Printing RFID tag antennas (Printed Electronics USA 2006)

Parelec Inc. develops and manufactures conductive inks for printed electronics. Parelec's inks, marketed under the Parmod® trademark, are highly conductive - typically 5 to 10 times more conductive than traditional polymer thick film conductive inks. Our inks are made with metallic flake or nano-powders in a non-polymer, reactive organic medium and are delivered as either pastes or toners, depending on the print technology being used by our customers. Electrical resistivity is typically 2 to 6 milliohms/sq./mil, approaching that of bulk metal.

 

Parmod® inks can be printed using a number of conventional, high volume printing techniques such as flat screen, rotary screen, flexo and roto-gravure, and can be cured at relatively low temperatures (<150C) consistent with these printing environments. Parmod inks are distinguished by their exceptionally high conductivity. The inks are custom formulated with the ink viscosity and rheology optimized for specific applications, substrate materials and the print method (screen, gravure, etc.). For RFID applications, the antenna pattern is printed onto a receiving substrate (polyester or paper) and thermally cured.

 

Parelec's goal is to enable roll-to-roll printing and curing of RFID antennas at commercial print speeds. Parelec has been assisting numerous companies implementing the use of printed ink for roll-to-roll, high volume manufacture of RFID tags for both 13.56MHz and UHF applications. With the advent of Wal-Mart's announced RFID initiative and the formation of EPCglobal, the imperative to deliver the lowest cost RFID tag necessitates integrating RFID technology directly onto consumer packaging. Parelec's Parmod print technology offers the ability to define a continuous, fully integrated in-line dry chemistry manufacturing process with the potential to yield the inherently lowest cost RFID tag solution.