RFID tags, as a kind of smart tags, are being taken seriously by more and more users and tag makers. However, these tags are different from other tag products and can be completely printed. To print RFID tags using printing technology Only use new conductive inks for processing.
Conductive inks for RFID tags are composed of fine conductive particles or other special materials (such as conductive polymers, etc.) that, after being printed on the substrate, act as wires, antennas, and resistors. The ink is printed on a flexible or rigid substrate to make a printed circuit, and an antenna printed with conductive ink can receive RFID-specific radio signals. Today, the use of conductive inks in high-speed printing to produce RFID tag antennas has the advantage.
1. Excellent electrical conductivity
As we all know, smart labels are new types of labels that are more powerful than traditional data labels, including RFID labels, explicit/hidden anti-counterfeit labels, and sensor labels that indicate the status of the product. In RFID tags, conductive ink can be used to connect the various components of the tag to act as a sensor or antenna.
2. cut costs
In the promotion of RFID tags, the biggest issue is the cost. The price of each RFID tag is between 0.3 and 0.6 US dollars. For those high-end products, an increase of 0.5 US dollars can be accepted by manufacturers and consumers, because for them, RFID tags are an excellent identification tracking device, which brings convenience and efficiency more cost-effective. However, for medium. Low-end consumer products, RFID tags are not easy to accept, after all, who can not accept an ordinary toothpaste because of the use of RFID tags rose by 0.5 US dollars.
Conductive ink saves the cost of RFID tags in two ways. First of all, from the material cost, the ink is cheaper than stamping or etching the metal coil; secondly, from the material consumption, stamping or etching consumes a lot of metal, and the conductive ink printing antenna or circuit has high speed and low cost. efficient.
In the past, conductive inks were only screen-printed. Today, they have been extended to offset printing, flexo printing, and gravure printing. Flint Ink Company and R. T. Circuits Corporation has signed an exclusive license to allow it to use conductive inks in offset printing. This is an important technological advancement that has facilitated the production and use of RFID tags. In particular, large retailers can request suppliers to provide RFID-tagged goods.
For manufacturers, retailers and consumers, smart labels provide a real-time. The visible product catalog can help the user to grasp the status of the product and each link of the supply chain.
The future of RFID tags
In 2004, the scale of the global RFID label market reached 4 billion US dollars, and it is expected to exceed 7 billion US dollars in 2006. At the RFID seminar held in Shanghai, experts predict that the global RFID market will reach 300 billion US dollars in 2010. Although there are differences in the results predicted by different institutions. However, they all depict the application of RFID tags.
Accompanied by the full opening of the commodity market, China has accelerated the process of comprehensive promotion and application of RFID tags. In the future, China will need more than 3 billion electronic tags, among which, 83 million for electronic consumer goods; 800 million for cigarette products: 130 million for alcoholic products; 1.3 to 1.4 billion for IT products; 7 for other products. 100 million or so.
China has now started related technology research and development and standards development. In February 2004, the National Standardization Working Group for Electronic Labels was announced. They were responsible for drafting and formulating China's national standards for electronic labels. At the end of April, Chinese companies had joined EPC global, an RFID globalization standards organization, and established EPC global China in the same period.