JPS62224033A - Tape carrier device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve strength of holding circuit chips mounted on a flexible carrier tape, by providing the carrier tape with salient parts which are formed with fixed thickness an in frame shapes so that they surround a device hole. CONSTITUTION:As a means of enhancing bending stiffness of a carrier tape 1 itself, salient parts 15 as reinforcing matters, which are shaped in plane patterns shown in dotted lines 15 and made of resinous films in prescribed thickness and in frame shapes, are formed, around a device hole 3 on the back surface of the carrier tape 1. Particularly enhancing the bending stiffness around the device hole in this way enables the strength of holding a semiconductor chip 4 to be increased against the flexible carrier tape 1, therefore preventing flexibility in the tape carrier device itself from being lost. Hence, cracks in the semiconductor chip 4 can be prevented from occurring caused by bending the carrier tape 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tape carrier device, and relates to a technique that is effective when applied to, for example, an IC card on which a semi-quadrilateral integrated circuit is mounted.

[Prior art]

A tape carrier method is one type of wireless bonding technology that is a mounting technology for semiconductor integrated circuit chips. Such a tape carrier method was developed, for example, in November 1982.
rLSI Handbook JP41 published by Ohmsha on March 30th
As described in 0 and PdI2, a lead part is formed by a conductive pattern for each frame of a carrier tape formed in the shape of a movie film using polyimide resin, etc., and a lead terminal at the tip of the lead part is connected to a semiconductor. Predetermined electrode pads of an integrated circuit chip are bonded together, and the chip is sealed with resin.

The present inventors have developed a semiconductor integrated circuit mounted on a carrier tape using such a tape carrier method into an IC (Integrated Circuit) card, that is, a card such as a conventional ID card or credit card having only a magnetic stripe. In contrast, we have considered applying the present invention to a card that can be equipped with a semiconductor memory circuit, a data processing circuit, etc. to increase the storage capacity h1 and expand the range of application. That is, a device hole into which a semiconductor integrated circuit chip can be inserted is passed through a carrier tape with a necessary conductive pattern formed on one surface, and a semiconductor integrated circuit is inserted at the tip of the conductive pattern that protrudes inside the device hole. The electrode pads of the circuit chip are bonded together and the chip is sealed with resin. The thus mounted semiconductor integrated circuit chip and one unit 1- of the conductive pattern are embedded in a card together with a carrier tape punched into a predetermined shape.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, like conventional cards with magnetic stripes, IC cards also require flexibility against bending.
As investigated by the present inventor, it is desirable to apply a tape carrier device in which a semiconductor integrated circuit chip is mounted on a carrier tape having a relatively thin thickness of about 120 μm as a base. However, the semiconductor integrated circuit chip itself is relatively brittle against bending compared to the carrier tape due to the nature of its substrate material, so if it is repeatedly bent while built into an IC card, the semiconductor integrated circuit itself will gradually crack. The inventors of the present invention have clarified the problem that the life of the IC card is significantly reduced.

An object of the present invention is to provide a tape carrier device that can improve the holding strength of circuit chips mounted on a flexible carrier tape without impairing the overall flexibility against bending. .

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention include:
It will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving problems]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, the carrier tape is provided with a frame-shaped protrusion having a predetermined thickness so as to surround the device hole, thereby improving the bending rigidity around the device hole.

[For production]

According to the above means, since the bending rigidity around the device hole is improved, the support strength of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip against the carrier tape which is flexible for one bend is increased, without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself. This prevents excessive stress from being applied to the semiconductor integrated circuit chip due to bending of the carrier tape.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a tape carrier device according to the present invention.

The tape carrier device shown in the figure is based on an insulating and flexible carrier tape 1 made of polyimide resin, glass epoxy resin, polyester resin, etc. in the shape of a movie film, although it is not particularly limited. . A plurality of sprocket holes 2 are bored at a predetermined pitch on both longitudinal edges of the eleven bodies.

Although FIG. 1 shows the configuration of one unit at a portion corresponding to one frame of carrier tape 1, in reality, a plurality of such configurations are provided in the longitudinal direction of the carrier tape to form a tape carrier device. can be configured.

The tape carrier device shown in the figure can be applied to an IC card by having one unit of the tape carrier device shown in FIG. 1 embedded in a card saw board.

In FIG. 1, the broken line 3 is a device hole provided in the carrier tape 1, where a semiconductor integrated circuit chip (hereinafter simply referred to as a semiconductor chip) 4 containing a memory circuit, a data processing circuit, etc. required for an IC card is inserted. The size is such that it can be inserted with a predetermined gap. The device hole 3 is formed through the carrier tape 1 on the right side of one unit. Here, the gap between the semiconductor chip 4 and the device hole 3 is
It is set according to the assembly error when inserting the semiconductor chip 4 into the device hole 3 and bonding the electrode pads of the semiconductor chip 4 to lead terminals to be described later, and the external dimension error of the semiconductor chip 4 itself.

The surface of the carrier tape 1 is electroplated with conductive layers 6A to 6F in various patterns as shown.

Although the conductive layers 6A to 6F are not particularly limited, they are made of copper foil, and a tin plating layer or a gold plating layer is formed on each portion as will be explained later. Such conductive layers 6A to 6F have approximately 12 holes provided with various holes such as sprocket holes 2 and device holes 3, for example.
Approximately 35μ on the surface of carrier tape 1 with a thickness of 0μ
Glue a piece of copper foil with a thickness like , then selectively etch and remove the copper foil so that the remaining pattern is as shown in the figure.
After that, the remaining copper foil, that is, the patterned copper foil as shown in the figure, can be formed by selectively plating the above-mentioned tin or gold.

According to this embodiment, eight external terminals 5A to 5H, which function as direct external terminals of the IC card, are provided on the carrier tape 1, that is, on the left side of one unit on the carrier tape 1, although this is not particularly limited. are formed integrally with each conductive layer. In addition, external terminals 5A to 5
The height of H is increased as necessary, for example, by a method such as copper plating. Here, in a normal IC card, according to the international standard (IS) in the international standard FIT, W (■s○), there are eight external terminals that can be connected to a processing circuit that receives and processes the card. It is assumed that the Accordingly, although not particularly limited, in the case of this embodiment, the external terminals 5A to 5E include a terminal for supplying a reference clock signal to the semiconductor chip 4, a terminal for supplying quirks No. 21 to 48, and a terminal for supplying quirks Nos. 21 to 48 to the semiconductor chip 4. ! @Terminal that supplies potential, other J, lII! It functions as a terminal for supplying the A potential and as a terminal for inputting and outputting serial data to and from the semiconductor chip 4, respectively. External terminals 5F to 5H are reserved terminals. The surfaces of these external terminals 5A to 5E are fully plated in order to improve their corrosion resistance and reduce their contact resistance.

The conductive layers 6A to 6F are formed on the surface of the carrier tape 1 around the device hole 3 so as to surround the device hole 3 over a relatively wide range and to form a generally rectangular shape as a whole. . A portion of the surface of the carrier tape 1 where the conductive layers 6A to 6F are not formed is regarded as one isolation region 7. The width of the isolation region 7 is narrowed in the area surrounding the device hole 3 as shown in the figure. A portion of each conductive layer 6A to 6F is an electrode pad 14 (see FIG. 2) that protrudes into the inside of the device hole 3 and consists of a gold-plated bump pole of the semiconductor chip 4.
The lead terminals 8 and 9 are connectable to the lead terminals 8 and 9. These conductive layers 6A to 6F are made of tin-plated copper foil, and are formed to have the same thickness. The lead terminals 8 and 9 and the plurality of electrode pads 14 of the semiconductor chip 4 are simultaneously bonded to each other using a suitable bonding tool. That is, when the semiconductor chip 4 is inserted into the device hole 3 from the back side of the carrier tape 1 and the lead terminals 8 and 9 are pressed against the electrode pads of the semiconductor pellet 4 by a bonding tool and heated, the gold and gold formed thereby are heated. A eutectic alloy of tin bonds the two together.

Here, desired portions of conductive layers 6A to 6E of conductive layers 6A to 6F serve as wiring layers 10, and are coupled to external terminals 5A to 5E, respectively. Therefore, the lead terminals 8 protruding from the conductive layers 6A to 6E are connected to electrode pads 1 corresponding to external terminals of the semiconductor chip 4, respectively.
Combined with 4.

According to FIG. 1, the conductive layer 6F is not coupled to the external terminals of the IC card. Therefore, the lead terminals 9 protruding from the conductive layer 6F are not used for actual data processing due to the functionality of the IC card.However, such lead terminals 9 are used to increase the strength of supporting the semiconductor chip 4 on the carrier tape 1. It also has a function of enabling the conductive layer 6F connected to the lead terminals 9 to be used as a testing electrode when testing the semiconductor chip 4 on the carrier tape 1. have

Each of the conductive layers 6A to 6F has an edge adjacent to the device hole 3 extending to approximately the middle of the gap between the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip 4 coupled to the lead terminals 8 and 9 and the inner periphery of the device hole 3. , has a terrace-like barrier portion 11 projecting planarly into the inside of the device hole over substantially the entire circumference of the device hole. This barrier portion 11 is formed integrally with the conductive layers 6A to 6F, so that its surface forms a flat surface integral with the conductive layers 6A to 6F. Therefore, when coating the surface of the semiconductor chip 4 adhesively bonded to the lead terminals 8 and 9 with resin, the fluid resin located above between the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip 4 and the inner periphery of the device hole 3 is coated with resin. is substantially prevented from penetrating downward by the blocking barrier portion 11. The coated resin is then cured by heat treatment or the like. As a result, the surface of the resin in that area is not locally depressed, and flat conductive layers 6A to 6F are formed over a relatively wide area around the device hole 3, except for the extremely thin separation region 7. Therefore, the entire surface of the coating resin can be flattened.

Here, it is preferable that the amount of protrusion of the barrier portion 11 is made as large as possible in order to reduce the amount of the coating material that enters the gap between the inner periphery of the device hole and the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip. On the other hand, the barrier part 11 protects the semiconductor chip 4 from occurring in order to prevent the generation of undesired stress when the barrier part 11 comes into undesired contact with a bonding tool or the like.
It is desirable that the amount of protrusion be limited in order to prevent unwanted contact with the surface. The semiconductor chip 4 targeted in the embodiment is 1, for example, as shown in FIG.
is placed near the outer periphery of the copper chip. The bonding tool 13 is accordingly made relatively large. Accordingly, the amount of protrusion (position of the tip) of the barrier portion 11 in this embodiment is set to be located approximately in the middle of the gap between the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip 4 and the inner peripheral edge of the device hole 3.

Although not particularly limited, the barrier portion 11 may include the lead terminal 8
and 9. In this case, in order to prevent the coating material from entering the gap as described above, it is desirable that the width of the barrier portion 11 is as large as possible. For this purpose, each lead terminal may be configured to directly protrude from the barrier portion 11. However, according to this example.

For reasons explained below, lead terminals 8 and 9
A notch 12 is set on the side of the. According to Figure 1,
A portion of the notch 12 is replaced by the separation region 7 described above. The cut 12 is not particularly limited, but it extends to the outside of the device hole 3, that is, to the carrier tape 1.
extended to the top. Such a cut 12 is formed in the conductive layer 6
It can be formed by selective etching when forming the holes A to No. 6.

The cut 12 is provided for the following reason.

That is, when bonding the electrode pad 14 of the semiconductor pellet 4 and the lead terminals 8 and 9, the semiconductor pellet I-4 is first placed on the bonding stage of the bonding apparatus. The semiconductor pellet 4 is positioned below the carrier tape 1 by moving the bonding stage or the like. In a state where the semiconductor pellet 4 and the carrier tape 1 are appropriately separated, the semiconductor pellet 4
The electrode pad 14 and the lead terminals 8 and 9 are aligned. Thereafter, by lowering the carrier tape 1 or the like, the L end of the electrode pad 14 of the semiconductor pellet 4 is brought into alignment with the lower ends of the lead terminals 8 and 9. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2, the lead terminals 8 and 9 are pressed against the electrical tM pad 14 and heated by a bonding tool 13 having a heater provided therein.

As a result, the electrode pads 14 of the semiconductor chip 4 are coupled to the lead terminals 8 and 9. During such bonding, the relative height between the upper end of the electrode pad 14 and the upper ends of the lead terminals 8 and 9 is changed by non-negligible variations in the thickness of the semiconductor chip 4 and the height of the electrode pad 14. I end up. Therefore, during bonding, the lead terminals 8 and 9 may bend downward depending on variations in the upper end positions of the respective electrode pads 14. At times like that.

As in the embodiment, when the notch 12 is provided, the bending moment 1 due to the bending stress of the lead terminals 8 and 9 is reduced.
The presence of the notches 12 makes it difficult for ~ to be transmitted to the barrier portions 11 on both sides thereof, and the barrier portions 11 do not bend downward together with the lead terminals 8 and 9, thereby maintaining a good planar state of the barrier portions 11. can be maintained. In addition, even if the lead terminals 8 and 9 may bend downward due to variations in the thickness of the electrode pad 14, local depressions in the coating material obtained by the barrier portion 11 can be prevented. The prevention effect can be exhibited well.

In this embodiment, on the back surface of the carrier tape 1, around the device hole 3, as a means for increasing the bending rigidity of the carrier tape 1 itself, although not particularly limited, the area indicated by the broken line 15 in FIG. A protrusion 15 is provided as a reinforcing body made of a resin film of a predetermined thickness, which is formed into a planar pattern and formed into a frame shape as shown in FIG. In Figure 3, 20
is a coating material made of epoxy resin.

In this way, if the bending rigidity around the device hole is particularly increased, the semiconductor chip 4 against the flexible carrier tape 1 can be
The supporting strength of the carrier tape 1 can be increased, thereby preventing the rack from occurring in the semiconductor chip 4 due to bending of the carrier tape 1, without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself. In particular, the protrusion 15
Since it is provided so as to surround the device hole 3, it has the effect of preventing the occurrence of cracks in the semiconductor chip 4 against bending in any direction.

Separation notches 16 are formed in the carrier tape 1 around the main parts such as the external terminals 5A to 5H and the conductive layers 6A to 6F to surround them from approximately four sides, and the inner part is supported at three points, for example. The four corners of the inner portion are formed into circular arcs. According to this embodiment, the portion surrounded by the separation notch 16 is cut and separated from the three-point support portion at the position indicated by the two-dot chain line, and thereby the IC card is mounted on one IC card. . Although there are no particular restrictions on the technique for mounting the IC card, the carrier tape 1 cut and separated is inserted into a through hole of a resin card board (not shown), and in that state, both sides of the card board are connected to the external terminals 5A to 5H. The card board and the thin plate can be integrally fixed by thermal bonding or the like by covering the card board with a thin resin plate so as to expose the card board.

In that case, as described above, the surface of the molding resin for the semiconductor chip 4 is made flat as a whole without being locally depressed by the action of the guide ffs 156A to 6F, the barrier part 11, and the notch 12. There is no local unevenness on the surface of the IC card, and even if a magnetic stripe is provided on the surface directly above the resin molded part, that part is flat, so magnetic reading from that part will be inhibited. Not at all. Moreover, when a tape carrier device in which a relatively thin carrier tape 1 with a thickness of about 120 μm is used as a base and a semiconductor chip 4 is mounted thereon is applied to an IC card, it is not as resistant to bending as a conventional card having only a magnetic stripe. The flexibility requirements can be satisfied, and although the semiconductor chip 40 is more fragile than the carrier tape 1 when bent, the carrier tape 1 around the semiconductor chip 4 has especially increased bending rigidity due to the projections 15. Therefore, even if the IC card is subjected to repeated bending by the built-in pull, the semiconductor chip 4 itself will not easily crack, which can contribute to extending the life of the IC card.

Note that each unit of the tape carrier device is surrounded by a wiring layer 17 formed at the same time as the conductive layers 6A to 6F, and the wiring layer 17 has the above-mentioned It is connected to each external terminal 5A to 5H. The wiring layer 17 is an IC
It does not function by being mounted on a card, but functions as a conductive path when the conductive layers 6A to 6F, barrier portions 11, notches 12, etc. are formed by electroplating.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) As a means to increase the bending rigidity of the carrier tape 1 itself around the device hole 3, the protrusion 15 is formed by adhering a frame-shaped resin film to the back surface of the carrier tape 1, making it flexible. The supporting strength of the half-six-body chip 4 against the carrier tape 1 can be increased, thereby.

It is possible to prevent the rack from occurring on the semiconductor chip 4 due to bending of the carrier tape 1 without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself.

(2) In particular, since the protrusion 15 is provided so as to surround the device hole 3, it has the effect of preventing cracks in the semiconductor chip 4 against bending in any direction.

(3) From the above effects (1) and (2), when the tape carrier device is applied to an IC card that has a mechanically poor usage environment and whose thickness is limited to a relatively thin one,
It is possible to prevent damage to the semiconductor chip due to bending while maintaining the flexibility of the card, and it is possible to contribute to extending the life of the IC card.

(4) Since the barrier portion 11 protrudes to approximately half of the gap between the inner peripheral edge of the device hole 3 and the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip 4, the surface of the semiconductor chip 4 adhesively bonded to the lead terminals 8 and 9 When coating with resin, the fluid coating resin located in the upper part between the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip 4 and the inner peripheral edge of the device hole 3 is prevented from penetrating downward to some extent by the blocking barrier part 11. By solidifying the coating resin, it is possible to prevent the surface of the coating resin from being locally depressed in that area.

(5) Since the notches 12 are formed on both sides of the lead terminals 8 and 9, the lead terminals 8 and 9 can be connected to the semiconductor chip 4.
When bonding to the electrode pads 14 of the respective electrode pads 1
Even if the lead terminals 8 and 9 bend downward due to variations in the thickness dimensions of the lead terminals 8 and 9, the bending moment due to the bending stress of the lead terminals 8 and 9 is absorbed by the barrier portions on both sides of the lead terminals 8 and 9 due to the intervention of the notches 12. 11, and the barrier portion 11 does not bend downward together with the lead terminals 8 and 9, and the planar state of the barrier portion 11 can be maintained well. The effect of preventing the sealing resin from forming local dents can be effectively exhibited.

(6) In particular, when the notch 12 is extended to the outside of the device hole 3, one cantilever is formed between the lead terminals 8 and 9 forming the cantilever and the barrier part 11 forming the cantilever. Since no beams are involved, the effect of (5) above can be maximized.

(7) Extremely thin isolation region 7 around device hole 3
The conductive layers 6A to 6 are flat over a relatively wide range except for
Since F is formed as a film, the surface of the sealing resin can be flattened as a whole along with the effects of the barrier portion 11 and the notches 12.

(8) The separation regions 7 for electrically separating the electrocardiogram layers 6A to 6F are extremely thin and are formed vertically and horizontally, so the separation regions 7 are made of fluid coating resin before solidification. can prevent the irregular spread of

(9) From the effects (4) to (8) above, the main part cut and separated from the carrier tape 1 is inserted into the card board, and in that state, both sides of the card board are covered with resin F! When the tape carrier device is applied to an IC card by covering and fixing it with a thin plate, the surface of the molding resin for the semiconductor chip 4 is flat without being locally depressed, so that the IC card
There is no local unevenness on the surface of the card, and even if a magnetic strip is placed on the surface directly above the resin molded part, that part is flat, so magnetic reading from that part will be hindered. It's never done.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described above based on Examples, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned Examples, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, in the above embodiment, the means for particularly increasing the bending rigidity of the carrier tape itself around the device hole was constructed by adhering a resin film formed into a frame shape with a predetermined thickness to the carrier tape, but this is not limited to this. Instead, it may be a protrusion formed integrally with the carrier tape, or the carrier tape itself may be made of a composite material that has particularly high bending rigidity around the device hole. In that case, for example, if the carrier tape is made of glass epoxy resin, the glass fibers around the device hole can be made particularly thick, or the density of the glass fibers around the device hole can be made high.

Further, in the above embodiment, a tape carrier device including an external terminal for an IC card has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and a configuration without an external terminal may be used.

In the above explanation, the invention made by the present inventor is applied to IC cards, which is the background field of application, but the invention is not limited to this, and the invention is generally flexible against bending. The present invention can be applied to various devices that can be equipped with tape carrier devices that require high performance. The present invention can be applied at least to conditions where a circuit chip is inserted into a device hole and bonded to a lead terminal.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, the carrier tape is provided with a frame-shaped protrusion of a predetermined thickness so as to surround the device hole, and the bending rigidity around the device hole is improved. The supporting strength of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip is increased, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of racks on the semiconductor integrated circuit chip due to bending of the carrier tape, without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the tape carrier device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the effect of the notch when the lead terminal is bent, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view around the device hole. be. 1...Carrier tape, 3...Device hole, 4
...Semiconductor integrated circuit chip, 5A to 5H...External terminal, 6A to 6F...Conductive layer, 7...Isolation region,
8 and 9...Lead terminal, 11...Obstruction, part, 1
2... Notch, 14... Electrode pad, 15...
protrusion. Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An insulating carrier tape having a device hole into which a circuit chip can be inserted with a gap, and an insulating carrier tape provided on one surface of the carrier tape so as to protrude inside the device hole. A tape carrier device comprising: a lead terminal coupled to a terminal of a circuit chip inserted into a device hole; and means for increasing the bending rigidity of the carrier tape around the device hole. 2. The tape carrier device according to claim 1, wherein the means for increasing the bending rigidity is a protrusion formed in a frame shape with a predetermined thickness so as to surround the device hole. . 3. The tape carrier device according to claim 2, wherein the protrusion is bonded to a surface of the carrier tape opposite to the surface on which the conductive layer connected to the lead terminal is provided.