New Printing Technology Applied in RFID Tags

The easiest way to think about RFID tagging is to first integrate the IC chip, antenna, and power supply into a chip layer, then do the bottom layer and printing surface layer separately, and finally combine the three layers together. Obviously, this method of manufacturing RFID tags is relatively easy to implement, but the cost is also high, it is difficult to popularize. In order to promote the use of RFID tags more widely, some new RFID label printing technologies and equipment have been continuously developed.


Since the advent of RFID tags, they have always faced high prices. Therefore, many people are studying how to adopt new manufacturing processes to reduce costs and speed up the promotion and application of RFID tags.

The RFID tag system consists of a reader, a tag or an RFID card, and an associated antenna. The tag itself contains an integrated circuit chip, an antenna, and a power supply (passive RFID tag energy comes from the electromagnetic wave signal received by the antenna, and does not require a power supply; Active RFID tags require power. The easiest way to think about RFID tagging is to first integrate the IC chip, antenna, and power supply into a chip layer, then do the bottom layer and printing surface layer separately, and finally combine the three layers together. Obviously, this method of manufacturing RFID tags is relatively easy to implement, but the cost is also high, it is difficult to popularize. In order to promote the use of RFID tags more widely, some new RFID label printing technologies and equipment have been continuously developed.

1. Conductive ink

The United States Flint, Ink company was established in 1920, specializing in flexo, sheetfed offset, web offset. Gravure, UV/EB curing and digital printing inks. In the 1990s, Flint developed a conductive-ink. Conductive ink is a type of printing ink that allows current to flow. With this conductive ink, wires, circuit elements, or antennas can be printed on soft or hard substrates. The printed antenna can receive radio information from readers. . Experiments have shown that the antenna printed with conductive ink has the same function as the traditional copper coil antenna in the UHF (860 MHz to 950 MHz) and microwave (2450 MHz) frequencies, and adds some processing steps near the 13.56 MHz high frequency. If the temperature is raised or electroplating is performed, the conductive ink antenna can work as a copper coil antenna.

In fact, conductive inks were printed using a screen printing process. The cost of fabricating RFID tags with conductive inks is much lower than that of conventional metal foil manufacturing methods or traditional methods of making printed circuit boards. Printed antennas or circuits using conductive inks are a high-speed printing process that is significantly cheaper and faster than other methods.

2. Thin battery

Power Paper and Graphic Solutions (GSI) announced today that GSI will become the first authorized manufacturer of Power Paper's web-fed, take-up battery production line in the US, and will produce trillions of ultra-thin (Paper- Thin) energy battery. Founded in 1985, GSI specializes in the production of heat-foil and screen-printed pressure-sensitive labels, aluminum nameplates, polycarbonate panels, printed circuits, and RFID antennas. The ultra-thin battery is said to consist of a zinc anode and a manganese dioxide cathode layer based on dioxide, which can be printed or pasted onto any substrate using special inks. The printed battery can be integrated with printed circuits, RFID antennas and microchips to implement various functions of RFID tags such as controlling prescription drug injection, monitoring and management, or sending RFID tag information over long distances. Unlike conventional energy batteries, Power Paper's batteries do not require a metal cover, each battery is 1.5 volts, and the shelf life is two and a half years. The materials used are environmentally friendly and do not contain heavy metals.

3. Mu chip

Recently, the mu chip (combination of micro IC integrated circuit and antenna) developed by Japan's Hitachi Ltd. has been reduced in price, and its price is only 1/3 to 1/10 of that of conventional IC tags on the market. Hitachi said that the price cuts are due to the fact that they use technologies similar to those used in book prepress to reduce the antenna production process and steps. In addition, Hitachi now uses a cheaper polyethylene film as a substrate, using ultrasonic bonding technology to connect the chip to the antenna under low temperature conditions, all of which have contributed to reducing manufacturing costs. Hitachi believes that the price of RFID tags can be further reduced to open up wider applications. The mu chip was originally used as a banknote tracking device when it was launched. It can also be used for passports, driver's licenses and other certificates or certificates. It is understood that Japan will apply mu chip technology in the 2005 World Exposition admission ticket. In addition, the technology will also be used for the identification and tracking of agricultural production.

Source: Printing Technology