"The Holy Grail of RFID is printing right on the product. But the cost would have to come down from 10 cents or more per tag to less than five cents, and close to one cent. The chip alone ranges from a nano cent to about eight cents. This means the circuitry of the chip also would have to be printed, and this technology is years away. But so-called chipless technology is progressing, and every day there are announcements about transistors, capacitors and other electronic components being printed, in many cases using inkjet. Printed batteries are just about ready for prime time. To print the antenna, special conductive inks that contain aluminum, copper or silver are used. In most cases, the ink must be heated after printing. One company, Parelec, showed printing of the antenna directly on corrugated. But the chip still had to be glued to the antenna."
Frank J. Romano is professor emeritus at RIT. Contact him at fxrppr@rit.edu
