Manufacturing method for an integrated circuit card

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of process steps in the manufacture and assembly of an integrated circuit card.
It is another object to dispense with the manufacture of an intermediate module formed by a foil or grid supporting the external metal contact pads of the card on one surface and the integrated circuit on the other surface.
Yet another object is to do away with the mechanical positioning constraints for the external metal contact pads on the card.
These objects are achieved and the disadvantages mentioned above of the prior art are attenuated or suppressed thanks to the fact that the method described in the opening paragraph is characterized in that it comprises the following steps: the application of electrical conductor tracks by an MID (Moulded Interconnection Devices) technique, all provided against the bottom and the lateral walls of said cavity and each connected to one of said metal contact pads arranged on the surface of the support which comprises said cavity, the realisation of electrical connections interconnecting the contacts of the integrated circuit positioned in the cavity and said conductor tracks at the bottom of the cavity, filling up of said cavity with a protective resin which is subsequently polymerized.
The encapsulation of the integrated circuit in a flexible card, which is standardized as to its size and the position of its metal contact pads, is thus obtained by a sequence of a reduced number of comparatively simple operations.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, the step of applying the electrical conductor tracks consists in the application of a catalyst by pad printing in accordance with the configuration desired for the tracks, followed by a metallization through autocatalysis.
Preferably, the card support is realised with its cavity by an injection-moulding technique, and it may comprise elevations at the bottom of the cavity in locations designed for the ends of the conductor tracks.
For placing the integrated circuit in the cavity, it is possible to glue said circuit with its base against the bottom of the cavity, after which a conductor wire is soldered between each contact of the integrated circuit and an end of a conductor track so as to realise the electrical connections