STMicroelectronics has announced a tiny NFC Ferrite Tag that uses their ST25 NFC tag IC for IoT (Internet of Things) data-transmission applications. This NFC Ferrite Tag is small, light and thin making it easy to surface-mount during production through the metal pad that can be directly soldered to the PCB surface. In addition, this tag can function when placed on metal products because of its anti-metallic interference characteristics. These features make it highly attractive for IoT data-transmission applications in consumer electronics, wearable devices, and smart healthcare products. This tiny Tag perfectly suits the need for smaller, thinner, and lighter designs for wearable products where compactness is critical.
In addition to its small dimension (4.9 x 3.0 x 2.5 mm), this tag with an embedded antenna demonstrates outstanding RF performance, benefiting from their state-of-the-art ST25TA02K NFC Forum Type 4 tag IC with built-in NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) message support. This allows the NDEF data to be directly executed through an Android NFC phone without any dedicated application software. In addition to NDEF support, the ST25TA02K features a 20-bit counter and 128-bit password to protect read / write access to the 2Kbit EEPROM memory.
Manufacturers will ship as many as 2.2 billion NFC-enabled smartphones by 2020 according to IHS Technology (Market Insight, NFC-enabled Handset Shipments to Reach Three-Quarters of a Billion in 2015, June 2015). The growing momentum for NFC is expected to drive new IoT and wireless applications in the Smart Home, Smart Healthcare/ Medical, Smart City, and Smart Factory. With ST’s global reach combined and SAG’s professional manufacturing of RFID tags, the two companies aim to accelerate innovation and new product development that strengthens the competitiveness of their customers’ final products.
