JPH02208096A - Data card and production thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a data card having a liquid crystal display part having memory properties, reduced in power consumption and excellent in mechanical strength, durability and reliability by providing the liquid crystal display part composed of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material. CONSTITUTION:A liquid crystal display part 2 is controlled by an IC chip 5 while the IC chip 5 is driven according to the order from a key operation part 3 by the power supply supplied from a solar cell 4. The ferroelectric liquid crystal material 9 of the liquid crystal display part is grasped by two flexible substrates 7 equipped with transparent electrodes B and connected to the IC chip 5 through the transparent electrodes 8. As the flexible substrates 7, a crystalline polymer such as unidirectionally or biaxially stretched polyethyleneterephthalate and an amorphous polymer such as polysulfone or polyether sulfone are used. As the transparent electrode 8k, a tin oxide film, an indium oxide film mixed with tin oxide, an indium oxide film, a vapor deposition film of gold or titanium or other metal or alloy membrane are used.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an information card such as an IC card or a calculator having a liquid crystal display, which is used in the field of electronics, OA equipment, office equipment, etc., and a method for manufacturing the same. [Prior art] Information cards, calculators, and watches that use cards on which specific information is stored magnetically or electrically, and that can read, collate, and process the stored information as needed. Information cards and the like that can perform calculations and tell the time are widely used.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, information cards such as calculators and watches having a liquid crystal display have been manufactured by processing the circuit portion of the liquid crystal display using a printed circuit board and attaching parts such as ICs to this. Recently, attempts have been made to continuously process polyester films with transparent electrodes using techniques such as pattern printing (Nikkei Microdevice, November 1987 issue, p. 72). This roll-to-roll manufacturing method It is suitable for mass production, allows standardization of production, and is expected to significantly reduce costs. However, in this case as well, the important display element part is assembled in a separate process, and must be attached to a substrate on which the circuit part has been processed in a separate process, making the process complicated.

In addition, conventional methods for manufacturing the liquid crystal display element require a wide variety of processes such as transparent electrode patterning, alignment film preparation, rubbing, gap agent dispersion, cell assembly, and liquid crystal injection using vacuum evacuation. This has become a major obstacle. Even in the method for manufacturing a continuous liquid crystal display panel using a long flexible plastic film described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-61083, the process is complicated due to liquid crystal injection.

Currently, among information cards that store specific information and read, collate, and process that information as needed, IC cards are attracting attention as the next product after magnetic cards and are being put into practical use. However, in the case of an IC card that does not have a display section, for example, in the case of a bankbook IC card, checking the balance of a deposit requires going to a location where a specific reader is installed, which is inconvenient. For this reason, ICs with a liquid crystal display section
Cards are planned. However, conventional devices using low-molecular-weight liquid crystals have a problem in that the liquid crystal cells break due to the pressure applied when inserted into a card reader. Furthermore, as described above, the liquid crystal display section is assembled in a separate process and then attached, resulting in a complicated process and high manufacturing cost.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention aims to provide an information card that can utilize memory properties and has reduced power consumption by using a ferroelectric liquid crystal material as the liquid crystal material of the liquid crystal display section.

Another object of the present invention is to obtain an information card having a display portion with excellent mechanical strength and durability by using a polymeric ferroelectric liquid crystal material as the liquid crystal material. Furthermore, by processing the liquid crystal display section, the driving circuit section, etc. on the same substrate and coating it with a liquid crystal material, it is possible to improve reliability and at the same time reduce costs through mass production by improving productivity.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides an information card having a liquid crystal display section made of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material.

The information card of the present invention stores specific information magnetically or electrically, and reads and collates the information as necessary.
In addition to credit cards, cash cards, membership cards, prepaid cards, and other magnetic cards, IC cards, and optical cards that can be processed, there are also calculators and watches that can perform calculations and tell the time using cards. .

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an information card l having a liquid crystal display section, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

The liquid crystal display section 2 is controlled by an IC chip 5. IC
The chip 5 is driven by power supplied from the solar cell 4 in accordance with commands from the key operation section 3 .

Here, if necessary, the key operation section 3 can be provided with a 10 key, arithmetic keys, operation keys for instructing the liquid crystal display, or the like. Here, the solar cell 4 is used as the drive power source, but a battery, a solar cell, and a combination thereof may be used, or an induction coil and a secondary battery may be used to supply power from the outside by t-magnetic induction.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view connecting the liquid crystal display section 2 and the IC chip 5 of the information card shown in FIG.

Here, the ferroelectric liquid crystal material 9 of the liquid crystal display section is sandwiched between two flexible substrates 7 with transparent electrodes 8, and the IC
It is connected to the chip 5 via a transparent electrode 8. 10 is an adhesive.

As the flexible substrate 7, for example, a crystalline polymer such as -axially or biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate, an amorphous polymer such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, etc. are used. The flexible substrate 7 may be provided with a polarizing plate, a color filter, etc.

The transparent electrode 8 may be, for example, a tin oxide film called a NESA film, an indium oxide film mixed with tin oxide called an ITO film, an indium oxide film, a vapor deposited film of gold or titanium, or other thin film metal or alloy. is used.

As the adhesive 10, for example, an epoxy adhesive is used.

Various materials can be used as the liquid crystal material for the liquid crystal display section, but when a polymeric ferroelectric liquid crystal material is used, improved strength and durability against external forces such as impact and bending can be obtained. Furthermore, the memory properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals can be utilized, making it possible to reduce power consumption.

As the ferroelectric liquid crystal material of the present invention, any material can be used as long as it takes a ferroelectric liquid crystal state.
Examples include ferroelectric liquid crystal polymers, ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds, and mixtures thereof.

Examples of ferroelectric liquid crystal polymers include acrylate main chain liquid crystal polymers, methacrylate main chain liquid crystal polymers,
These include chloroacrylate main chain liquid crystal polymers, oxirane main chain liquid crystal polymers, siloxane main chain liquid crystal polymers, ester main chain liquid crystal polymers, and the like.

Examples of repeating units of the acrylate main chain liquid crystal polymer include (A) and (B).

Examples of the repeating unit of the methacrylate main chain liquid crystal polymer include (C)C)13co(D)L.

Examples of repeating units of a chloroacrylate main chain liquid crystal polymer include (E) I repeating units of an ester main chain liquid crystal polymer:
For example, (H) H3 etc. are mentioned.

Examples of the repeating unit of the oxirane main chain liquid crystal polymer include (F) and (J).

Examples of the repeating unit of the siloxane main chain liquid crystal polymer include (G) H3.

Examples include.

The repeating unit of the above ferroelectric liquid crystal polymer is
The side chain skeleton may be replaced with a biphenyl skeleton, a phenylbenzoate skeleton, a biphenylbenzoate skeleton, a phenyl 4-phenylbenzoate skeleton, and the benzene ring in these skeletons is a pyrimidine ring, a pyridine ring, a pyridazine ring, It may be substituted with a pyrazine ring, a tetrazine ring, a cyclohexane ring, a dioxane ring, a dioxaborinane ring, it may be substituted with a halogen group such as fluorine or chlorine, or a cyano group, a 1-methylalkyl group, 2
-fluoroalkyl group, 2-chloroalkyl group, 2-chloro-3-methylalkyl group, 2-trifluoromethylalkyl group, 1-alkoxycarbonylethyl group, 2-
May be substituted with optically active groups such as alkoxy-1-methylethyl group, 2-alkoxypropyl group, 2-chloro-1-methylalkyl group, 2-alkoxycarbonyl-1-)lifluoromethylpropyl group (, Further, the length of the spacer may vary within a range of 2 to 30 methylene chain lengths.

Further, the above ferroelectric liquid crystal polymer has a number average molecular weight of 1,
000 to 200,000 can be used.

Examples of ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds include Schiff base-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds, azo and azoxy-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds, biphenyl and aromatics ester-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds, and halogen-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds. , a ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound into which a ring substituent such as a cyano group has been introduced, a ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound having a heterocycle, and the like.

Examples of the Schiff base-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound include the following compounds (1) to (4).

n=　　5～10.12.14 n-7 to 10.11 n = 7, 8.14 Examples include compounds (7) and (8) shown below.

n=4, 8.12 Examples of the azo and azoxy-based ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compounds include the following (5) and (6).

For example, the following compounds (9
) to (11).

n=16 As the biphenyl and aromatics ester ferroelectric low molecular liquid crystal compound, for example, n-6, 8,1
0 n= 8 n= 4, 6 Examples of the ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound having a heterocycle include the following compounds (12) and (13).

n=6, 8.11 The above compound is a typical compound of a ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound, and the ferroelectric low-molecular liquid crystal compound of the present invention is not limited to these structural formulas in any way. isn't it.

The above-mentioned ferroelectric liquid crystal material is preferably formed into a film by stretching by a cast-stretching method or the like, or by coating and film-forming by a roll coating method described below, and then subjected to an orientation treatment.

The information card of the present invention includes, for example, a step of patterning electrodes and a drive circuit section corresponding to a liquid crystal display section on the electrode surface of a long flexible substrate with transparent electrodes, and It can be manufactured by a manufacturing method including a step of applying a ferroelectric liquid crystal material to a surface liquid crystal display portion.

The present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

FIG. 3 shows patterning of the electrode surface of a long flexible substrate with transparent electrodes.

As shown in Fig. 3, the electrode surface of a long flexible substrate with transparent electrodes is patterned repeatedly and continuously by a method such as screen printing, and electrodes such as matrix electrodes corresponding to the liquid crystal display area are formed. 11, a key operation section 12 such as a touch panel, and a drive circuit 13 such as connection sections around the IC and around the liquid crystal display section are provided. Furthermore, an electrode facing the electrode corresponding to the liquid crystal display section is patterned on the electrode surface of another long transparent electrode-attached flexible substrate.

FIG. 4 shows a continuous process of applying a ferroelectric liquid crystal material and adhesive and laminating an overlay layer using the pair of patterned flexible substrates.

A liquid crystal material is applied to one electrode surface of a pair of patterned flexible substrates 14 (liquid crystal application section 15), and an adhesive is applied to the other (adhesive application section 16).
The coating is applied intermittently to a portion 19 corresponding to the liquid crystal display section in FIG. The coating method is not particularly limited as long as it is compatible with continuous processes. For example, 5 to 50% by weight of the ferroelectric liquid crystal material.
barcode, roll coat, gravure coat,
A method such as coating by screen printing or the like and then evaporating the solvent is used. Here, a wide variety of solvents can be used, such as methylene chloride, chloroform, toluene, xylene, tetrahydrofuran, methyl ethyl ketone, dimethylacetamide, and dimethylformamide. At this time, alignment treatment of the liquid crystal material may be performed as necessary.

The alignment treatment method is not particularly limited as long as it is compatible with continuous processes.For example, before applying the liquid crystal material, forming an alignment film on the liquid crystal application area, rubbing treatment, or after applying the liquid crystal material. , orientation treatment by bending deformation or scraping deformation, etc. are used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the adhesive is applied to the periphery 20 of the liquid crystal display section, IC chip mounting section, key operation section, power supply mounting section, etc. in accordance with the shape of the desired information card.

After the substrate coated with the liquid crystal material and the substrate coated with the adhesive are laminated so that the electrode surfaces face each other, the overlay base material 17 is laminated from both sides. Furthermore, parts such as IC chips and solar cells are inserted and fixed into through holes provided in advance on one of the flexible substrates and the overlay base material, and the information card is cut out to a unit length of 18, and the information shown in FIG. 1 is cut out. You will get a card.

According to the manufacturing method of this information card, the electrodes corresponding to the liquid crystal display part, the drive circuit part, the key operation part, etc. are patterned on the same substrate, so it has excellent strength and durability against external forces, and has excellent reliability. You can get highly informative information cards. Also,
The manufacturing process is simplified, mass production is possible, and costs are reduced.

A ferroelectric polymer liquid crystal consisting of a repeating unit represented by the following formula and having the following characteristics is heated to 100°C and bared in the equi-hoptic phase state on the liquid crystal display section on the electrode surface of the flexible substrate. Using a coater, pass the ICll through the screen mask.
The size of the coating was 1×5C11, and the thickness was about 2.5 μm.

〔Example〕

Example 1 Transparent PES with a thickness of about 100 μm as a flexible substrate
(Here, PES is polyether sulfone.) A flexible IT film with a transparent electrode is provided on one side of the film with a thickness of approximately 700 mm, which is a transparent conductive film. A substrate was prepared, and patterning was performed on the electrode surface of a matrix electrode corresponding to a desired liquid crystal display portion, a touch panel portion, and drive circuit portions such as connecting portions around the IC and the liquid crystal display portion. This possible HM
n=5000 Phase transition behavior [gniglass state, Sn+C": chiral smectic C phase, SmA: smectic A phase, Iso: isokichi phase] Next, a PES film with a thickness of about 100 μm was used as a counter substrate, and an ITO film electrode was used. A matrix electrode of the liquid crystal display section was prepared and patterned, and this was laminated on the surface of the above-mentioned ferroelectric polymer liquid crystal coating film to obtain a base material having a desired liquid crystal display section, touch panel section, etc. In this state, the liquid crystal molecules are randomly oriented.
The orientation process was performed by continuously bending and deforming the film at a moving speed of 2 cm/sec using a roller group consisting of three rollers having a diameter of 0 mm and a distance between centers of 40 mm. An IC chip and solar cell components were attached to this base material to obtain the intended information card. The obtained information card had excellent mechanical strength, durability, and reliability.

Example 2 Biaxially stretched PET (here, PE with a thickness of 125 μm)
T is polyethylene terephthalate. ) was used as a flexible substrate with transparent electrodes, the electrodes were processed in the same manner as in Example 1, and the following polyoxirane-based ferroelectric polymer liquid crystal was applied to the liquid crystal display area on the electrode surface by a roll coating method.

; Mn=3000 Phase transition behavior: A solution of liquid crystal diluted to 10% by weight with a solvent (here, dichloromethane was used as the solvent) is applied to a thickness of about 15 μm using a roll coater, and then the solvent is evaporated. In this way, an unoriented liquid crystal film with a thickness of 1.5 μm was formed.

Next, a patterned counter substrate with a 125 μm thick ITO film made of the same biaxially stretched PET as above was laminated on the above liquid crystal film, and then an alignment treatment was performed using the method shown in Example 1, An IC chip and solar cell parts were attached to form a desired information card. The obtained information card had excellent mechanical strength, durability, and reliability.

Example 3 A flexible substrate was processed in the same manner as in Example 1, and a polysiloxane liquid crystal polymer having the structure and characteristics of the following repeating units was used as the ferroelectric polymer liquid crystal.

: M = 15000 The phase change behavior coating method, mounting of parts such as an IC chip, etc. were performed in the same manner as in Example 2, and the intended information card was obtained. The obtained information card had excellent mechanical strength, durability, and reliability.

Example 4 Uniaxially stretched PET with an ITO film having a thickness of 125 zm (here, the ITO thickness is about 1000 zm) was used as a flexible substrate with a transparent electrode, and the matrix electrode of the liquid crystal display part and the touch panel part were etched. Ta. The liquid crystal display has dot dimensions of 0.5 ym x 0.5 mm and can display 16 characters x 2 lines, and the touch panel has 10 keys and arithmetic keys (
+, -1x, 10, etc.) The 0th order consists of 24 operation units (4 x 6 units), and the pattern of the drive circuit unit is printed so that the liquid crystal display unit and the touch panel unit are connected via an IC chip. This was used as the lower substrate. In addition, in the same way as above, a circuit pattern is printed on the electrode surface of the opposing flexible substrate with transparent electrodes by etching so that the matrix electrode pattern of the liquid crystal display section is perpendicular to the matrix electrode of the opposing lower substrate. This was used as the upper substrate.

Next, the following ferroelectric polymer liquid crystal diluted to 10% by weight with dichloromethane was continuously and intermittently applied to the liquid crystal display section on the electrode surface on the lower substrate side.

Phase transition behavior: Mn=1 & O0 Finally, a unit length was cut out to obtain a two-information card having a desired liquid crystal display section and touch panel section.

The obtained information card had excellent mechanical strength, durability, and reliability.

The coating was carried out using a roll coater to a thickness of about 15 μm, and then the solvent was evaporated to form a liquid crystal film with a thickness of 1.5 μm. Further, an adhesive was applied to the electrode surface of the upper substrate around the liquid crystal display section, IC chip mounting section, key operation section, power supply mounting section, and the like. The upper and lower substrates were laminated so that the electrode surfaces faced each other to form an unaligned liquid crystal element. This is 7
It was passed between heated rollers set at 0°C and 30°C for orientation treatment. Furthermore, an I
The C-chip and solar cell were inserted and fixed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention provides an information card having a liquid crystal display section that has memory properties, low power consumption, and excellent mechanical strength, durability, and reliability. Further, such information cards can be provided with high productivity and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing an example of an information card of the present invention having a liquid crystal display section. FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the information card shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an example of pattern printing on a flexible substrate. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the coating and laminating process flow. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a liquid crystal coating section, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an adhesive coating section. Explanation of symbols: Information card having a liquid crystal display.Liquid crystal display section.3 Key operation section solar cell.5 1C chip overlay layer.7 Flexible substrate transparent electrode.9 Ferroelectric liquid crystal material adhesive.Matrix electrode of the liquid crystal display section.Key operation section. Touch panel peripheral connection section Drive circuit section Patterned flexible substrate Liquid crystal coating section 16 Adhesive coating section Overlay base material Information card unit length Liquid crystal coating section 20 Adhesive coating section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information card having a liquid crystal display section made of ferroelectric liquid crystal material. 2. A step of patterning an electrode and a drive circuit section corresponding to a liquid crystal display section on the electrode surface of a long flexible substrate with transparent electrodes, and a step of patterning an electrode and a drive circuit section on the electrode surface of the flexible substrate, and a step of patterning a ferroelectric 1. A method for manufacturing an information card, comprising the step of applying a transparent liquid crystal material.