Method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna, and especially to a method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna of a copper foil of 0.017 mm by thickness.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A sticker type antenna is convenient for being loaded in a minimized mobile phone or a mobile electronic device. Manufacturing of a conventional sticker type antenna uses beryllium copper of 0.1 mm by thickness, because only beryllium copper of such a thickness can bear the pulling force required in the subsequent brush electroplating process. By virtue that the price of beryllium copper is high, the cost of a sticker type antenna is high consequently, this is not good for competition.

And more, a sticker type antenna must be enveloped with a layer of Mylar (a kind of polyester film) for protection, however, the Mylar is only stuck to copper in the process of manufacturing, it happens sometimes in operation that the Mylar is separated from the copper; such a defect needs to be eliminated.

The present invention primarily is to provide a method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna, in which a copper foil of 0.017 mm by thickness is stuck to a layer of releasable film in advance, in order that the copper foil can bear the pulling force in the brush electroplating process to thereby substitute the conventional beryllium copper of 0.1 mm by thickness, and to largely reduce the cost of production, the antenna made is much thinner than an antenna of the same style.

After the copper foil of the present invention is stuck to the releasable film and processed by the brush electroplating process, the copper foil undergoes punching and cutting for forming a pattern and is stuck to a semi-finished product of Mylar, hence the copper foil is stuck onto the back side of the Mylar layer; then the Mylar layer with the copper foil is separated from the releasable film, then the back side of the Mylar layer is applied with adhesive and again is stuck to the releasable film; after punching and cutting for patterning and edging, a sticker type antenna is made.

In the above manufacturing process, by virtue that the Mylar layer having been stuck to the copper foil is stuck further to a layer of adhesive, the copper foil can thus be tightly stuck between the layers of the adhesive and the Mylar, the copper foil and the Mylar layer will not be separated from each other during operation to affect the quality of an antenna.

And in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the releasable film and the Mylar layer are punched with a positioning hole to allow manipulation of an automatized machine on an alignment point during the manufacturing process, this can save consumption of manpower and increase the stability of the relative distance between the Mylar and the copper foil.

Moreover, punching a positioning hole on the product of antenna of the present invention can allow a customer to stick the antenna on the main body of a mobile phone or a mobile electronic device.

The present invention will be apparent in its content of technique after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a process flowchart of the method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a process flowchart in manufacturing a semi-finished product of Mylar;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a manufacturing step “a” of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the manufacturing steps “e” to “g” of the present invention.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1 which is a process flowchart of the method of manufacturing of the present invention, it includes the steps of:

a. to cut a bare copper foil into a tape with a suitable width that is reeled and to be applied with adhesive and a releasable film; b. to brush electroplate the copper foil having been processed, to plate with nickel firstly and with gold secondly; c. to proceed to punching and cutting for forming a pattern on the copper foil having been brush electroplated, meantime to punch a positioning hole on the releasable film; d. to apply on the patterned copper foil with a semi-finished product of Mylar having adhesive thereon by the help of the positioning hole; e. to stick the patterned copper foil onto the back side of the Mylar layer, then to separate the Mylar layer (with the copper foil) from the releasable film; f. to apply adhesive on the back side of the Mylar layer (with the copper foil) again; and g. by positioning of the positioning hole, to re-stick the Mylar layer (with the copper foil) to the releasable film; h. to punch and cut the Mylar layer for patterning and edging to form a sticker type antenna.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the manufacturing process of the semi-finished product of Mylar in the step “d” includes:

A1. to draw a positioning hole on the Mylar layer and the releasable film;

A2. to form the positioning hole by punching and cutting to form the semi-finished product.

In the step “a” of the manufacturing method, by the fact that a bare copper foil is applied to a releasable film, so that the copper foil can bear the pulling force in the brush electroplating process of the next step “b”, hence the copper foil can be of normal material rather than specific material (such as the beryllium copper in the prior art). The thickness of the copper foil used presently is 0.017 mm which is much thinner than that of a soft type antenna. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the process of step “a”, a reel of copper foil 10 , a reel of adhesive 20 and a reel of releasable film 30 are reeled out to be pressed together with a pressing cylinder set 40 .

In the step “f” of the manufacturing method, the Mylar layer with the copper foil is applied with one more layer of adhesive, the copper foil can thus be tightly stuck between the layers of the adhesive and the Mylar, the copper foil and the Mylar layer will not be separated from each other during operation to affect the quality of an antenna. FIG. 4 shows the steps “e” to “g” of the manufacturing method, wherein the copper foil and the Mylar layer and a releasable film 50 pass through a reel of Mylar layer/copper foil 60 and a reel of releasable film 90 to separate the releasable film, then a reel of adhesive 80 is reeled out to give the adhesive to apply to the back side of the Mylar layer (with the copper foil), and a pressing cylinder set 70 is used to press them together.

In the step “g” of the manufacturing method, the releasable film and the Mylar layer are punched with a positioning hole to allow manipulation of an automatized machine on an alignment point during the manufacturing process, this can save consumption of manpower and increase the stability of the relative distance between the Mylar and the copper foil. Further, punching a positioning hole on the product of antenna of the present invention can allow a customer to stick the antenna on the main body of a mobile phone or a mobile electronic device.

According to the processing method disclosed above, the method of manufacturing a sticker type antenna of the present invention makes the antenna thinner and have its cost be largely reduced; the copper foil and the Mylar layer are stuck firm with and are not be separated from each other during operation.