Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-30
2004-03-02
Vo, Peter (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S03300H, C029S753000, C029S755000, C029S843000, C029S845000, C228S004500, C228S110100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698089
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for the contacting of a wire conductor in the course of the manufacture of a transponder unit arranged on a substrate and comprising a wire coil and a chip unit and a device for implementing the process and a device for the wiring of a wire-shaped conductor on a substrate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In particular in the course of the manufacture of transponder units arranged on a substrate and comprising, by way of essential elements, a wire coil and a chip unit which has been contacted with the ends of the coil, the contacting of the ends of the coil with the terminal areas of the chip unit proves to be a particular problem. This is mainly due to the very small dimensions of the components to be connected to one another. For instance, the terminal areas of a chip unit, which as a rule are of square or approximately square design, customarily have an edge length of about 100 to 150 &mgr;m By way of coil wire, particularly for the purpose of forming low-frequency coils, use is made of a copper wire having a diameter which as a rule amounts to around 50 &mgr;m-.
As can be gathered from WO 91/16718 for instance, in the past a direct contacting of the ends of the coil wire with the terminal areas of a chip unit has been circumvented through use being made, by way of coupling element between the ends of the coil wire pertaining to a wire coil arranged on a coil substrate and the terminal areas of the chip unit, of a contact substrate comprising enlarged terminal areas, so that by virtue of the contact faces of the contact substrate that are very large in comparison with the diameter of the coil wire a contact could be brought about without making great demands as regards the precision of the relative positioning between the ends of the coil wire and the contact faces. Since with the known process the chip unit is equipped with additional contact conductors for the purpose of making contact with the enlarged terminal areas of the substrate, in the case of the manufacturing process known from WO 91/16718 a total of at least three contacting steps are required in order finally to establish an electrically conductive contact between the terminal areas of the chip unit and the wire coil.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The object underlying the invention is therefore to propose a process and also a device enabling direct contacting of wire ends on the terminal areas of a chip unit.
With the process according to the invention, in the course of the manufacture of a transponder unit arranged on a substrate and comprising a wire coil and a chip unit, the coil wire is guided in a first process step via the assigned terminal area of the chip unit, or a space that is intended to accept this terminal area, and is fixed to the substrate. By this means an exactly defined alignment of the coil wire relative to the terminal area is obtained after the first process step has been carried out. In the second process step the connection of the wire conductor to the terminal area is then effected by means of a connecting instrument.
By virtue of the process according to the invention there is no longer any necessity, with a view to bringing the terminal areas of the chip unit into contact with the ends of the coil, to provide a separate contact substrate on which enlarged terminal areas are formed. Rather, the coil substrate, which is used in any case as substrate for the wire coil and which, for example in the case where the transponder unit is intended to serve for the manufacture of a chip card, is formed by means of a plastic support sheet corresponding to the dimensions of the chip card, serves virtually as a contacting or positioning aid for the relative positioning of the ends of the coil in relation to the terminal areas of the chip unit. In this case the chip unit may either be arranged in a recess in the substrate provided for this purpose or may be provided on the surface of the substrate. The first alternative affords the possibility of arranging the chip unit in the recess optionally prior to fixation of the wire conductors or of introducing the chip unit into the recess only after fixation of the wire conductors, in order subsequently to implement the actual contacting of the wire conductors on the terminal areas.
By virtue of the wire conductors which are fixed on the coil substrate the process according to the invention consequently enables simplified contacting of the wire conductors with the terminal areas of the chip unit.
With one variant of the process, which independently of for bringing a terminal area into contact with a wire conductor also enables an advantageous arrangement of the wire conductor on the substrate, the wire conductor is subjected to the action of ultrasound in a direction transverse to the wiring plane, and the transverse movement of the wiring device induced by the action of ultrasound is superimposed on the wiring movement extending in the wiring plane.
The superimposition of the wiring movement together with the transverse movement countersinking the cross-section of the wire conductor in the surface of the substrate or bringing it into close contact with the latter enables continuous operation of the wiring device, so that the wire conductor is capable ofbeing connected to the surface of the substrate not only in the region of definite connecting points but over any length without the actual wiring movement having to be interrupted in the process. Furthermore, the transverse movement induced by ultrasound proves to be particularly effective during the at least partial countersinking or the close contacting of the cross-section of the wire, since the movement induced by the ultrasound extends in the direction of sinking and not transversely thereto, as is the case with the process described in the introduction.
It proves to be particularly advantageous if the transverse movement induced by ultrasound takes place along a transverse-movement axis that is variable as regards its angle in relation to the axis of the wiring movement. By this means it is possible to adjust the transverse-movement axis so as to conform to the special requirements. Thus it is possible in the case where an elevated temperature of the wire conductor to be countersunk is desired, possibly depending on the substrate material, to align the transverse-movement axis more in the direction of the wiring-movement axis, in order in this way to obtain a greater longitudinal-force component which acts on the wire conductor and which as a consequence of the associated rubbing of the wire guide on the wire conductor results in heating of the same. In order to obtain a rate of sinking of the wire conductor in the surface of the substrate that is as high as possible it can be advantageous to align the transverse-movement axis at an angle of 45 degree. to the wiring-movement axis, in order to achieve a shearing effect in the substrate material that is as great as possible.
In order to vary the depth of penetration of the wire conductor into the surface of the substrate, the ultrasonic frequency and/or the angle between the axis of the wiring movement and the transverse-movement axis may also be varied.
With respect to a connecting process following the wiring of the wire conductor in the form of a wire coil on the surface of the substrate for the purpose of connecting the wire conductor to terminal areas of a chip unit it can prove particularly advantageous if the final region of the coil and the initial region of the coil are guided via a recess in the substrate, so that the subsequent connection of the terminal areas of a chip unit to the initial region of the coil and to the final region of the coil can be effected without impairment caused by the substrate material.
In order to enable an alignment of the initial coil region and of the final coil region that is as rectilinear as possible between opposite edges of the recess it is advantageous to interrupt the exposure of the wire conductor to ultrasound in the region of the rece
Finn David
Rietzler Manfred
McGlew and Tuttle , P.C.
Nguyen Donghai D.
Vo Peter
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