Europeans push the innovation envelope with radio frequency identification tags
The quest to drive innovation continues in Europe. And joining the growing list of innovative products and services is the world's first radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit, designed and created by Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum Vzw (imec) in Belgium, the Holst Centre in the Netherlands and the ORICLA consortium. ORICLA ('Towards electronic product coding with RFID tags based on hybrid organic-oxide complementary thin-film technology') is supported under the 'Information and communication technologies' (ICT) Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) to the tune of EUR 3.02 million. This first RFID circuit was developed with low-temperature thin-film technology that enables reader-talks-first communication. The researchers say the technology behind this prototype is essential for making inexpensive RFID tags a reality. These tags also have enough performance to be used as intelligent item-level tags on the packaging of retail consumer goods. According to the researchers, tags like these could benefit consumers, as they would have fast access to information like price, characteristics or freshness. But vendors would also benefit, as they could introduce automated billing and inventory management. Plastic foil is used as the base for the thin-film RFID chips. Organic or oxide thin-film semiconductors are also part of the creation process. Before this latest development, RFID tags with such thin-film chips on plastic were based on a tag-talks-first principle. That is, the RF field of the RFID reader powers up the RFID tag, which transmits its code to the reader. The glitch appears when several tags try to contact the reader at the same time, which is usually the case in retail applications. In order to keep problems at bay, an effective anti-collision mechanism would have to be used. But not only is this a limited option, it also comes at the cost of a slow reading time. Commenting on this latest development, imec director of large-area electronics and ORICLA coordinator Paul Heremans says: 'With this technology we are for the first time able to realise a reader-talks-first low-temperature thin-film transistor RFID circuit. When the RFID reader first powers and contacts the tag, it transmits a clock and identification data. The tag then uses this data and clock to determine when to send its code. This mechanism for the first time allows implementing a practical anti-collision scheme for thin-film RFID tags.' The team used a complementary hybrid organic-oxide technology to get this RFID tag from being a just concept to a tangible object. The researchers combined a high-temperature solution-processed n-type metal-oxide thin-film transistor with typical charge carrier mobility of 2 cm2/Vs with a pentacene p-type thin-film transistor with mobility of up to 1 cm2/Vs. They also used a high-k AI203 dielectric, which is able to boost the current drive of the transistors. Organic and metal-oxide molecules are part of the recipe for thin-film electronics, which can be made with low cost and on thin plastic sheets. Developing smart tags at cheap prices is a great solution for everyone. The ORICLA consortium is made up of researchers and industry actors from Germany and the Netherlands.For more information, please visit:imec:http://www2.imec.be/be_en/home.htmlORICLA:http://www.oricla.eu/
Countries
Belgium, Germany, Netherlands