Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags made using printed electronics have been considered to be distant from commercialization, but they are moving close toward mass production. The market for them has witnessed a CAGR of 16.1 percent from 2007 to 2015. The rate at which the printed RFID is growing suggests that the printed electronics market is in its growing stages. Printed electronics is a nascent technology that enables manufacturing of electronic components and devices by using standard printing processes. The unique characteristic of this technology is its ability to manufacture a large number of devices or components at a low cost RFID tags with printed electronics are available at a lower price, as standard printing processes are used to produce the integrated circuits (ICs) that are used for these tags. The conventional silicon chips are expensive and complicated due to the difficult silicon fabrication process.

The stupendous growth in the RFID market is driven by increased demand from various end-user industries. The global RFID market looks promising due to the demand from government projects in military, passport, identity card, and other mandated requirements such as animal tagging. The most significant opportunity for the RFID market is lies in item-level tagging, which requires low-cost and high-volume production. This sets the perfect stage for printed RFID tags that are produced at lower costs, as silicon chips are not involved. However, it will take another 5-7 years for the market to evolve completely, as consistent performance remains a pertinent issue. Noteworthy mentions of participants that are currently transitioning their products from prototype phase to commercialization are Kovio and PolyIC.

Printed RFID will not only ensure low-cost production, but also broaden the application of RFID. The future areas of application could be electronic brand protection and electronic tickets among others. However, it leaves no doubt that the target sectors for printed RFID will comprise price-sensitive mass markets.

The reason behind the anticipated growth of printed RFID is its flexibility, which helps it integrate into products or packages. For instance, thin and flexible RFID tags can be applied to flexible package materials by laminating or direct application. In a further step, printed electronics can be directly integrated in the product, which can be later communicated with, through RFID and with the help of respective reader.

Printed RFID can also help in inventory management, especially when used in conjunction with innovative software that manages read/write devices, collects and compresses RFID data, and makes it available to the merchandise information system to record entire goods flow. Plastics are already prevalent in the electronics industry, particularly in the field of dielectric materials, and the probable application of conducting and semiconducting polymers in soluble form or as liquid precursors makes them attractive for high-volume applications such as electronic identification.

Over the last few years, several start-ups in printed electronics industry have been focusing on printing RFID antennae using conductive inks. One of the motivations behind this is to reduce hazardous waste generated by the usage of acid in etching away material to improve conductivity in the process of creation of an RFID tag. Another key factor is that printed antennae make it easier to attach the antenna to the RFID microchip, which involves a two-step process today - the antenna has to be created and then the RFID microchip has to be placed in a precise position to ensure that the two metal pads on the chip couple with the metal antenna electromagnetically. With conventional inkjet printing, the chip can be placed on the carton or plastic film first, and the printer can print the antenna right over the metal pads, creating a direct physical bond.

Overall, with transparent polymer transistor circuits being developed by companies such as Philips, PolyIC, OrganicID, and Motorola, chipless technology is fast becoming a reality in addressing mainstream RFID applications with price reductions in the order of 1-2 magnitudes. The end goal for RFID is to be printed on almost every item in the same manner as barcodes.

Thus, cost is the key factor that drives the demand for printed RFID tags. With the rate at which R&D is being carried out, printed RFID tags are all set to reach the commercialization stage, at least for some applications.

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