RFID tag manufacturing method and RFID tag

• US 8,430,324 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2009
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Frontech Limited (Fujitsu Limited), Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Frontech Limited (Fujitsu Limited), Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Baba, Shunji, Hashimoto, Shigeru, Sugimura, Yoshiyasu, Nogami, Satoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Mai, Thien T
• Application Number:
  US12/567,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20100078487A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,310 Days
• Field of Search: 235/492, 235/487, 235/380, 257/778, 438/222, 438/336, 438/62, 156/265
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07718 the record carrier being manufactured in a continuous process, e.g. using endless rolls
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49016 Antenna or wave energy "plumbing" making

Abstract

A method of manufacturing RFID tags. A base sheet member is formed by fixedly attaching unit base substrates to a belt-like first sheet member at predetermined space intervals. Each unit base substrate is formed with an antenna pattern and has a non-contact communication-type IC chip mounted thereon. An upper-layer sheet member is formed by arranging reinforcing members between elastic, belt-like second and third sheet members, and is laminated on a surface of the first sheet member toward the unit base substrates such that each IC chip and each reinforcing member overlap each other in plan view. Regions each containing one unit base substrate are sequentially cut out from a laminate of the upper-layer sheet member and the base sheet member, thereby making RFID units.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an RFID tag, comprising:

forming a base sheet member that includes a first sheet member in tape form and unit base substrates on the first sheet member, wherein each of the unit base substrates is formed with a conductive pattern functioning as an antenna and has a non-contact communication-type circuit chip

mounted thereon which is connected to the conductive pattern, and the unit base substrates are fixedly attached to the first sheet member with predetermined spaces along a direction of length of

the first sheet member;

laminating a second sheet member and a third sheet member each in tape form elongating in

the direction of length of the first sheet member and having elastic properties, one upon another, in a

state where reinforcing members for reinforcing the circuit chips are arranged between the second

sheet member and the third sheet member at the same space intervals as the space intervals at which

the circuit chips are arranged, thereby forming an upper-layer sheet member, and laminating the upper-layer sheet member on a side of the base sheet member formed by said forming where each

unit base substrate is laminated, in a state where the reinforcing members are respectively aligned

with the circuit chips;

cutting out regions each including one of the unit base substrates sequentially from a sheet

laminate formed by said laminating, and

forming openings in regions except the conductive patterns and the circuit chips, wherein

one of the sheet members of the upper-layer sheet member and one of sheet members of a lower-layer sheet member toward the base substrate are fixedly attached to each other via the

openings in the unit base substrate.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sequentially mounting the circuit chips on a base substrate in tape form having the conductive patterns formed thereon with the predetermined spaces along a direction of length of the base substrate, and connecting the circuit chips to associated ones of the conductive patterns,

wherein said forming comprises:

affixing the first sheet member having an adhesive agent attached to one surface of the first sheet member to a surface of the base substrate, opposite from a surface of the base substrate having the circuit chips mounted thereon, via the adhesive agent;

cutting, on the first sheet member to which the base substrate is affixed, a periphery of each of regions each containing one of the circuit chips and one of the conductive patterns connected to the one of the circuit chips, only through a layer of the base substrate and a layer of the adhesive agent; and

peeling only an outward region of the periphery of the region of the base substrate off the first sheet member, thereby forming the base sheet member having the unit base substrates fixedly attached thereto.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said laminating comprises laminating the second sheet member on the base sheet member and laminating the third sheet member on the second sheet member, the reinforcing members separated on a circuit chip-by-circuit chip basis are fixedly attached to a surface of the third sheet member which faces the second sheet member at the same space intervals as the space intervals at which the circuit chips are arranged;

and

wherein in said cutting, the regions each containing one of the unit base substrates and one of the reinforcing members associated with the circuit chip on the one of the unit base substrates are sequentially cut out from the sheet laminate formed by laminating the upper-layer sheet member and the base sheet member.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein in said laminating, the first sheet member and the second sheet member, and the second sheet member and the third sheet member are thermocompression-bonded, respectively.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein in said laminating, the first sheet member, the second sheet member and the third sheet member are conveyed and laminated one upon another, while positioning holes or cutouts formed in the first sheet member, the second sheet member and the third sheet member at the same space intervals, respectively, whereby the circuit chips and associated ones of the reinforcing members are positioned to each other, respectively.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first sheet member is made of an elastic material, and

wherein in said laminating, a fourth sheet member having elastic properties and having lower layer-side reinforcing members separated on a circuit chip-by-circuit chip basis fixedly attached thereto at the same space intervals as the space intervals at which the circuit chips are arranged, is further laminated on a surface of the first sheet member, opposite from the surface of the first sheet member having the unit base substrates fixedly attached thereto, in a state where the lower layer-side reinforcing members are respectively aligned with the circuit chips.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said laminating comprises laminating a mesh-shaped reinforcing member between the second sheet member and the third sheet member, the mesh-shaped reinforcing member is wide enough to contain at least the circuit chips and elongates in a direction of length of the second member and third member in a state where the mesh-shaped reinforcing member is located over the circuit chips, each of the reinforcing members is arranged as a part of the mesh-shaped reinforcing member.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein in said laminating, a lower-layer sheet member formed by sandwiching a lower layer-side mesh-shaped reinforcing member similar to the mesh-shaped reinforcing member between a fourth sheet member and a fifth sheet member each having elastic properties is further laminated on a surface of the first sheet member, opposite from the surface of the first sheet member having the unit base substrates fixedly attached thereto, in a state where the lower layer-side mesh-shaped reinforcing member is located over the circuit chips.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein in said laminating, the first sheet member and the second sheet member, and the second sheet member and the third sheet member are thermocompression-bonded, respectively.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising forming the upper-layer sheet member by sandwiching the mesh-shaped reinforcing member between the second sheet member and the third sheet member and taking up the mesh-shaped reinforcing member together with the second sheet member and the third sheet member by a roll, wherein in said laminating, the upper-layer sheet member is pulled out from the roll for being processed.

11. A method of manufacturing an RFID tag, comprising:

laminating on opposite surfaces of a base substrate in tape form having conductive patterns for functioning as antennas formed at predetermined space intervals in a direction of length of the base substrate, having non-contact communication-type circuit chips connected to associated ones of the conductive patterns mounted thereon, respectively, and further having openings formed in regions except the conductive patterns and the circuit chips, an upper-layer sheet member and a lower-layer sheet member each having a mesh-shaped reinforcing member arranged between two sheet members each having elastic properties in a sandwiched manner, wherein the mesh-shaped reinforcing member is wide enough to contain at least the circuit chips and elongates in a direction of length of the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member in a state where the mesh-shaped reinforcing member is located over the circuit chips, such that the sheet members of each of the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member are fixedly attached to each other, and that one of the sheet members of the upper-layer sheet member and one of the sheet members of the lower-layer sheet member toward the base substrate are fixedly attached to each other via the openings in the base substrate; and

cutting out regions each containing one of the circuit chips and one of the conductive patterns connected to the one of the circuit chips and including at least part of the openings, sequentially from a laminate member which has the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member laminated one upon another with the base substrate therebetween.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein in said laminating, the sheet members of each of the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member, and one of the sheet members of the upper-layer sheet member and one of the sheet members of the lower-layer sheet member toward the base substrate are thermocompression-bonded to each other.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising forming each of the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member by sandwiching the mesh-shaped reinforcing member between the two sheet members and taking up the mesh-shaped reinforcing member together with the two sheet members by a roll,

wherein in said laminating, the upper-layer sheet member and the lower-layer sheet member are pulled out from the rolls, respectively, for being processed.