Smart tracking with nanotubes
A printable nano-based tag that can be invisibly embedded in packaging could provide a cost-effective tracking solution to the packaging sector, say researchers at Rice University, USA, and Sunchon National University (SNU) in Korea.
The technology, which can be printed on paper and plastic, eliminates the need for an attached silicon chip device, reducing production costs.
Lead Researcher Professor Cho at SNU explains, ‘Singlewall carbon nanotube inks can be used both as conducting and semiconducting ink for print transistors for use in radio frequency identification tags (RFID)’.
According to Cho, the tags, will be produced using a roll-to-roll gravure print process and be suitable for use in medical packaging, logos and labelling and have a read rate of 10 -100 tags per second (depending on the frequency rate, 13.56MHz 10cm – 900MHz 1m).
He adds, ‘The main cost factor in RFID is labelling and chip bonding. By using a rolll-to-roll process the costs will be brought down to a penny apiece. We have also not employed any spin coating nor photolithographic processes’.
The tag can be printed on ‘almost all’ substrates by controlling wetting on different plastic foils. However, paper currently needs treatment pre-printing to prevent capillary forces.
Two main hurdles still exist before commercialisation – the device will need to be reduced to the size of a barcode and the tag’s range must be increased.
IDTechEx Chairman Dr Peter Harrop has concerns about the specifications. He says, ‘Printed transistors – of which this is a good example – are the front runners in taking the global RFID market from its present two billion tags yearly to 200bln. They will only achieve this by getting the cost down to no more than one tenth of current costs for the traditional silicon chip based version’.
He adds, ‘There are other even lower cost forms of printed RFID but they do not meet the global specifications which are written around silicon chips. Changing these specifications will involve a decade of lobbying for those with the temerity to start’.
The collaborating universities expect the technology to be in use by 2013. The team is now working on an advanced RFID technology, that will allow retailers to collect information on stock in store and trace package movement instantly.Packaging Professional Magazine, 14 May 2010
The technology, which can be printed on paper and plastic, eliminates the need for an attached silicon chip device, reducing production costs.
Lead Researcher Professor Cho at SNU explains, ‘Singlewall carbon nanotube inks can be used both as conducting and semiconducting ink for print transistors for use in radio frequency identification tags (RFID)’.
According to Cho, the tags, will be produced using a roll-to-roll gravure print process and be suitable for use in medical packaging, logos and labelling and have a read rate of 10 -100 tags per second (depending on the frequency rate, 13.56MHz 10cm – 900MHz 1m).
He adds, ‘The main cost factor in RFID is labelling and chip bonding. By using a rolll-to-roll process the costs will be brought down to a penny apiece. We have also not employed any spin coating nor photolithographic processes’.
The tag can be printed on ‘almost all’ substrates by controlling wetting on different plastic foils. However, paper currently needs treatment pre-printing to prevent capillary forces.
Two main hurdles still exist before commercialisation – the device will need to be reduced to the size of a barcode and the tag’s range must be increased.
IDTechEx Chairman Dr Peter Harrop has concerns about the specifications. He says, ‘Printed transistors – of which this is a good example – are the front runners in taking the global RFID market from its present two billion tags yearly to 200bln. They will only achieve this by getting the cost down to no more than one tenth of current costs for the traditional silicon chip based version’.
He adds, ‘There are other even lower cost forms of printed RFID but they do not meet the global specifications which are written around silicon chips. Changing these specifications will involve a decade of lobbying for those with the temerity to start’.
The collaborating universities expect the technology to be in use by 2013. The team is now working on an advanced RFID technology, that will allow retailers to collect information on stock in store and trace package movement instantly.Packaging Professional Magazine, 14 May 2010
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