Innovative Process Embeds World's Smallest Low-Frequency Chips Into RFID Tags

HID Global, trusted leader in solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced its manufacturing innovation that enables use of the world's smallest integrated low-frequency (LF) chips ever produced for contactless ID applications. HID Global is the first company that can effectively attach an antenna via its patented direct bonding technology to a chip surface less than 0.3 millimeters square, which is smaller than the pinpoint of a needle. This area is 50 to 75 percent smaller than the industry's smallest chips previously used for deployment in LF radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and transponders.
The integrated chips use less material, which enables production efficiencies for chip manufacturers as well as increasingly smaller form factors for finished RFID tag products. As chip manufacturers developed methods to provide computing capacity into smaller sized chips, RFID engineers were previously restricted by process limitations. Equipment could not handle the tiny chips, nor could effective antennas be mounted to them. Through HID Global's newly developed capabilities, the company can utilize the latest micro-sized chips to bring to market new innovative tag products that will provide customers more tag options.
"We've been successful in producing smaller chips with different memory size options," said Chris Feige, general manager, Tags & Labels, NXP Semiconductors, maker of the Hitag(R) micro chip family (HTMS1x01/HTMS8x01). "Now, HID Global has eliminated the barriers to integrating these micro-sized chips into tiny RFID solutions, allowing our next generation chip to reach its full potential."
In addition to providing the opportunity to reduce unit cost and tag size, HID Global's patented technology for bonding the smallest chip on the market offers RFID system engineers more design options. Where read range is important, a small chip also makes room for a larger antenna for improved performance over a comparably sized tag with a conventional chip. In space-restricted applications, engineers can now design smaller form factors without compromising performance.
A key application in which these chip/antenna combinations have tremendous potential are glass tags for animal identification. Smaller glass tags are less intrusive, especially tags designed for subcutaneous implant. Uncompromised read range performance also reduces trauma to laboratory animals and pets.
"HID Global's break-through technology removes limitations that previously existed in the market, making it possible to integrate the smallest possible chips into RFID tags, while delivering exceptional size-to-performance ratios," said Marc Bielmann, managing director of Identification Technologies with HID Global. "Innovative handling and assembly technologies reinforce our leadership in RFID solutions development for a broad spectrum of animal ID, industrial applications and access control."