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7.5 Micron Thick RFID Tag
YesSir writes "The EETimes is reporting that Hitachi has a breakthrough in RFID technology that they are planning to show at this years ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference). The new RFID chip is their newest mu-chip that, measuring in at 7.5 microns, is ten or more times thinner than a sheet of paper and comes complete with 128-bit identifying goodness."
...to RFID tag tinfoil hats, and you would never even know it except for the black helicopters following you.
Shouldn't a smaller chip mean that even less radiative power is needed to overload and inactivate the tag? So... good news?
This seems to me that artists could embed an RFID chip in their art, such as under paint, or even in a tatoo, to identify their work. Such a thin tag could be under the label layer in a CD/DVD/etc to identify the origin, to identify whether the work is original and/or authorized. But, of course, someone will eventually find a way around this as they did with CSS and other encryption.
ten or more times thinner
That little bit of ineptitude is nowhere in the article; so the blame passes to the submitter.
"10 times thinner / (less in any form or fashion)" is exactly like saying "300% less". It is an ridiculous statement made by a math illiterate. It is, by definition, impossible for anything to lose more than 100% of it's value.
People see the statement "3 times larger" and, because they can barely add 2+2 without an electronic calculator, they think "3 times smaller" is a valid statement.
[/rant]
There might be some problems with putting it in paper:
1. Module has to stay in the paper. This is harder than it sounds.
2. Antenna (for contactless) has to be much thinner and more flexible than paper. Many transit systems using microcontrollers embedded inside tickets might already have this, but the paper is pretty thick.
3. Antenna has to stay in the paper.
4. Paper tracking can be done already with UV inks. I'm not sure which would be cheaper though.
Does anyone know what kind of microcontroller is used on the transit system tickets?
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I remember seeing an ad a few years back about how you would be able to push your loaded cart through the check-out and all the groceries would be scanned and totaled and you could just pay and go without the need unload the cart and wait for the checker to scan and reload everything. The closest I've seen is the "self checkouts" at the grocery stores (anyone else have these?) where you scan and bag the items yourself. (I'm still wondering how they would handle items that are sold by weight)
:o)
Like any technology this could have its uses (as the above example) and I really think a lot of the concerns are exaggerated (I have a hard time getting my RFID badge to trigger the door locks here, even when it's practically touching the reader). The tinfoil hat crowd and their "the black helicopters will read these as they fly over your house" don't make a lot of sense to me. But maybe the joy of the thing is in conspiracy, not the logic? My read on this is that in order to generate enough power to be read at any great distance (like from outside your house) you'd have to paint the tags with enough radio to fry the occupants.
Anyway, so far it's all talk and nothing much else of practical value. Maybe the packaging of the next Duke Nukem will have RFID?
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I was worried that the older ones would be visible under my forehead.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
What I really want out of RFID tags is the ability to scan 1000s per minute. I've got a large room, a library of documents. If I RFID tag each one, I want to be able to run a wand past all the documents and inventory all 100,000 documents in 15 minutes. Right now, the people I've talked to say its not possible. That is what I am waiting for.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
How do they assign RFID numbers? 128-bits is probably plenty if they are given out efficiently. Or are they giving them out like IPv4 blocks and we are going to run out eventually?
Yes, of course, its not surprising that the RFID chip itself can be incredibly small. What most commentators are missing is that YOU STILL NEED AN ANTENNA to access the thing.
A "long-range" (> few inches) RFID tag needs a relatively large area antenna, like the size of a business card.
A "near-field" tag can have an antenna that is a few millimeters wide, but then your reader has to be very close-- almost touching.
Look at the biggest challenges in passive RFID today, and it'll show you exactly where the vulnerabilities are. Proxomity to metal, proximity to liquids, proximity to other tags, false reads frequency, sensitivity to interference and tag failure rates provide all sorts of opportunities for general mayhem. It don't take much.