JPS62224035A - Tape carrier device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the surface to be wholly flattened, by projecting conductive layers, which are connected with lead terminals in the range of a gap between an outer periphery of a semiconductor integrated circuit chip and an inner periphery of the device hole, inside the device hole. CONSTITUTION:Respective conductive layers 6A and 6F are provided with terraced barrier parts 11, which are projected planely inside the device hole and over almost all the periphery of the device hole, and whose terminal ends neighboring the device hole 3 come nearly to the center of the gap between the outer periphery of a semiconductor chip 4 connected with the lead terminals 8 and 9 and the inner periphery of the device hole 3. Therefore, when the surface of the semiconductor chip 4 adhesively connected with the lead terminals 8 and 9 is coated with resin, the resin, which is situated on the upper part of the gap between the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip 4 and the inner periphery of the device hole 3, is essentially prevented from invading the lower part by the barrier parts 11. Hence, the surface of the coating resin can be wholly flattened without causing locally recessed parts on the resin.

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 equipped with a semiconductor integrated circuit.

[Prior art]

A tape carrier method is one type of wireless bonding technology that is a mounting technology for semi-contained 4JS integrated circuit chips. Such a tape carrier system is described, for example, in rT, SI Handbook J, published by Ohmsha on November 30, 1981.
As described in P410 and P411, a lead part is formed by a conductive pattern for each frame of a carrier tape formed like 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 the integrated circuit chip are bonded. The chip is sealed with resin as necessary.

The present inventors have developed a semiconductor integrated circuit mounted on a carrier tape using such a tape carrier method for use in IC (Integrated Circuit) cards, that is, cards such as conventional ID cards and credit cards that only have a magnetic stripe. We therefore considered applying this method to cards that can be equipped with semiconductor storage circuits, data processing circuits, etc. to increase storage capacity and expand the scope of application. That is,
A device hole into which a semiconductor integrated circuit chip can be inserted is passed through the carrier tape, which has a necessary conductive pattern formed on one side, and the semiconductor integrated circuit chip is inserted at the tip of the conductive pattern that protrudes inside the device hole. The electrode pads of the chip are bonded together and the chip is sealed with resin.

One unit of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip and conductive pattern thus mounted is embedded in a card together with a carrier tape punched into a predetermined shape.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, the device hole is larger than the upper limit of the external dimensional tolerance of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip due to assembly errors or alignment errors when bonding the semiconductor integrated circuit chip to the tip of the conductive pattern, and external dimensional errors of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip itself. It needs to be made large.

However, according to the studies of the present inventors, if there is a relatively large gap between the inner periphery of the device hole and the outer periphery of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip due to the size setting as described above, the surface of the circuit chip and When a protective film is formed around it by a method such as resin coating, the surface of the protective film corresponding to the gap may be locally depressed due to the fluidity of the resin, and such depressions can be easily created. It is difficult to flatten the card, and if the card is buried in the card board as it is, the surface of the card will be uneven.In addition, if the card is designed to have a magnetic stripe in that area, the magnetic stripe The problem has been revealed that accurate magnetic reading cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to flatten the entire surface of a protective material or chip coating material, such as a resin coating a circuit chip mounted on a carrier tape, without causing local depressions. An object of the present invention is to provide a tape carrier device.

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.

In other words, a conductive layer connected to the lead terminals of the device is inserted into the device hole and connected to the lead terminals within the gap between the outer periphery of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip and the inner periphery of the device hole. By protruding into the hole, it forms a barrier against the coating material.

[For production]

According to the above means, the coating material located above between the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor integrated circuit chip and the inner peripheral edge of the device hole is prevented from penetrating downward to some extent by the barrier portion.

The purpose is to flatten the surface of the coating material as a whole without causing any local depressions in the surface of the coating material.

〔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 base. 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 board.

Broken in Figure 1! &3 is a device hole provided in the carrier tape 1, into which a semiconductor integrated circuit chip C (hereinafter simply referred to as a semiconductor chip) 4 containing a memory circuit, data processing circuit, etc. required for an IC card is inserted with a predetermined gap. It is said that the size is possible. 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 determined by 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 the lead terminals described later. It is set according to the external dimension error of the 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
Copper foil with a thickness of
Thereafter, the remaining li4flj, 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. It is formed integrally with each conductive layer. In addition, external terminals 5A to 5H
is increased in height as required, for example by methods such as copper plating. Here, for normal IC cards, the international standard (ISO) established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
According to IS), it has eight external terminals that can be connected to a processing circuit that receives and processes the card. Accordingly, although not particularly limited, in the case of this embodiment, the external terminals 5A to 5E supply the semiconductor chip 4 with a terminal that supplies a reference clock signal, a terminal that supplies a reset signal, and one of the reference potentials. It functions as a terminal, a terminal that supplies the other reference potential, and a terminal that inputs and outputs serial data between it and the semiconductor chip 4, respectively. External terminals ♀5F to 5H are used as spare 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. . The portion of the surface of the carrier tape 1 where the conductive layers 6A to 6F are not formed is regarded as the separation region 7.1 The width of the separation region 7 is narrowed in the portion surrounding the device hole 3 as shown in the figure. . A portion of each conductor [Ji 56A to 6F has lead terminals 8 and 9 that protrude inside the device hole 3 and can be coupled to an electrode pad 14 (see FIG. 2) such as a gold-plated bump electrode of the semiconductor chip 4. be done. 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 them 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 the electrode pads 1 of the semiconductor chip 4 corresponding to the external terminals, 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

2. Each of the conductive layers 6A to 6F has an edge adjacent to the device hole 3 that is approximately equal to the gap between the outer edge of the semiconductor chip 4 connected to the lead terminals 8 and 9 and the inner edge of the device hole 3. A terrace-shaped barrier portion 11 is provided which projects planarly to the inside of the device hole over almost the entire circumference of the device hole. This barrier part 11
are formed integrally with the conductive layers 6A to 6F, so that their surfaces form an integral plane 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 such a barrier part 1
1 substantially prevents downward penetration. 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. Since it is coated with a film, 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. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor chip 4 targeted in the embodiment has its electrode pads 14
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 can be formed by selective etching when forming the conductive layers 6A to 6F.

The cut 12 is provided for the following reasons.

That is, when bonding the electrode pad 14 of the semiconductor pellet 4 and the lead terminals 8 and 9, the semiconductor pellet 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 electrode pads 14 of the semiconductor pellet 4 and the lead terminals 8 and 9 are aligned. Thereafter, as the carrier tape 1 is lowered, the f? ! The upper end of the ti pad 14 and the lower ends of the lead terminals 8 and 9 are made to coincide. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2, the bonding tool 13, which has a heater inside, is used.
The terminals 8 and 9 are pressed against the electrode pad 14 and heated.

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. Therefore, during bonding, the lead terminals 8 and 9 may bend downward depending on variations in the upper end positions of the respective electrodes (rads 14).
When the notches 12 are provided as in the embodiment, the bending moment due to the bending stress of the lead terminals 8 and 9 becomes difficult to be transmitted to the barrier portions 11 on both sides of the lead terminals 8 and 9 due to the notches 12. The barrier portion 11 does not bend downward together with the lead terminals 8 and 9, and the barrier portion 1
1 can be maintained in a good flat state. Also,
Accordingly, even if the lead terminals 8 and 9 may bend downward due to variations in the thickness of the electrode pad 14, the barrier portion 11 can prevent local depressions in the coating material. can be demonstrated 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. Protrusions are provided as reinforcing bodies 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 FIG. 3, 20 is
A coating material made of epoxy resin. Note that the means for increasing the bending rigidity of the carrier tape 1 itself may be a protrusion formed integrally with the carrier tape 1, or the carrier tape 1 may be made of a composite material having particularly high rigidity around the device hole 3. You can also configure it yourself. In that case 1, for example, if the carrier tape 1 is made of glass epoxy resin, the glass fibers around the device hole 3 can be made particularly thick, and the density of the glass fibers around the device hole 3 can be made high. In this way, by particularly increasing the rigidity around the device hole 3, the support strength of the semiconductor chip 4 to the flexible carrier tape 1 can be increased without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself. It is possible to prevent the rack from occurring on the semiconductor chip 4 due to bending of the tape 1.

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. It is now possible to do so. 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. . The mounting technology on the IC card is not particularly limited, but 1. Insert the carrier tape 1 cut and separated from the carrier tape 1 into a through hole of a resin card board (not shown), and in that state, connect both sides of the card board to the external terminals 5.
A to 5H can be exposed and covered with a thin resin plate, and the card substrate and the thin plate can be fixed together by thermal bonding or the like. In that case, as described above, the surface of the molding resin for the semiconductor chip 4 is covered with the conductive layer 6A.
to 6F, barrier section 11. The IC is flattened as a whole without being depressed locally due to the effect of the notches 12.
There is no local unevenness on the surface of the card, and even if a magnetic stripe is placed on the surface directly above the resin molded part, that part is flat, so magnetic reading from that part will not be obstructed. Nor.

Each unit of the tape carrier device is surrounded by a wiring layer 17 that is formed at the same time as each of the conductive layers, and the wiring layer 17, before the separation notch 16 is formed, It is connected to each of the above external terminals 5A to 5H. The wiring layer 17 is not mounted on an IC card and functions, but is similar to the conductive layer 6 described above.
A to 6F, barrier section 11. It also functions as a conductive path when electroplating is formed on the notches 12 and the like.

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

(1) 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 the semiconductor chip 4 with resin, the fluid 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 coats the barrier part 1.
1 prevents the resin from penetrating downward to some extent and solidifies, thereby preventing the surface of the resin in that area from becoming locally depressed.

(2) 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.

(3) In particular, when the notch 12 is extended to the outside of the device hole 3, a cantilevered Since no beams are involved, the effect of (2) above can be maximized.

(4) 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 into a film, the surface of the coating resin can be flattened as a whole along with the effects of the barrier portion 11 and the notches 12.

(5) The separation regions 7 for electrically separating the PA conductive 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

(6) From the above effects (1) to (5), the main part cut and separated from the carrier tape l is inserted into the card board, and in that state, both sides of the card board are covered and fixed with thin resin plates to make the tape carrier. When the device is applied to an IC card, since the surface of the molding resin for the semiconductor chip 4 is flat without any local depressions, local unevenness does not occur on the surface of the IC card, and
Even if a magnetic stripe is provided on the surface directly above the resin molded portion, since that portion is flat, magnetic reading from that portion will not be obstructed.

(7) The barrier section 11 around the device hole 3 is
It has been confirmed that this method sufficiently increases the bending rigidity of the carrier tape. When the lead terminals 8.9 and the barrier portion 11 are integrally constructed as in the embodiment, there is no space between them that causes a decrease in strength, such as the separation region 7, so that the carrier tape can be easily bent. Rigidity can be further increased.

This makes it possible to prevent racks from occurring in semiconductor chips due to bending of the carrier tape.

(8) When the conductive layers 6A to 6F are formed wide in the vicinity of the device hole 3, the bending rigidity of the carrier tape is increased.

(9) As a means for increasing 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; It is possible to increase the support strength of the semiconductor chip 4 against the flexible carrier tape 1 without impairing the flexibility of the tape carrier device itself, thereby preventing the occurrence of racking that occurs in the semiconductor chip 4 due to bending of the carrier tape 1. can be prevented.

(10) From the above effects (9) or (7) to (9), when the tape carrier device is applied to an IC card whose usage environment is mechanically poor and whose thickness dimension is limited, the card It is possible to prevent damage to the semiconductor chip due to bending while maintaining its flexibility.

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, although the wall portion of Fl in the above embodiment is formed by a part of the conductive layer, the wall portion is not limited thereto, and may be formed by adhering an insulating resin film. Furthermore, the amount of protrusion of the barrier portion is not limited to approximately the middle of the gap between the inner peripheral edge of the device hole and the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip;
It can be set as appropriate within a range that does not interfere with inserting the semiconductor chip into the device hole and does not come into contact with the bonding tool.

Furthermore, the depth of the cut formed between the barrier part and the lead terminal is not limited to extending outward from the device hole, and can be set as appropriate, but it can be set at least to the inner periphery of the device hole. If the cut is formed, substantially the same effect as if the cut is made deeper can be obtained.

Furthermore, in the above example, the conductive layer was formed in a relatively wide area surrounding the device hole as part of the purpose of flattening the entire surface of the sealing resin, but the conductive layer was formed in a relatively wide area surrounding the device hole. It is also possible to form an insulating resin film having the same thickness as the wiring layer connecting the device hole by adhering it around the device hole, avoiding the wiring layer.

The isolation region 7 near the device hole 3 is as follows.

Rather than being straightened as in the embodiment, e.g.

A comb-like intertwined pattern may also be used. Furthermore, in consideration of bending stress that is undesirably applied to the IC card, it may be extended diagonally instead of horizontally and vertically as in the embodiment.

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 flatness of the sealing resin is required. The present invention can be applied to various devices capable of mounting a tape carrier device such as the one shown in FIG.

〔Effect of the invention〕

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

That is, since the barrier portion protrudes into the lead hole within the gap between the inner peripheral edge of the device hole and the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor chip, when the surface of the semiconductor chip bonded to the lead terminal is sealed with resin, The fluid sealing resin located in the upper part between the outer periphery of the semiconductor chip and the inner periphery of the device hole is prevented from penetrating downward to some extent by the barrier and solidifies, thereby sealing the part. It is possible to prevent the surface of the sealing resin from being locally depressed.

[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 Chang...Conductive layer, 7...Isolation region,
8 and 9... Lead terminal, 11... Barrier part, 12.
...notch, 14...electrode pad, 15...projection. 2nd part 3rd figure

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An insulating carrier tape having a device hole into which a circuit chip can be inserted with a gap, and 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 a barrier portion protruding from the one surface of the carrier tape to the inside of the device hole. 2. The tape carrier according to claim 1, wherein the barrier portion is formed of a conductive layer provided on the one surface of the carrier tape integrally with the lead terminal. Device. 3. The tape carrier device according to claim 2, wherein the conductive layer is formed on the one surface of the carrier tape so as to surround the device hole. 4. Claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the barrier portion has notches on both sides of the lead terminal.
The tape carrier device described in Section 1. 5. The tape carrier device according to claim 4, wherein the cut extends outside the device hole.