Biometric card reference design expedites smart card design

Infineon Technologies and NEXT Biometrics have partnered to develop a reference design for biometric payment cards, incorporating all necessary elements to develop and manufacture a smart card with a fingerprint sensor. The design helps card makers simplify their production processes and shorten time-to-market for their offerings.

The use of biometrics for second factor authentication is the next big thing in payment card innovation following signatures, embossing, magnetic stripe and secure chip technologies. Instead of entering a PIN or showing an ID, the card holder authenticates by using a fingerprint sensor embedded on the card. The fingerprint information is stored on the card’s secure element and not shared with any third party, thereby protecting the user’s privacy. Fingerprint authentication is faster and easier than standard PIN-based EMV transactions. It will also further reduce fraud, especially when multifunctional cards are deployed for personal social security payments.

The biometric card reference design includes a biometric module, a secure element, an operating system with biometric and payment applets, as well as a recommended and proven pre-lamination and lamination method for manufacturing the card. This complete system solution enables secure biometric smart card payment with significantly reduced false rejection rates to below one percent. The false rejection rate is a convenience feature that measures how often the fingerprint of the authorized user is reliably recognized and not incorrectly rejected.