CHIP CARD

Abstract

A chip card configured as a metal card is RFID-capable on both sides, by the windings of the transponder coil being formed by the metal layer itself. Gaps between the windings of the transponder coil are filled with insulating material. A chip module is arranged above the ends of the transponder coil such that these ends are not visible for the viewer.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A chip card comprising: a card body composed of one or several layers, of which at least one layer is a self-supporting metal layer, an integrated circuit, and a transponder coil coupled to the integrated circuit, wherein the transponder coil has windings and gaps between the windings, wherein the windings of the transponder coil are formed by the at least one metal layer, wherein the gaps between the windings are filled with insulating material.

17. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the insulating material is ferrite.

18. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the card body has two mutually opposite main areas, and wherein at least one of the main areas is formed by the at least one metal layer and is covered over the full area with a cover layer, which prevents a coupling between the fingers of a user and the windings of the transponder coil.

19. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the at least one metal layer is lacquered, printed or coated with a foil.

20. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein texture elements are introduced into the surface of the at least one metal layer.

21. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the card body has a thickness and the at least one metal layer overall has a total thickness, wherein the total thickness of the at least one metal layer amounts to at least 25%, of the thickness of the card body.

22. The chip card according to claim 21, wherein the total thickness of the at least one metal layer is in a range of 0.2 and 0.76 mm.

23. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the card body is formed completely by the at least one metal layer.

24. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the windings of the transponder coil have a winding running along an outer edge of the metal layer.

25. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the windings of the transponder coil comprise an outer winding which runs in a manner spaced apart from an outer edge of the metal layer.

26. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein a chip module is arranged over the windings of the transponder coil in such a manner that, when the chip card is viewed from above, in the region of the chip module exclusively sections of the windings of the transponder coil are visible, which run parallel to a respective nearest outer edge of the metal layer.

27. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein the chip module has the integrated circuit and contact areas for contact-based data transmission.

28. The chip card according to claim 16, wherein a central region of the at least one metal layer is recessed and filled with plastic.

29. A method for producing a chip card according to claim 16, wherein the windings of the transponder coil in the at least one metal layer is produced in a region corresponding to the gaps between the windings by removing material in one of the gaps, wherein this region is subsequently filled with the insulating material.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein a central region of the at least one metal layer is removed and filled with plastic.

Description

[0021] In the following the invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying figures. The figures are described as follows:

[0022] FIG. 1 a chip card according to an embodiment example of the invention,

[0023] FIG. 2 schematically a first variant for the relative arrangement of the chip module and coil windings,

[0024] FIG. 3A a second variant of the relative arrangement of the chip module and coil windings,

[0025] FIG. 3B the arrangement according to FIG. 3A in cross section,

[0026] FIG. 4 the first variant according to FIG. 2 with a punched-out central region and

[0027] FIG. 5 the second variant according to FIG. 3A with a punched-out central region.

[0028] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a metal chip card 1 in plan view. The metallic surface of the metal layer 2 is visible to the viewer. The metal layer 2 extends over the entire area of the chip card 1, apart from the region of the chip card 1 in which a chip module 3 is integrated and forms a portion of the surface of the chip card 1 with its contact areas. The metallic surface of the metal layer 2 is supplied with a transparent lacquer outside the contact areas of the chip module 3. Instead or in addition, it can be printed and/or textures can be introduced into the metallic surface, such as the exemplary texture “MUSTERMANN”.

[0029] A transponder coil 4, which cannot be recognized here and is described in more detail with reference to the following FIGS. 2 and 3, is integrated in the metal layer 2, and the gaps 5a-5c, likewise represented in more detail in the FIGS. 2 and 3, between the windings 4a, 4b of the transponder coil 4 are filled with insulating material. However, because the optical impression of the insulating material is very similar to that of the metal layer 2, the transponder coil 4 is hardly noticeable when the chip card 1 is viewed in plan view and is therefore not visible in the representation according to FIG. 1.

[0030] FIG. 2 shows the metal layer 2 schematically in a plan view such that three windings 4a, 4b, 4c of the transponder coil 4 and the gaps 5a, 5b between the windings 4a to 4c and a further gap 5c, which separates the innermost winding 4c from a central region 6 of the metal layer 2, can be seen. The outer winding 4a runs on the outer edge 7 of the metal layer 2 and thus on the edge of the chip card 1 according to FIG. 1, because the metal layer 2 extends over the entire chip card 1 in the embodiment example described here. But this is by no means mandatory. The metal layer 2 can just as well be an inlay in the chip card 1 such that it does not extend to the edge of the chip card 1.

[0031] The chip module 3 is arranged over the windings of the transponder coil in such a manner that the discontinuities of the windings that occur in the left region of the metal layer 2 in FIG. 2 are covered by the chip module 3. When the chip card 1 is viewed from above onto the chip module 3, exclusively sections of the windings 4a to 4c are then visible, which run parallel to the nearest outer edge 7a of the metal layer 2.

[0032] The two ends of the transponder coil 4 formed by the windings 4a to 4c are connected to the chip module 3 from below in an electrically conductive manner. Between the coil end of the outer winding 4a and the middle winding 4b, a slot 9 extends up to the outer edge 7a of the metal layer 2, which is not covered by the chip module 3. FIG. 3A shows a second variant of configuration of the transponder coil 4, in which both ends of the transponder coil 4 come to lie below the chip module 3. Here the outer winding 4a does not run immediately on the outer edge 7 of the metal layer 2, but rather the entire transponder coil 4 is offset somewhat inward. Accordingly, there results a further gap 5d between the outer winding 4a and an outer region 6a of the metal layer 2, which is filled with insulating material in the same manner as the gap 5c which separates the central region 6 of the metal layer 2 from the inner winding 4c. As can be gathered from FIG. 3A, this arrangement can be configured in such a manner that no slot filled with insulating material leads to the outer edge 7 of the metal layer 2, unlike in the above-described first variant according to FIG. 2.

[0033] FIG. 3B schematically shows the arrangement according to FIG. 3A in cross section. It can be recognized in particular that this is a metal layer 2 for a full metal card, in which the card body is formed solely by the metal layer 2. It is also represented schematically how the chip module 3 is incorporated into a cavity of the metal layer 2. The metal layer 2 can alternatively be formed by several metal layers, and the one or several metal layers can form a multilayer card body with further layers, in particular plastic layers, which can be transparent and/or opaque.

[0034] In FIG. 3B with protective layers 8a and 8b there is indicated a preferably transparent or translucent lacquer layer on the mutually opposite main areas of the metal layer 2. One or both of the protective layers 8a, 8b can be replaced by a printing layer and/or a laminated plastic foil.

[0035] These can likewise be transparent or translucent, or at least one layer can possibly also be completely opaque. With reference to the metal layer, the protective layers 8a, 8b also function as insulating layers, which prevent the oscillating circuit from being detuned through contact.

[0036] FIG. 4 shows the metal layer 2 as in FIG. 2, in which, however, the central region 6 is punched out and replaced by a plastic filling 6′. FIG. 5 accordingly shows the metal layer 2 as represented in FIG. 3A, wherein the central region 6 of the metal layer 2 is likewise recessed and filled with plastic 6′.

[0037] Metal cards according to the above embodiment examples are RFID-capable on both sides.