Registers – Records – Conductive
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-28
2003-05-06
Lee, Diane I. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Records
Conductive
C343S878000, C257S679000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06557767
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna frame for an IC card and a process for manufacturing the same. More Particularly, the present invention relates to an antenna frame of an IC card having a plane coil formed by punching or etching a thin metallic sheet in which a conductor is wound by a plurality of times on a same plane, wherein terminals of the plane coil and electrode terminals of a semiconductor element are to be electrically connected to each other, and also the present invention relates to a process for manufacturing such an antenna frame for an IC card.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 9
, an IC card includes: a rectangular plane coil
100
in which a conductor
102
is wound by a plurality of times; and a semiconductor element
104
. The plane coil
100
and the semiconductor element
104
are interposed between two sheets of resin films
106
made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) on a front surface of which characters and others are printed. The two sheets of resin films
106
are made to adhere to each other by an adhesive layer made of polyurethane resin. This adhesive layer also seals the plane coil
100
and the semiconductor element
104
.
When the thus formed IC card passes in a magnetic field formed by a card processor, an electric power is generated by electromagnetic induction caused in the plane coil
100
of the IC card. Therefore, the semiconductor element
104
is started by the generated electric power, so that communication can be held between the semiconductor element
104
of the IC card and the card processor via the plane coil
100
which functions as an antenna.
In this IC card, the electrical connection between the plane coil
100
and the semiconductor element
104
can be effected by wires
112
,
112
which connect the terminals
108
,
108
of the plane coil
100
to the electrode terminals
110
,
110
.
The plane coil
100
in this IC card is formed by punching or etching a thin metallic sheet so as to reduce the cost of production thereof. It has been found that the plane coil
100
thus formed by punching or etching is difficult to handle by itself, since the conductor line
102
may easily be deformed during the transportation.
In order to solve the above mentioned problems, the inventors have tried to use an antenna frame for IC card as shown in FIG.
10
and obtained some improvement in the handling thereof as compared with a case of handling the plane coil by itself.
FIG. 10
shows an antenna frame
200
which is used for IC card and
FIG. 11
shows a terminal portion of the antenna frame
200
shown in FIG.
10
. The plane coil
216
is provided with respective end portions
218
a
and
218
b
of the innermost conductor
226
a
and the outermost conductor
226
b
of the plane coil interposing the conductor
226
thereof. These end portions
218
a
and
218
b
are formed as wide areas for forming the terminals.
The respective end portions
218
a
and
218
b
of the innermost conductor
226
a
and th outermost conductor
226
b
is processed by coining to form respective terminals
218
a
,
218
b
each provided with a bonding area.
Thus, a bonding operation can easily be performed by using a bonding machine to obtain the electrical connection between the terminals of the semiconductor element which is mounted on the plane coil
216
and the terminals
218
a
,
218
b
of the plane coil
216
.
However, as shown in
FIG. 12
, if the coinning operation is applied to the entire surface of the terminals
218
,
218
, the peripheral area of coined, widen terminal
218
is enlarged toward the conductor
226
. In addition, when the coinning operation is performed, the terminals
218
,
218
may easily be shifted to the right and left directions (the direction indicated by an arrow B in FIG.
12
). Thus, there is a possibility that the terminals
218
,
218
comes into contact with the conductor
226
.
In particular, such a shift of the terminals
218
,
218
would happen, if the bonding area was formed on the respective terminals
218
,
218
of the innermost conductor
226
a
and the outermost conductor
226
b.
Also, during the plane coil is transported before the coinning process is applied thereto, such a shift of the terminals
218
,
218
may easily happen and the terminals
218
,
218
may come into contact with the conductor
226
, if the respective terminals
218
,
218
of the innermost conductor
226
a
and the outermost conductor
226
b
are bent to the inward and outward.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an antenna frame for an IC card and a process for manufacturing such an antenna frame and an IC card using the antenna frame, in which the terminals of the outermost and innermost conductors of the plane coil defining bonding areas are prevented from coming into contact with the conductor constituting the plane coil.
According to the present invention, there is provided an antenna frame for IC card, said antenna frame comprising: a plane coil formed by punching or etching a thin metallic sheet in which a conductor line is wound by a plurality of times on a substantially same plane, said plane coil having an outermost conductor provided with an outer end portion and an innermost conductor provided with an inner end portion; an outside frame arranged along said outermost conductor line and spaced therefrom by a predetermined interval; an inside frame arranged along said innermost conductor line and spaced therefrom by a predetermined interval; said outer and inner end portions defining outer and inner terminals, respectively, which are used as bonding areas; and supporting sections extending from an end edge of said outer and inner terminals or a position in the vicinity thereof to said outside and inside frames.
The bonding area is to be used for electrically connecting by wire-bonding said bonding area to electrode terminals of a semiconductor element which is to be mounted on said plane coil.
The outer and inner terminals of the plane coil is formed by partially or entirely coinning said outer and inner end portions of the outermost and innermost conductors.
The antenna frame, further comprises a chip mounting area formed on said plane coil and defined by a plurality of looped conductors, the width of said conductors within said chip mounting area is smaller than that of remaining portions of said conductors, so that the width of said conductors within said chip mounting area becomes larger to be substantially the same as the width of said remaining portion of said conductors, after said chip mounting area is deformed to be flat.
The chip mounting area is located near to said respective outer and inner end portions of the outermost and innermost conductors.
The outermost and innermost conductor are provided at said end portion or at a position in the vicinity thereof with terminal forming areas, respectively, to which a coinning is to be applied partially or entirely so as to define respective terminals to be used as bonding areas.
The terminal forming areas has a smaller width than remaining portion of said outermost and innermost conductors. The width of said terminal forming areas is determined so that the width thereof becomes larger to be substantially the same as the width of said remaining portion of said outermost and innermost conductors, after said terminal forming area is deformed to be flat.
The antenna frame, further comprises a chip mounting area formed on said plane coil and defined by a plurality of looped conductors, the width of said conductors within said chip mounting area is smaller than that of remaining portions of said conductors, so that the width of said conductors within said chip mounting area becomes larger to be substantially the same as the width of said remaining portion of said conductors, after said chip mounting area is deformed to be flat. The chip mounting area is located near to said respective terminal forming areas.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is
Lee Diane I.
Shinko Electric Industries Co. Ltd.
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