Holst Shows Fast Plastic RFID Tag At ISSCC

A plastic 64-bit inductively coupled passive RFID tag being presented at ISSCC potentially paves the way for low-cost, high-volume RFID tags to replace bar codes. Operating at 13.56 MHz, the system boasts a 787-bit/s data readout of 64 bits over 10 cm—a five-fold increase in bit rate than state-of-the-art RFID systems—according to Holst Centre, a technology center founded by IMEC and the Dutch research center TNO. The RFID system consists of an inexpensive inductive antenna, capacitor, plastic rectifier, and plastic circuit, all on foil. The LC antenna resonates at 13.56 MHz and powers up the organic rectifier with an ac voltage at this frequency. From this voltage, the rectifier generates the dc supply voltage for the 64-bit organic transponder chip, which drives the modulation transistor between the on and off state with a 64-bit code sequence. The rectifier uses organic vertical diodes since they outperform organic transistors at frequencies at and above 13.56 MHz. The transponder chip, fabricated by Polymer Vision, uses organic bottom-gate p-type Pentacene thin-film transistors using soluble precursor technology. It comprises only about 400 transistors, making it significantly smaller than previous designs. Holst Centre
www.holstcentre.com ISSCC
www.isscc.org Polymer Vision
www.polymervision.com