1 etching method

    First, the foil-covered PET film printed anti-corrosion ink to protect the antenna line graphics in the etching is not soluble, and then baked, etched, cleaning to get the antenna pattern we need. The advantages of this method are: mature process, high yield of antenna production, and antenna performance consistency is very good; The disadvantage is: etching process is very slow, resulting in slow antenna production speed; Due to the use of the reduction process, a large part of the copper foil has been etched, resulting in a relatively high cost.

2 printing method

   The antenna pattern is printed on the PET substrate by conductive silver slurry and then baked and cured, resulting in the antenna manufacturing process. The advantages of this method are: fast production speed, and can achieve flexible production, can be applied to small-volume production; The disadvantages are: 1, the conductivity of conductive silver pulp is far less than copper foil (about 1/20), the conductor loss of the antenna is relatively large, resulting in antenna efficiency is not as good as etching antenna; 2, conductive silver pulp on the PET substrate attachment is not good, easy to fall off, resulting in the reliability of the antenna is not high. 3, the recent surge in silver prices, resulting in a significant increase in the cost of conductive silver pulp, weakening its cost advantage

3 electroplating method

   First, the antenna pattern is printed directly on the PET substrate by conductive silver slurry (thickness thinner than printing) or other electroplating seed layer, baked and then thickened, so as to obtain the finished antenna product. The advantages of this method are that the production speed is very fast and the antenna conductor loss is low, so that the antenna performance is good. The downside is that the initial equipment investment is large and is only suitable for mass production.

4 Vacuum coating method

   Massking is first printed on pet substrates to form the anti-pattern of the RFID antenna, then coated with aluminum or copper in a vacuum coating, and finally the RFID antenna is formed by the D e-ma s k i n g process. The advantages of this method are: fast production speed, low cost; The disadvantage is that the deposited film is about 2 m, far below the etching and plating of 1 8 m. The performance of the antenna is somewhere between etching and printing. Vacuum coating equipment is about $10.0 million, and the equipment is heavily invested. Similar to electroplating, it is suitable for mass production.

   There are also attempts to print anantenna pattern on the P E T substrate containing platinum ink as a seed layer, and then chemically plate copper. Its advantage is that platinum inks are cheaper than conductive inks. But chemical copper plating is slower and deposits about a few microns thick. In addition, the high-frequency antenna also exists a wiring method, that is, the paint wrap wire (about 0.25mm) through the ultrasonic head, ultrasonic head in accordance with the design pattern of the line; During the route, the paint wrap wire is connected with the PVC substrate ultrasound. This method of antenna performance is very good, high reliability, that is, the cost is relatively expensive etching method.