Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a laminated chip inductor including: a laminate including a plurality of first sheets having conductive patterns printed thereon and laminated in order; and a sheet having a discrimination via hole and provided on and/or under the laminate.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119 of Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2011-0091430, entitled “Chip Inductor” filed on Sep. 8, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a laminated chip inductor, and more particularly, to a laminated chip inductor constructed to be readily discriminated. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    An inductor that is one of components forming an electronic circuit, together with a resistor and a condenser, and in which a ferrite core is wound with coils or is printed to form electrodes at both ends thereof is used as a component reducing noise and forming an LC resonance circuit. 
         [0006]    An inductor can be classified into various types, such as a laminated type, a wounded type and a thin film type, and a laminated inductor is commonly used to meet recent demands for miniaturization. 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a laminated chip inductor according to the related art. 
         [0008]    With reference to  FIG. 1 , the laminated chip inductor  10  according to the related art has a laminate  12  including a plurality of first sheets having coil-shaped conductive patterns printed thereon. 
         [0009]    Via holes (not shown) are formed at the end of the conductive patterns and the via holes are filled with conductive paste to electrically connect the conductive patterns of each layer, so that one coil may be formed. 
         [0010]    The laminate  12  includes a second sheet  13  on which the conductive patterns are not printed and the second sheet  13  has a marked portion  14  marked on an upper end thereof. 
         [0011]    The laminated chip inductor affects peripheral components when mounting a substrate according to a laminated direction of an internal circuit, but directionality of the inductor is distinguished by the marked portion  14 , such that the inductor may be laminated in a certain direction when mounting the substrate. The marked portion  14  is confirmed by means of a visual device such as a CCD to thereby sort elements or evaluate characteristics thereof. 
         [0012]    A manufacturing process of the laminated chip inductor will be briefly described as follows. 
         [0013]    First, conductive patterns and via holes are formed on a wide ceramic sheet, such a plurality of sheets are repeatedly laminated, a discrimination sheet not printed with conductive patterns are again laminated, and a pressing process and a firing process are performed thereon. In addition, a marked portion for separately marking an appearance is printed on a sheet not printed with conductive patterns through a marking process. Thereafter, a laminated chip inductor to be required is manufactured through a cutting process for cutting the laminate into proper size and a polishing process for polishing sharp edges thereof. 
         [0014]    As described above, the laminated chip inductor according to the related art requires a marking process for marking a marked portion and in the marking process, an extra screen for marking needs to be manufactured, thereby causing an increase in manufacturing costs. 
         [0015]    When being applied to a micro laminated chip inductor, the recognition of the marking is significantly degraded. 
         [0016]    The marked portion is damaged during the polishing process and the cutting process, thereby causing a difficulty in discrimination. 
         [0017]    A material of the inductor is applied with stress due to a shrinkage difference between the material of the inductor and the marked portion, thereby causing a phenomenon that the laminate is bent. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]    An object of the present invention is to provide a laminated chip inductor including sheets having via holes provided thereon. 
         [0019]    According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a chip inductor, including: a laminate including a plurality of first sheets having conductive patterns printed thereon and laminated in order; and a second sheet having a discrimination via hole and provided on and under the laminate. 
         [0020]    A color of the second sheet may be different from that of the laminate. 
         [0021]    The second sheet may be made of a different material from the laminate. 
         [0022]    The discrimination via hole may have a circular shape or a square shape. 
         [0023]    The number of the discrimination via hole may be at least one. 
         [0024]    According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a chip inductor including: a laminate having a plurality of first sheets printed with conductive patterns thereon and laminated in order; a second sheet having a discrimination via hole and provided on the laminate; and a third sheet having a discrimination via hole and provided under the laminate. 
         [0025]    The second sheet and/or third sheet may have different colors from the laminate. 
         [0026]    The second sheet and/or the third sheet may be made of a different material from the laminate. 
         [0027]    The discrimination via hole may have a circular shape and a square shape. 
         [0028]    The number of the discrimination via hole may be at least one. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a laminated chip inductor according to the related art; 
           [0030]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a laminated chip inductor according to the present invention; 
           [0031]      FIGS. 3A to 3D  are illustrative views of modifying a second sheet that is a component of the laminated chip inductor according to the present invention into various shapes; and 
           [0032]      FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of a laminated chip inductor according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0033]    Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be interpreted as being limited to typical meanings or dictionary definitions, but should be interpreted as having meanings and concepts relevant to the technical scope of the present invention based on the rule according to which an inventor can appropriately define the concept of the term to describe most appropriately the best method he or she knows for carrying out the invention. 
         [0034]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a laminated chip inductor  100  according to the present invention. 
         [0035]    With reference to  FIG. 2 , the laminated chip inductor  100  of the present invention may include a laminate  110  including a plurality of first sheets having coil-shaped conductive patterns  111  printed thereon and a second sheet  120  provided on the laminate  110  and having a discrimination via hole  121  discriminating elements. 
         [0036]    Here, the second sheet  120  may be simultaneously laminated at the time of laminating the plurality of first sheets. The discrimination via hole  121  may be preferably formed in the process of forming via holes (not shown) for electrically connecting the conductive patterns  111  printed on the first sheets. 
         [0037]    As described above, in the laminated chip inductor of the present invention, the second sheet  120  is laminated simultaneously with the laminating of the first sheets, thereby making it possible to prevent the chip from being bent due to a shrinkage error of the marked portion which may occur in the marking process for printing the marked portion according to the related art, and reduce production costs of the chip inductor due to unnecessity of the marking process for printing the marked portion. 
         [0038]    The second sheet  120  may be preferably formed with a different color from the first sheets. The reason is that if the color of the first sheets is identical to that of the second sheet  120 , it is difficult to distinguish between the first sheets and the second sheet  120  due to their same colors which can be recognized through the discrimination via hole  121 . Therefore, the color of the second sheet  120  and the first sheets may be preferably configured to create complementary contrast. 
         [0039]    These colors may be distinguished by adding a separate pigment at the time of manufacturing the sheets or allowing the second sheet  120  and the first sheets to have different materials. 
         [0040]    As described above, the inductor may be discriminated by primary strong color contrast and secondary depth difference between the discrimination via hole  121  and the sheet surfaces according to the thickness of the second sheet  120 , whereby the inductor can be more easily discriminated than the case in which the inductor is discriminated by means of the marked portion  14  shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0041]      FIGS. 3A to 3D  are illustrative views of modifying the second sheet  120  that is a component of the laminated chip inductor  100  according to the present invention into various shapes. According to characteristics and sorts of an inductor element, the second sheet  120  may have the discrimination via hole  121  having a circular shape as shown in  FIG. 3A  and have the discrimination via hole  121  having a square shape as shown in  FIG. 3B . The inductor element has the circular shape and the square shape just by way of examples and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the inductor element may have any shapes other than the circular shape and the square shape. 
         [0042]    The number of the discrimination via hole  121  may be at least one, as shown in  FIGS. 3C and 3D . 
         [0043]    As described above, the via hole is configured to have various shapes and numbers, thereby making it possible to actively cope with diversification of elements and more improve the discrimination of elements. 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a laminated chip inductor  200  in an exploded state according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0045]    With reference to  FIG. 4 , the laminated chip inductor  200  according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a laminate  210  including a plurality of first sheets having coil-shaped conductive patterns  211  printed thereon, a second sheet  220  provided on the laminate  210  and having a discrimination via hole  221  discriminating elements, and a third sheet  230  provided under the laminate  210  and having a discrimination via hole  231  discriminating elements. 
         [0046]    Namely, unlike the laminated chip inductor  100  shown in  FIG. 2 , the laminated chip inductor  200  according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the second and third sheets  220  and  230  each having the discrimination via holes  221  and  231  each provided on and under the laminate  210 , and particularly allows the discrimination via holes  221  and  231  each to be disposed at different axes of the upper surface and the bottom surface of the laminate  210 , thereby making it possible to more facilitate discrimination of the elements. 
         [0047]    Here, like the laminated chip inductor shown in  FIG. 2 , the third sheet  230  may be provided to be laminated simultaneously with laminating the plurality of first sheets and like the laminated chip inductor shown in  FIG. 3 , the discrimination via hole  231  may be configured to have the various number and shapes. 
         [0048]    According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the sheets including the via hole is provided, thereby making it possible to improve discrimination of the elements and not cause a problem in discriminating the elements even if a portion of edges is damaged by a polishing process and a cutting process. 
         [0049]    A marking process for printing the marked portion is unnecessary, thereby making it possible to reducing costs of production. 
         [0050]    A bending of a laminated chip inductor due to shrinkage error of the marked portion can be prevented. 
         [0051]    Therefore, the configurations described in the embodiments and drawings of the present invention are merely most preferable embodiments but do not represent all of the technical spirit of the present invention. Thus, the present invention should be construed as including all the changes, equivalents, and substitutions included in the spirit and scope of the present invention at the time of filing this application.