JP2001319210A - Non-contact IC card and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a non-contact IC card which has excellent flatness on the card surface and can perform accurate and clear printing and picture printing.
It is provided with a simple configuration at low cost. SOLUTION: The non-contact IC card 10 has a nine-layer laminated structure, and includes a center core 6 having a five-layer laminated structure, an adhesive layer 2 and an exterior sheet 1 laminated on both upper and lower surfaces thereof.
The center core 6 is a circuit board 3 provided with an IC chip 3a.
A first internal sheet 5 having a through hole 5a formed on both upper and lower surfaces thereof is heat-sealed to enclose the IC chip in the through hole 5a, and a second internal sheet 4 is provided in each of the first internal sheets. The upper and lower portions of the through hole 5a are closed by heat fusion. The surface of the adhesive layer 2 on the side of the exterior sheet is finished flat, and the adhesive layer absorbs some unevenness on the surface of the center core, and makes the card surface flat.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a non-contact IC card and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A non-contact IC card (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as an IC card or a card) receives power and signals wirelessly, and a circuit board on which an IC chip, an antenna, a capacitor, and the like are mounted is provided inside the card. It is decorated in. In the manufacture of this non-contact IC card, an exterior sheet made of plastic, for example, PET is provided on the circuit board.
(Polyethylene terephthalate resin) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride resin) sheet laminated
Have been.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of a conventional non-contact IC card. In this non-contact IC card 20, exterior sheets 23 are bonded and laminated on both sides of a circuit board (circuit board film) 21 on which an IC chip 21a is mounted with an adhesive mainly composed of epoxy resin. Specifically, an adhesive is applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board 21 to form an adhesive layer 22, and the exterior sheets 23, 23 are laminated on the adhesive layers 22, 22.
1 (and IC chip 21a and the like) are embedded in an adhesive layer 22 filled in a space facing the upper and lower exterior sheets 23, 23. As described above, the conventional non-contact IC card 20 includes the two exterior sheets, the upper and lower adhesive layers, and the circuit board (and IC chip and the like).
It has a layer structure.

[0004] At present, characters and pictures can be written many times by a printer or the like, and an exterior sheet having a rewrite function capable of erasing them has been developed. It has been put to practical use as a membership card or point card, and has achieved great results.
In order to apply the above function to a non-contact IC card, the card surface must be sufficiently flat (high flatness: high smoothness). For that purpose, it is necessary to develop a laminating method and a card laminating structure when manufacturing an IC card.

[0005]

However, with the non-contact IC card 20 having the structure shown in FIG. 5, it was difficult to eliminate the unevenness on the surface and to finish the flat surface. The possible causes are as follows: (1) When the adhesive layer 22 is cured, stress is generated inside the card and the circuit board 21
(2) that distortion occurs between the outer sheet 23 and the outer sheet 23, and that the distortion causes unevenness in the outer sheet 23;
The flatness of the circuit board 21 is low, and the height difference between the circuit board 21 and the IC chip 21a, the capacitor, the antenna (all not shown), etc. is very large. Appear on the surface.

Since the surface of the card, that is, the surface of the outer sheet is often subjected to decoration processing such as printing, the flatness of the card surface is very important. However, in the above-mentioned conventional card, since the surface has a considerable amount of unevenness, not only the appearance is impaired and the commercial value is reduced,
When printing or writing a pattern or the like on the card surface by a printer or the like, there is a problem that characters are missing or the color or outline of the pattern does not appear clearly.

The present invention relates to the development of a card laminated structure and
Considering that the process of laminating an exterior sheet on a circuit board greatly affects the appearance and printing performance of a non-contact IC card, high quality non-contact IC with excellent flatness
They try to offer a card at low cost.

That is, a first object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact IC card which has excellent flatness on the card surface and can perform accurate and clear printing and picture printing on the card surface with a simple structure and a low cost. To provide A second object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method capable of mass-producing the non-contact IC card in a simple process with a high yield.

[0009]

A non-contact IC card according to the present invention (first invention) is a non-contact IC card including an IC chip in a laminate of plastic sheets.
An exterior sheet is laminated on an upper surface and a lower surface of a sheet-shaped center core containing a C chip via an adhesive layer, and the adhesive layer has a flat surface on the exterior sheet side. And

In this IC card, the unevenness on the upper and lower surfaces of the center core is absorbed by an adhesive layer, so that
Since both sides of the card are flattened, the appearance is excellent, and characters and pictures can be clearly printed on the card surface by a printer or the like.

The IC card of the present invention preferably has a structure in which an IC chip is included in a hollow formed in the center core without filling the hollow with an adhesive. According to this structure, the step of filling the cavity with the adhesive becomes unnecessary, and the unevenness on the center core surface can be reduced as compared with the case where the adhesive is filled.

Further, the non-contact I according to the present invention (second invention)
The C card is a non-contact IC card including an IC chip in a laminate of plastic sheets, wherein a through hole corresponding to the shape and size of the IC chip is formed on an upper surface and a lower surface of a circuit board provided with the IC chip. The first internal sheet made of plastic is heat-sealed to enclose the IC chip in the through hole of the first internal sheet, and the second internal sheet made of plastic is provided in each of the first internal sheets. The upper and lower portions of the through-holes are closed by heat-sealing the sheet, and an exterior sheet made of plastic is laminated on each of the second inner sheets via an adhesive layer. The layer is characterized in that the surface on the side of the exterior sheet is finished to a flat surface.

In this IC card, the irregularities on the upper and lower surfaces of the center core are absorbed by the adhesive layer, so that
Because both sides of the C card are finished flat, the appearance is excellent,
Moreover, characters and pictures can be clearly printed on the card surface by a printer or the like. Further, this IC card can be continuously manufactured by a simple process and has a structure in which nine layers including an adhesive layer are laminated.
The thickness can be suppressed to the same thickness as the C card.

In the above-mentioned IC card, it is preferable that the IC chip is included in the through hole of the first inner sheet without filling the through hole with an adhesive. By doing so, the step of filling the through hole with the adhesive becomes unnecessary.
In addition, in the center core (five-layer laminate), the second
Although the inner sheet is slightly depressed toward the through hole, the amount is small, and the conventional IC card shown in FIG.
Unlike the (layer laminate), no irregularities are caused by embedding the IC chip in the adhesive-filled layer. Therefore, the irregularities on the center core surface are significantly reduced as compared with the IC card of FIG.

Further, a method for manufacturing a non-contact IC card according to the present invention (third invention) is a method for manufacturing an IC card according to the second invention, wherein the shape and size of an IC chip provided on a circuit board are reduced. A first inner sheet is produced by forming corresponding through holes in a plastic sheet, and the first inner sheet is thermally fused to the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board, so that the IC chip is attached to the inner sheet. After the upper and lower portions of the through hole are closed by heat sealing a second inner sheet made of plastic to each of the first inner sheets, the second inner sheet is enclosed in the through hole. The method is characterized in that an adhesive is applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the adhesive layer, the surface of the adhesive layer is finished to a flat surface, and an exterior sheet made of plastic is adhered to the adhesive layer.

In this manufacturing method, the IC chip is connected to the first chip.
It is preferable to encapsulate the through-hole of the inner sheet without filling the through-hole with an adhesive. This further simplifies the manufacturing process and eliminates the need for the adhesive, so that an IC card can be provided at a lower cost.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a main structure of a non-contact IC card. The card 10 has a nine-layer laminated structure including a center core 6 having a five-layer laminated structure, an adhesive layer 2 and an exterior sheet 1 laminated on the upper and lower surfaces of the center core 6, respectively.

More specifically, the center core 6 is an IC
A first internal sheet 5 made of plastic and having a through hole 5a corresponding to the shape and size of the IC chip 3a formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board 3 provided with the chip (IC module) 3a by heat fusion. With the IC chip 3a
Is enclosed in (stored in) the through-hole 5a, and the second inner sheet 4 made of plastic is thermally fused to the first inner sheet 5, so that the upper and lower portions of the through-hole 5a are closed. ing.

The IC card 10 is formed by laminating an outer sheet 1 made of plastic on the second inner sheet 4 forming the surface layer of the center core 6 with an adhesive layer 2 interposed therebetween. The surface of the adhesive layer 2 on the side of the exterior sheet 1 is finished to be flat.

Next, a method of manufacturing the IC card 10 will be described. First, as a material for manufacturing this card, an exterior sheet 1 made of rewritable PET, an adhesive, a tape carrier (film carrier), and PET
Internal sheets 4 and 5 made of -G (trade name of PET-based copolymer manufactured by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.) are prepared.

As the exterior sheet 1, a sheet or the like on which characters, patterns, etc. can be written by a dedicated printer or the like is used. The tape carrier has a large number of circuit boards 3 on which IC chips 3a and the like are mounted on a plastic sheet intermittently in the longitudinal direction. Inner sheet 5
Corresponds to the first inner sheet, and the inner sheet 4 corresponds to the second inner sheet.

The tape carrier is used to manufacture a large number of IC cards from now on. In this tape carrier, one IC chip corresponds to one IC card. In the first inner sheet 5, through holes 5a corresponding to the shape and size of the IC chip 3a in one IC card are formed intermittently in the longitudinal direction of the sheet.
Further, the outer sheet 1, the first and second inner sheets 5,
4. As a tape carrier, a roll-shaped (roll-out roll) in which a long sheet is wound around a core is prepared (not shown).

The adhesive may be, for example, an epoxy adhesive (one-pack or two-pack) that cures at room temperature, or an infrared-curable adhesive (one-pack epoxy or triacrylate oligomer). Sensitizer). Further, among the epoxy adhesives, a quick-curing adhesive which cures in a few seconds, particularly a quick-drying high-viscosity adhesive is preferable. When using an infrared curable adhesive,
The exterior sheet 1 is a transparent sheet. Since any of the above-mentioned adhesives can be cured without heating, there is no fear that the IC chip 3a or the like will be damaged by heating.

In manufacturing an IC card, the center core 6 shown in FIG. 1 is prepared in a first step, and the outer sheet 1 is bonded to both upper and lower surfaces of the center core 6 in a second step. In this case, the entire manufacturing process is performed on a roll-to-roll basis.
That is, the tape carrier, the outer sheet 1 and the first and second inner sheets 5 and 4 are all continuously fed out from the feeding roller and run, and are continuously laminated to form the following nine-layer laminate. After winding this around a take-up roller, this nine-layer laminate is punched into a predetermined IC card shape and size to obtain an IC card.

The first step will be described. The first inner sheet 5 is laminated on the upper and lower surfaces of the tape carrier by thermal fusion to obtain a three-layer laminate. This lamination is performed by, for example, high-frequency bonding or ultrasonic bonding. In this step, it is important to position the IC chip 3a in the through hole 5a of the first inner sheet 5, whereby the IC chip 3a is stored in the through hole 5a. Then, the second inner sheet 4 is laminated on the upper and lower surfaces of the three-layer laminate by thermal fusion to obtain a five-layer laminate, that is, a center core 6. An adhesive for forming the adhesive layer 2 is applied to both upper and lower surfaces of the center core 6, and the exterior sheet 1 is superimposed on the applied surface, and the adhesive is cured to form a nine-layer laminate.
This is wound around a winding roller (not shown). This nine-layer laminate is punched as described above to obtain an IC card.

In the laminating step, the step of applying the adhesive to the upper and lower surfaces of the center core 6 can be performed by so-called doctor blade coating, Meyer bar coating, reverse roll coating, dip coating, or the like. When dip coating is applied, an adhesive can be simultaneously applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the center core if desired.

This adhesive application step is particularly important for the present invention. That is, in the center core 6, since the storage portion of the IC chip 3a is the hollow portion 5a,
The part of the inner sheet 4 facing the IC chip housing part is slightly depressed (concave) toward the cavity 5a, so that in the adhesive application step, the adhesive layer is formed by a doctor blade or a squeeze roll. By finishing the surface flat, unevenness on the surface of the center core 6 can be reduced.
And the flatness of both surfaces of the finally obtained IC card 10 can be ensured.

The IC card 10 shown in FIG.
The IC chip 3a is housed in the cavity 5a formed without filling the cavity 5a with an adhesive (the housing is hollow), but the housing is filled with an adhesive if desired. Alternatively, the IC chip 3a may be embedded in the adhesive layer.

The structure of the IC card according to the present invention is as follows.
In addition to the above, (1) a sheet having a structure whose cross section is shown in FIG. 5 is used as a center core, and an outer sheet is laminated on both upper and lower surfaces thereof via an adhesive layer, and (2) a cross section is shown in FIG. A sheet having a structure to be formed is used as a center core, and an inner sheet, an adhesive layer, and an outer sheet are laminated on the upper and lower surfaces in this order.

FIG. 2 is a bird's-eye view obtained by measuring the surface flatness of the IC card having the cross-sectional structure shown in FIG. 1 with a laser interferometer, and FIG. 3 is a contour diagram. FIG.
Is a photograph obtained by printing on the surface of the IC card with a printer and photographing the printed surface with a close-up camera. In the printing portion 10a of this card, "forest,""competition,""taku,""abrasion,""tohru," and "head"
The characters "Tetsu", "Tail", "Rin", "Machine", "Forest", "Forest", and "Forest" are printed in this order and the right side of FIG.

On the other hand, FIG. 6 is a bird's-eye view obtained by measuring the surface flatness of the conventional IC card having a sectional structure shown in FIG. 5 by the same laser interferometer, and FIG. is there. FIG. 8 is a photograph obtained by printing on the surface of the IC card with a printer and photographing the printed surface with a close-up camera. In the printing portion 20a of this card, only a number of characters "Rin" are printed from top to bottom in FIG. 8 along the lateral direction of the card, with the right side of FIG.

As is clear from the comparison between FIGS. 2 and 3 and FIGS. 6 and 7, the surface irregularities are conspicuous in the conventional IC card, whereas the surface flatness is excellent in the IC card of the present invention. Further, as can be seen from a comparison between FIG. 4 and FIG.
In the case of a card, a portion lacking printing (printing defective portion 20b) or a portion where printing is not clear appears in a streak shape, whereas the IC card of the present invention provides a clear printing result over the entire printing portion. was gotten.

[0033]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-contact IC card.
An exterior sheet is laminated on an upper surface and a lower surface of a sheet-shaped center core including a C chip via an adhesive layer, and the adhesive layer has a structure in which the surface on the exterior sheet side is finished to a flat surface. Adhesive layers on the upper and lower surfaces of the center core are absorbed by the adhesive layer, so that both sides of this IC card are finished to a flat surface, so that the appearance is excellent, and characters and patterns on the card surface are clearly printed by a printer etc. Can be printed.

In the non-contact IC card according to the second aspect, in the card according to the first aspect, the IC chip is included in the hollow portion formed in the center core without filling the hollow portion with an adhesive. The step of filling the cavity with the adhesive becomes unnecessary, and the unevenness on the surface of the center core can be reduced as compared with the case where the adhesive is filled.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-contact IC card comprising:
The IC is provided on the upper and lower surfaces of a circuit board provided with a chip.
The first internal sheet made of plastic, in which a through-hole corresponding to the shape and size of the chip is formed, is heat-sealed to encapsulate the IC chip in the through-hole of the first internal sheet. By heat-sealing a second inner sheet made of plastic to each of the inner sheets, the upper and lower portions of the through holes are closed, and an outer sheet made of plastic is further formed on each of the second inner sheets. The laminate is laminated via an adhesive layer, and the adhesive layer has a structure in which the surface on the side of the exterior sheet is finished to a flat surface.

In this IC card, the unevenness on the upper and lower surfaces of the center core is absorbed by the adhesive layer, so that
Because both sides of the C card are finished flat, the appearance is excellent,
Moreover, characters and pictures can be clearly printed on the card surface by a printer or the like. Further, this IC card can be continuously manufactured by a simple process, and has a structure in which nine layers including an adhesive layer are laminated, but is suppressed to a thickness equivalent to that of a conventional IC card. be able to.

In the non-contact IC card according to the fourth aspect, in the card according to the third aspect, the IC chip is included in the through hole of the first inner sheet without filling the through hole with an adhesive. The step of filling the through hole with the adhesive becomes unnecessary. In addition, in the center core (five-layer laminate), although the second inner sheet is slightly recessed toward the through hole, the amount is small, and the conventional IC card shown in FIG. Unlike IC), IC in the adhesive filling layer
Since no irregularities are generated due to the embedded chip, the irregularities on the center core surface are significantly reduced as compared with the IC card of FIG.

In the method for manufacturing a non-contact IC card according to the fifth aspect, when manufacturing the card according to the third aspect, a through hole corresponding to the shape and size of the IC chip provided on the circuit board is formed in the plastic sheet. Thus, a first inner sheet is formed, and first and second inner sheets are formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board.
By heat-sealing the inner sheet, the IC chip is included in the through hole of the first inner sheet,
Each of the inner sheets of the second, made of plastic
After the upper and lower portions of the through-holes are closed by heat-sealing the inner sheet, adhesive is applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the second inner sheet, and the surface of the adhesive layer is flattened. And an exterior sheet made of plastic is adhered to the adhesive layer.

For this reason, according to this manufacturing method, a high-quality non-contact IC card can be manufactured in a simple process, particularly in a roll-to-
It can be mass-produced continuously with good yield by a roll method.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the method of manufacturing a non-contact IC card according to the fifth aspect, wherein the IC chip is provided in the through hole of the first inner sheet without filling the through hole with an adhesive. Since it is included, the manufacturing process is further simplified, and the adhesive is not required, so that the IC card can be provided at lower cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part structure of a non-contact IC card according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bird's-eye view showing the flatness of the surface of the IC card of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a contour diagram showing flatness of a surface of the IC card of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a printing state on the surface of the IC card of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a main structure of a conventional non-contact IC card.

FIG. 6 is a bird's-eye view showing the flatness of the IC card surface of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a contour diagram showing the flatness of the surface of the IC card of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a printing state on the surface of the IC card of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Exterior sheet, 2 ... Adhesive layer, 3 ... Circuit board, 3a ...
IC chip, 4 ... second inner sheet, 5 ... first inner sheet, 5a ... through hole (hollow portion), 6 ... center core, 1
0: non-contact IC card, 10a: printing section, 20: non-contact IC card, 20a: printing section, 20b: poor printing section, 2
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Circuit board, 21a ... IC chip, 22 ... Adhesive layer,
23 ... exterior sheet.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A non-contact IC card including an IC chip in a laminate of plastic sheets, wherein outer sheets are laminated via adhesive layers on both upper and lower surfaces of a sheet-shaped center core including the IC chip. A non-contact IC card, wherein the adhesive layer has a flat surface on the side of the exterior sheet. 2. The non-contact IC according to claim 1, wherein the IC chip is included in a cavity formed in the center core without filling the cavity with an adhesive.
C card. 3. A non-contact IC card including an IC chip in a laminate of plastic sheets, wherein through holes corresponding to the shape and size of the IC chip are formed on both upper and lower surfaces of a circuit board provided with the IC chip. By heat-sealing a first inner sheet made of plastic,
By encapsulating a C chip in the through hole of the first inner sheet, and thermally fusing a second inner sheet made of plastic to each of the first inner sheets, the upper and lower portions of the through hole are formed. The second inner sheet is closed, and an outer sheet made of plastic is laminated on each of the second inner sheets via an adhesive layer, and the adhesive layer has a flat surface on the side of the outer sheet. Contactless IC card. 4. The non-contact IC card according to claim 3, wherein the IC chip is included in a through hole of the first inner sheet without filling the through hole with an adhesive. 5. The method for manufacturing a non-contact IC card according to claim 3, wherein a through-hole corresponding to the shape and size of an IC chip provided on a circuit board is formed in a plastic sheet. An internal sheet is prepared, and the first internal sheet is heat-sealed on both upper and lower surfaces of the circuit board, thereby enclosing the IC chip in a through hole of the first internal sheet. The upper and lower portions of the through-holes are closed by heat-sealing a second inner sheet made of plastic to each, and then an adhesive is applied to both upper and lower surfaces of the second inner sheet, and the bonding is performed. A method for producing a non-contact IC card, comprising: finishing a surface of an agent layer to a flat surface; and bonding an exterior sheet made of plastic to the adhesive layer. 6. The non-contact IC card according to claim 5, wherein the IC chip is included in a through hole of the first inner sheet without filling the through hole with an adhesive. Method.