CYBRA Corporation

The one cent RFID tag may be here sooner than you think. Xerox scientists have developed a low cost silver ink to print flexible circuitry that could make one cent RFID tags a reality. With the development of the new silver ink, Xerox scientists have paved the way for commercialization and low-cost manufacturing of printable electronics. Printable electronics offers manufacturers a very low-cost way to add RFID tags to a wide range of surfaces such as plastic or fabric. This development will aid the commercialization of new applications such as "smart" pill boxes that track how much medication a patient has taken and even display screens that roll up to fit into a briefcase.

Until now, delivering low-cost electronics has been hindered by the logistics and costs associated with silicon chip manufacturing; existing RFID tags are manufactured in a discrete process -- the antenna has to be physically added to the chip with a strap. The breakthrough low-temperature silver ink enables process manufacturing of RFID tags, which can now be printed reliably on a wide range of surfaces such as plastic or fabric.

Using Xerox's new technology, circuits can be printed just like a continuous feed document without the extensive clean room facilities required in current chip manufacturing. In addition, scientists have improved their previously developed semiconductor ink, increasing its reliability by formulating the ink so that the molecules precisely align themselves in the best configuration to conduct electricity.

The printed electronics materials, developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, enable product manufacturers to put electronic circuits on plastics, film, and textiles. In addition to RFID tags, printable circuits could be used in a broad range of products, including  light and flexible e-readers and signage, sensors, solar cells and novelty applications including wearable electronics.

Xerox will be able to print circuits in almost any size from smaller custom-sized circuits to larger formats such as wider rolls of plastic sheets -unheard of in today's silicon-wafer industry.

Read the entire news release here.