JPH11250207A - Ic module, its production and non-contact ic card loaded with the module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a module having an improved rigidity and dimension accuracy suitable for non-contact type IC card by mounting electronic components on an insulated plastic film having a circuit pattern on the internal base of a recessed body, filling the recessed part with curing resins, sealing and integrating the electronic components. SOLUTION: After electronic components composed of an IC chip are mounted on an insulated plastic film having a circuit pattern on the internal base of a recessed body, the recessed part is filled with curing resins, and the electronic components are sealed and integrated. Concerning such an IC module, the recessed body 20 is composed of laminated sheets 10, a side wall part 22 is provided continuously to an internal base part 21, and a connection terminal 23 with an antenna horizontally protruded from the upper end of that side wall is provided. This laminated sheet 10 has a structure provided with the insulated plastic film on a metal sheet while having the circuit pattern composed of a conductive thin film on its surface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an IC module,
Method of manufacturing the same and non-contact type IC mounting the module
About the card. More specifically, the present invention provides an IC module which is excellent in rigidity, dimensional accuracy, reliability, handleability, productivity, etc., and is particularly suitable for a non-contact type IC card, a method for efficiently manufacturing the same, and the above IC The present invention relates to a non-contact type IC card equipped with a module.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, magnetic recording media such as floppy disks and cassette tapes have been widely used as external storage devices for computers and electronic equipment using computers. A card-like or package-like recording medium provided with a semiconductor memory such as a RAM, a ROM, or the like has been used. On the other hand, credit cards, ID cards,
In the field of cash cards, prepaid cards, and the like, so-called ICs, in which an IC module including a semiconductor memory such as a microprocessor, a RAM, and a ROM is mounted on a card base, as a card replacing the magnetic card.
Cards have been developed and put to practical use because of their extremely large signal recording capacity and high security. These IC cards are roughly classified into a type in which reading is performed by a contact method and a type in which reading is performed by a non-contact method. The former contact type has external terminals exposed on the card surface,
It is of a type in which power is supplied and information is communicated by directly contacting and connecting terminals on the reader side, and most of IC cards currently used are of this contact type. However, in this contact type IC card, if the external terminals are dirty or damaged by abrasion, the electrical continuity may be reduced and reading may not be possible.
Also, there is a problem that a reading error may occur due to static electricity charged on the card surface even in a dry environment. On the other hand, a non-contact type IC card has an IC chip and an antenna coil embedded inside, and when the antenna connected to the host computer via an interface is brought close to the IC card, the IC card is embedded in the IC card. Data communication is enabled by electromagnetic induction between the antenna coil and the antenna connected to the host computer. Thus, since communication is performed in a non-contact manner, there is no need to expose a communication terminal on the card surface as in the contact type,
Because there is no worry about errors due to dirt and static electricity,
In recent years, this non-contact type IC card has attracted attention and has begun to spread. As an IC module embedded in such a non-contact type IC card, for example, the one shown in FIG. 1 has been widely used. FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a conventionally used IC module for a non-contact type IC card, in which an antenna coil 2 is provided around an IC substrate 1 on which electronic components 3 such as an IC chip and a chip capacitor are fixed. 1 shows a structure in which an IC substrate 1 and an antenna coil 2 are integrated. The antenna coil 2 is usually wound using a conducting wire having a diameter of about 100 μm and provided with an insulating coating, forming an internal space of about 10 mm to about several tens mm at the center, and having an outer diameter of about 20 to 30 mm. Thickness 400
It is formed in a disk shape with a thickness of about μm and has an inner peripheral portion 4 at the beginning of winding and an outer peripheral portion 5 at the end of winding. The inner peripheral portion 4 and the outer peripheral portion 5 are connected to each other through a connection portion 6.
It is connected to the C board 1. However, although such an IC module has a simple structure and a low manufacturing cost, it has a problem that it is easily broken during handling, and that it is necessary to take great care when embedding it in an IC card. Therefore, attempts have been made to seal the module with a resin to form a resin-sealed body. As a method of sealing the module with a resin, for example, a transfer molding method, a potting method, or the like is used. However, the former transfer mold method is a method of installing a module in a mold, injecting epoxy resin etc. at high pressure, curing it and integrating it, and it is inevitable that manufacturing costs will be high and production However, the latter potting method has disadvantages such as difficulty in making the shape of the obtained resin sealing body constant and low productivity. When the thickness of the IC card is 0.76 mm, which is partly adopted as a standard, the thickness of the module sealing body must be less than this, so that any of the above methods can be used. The module sealing body also has a problem that the resin layer is thin and easily broken by bending deformation.

[0003]

Under these circumstances, the present invention provides an IC which is excellent in rigidity, dimensional accuracy, reliability, handleability, and productivity, and is particularly suitable for a non-contact type IC card. An object of the present invention is to provide a module and a non-contact type IC card on which the IC module is mounted.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to achieve the above object, and as a result, an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film on the surface of a metal sheet has been developed. Using the provided laminated sheet, a concave body having a structure having a connection edge with an antenna projecting horizontally from the upper end is produced by plastic working such as press working, and has a circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface of the concave body. At least an IC on an insulating plastic film
After mounting the electronic component consisting of a chip, the space of the concave body is filled with a hardened resin, and the electronic component is sealed and integrated. The IC module has rigidity, dimensional accuracy, reliability, and handleability. The present inventors have found that they are excellent in productivity, etc., and can be adapted to the purpose, and have completed the present invention based on this finding. That is, the present invention provides (1) a laminated sheet in which an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film on a surface thereof is provided on a metal sheet, and the outer surface is the metal sheet; An electronic component comprising a concave body having a structure having a connection edge with an antenna protruding horizontally from an upper end, and at least an IC chip housed therein and mounted on an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern on an inner bottom surface. And a cured resin that fills the space of the concave body and seals the electronic component, and is integrated, and (2) a metal sheet is electrically conductive on the surface. A laminated sheet provided with an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film is subjected to plastic working, so that the outer surface of the laminated sheet is After producing a concave body having a structure having a connection edge with an antenna protruding in the horizontal direction, an electronic component comprising at least an IC chip is mounted on an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern on an inner bottom surface of the concave body. Then, a curable liquid resin is filled into the space of the concave body and cured, and the electronic component is sealed and integrated, and (3) the first method (1). A non-contact type IC card provided with the IC module described in the above item. According to another aspect of the present invention, (4) the IC module according to (1), wherein the tip of the connection edge portion with the antenna is bent inward, and the connection portion with the antenna is positioned on the lower surface side. The IC module according to (1) or (4), wherein the thickness is in the range of 300 to 500 μm, and (6) the curable liquid resin is a room temperature-curable, thermosetting or actinic ray-curable liquid resin. The manufacturing method according to a certain item (2).

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the IC module of the present invention, an insulative plastic film having a circuit pattern formed of a conductive thin film on the surface of a metal sheet is used as a package concave body for accommodating an electronic component such as an IC chip. And a metal sheet whose outer surface is the metal sheet and has a connection edge with an antenna protruding horizontally from the upper end is used.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an example of the laminated sheet constituting the concave body.
It has a structure in which an insulating plastic film 12 having a circuit pattern 13 made of a conductive thin film on its surface is provided. In this laminated sheet, the metal sheet 11
Is generally made of copper, iron, aluminum or the like having a thickness of about 50 to 200 μm, which is suitable for bending processing. On the other hand, the insulating plastic film 12 has excellent insulation performance and is provided on a metal sheet or a surface. Adhesion with the conductive thin film is good, and it is only necessary that the mechanical properties and heat resistance are good, and there is no particular limitation, for example, a polyimide film or a polyester film. A system film is preferably used. The thickness of the insulating plastic film is usually about 10 to 30 μm. There is no particular limitation on the method of forming a circuit pattern formed of a conductive thin film provided on the surface of the insulating plastic film, and a conventionally known method can be used. For example, on an insulating plastic film, a conductive metal foil such as a copper foil or an aluminum foil is adhered, or by vapor deposition or metal spraying, etc., after providing a conductive metal thin film such as a copper thin film or an aluminum thin film, for example. A circuit pattern may be formed by etching using a lithography technique, or a conductive paste may be applied on an insulating film by a silk screen printing method or the like to form a circuit pattern. The conductive paste contains metal particles such as silver powder, an adhesive resin, a plasticizer, a solvent, and the like. Particularly, as the adhesive resin, a resin using the same type of resin as the substrate film is used. It is preferable because it has the same properties (thermal expansion coefficient, contraction rate, etc.) as the film. The thickness of the circuit pattern made of the conductive thin film is usually about 10 to 30 μm.

In the laminated sheet having such a configuration, for example, a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film is formed on the surface of an insulating plastic film in advance, and the film is placed on a metal sheet such that the back surface of the film is in contact with the metal sheet. It may be produced by laminating with an adhesive or heat fusion or the like, or, after laminating an insulating plastic film on a metal sheet with an adhesive or heat fusion, a conductive film may be formed on the surface of the insulating plastic film. It may be manufactured by forming a circuit pattern made of a thin film. Such a laminated sheet has good rigidity because the metal sheet is provided, and the outer surface is the metal sheet by plastic working such as press working or bending work, and protrudes horizontally from the upper end. A package-shaped concave body having a predetermined shape having a connection edge with an antenna can be easily formed. The depth of the concave body is such that the thickness of the obtained IC module is usually 300
It is selected to be about 500 μm. The size of the bottom surface is not particularly limited, and may be appropriately selected according to the size and number of electronic components to be mounted. In addition, the width of the connection edge with the antenna is usually about 2 to 3 mm. FIG. 3 is a side view (a) and a top view (b) of an example of a package concave body constituted by the laminated sheet.
It is. The concave body 20 is composed of the laminated sheet 10 (the outer surface is a metal sheet), has a side wall 22 continuous with the inner bottom surface 21, and has a connection edge with an antenna projecting horizontally from the upper end thereof. 23. Note that FIG.
In this case, the cross section of the concave body is circular, but is not limited to this, and may be an arbitrary shape such as an oval or a square. Further, the shape of the connection edge with the antenna protruding in the horizontal direction from the upper end of the concave body may be any shape, and a structure in which the entire concave body has an edge may be used. The width of the connection edge with the antenna is usually about 2 to 3 mm. The IC module according to the present invention includes a concave body having such a structure, an electronic component including at least an IC chip housed therein and mounted on an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface, and a concave body. It is made of a cured resin that fills the space and seals the electronic component, and is integrated.

The electronic components to be mounted include electronic components other than IC chips such as IC chips and chip capacitors used as needed. The mounting method of these electronic components is not particularly limited, and may be appropriately selected from conventionally known techniques depending on the situation.
For example, as a connection method with a circuit when mounting an electronic component, a wire bonding method or a TAB (tape out) method is used.
Omated bonding) method or the like may be used, or the chip may be directly mounted by a flip chip method (a method in which an IC chip or the like is directly turned upside down), but the flip chip method is preferable because it can be thinned. It is. Also, the provision of the connection edge with the antenna that protrudes horizontally from the upper end of the concave body is such that, when the IC module is embedded in the card, the antenna coil provided in the card is inserted through the connection edge. Connect, IC
This is for operating electronic components such as chips.

In this way, the curable liquid resin is filled in at least the space of the concave body on which the electronic component including the IC chip is mounted on the insulating plastic film having the circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface of the concave body. , Cured, and sealed and integrated with the electronic component to obtain the I of the present invention.
A C module is obtained. The curable liquid resin used in this case is not particularly limited, and may be selected from conventionally known room-temperature-curable, heat-curable or encapsulating resins such as active light-curable resins such as electron beams and ultraviolet rays, depending on the situation. It may be appropriately selected and used, but usually, a thermosetting resin such as an epoxy resin, a silicone resin, a polyimide resin, or a silicone-modified polyimide resin is preferably used. Also,
It is important that the curable liquid resin is filled and cured so that the resin surface after curing becomes substantially the same horizontal plane as the upper end of the concave body. Since the reliability of the IC chip or chip capacitor mounted on the concave body by the flip chip method hardly decreases even if the back surface of the device is exposed, both the cured resin surface and the back surface of these devices are used. Setting and finishing the depth of the concave body so as to be substantially the same horizontal plane as the upper end of the concave body is also an effective method for reducing the thickness of the entire module.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of one example of the IC module of the present invention thus obtained. This IC module is composed of a laminated sheet 10 (the structure of a laminated sheet is not shown) in which an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film is provided on a metal sheet. An IC chip 31 and a chip capacitor 32 are mounted on an insulative plastic film having a circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface thereof in a concave body 20 having a connection edge 23 with an antenna at the upper end of a metal sheet. It has a structure sealed by 33. Further, depending on the positional relationship of the antenna coil outside the module, the connection portion with the antenna may be advantageously located on the upper surface or may be advantageously located on the lower surface. Therefore, when it is advantageous to be located on the lower surface, the connection portion may be bent such that the tip end is located on the lower surface side. Since the IC module of the present invention having such a configuration has a metal sheet and is filled with a hardening resin for sealing, it has excellent rigidity and good dimensional accuracy, handleability, reliability, and productivity. And is suitable for use in a non-contact type IC card. Next, a non-contact type IC card of the present invention equipped with the IC module will be described.

The non-contact type IC card of the present invention can be manufactured, for example, by the following method. First, one base plastic sheet (A) having a thickness close to the thickness of the mounted IC module and two plastic sheets (B, C) thinner than this are prepared. A hole is formed in an appropriate place of the base plastic sheet (A) so that the IC module to be mounted can fit therein, and an antenna coil is provided on one or both sides of the sheet. When the antenna coils are provided on both surfaces, the antenna coils on each surface are connected by a conductive paste or the like via through holes. Next, insert the IC
The module is fitted, and both ends of the antenna coil are connected to the connection of the IC module with the antenna. Next, plastic sheets (B) and (C) are arranged on both sides of the base plastic sheet (A) to which the IC module is fitted, respectively.
The target non-contact type IC card is obtained by pressing under heating, integrating by heat fusion, and further cutting to a predetermined size.

The method of providing the antenna coil on the base plastic sheet (A) is not particularly limited.
Conventionally known methods, for example, a method of embedding a plate-shaped winding coil formed by winding a conductive wire with an insulation coating, a method of applying a conductive paste to a plastic sheet surface by a silk screen printing method to form an antenna coil, A method of providing a conductive thin film on the surface of a plastic sheet and forming an antenna coil by etching can be used. The dimensions of the non-contact type IC card of the present invention thus obtained are, for example, a thickness of 0.7.
Standardized ones having a size of 6 mm, a width of 54 mm, and a length of 85 mm can be given. Therefore, the thicknesses of the plastic sheets B and C may be selected so that the thickness of the obtained IC card becomes 0.76 mm, for example. The material of the plastic sheet is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected from those conventionally used for IC cards. For example, a vinyl chloride resin, a polyester resin, a polyolefin resin, and a biodegradable resin are used. The non-contact type IC card of the present invention may be subjected to embossing on the card surface, or may be printed with characters or pictures, if desired.

[0012]

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. Example 1 A copper foil having a thickness of 18 μm was adhered to one side of a polyimide film having a thickness of 20 μm (trade name: Kapton, manufactured by Du Pont-Toray Co., Ltd.) using an adhesive, and was etched using a lithography method according to a conventional method. A predetermined circuit pattern made of copper foil was formed by processing. Next, a polyimide film having the circuit pattern was bonded on a copper sheet having a thickness of 100 μm using an adhesive such that the surface on the opposite side of the circuit pattern was in contact with the polyimide film, thereby producing a laminated sheet. Next, this laminated sheet was pressed, and FIG. 5 ((a) is a side view,
(B) is a top view] and has a depth of 300
A concave body (outer surface is a metal sheet) 20 having a diameter of 20 μm, a diameter of the bottom surface 20 of 20 mm, and a width of the annular edge 23 ′ of 5 mm was produced.
Reference numeral 24 is a circuit pattern. On a polyimide film having a circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface of the concave body, an IC is provided.
After mounting the chip by the flip-chip method, the space of the concave body was filled with a liquid epoxy resin-based sealant and cured by heating, whereby the intended IC module for a non-contact type IC card was obtained. Note that an antenna coil connection portion is provided on the polyimide film at the annular edge of the IC module. Example 2 In Example 1, a conductive paste using silver powder as a metal powder to form a circuit pattern on a polyimide film [trade name: LS-, manufactured by Asahi Chemical Laboratory Co., Ltd.]
411], and an IC module for a non-contact type IC card was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the IC module was formed by a silk screen printing method. Example 3 430 μm thick polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Sheet A) and 165 μm thick PET sheets B and C
Was prepared. In the PET sheet A, a hole for fitting the IC module obtained in Example 1 was opened, and a conductive paste [trade name: LS-, manufactured by Asahi Chemical Laboratory Co., Ltd.]
411] to form an antenna coil. Next, the IC module obtained in Example 1 was fitted into the hole of the PET sheet A, and both ends of the antenna coil were connected to the antenna coil connection portion on the annular edge of the module. PET sheets B and C were placed on both sides of this sheet, respectively, pressed under the conditions of 120 ° C. and 20 kg / cm ² , and integrated by heat fusion. Then, cut into a predetermined shape,
A non-contact type IC card of 5 × 54 × 0.76 mm was produced. Example 4 In Example 3, except that the IC module obtained in Example 2 was used as the IC module,
A non-contact type IC card was manufactured.

[0013]

The IC module of the present invention has characteristics such as excellent rigidity and dimensional accuracy, good reliability, and good handling and productivity, and is particularly suitable for non-contact type IC cards. It is preferably used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of an example of a conventionally used non-contact type IC card IC module.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one example of a laminated sheet used for the IC module of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view (a) and a top view (b) of an example of a package concave body used in the IC module of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of an example of an IC module according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view (a) and a top view (b) of the package concave body obtained in Example 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 IC board 2 Antenna coil 3 Electronic component 4 Inner peripheral part of antenna coil 5 Outer peripheral part of antenna coil 6 Connecting part 10 Laminated sheet 11 Metal sheet 12 Insulating plastic film 13 Circuit pattern made of conductive thin film 20 Concave body 21 for package 21 Internal bottom 22 Side wall 23 Connection edge to antenna 23 'Annular edge 24 Circuit pattern 31 IC chip 32 Chip capacitor 33 Cured resin

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A laminated sheet comprising a metal sheet provided with an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film on a surface thereof, wherein the outer surface is the metal sheet, and a horizontal direction from an upper end thereof. A concave body having a structure having a connection edge portion with an antenna protruding from an electronic component comprising at least an IC chip housed therein and mounted on an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern on an inner bottom surface; and a concave body. An integrated circuit module, comprising: a hardened resin that fills the space of (1) and seals the electronic component, and is integrated. 2. The IC module according to claim 1, wherein the thickness is in a range of 300 to 500 μm. 3. A laminating sheet provided with an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern made of a conductive thin film on a surface of a metal sheet, the outer surface of the laminated sheet is formed by plastic working and the horizontal surface is horizontal from the upper end. After producing a concave body having a structure having a connection edge with an antenna protruding in the direction, an electronic component comprising at least an IC chip is mounted on an insulating plastic film having a circuit pattern on the inner bottom surface of the concave body, Next, a curable liquid resin is filled into the space of the concave body and cured, and the electronic component is sealed and integrated, thereby manufacturing a IC module. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the curable liquid resin is a room temperature-curable, thermosetting or actinic ray-curable liquid resin. 5. A non-contact type IC card having the IC module according to claim 1 mounted thereon.