Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions

Muhammad Rizwan; Ajith Adhur Kutty; Monageng Kgwadi; Timothy D. Drysdale; Leena Ukkonen; Johanna Virkki

doi:10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957

Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions

Muhammad Rizwan, Ajith Adhur Kutty, Monageng Kgwadi, Timothy D. Drysdale, Leena Ukkonen, Johanna Virkki

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The growth of the Internet of Things has created a need for cost-effective and light-weight electronics on flexible substrates. Great potential lies in versatile applications of passive UHF RFID components but their robustness toward various environmental stresses must be ensured. This paper presents a comparison of thermal- and inkjet-printed passive UHF RFID tag antennas on a novel polyester-based substrate (Flexcon THERMLfilm) in high humidity conditions. The tag ICs are coated with two different protective glue materials and the tag performance is evaluated through wireless measurements before and after high humidity testing. According to the results, the coating materials or moisture do not prevent the inkjet-printed tags from working in a tolerable way. The absorbed moisture temporarily shifts the peak read range of the thermal-printed tags to a much lower frequency but the most important reliability challenge is to find a coating material that is compatible with the thermal-printed antennas.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2016 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP)
Publisher	IEEE
ISBN (Print)	978-88-907018-6-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957
Publication status	Published - 11 Apr 2016
Publication type	A4 Article in conference proceedings
Event	European Conference on Antennas and Propagation - Duration: 1 Jan 1900 → …

Conference

Conference	European Conference on Antennas and Propagation
Period	1/01/00 → …

Keywords

RFID
RFID tags
inkjet printing
thermal printing
Reliability

Publication forum classification

Publication forum level 1

Access to Document

10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=7481957&refinements%3D4221925778%26filter%3DAND%28p_IS_Number%3A7481093%29

Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions
Muhammad Rizwan (Speaker)
10 Apr 2016 → 15 Apr 2016
Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference presentation

Cite this

@inproceedings{e67cf24b01c4482faebb803cc62ccbcb,

title = "Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions",

abstract = "The growth of the Internet of Things has created a need for cost-effective and light-weight electronics on flexible substrates. Great potential lies in versatile applications of passive UHF RFID components but their robustness toward various environmental stresses must be ensured. This paper presents a comparison of thermal- and inkjet-printed passive UHF RFID tag antennas on a novel polyester-based substrate (Flexcon THERMLfilm) in high humidity conditions. The tag ICs are coated with two different protective glue materials and the tag performance is evaluated through wireless measurements before and after high humidity testing. According to the results, the coating materials or moisture do not prevent the inkjet-printed tags from working in a tolerable way. The absorbed moisture temporarily shifts the peak read range of the thermal-printed tags to a much lower frequency but the most important reliability challenge is to find a coating material that is compatible with the thermal-printed antennas.",

keywords = "RFID, RFID tags, inkjet printing, thermal printing, Reliability",

author = "Muhammad Rizwan and {Adhur Kutty}, Ajith and Monageng Kgwadi and Drysdale, {Timothy D.} and Leena Ukkonen and Johanna Virkki",

year = "2016",

month = apr,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-88-907018-6-3",

booktitle = "2016 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP)",

publisher = "IEEE",

note = "European Conference on Antennas and Propagation ; Conference date: 01-01-1900",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions

AU - Rizwan, Muhammad

AU - Adhur Kutty, Ajith

AU - Kgwadi, Monageng

AU - Drysdale, Timothy D.

AU - Ukkonen, Leena

AU - Virkki, Johanna

PY - 2016/4/11

Y1 - 2016/4/11

N2 - The growth of the Internet of Things has created a need for cost-effective and light-weight electronics on flexible substrates. Great potential lies in versatile applications of passive UHF RFID components but their robustness toward various environmental stresses must be ensured. This paper presents a comparison of thermal- and inkjet-printed passive UHF RFID tag antennas on a novel polyester-based substrate (Flexcon THERMLfilm) in high humidity conditions. The tag ICs are coated with two different protective glue materials and the tag performance is evaluated through wireless measurements before and after high humidity testing. According to the results, the coating materials or moisture do not prevent the inkjet-printed tags from working in a tolerable way. The absorbed moisture temporarily shifts the peak read range of the thermal-printed tags to a much lower frequency but the most important reliability challenge is to find a coating material that is compatible with the thermal-printed antennas.

AB - The growth of the Internet of Things has created a need for cost-effective and light-weight electronics on flexible substrates. Great potential lies in versatile applications of passive UHF RFID components but their robustness toward various environmental stresses must be ensured. This paper presents a comparison of thermal- and inkjet-printed passive UHF RFID tag antennas on a novel polyester-based substrate (Flexcon THERMLfilm) in high humidity conditions. The tag ICs are coated with two different protective glue materials and the tag performance is evaluated through wireless measurements before and after high humidity testing. According to the results, the coating materials or moisture do not prevent the inkjet-printed tags from working in a tolerable way. The absorbed moisture temporarily shifts the peak read range of the thermal-printed tags to a much lower frequency but the most important reliability challenge is to find a coating material that is compatible with the thermal-printed antennas.

KW - RFID

KW - RFID tags

KW - inkjet printing

KW - thermal printing

KW - Reliability

U2 - 10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957

DO - 10.1109/EuCAP.2016.7481957

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-88-907018-6-3

BT - 2016 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP)

PB - IEEE

T2 - European Conference on Antennas and Propagation

Y2 - 1 January 1900

ER -

Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Publication forum classification

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Activities

Reliability study of flexible inkjet- and thermal-printed RFID antennas in high humidity conditions

Cite this