 11 are provided on one main surface of the substrate. Has been formed. The terminal 12e is connected to the ground, which is a reference potential. The terminal 12e is also connected to a terminal 12e 'having a large area formed on the facing surface of the IC 11 in order to prevent electromagnetic noise from entering the IC 11.

An electronic circuit such as a storage device is built in the IC 11. The IC 11 may further include an arithmetic processing unit. Transmission of information (binary information) between the IC 11 and an external electronic circuit is performed via the terminals 12a to 12h. The terminals 12a to 12h are connected to leaf springs, which will be described later.

In this IC card 1, the terminals 12a to 12d are arranged on the right side in FIG. 1, and the terminals 12e to 12h are arranged on the left side in FIG. That is, the terminals 12a to 12h are arranged in a dispersed manner. Further, as can be seen from the figure, the terminals 12 a to 12 h are formed on almost the entire main surface of the base plate 10. Moreover, the terminals 12a to 12h are regularly arranged at substantially equal intervals.

The IC card 1 has a size of about 10 × 15 mm and a thickness of about 1 mm. Moreover, one side of the triangle in the notched portion (upper left in FIG. 1) is about 4 mm. The size of each of the terminals 12a to 12h is about 2 × 4 mm, and the size of the terminal 12e ′ is about 9 × 3.5 mm. The distance between the terminals is about 0.4 mm, but this distance must be opened to prevent short circuits, etc. Therefore, if this is ignored, the terminals will cover 75% or more of the entire main surface of the IC card 1. Has been formed.

Here, a method of manufacturing the IC card 1 will be briefly described. First, the terminals 12a to 12h are formed on one main surface of the substrate 10 by etching. A conductor wire is embedded in the substrate 10, and the terminals 12a to 12h are connected to the conductor wire. Next, the chip of the IC 11 is placed on the opposite surface of the substrate 10. Then, the IC 11 and the conductive wire embedded in the substrate 10 are bonded to connect the IC 11 and the terminals 12a to 12h. Then, the IC 11 is sealed with the resin 13. In the actual manufacturing process, a plurality of IC cards are made from one substrate and then each IC card is cut.

In this IC card 1, since the terminals 12e 'are formed on the facing surface of the IC 11, it is possible to prevent electromagnetic noise from entering the IC 11. Further, the other terminals 12a to 12h are formed on almost the entire surface of the substrate 10. These terminals 12a to 12h can also prevent electromagnetic noise from entering the IC 11.

In this IC card 1, the terminals 12 a to 12 h are formed on almost the entire main surface of the substrate 10 as described above. For this reason, when forming the terminals 12a to 12h, the number of portions that must be removed by using the chemical agent is reduced.

Moreover, the chemical used in etching is determined according to the width of the removed portion. If the terminals are unevenly arranged, it is necessary to adjust the amount of the drug according to the portion where the distance between them is thick. However, in this IC card 1, the terminals 12a to 12h are arranged at substantially equal intervals. Therefore, the medicine is not wasted. Therefore, the amount of medicine used can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the IC card 1 can be reduced.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a socket 2 in which the IC card 1 is stored. The socket 2 is made of plastic. This socket 2 is arranged on a printed wiring board (not shown) of an electronic device. The socket 2 has a box shape having an opening at one end. The IC card 1 is inserted from the side of this opening. Leaf springs 21a to 21h corresponding to the terminals 12a to 12h of the IC card 1 are provided on the inner bottom surface of the socket 2.

The leaf springs 21a to 21h are made of a conductor metal (for example, copper). The leaf springs 21a to 21h have elasticity due to their structure. When the IC card 1 is attached to the socket 2, the leaf springs 21a to 21h are pressed against the terminals 12a to 12h of the IC card 1 by the spring pressure of the leaf springs 21a to 21h.

The leaf springs 21a to 21h are terminals for connecting to an electronic circuit (not shown) of this electronic device. When the IC card 1 is mounted in the socket 2, the leaf springs 21a to 21h come into contact with the terminals 12a to 12h, so that signals can be transmitted between the electronic circuit and the IC 11.

The spring pressure of the leaf springs 21a to 21h applied to the substrate 10 of the IC card 1 when the IC card 1 is stored in the socket 2 will be described below.

First, the spring pressure of the entire leaf springs 21a to 21h applied to the substrate 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, the terminals 12 a to 12 d are arranged on the right side of the substrate 10, and the terminals 12 e to 12 h are arranged on the left side of the substrate 10.

When the IC card 1 is stored in the socket 2, the plate vanes 21a to 21d come into contact with the terminals 12a to 12d, and the leaf springs 21e to 21h come into contact with the terminals 12e to 12h. At this time, as shown in the drawing, the spring pressure P1-1 of the leaf springs 21a to 21d is applied to the right side of the substrate 10, and the spring pressure P1-2 of the leaf springs 21e to 21h is applied to the left side of the substrate 10.

Here, the spring pressure P1-1 is the total of the spring pressures of the leaf springs 21a to 21d, and the spring pressure P1-2 is the total of the spring pressures of the leaf springs 21e to 21h. Both the spring pressure P1-1 and the vane pressure P1-2 are the sum of the spring pressures of a plurality of leaf springs, and therefore their magnitude does not change extremely. That is, in this IC card 1, the spring pressure of the leaf springs 21a to 21h provided in the socket 2 is dispersed and applied.

That is, when the IC card 1 is stored in the socket 2, no force is continuously applied to only a specific portion of the substrate 10. Therefore, even if the IC card 1 is stored in the socket 2 for a long time, the substrate 10 does not warp. Therefore, even if this IC card 1 is stored in the socket 2 for a long time and then stored in another socket (one with a small spring pressure of the leaf spring), the terminals 12a to 12h and the leaf spring of the socket are not connected. There is no contact failure between them.

Next, the spring pressure of each of the leaf springs 21a to 21h applied to the substrate 10 will be described with reference to FIG. The left side of this figure shows the IC card 1 viewed from the side where the terminals 12a to 12d are arranged, and the right side of this figure shows the IC card 1 viewed from the side of the terminals 12e to 12h.

As shown in the figure, the spring pressures P2-1 to P2-8 of the leaf springs 21a to 21h are applied to the substrate 10 at the terminals 12a to 12h, respectively. Here, the spring pressure P2-2 of the leaf spring 21b is extremely smaller than that of the other leaf springs 21a and 21c to 21h, and when the leaf springs 21a to 21h are arranged in a line, the leaf spring 21b causes a contact failure. Will be awakened. However, since the arrangement of the leaf springs also varies, the spring pressures P2-1 to P2-4 are relatively small, and the spring pressures P2-5 to P2-8 are compared as shown in FIG. In some cases, it may become large. At this time, even if the spring pressure P2-2 of the leaf spring 21b is considerably small, compared with the surrounding spring pressures P2-1, P2-3, and P2-4, the spring pressure P2- 2 may not become small.

Therefore, when the leaf springs 21a to 21h are arranged in a line, even if there is a possibility that contact failure may occur between the leaf springs 21a to 21h and the terminals due to the relationship with the other leaf springs, the two rows are used to Less likely. That is, by arranging the leaf springs 21a to 21h in a distributed manner instead of one row, the proportion of defective products in the socket 2 is reduced, and the yield is improved.

In the IC card 1 of the above embodiment, the number of terminals 12a to 12h formed on the substrate 10 was eight. However, the present invention can be applied to an IC card in which a plurality of arbitrary terminals are formed on a substrate. Further, although the IC card 1 of the above-mentioned embodiment is a small one having a size of about 10 × 15 mm and a thickness of about 1 mm, the present invention can be applied to a large IC card. In particular, the configuration in which a plurality of terminals are dispersedly arranged is very effective in a large IC card in terms of preventing warpage.

Further, in the IC card 1 of the above-mentioned embodiment, all the terminals 12a to 12h are connected to the IC 11. However, there may be terminals that are not connected to the IC 11. The terminal not connected to the IC 11 also prevents the electromagnetic noise from entering the IC 11. Further, the amount of chemicals required when forming the terminals on the substrate 10 can be reduced when there are terminals that are not connected to the IC 11 than when the terminals are not formed in this portion.

Further, in the IC card 1 of the above-described embodiment, the terminals 12a to 12h are arranged in two rows. However, the arrangement of the terminals of the IC card is not limited to this, and the terminals may be dispersed on the entire surface of the substrate. For example, an IC card in which a plurality of terminals are arranged so as to surround the whole of each end of the substrate is also possible.

Further, in the IC card 1 of the above embodiment, the terminals 12a to 12h are arranged on almost the entire surface of the substrate. However, the IC card of the present invention only needs to have a plurality of terminals distributed over the entire substrate. However, when a plurality of terminals are arranged on almost the entire surface of the substrate, each terminal inevitably becomes large. Therefore, since there is no problem even if the positions of the terminals are slightly deviated, fine positioning is not required for forming the terminals. In addition, the rate of defective products due to the displacement of the terminals is reduced, so that the yield of IC cards is improved.

Further, the IC card 1 of the above-described embodiment is attached to the socket 2 and is used literally as an IC card. However, as long as it has the same structure, not only when it is used literally as an IC card, but also when it is used as an IC chip mounted on a printed wiring board of an electronic device, a reduction in manufacturing cost and electromagnetic It has the same effect as preventing the intrusion of noise.

Further, in the socket 2 of the above embodiment, the leaf springs 21a to 21h are used as the terminals for connecting to the terminals 12a to 12h of the IC card 1. However, the terminal used on the socket side is not limited to the leaf spring. For example, it is possible to use conductive rubber.

[0048]

[Effect of the invention]

 As described above, by disposing the plurality of terminals dispersed over almost the entire one main surface, when the IC card is housed in the socket, a large pressure is not applied only to a specific portion of the IC card. Therefore, even if the IC card is stored in the socket for a long time, the IC card does not warp. Therefore, no contact failure occurs when this IC card is stored in another socket.

Further, if the plurality of terminals are formed on almost the entire one main surface, the size of each terminal is inevitably increased. Therefore, even if the terminals are slightly displaced, the leaf springs of the sockets come into contact with the terminals. For this reason, when forming the terminal, fine positioning is not required for its positioning. Further, since the ratio of defective products can be reduced, the cost of the IC card can be kept low.

Moreover, by forming the plurality of terminals on almost the entire one main surface, it is possible to reduce the amount of chemicals required when forming the terminals by the etching method. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the IC card can be reduced. Further, in this case, since the integrated circuit is covered with the conductor, the electromagnetic noise can be prevented from entering the integrated circuit.

Further, by forming the terminal connected to the ground on the opposite surface of the integrated circuit, it is possible to further prevent intrusion of electromagnetic noise into the integrated circuit. Further, by regularly disposing a plurality of terminals at substantially equal intervals, it is possible to reduce the amount of chemicals required at the time of forming the terminals and reduce the manufacturing cost of the IC card.

Also, in the socket of the present invention, the number of terminals arranged in a line is small. If there is no leaf spring with strong elasticity in the same row as the leaf spring with small elasticity, there will be no contact failure of the terminal. The possibility of poor contact between terminals decreases as the number of terminals arranged in a row decreases. Therefore, according to the socket of the present invention, the possibility of poor contact between the terminals of the IC card and the terminals of the socket is reduced. Therefore, the ratio of defective products is reduced, and the yield of sockets is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an IC card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a socket to which the IC card according to the embodiment of the present invention is attached.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the spring pressure of the entire leaf spring applied to the substrate of the IC card according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the spring pressure of each leaf spring applied to the substrate of the IC card according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional IC card.

FIG. 6A is a diagram for explaining the spring pressure of the entire leaf spring applied to the substrate of the IC card of the conventional example, and FIG. 6B is the position of the warped IC card and the leaf spring of the conventional example. It is a figure explaining a relationship.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the spring pressure of each leaf spring applied to the IC card substrate of the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... IC card, 10 ... Substrate, 11 ... IC, 12a
~ 12h ... Terminal 2 ... Socket, 21a-21h ... Leaf spring

Claims (6)

[Utility model registration claims] 1. An integrated circuit (11) is built in, said integrated circuit (11)
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
(12a-12h) is an IC card formed on one main surface, wherein the plurality of terminals (12a-12h) are dispersedly arranged on substantially the entire one main surface. IC card to do. 2. An integrated circuit (11) is built in, said integrated circuit (11)
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
(12a-12h) is an IC card formed on one main surface, wherein the plurality of terminals (12a-12h) are formed on almost all of the one main surface. . 3. An integrated circuit (11) is built in the integrated circuit (11).
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
(12a-12h) is an IC card formed on one main surface, wherein terminals (12e, 12e ') connected to a reference potential among the plurality of terminals (12a-12h) are the integrated circuits ( An IC card, which is formed at a position facing 11). 4. An integrated circuit (11) is built in the integrated circuit (11).
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
An IC card having (12a-12h) formed on one main surface, wherein the plurality of terminals (12a-12h) are regularly arranged at substantially equal intervals. 5. An integrated circuit (11) is built in the integrated circuit (11).
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
(12a-12h) is a socket (2) for accommodating an IC card (1) formed by being dispersed over almost the entire one main surface, wherein a plurality of terminals of the IC card (1) are provided. A socket characterized by comprising a plurality of terminals (21a-21h) that are elastically contacted with (12a-12h). 6. An integrated circuit (11) is built in, said integrated circuit (11)
Terminals for exchanging signals between the and external circuits
(12a-12h) is a socket (2) for accommodating an IC card (1) formed by being dispersed over almost the entire one main surface, wherein a plurality of terminals of the IC card (1) are provided. A socket comprising a plurality of leaf springs (21a-21h) made of a conductor, each of which is in contact with (12a-12h) with spring pressure.