Scientists build cheap paper RFID

A team of researchers at the University of Montpellier, in France, have developed a way to embed a thin aluminium radio frequency identification (RFID) tag onto paper, RFID News reports.

Using a process of thermal evaporation, the team was able to deposit an aluminium coil antenna onto paper for use as an RFID tag.

The scientists claim this could potentially open up RFID tagging to many applications, allowing even a single printed sheet or flyer to be tagged.

The tag uses less metal than conventional designs, Discovery News states.

The team say they have prototypes and now have only to optimise the designs for different kinds of RFID chips.

RFID tags are relatively expensive when compared to bar codes, because they contain some electronics instead of just a printed image, TechWeek Europe says.

However, ability to produce tags at a fraction of the present cost, using a printing technique, could change that. The scientists involved say using aluminium can reduce the costs of tagging with an RFID chip by as much as 80%.