11 November, 2003
category: Contactless
Embedded into a complete tag, the ultra small chip contains a unique 64-bit ID number and will optimize product availability for customers
MARIN, Switzerland – November 11, 2003 – EM Microelectronic, a company of the Swatch Group, announces that one of its recently-announced transponder ICs has been used by Marks & Spencer in a small-scale trial aimed at evaluating the use of RFID technology to improve supply chain efficiency and product availability for customers. The four-week trial, which ended November 7, was conducted at one store in the UK on a limited selection of men’s suits, shirts and ties.
The circuit provided by EM Microelectronic is a passive, read-only 868MHz UHF RFID IC containing a 64-bit identifier number programmed during fabrication. The IC is contained within a paper label that is attached to the garment alongside the separate pricing label and is designed to be cut off and thrown away. The garment information associated with the unique identifier number is held on Marks & Spencer’s secure computer database and relates only to that garment’s details, for example, the size, style and color. As a result, the chip can be of minimum complexity, which is ideal for very cost-effective solutions in closed system logistics applications. The RFID IC is part of a new generation of UHF chips and is optimized to yield the absolute minimum die area. The device is a UHF and microwave (300MHz-2.45GHz) single-chip solution with a very small footprint slightly above one fourth of a square millimeter with two pads for antenna attachment. Depending on the chip programming, tags can be read at speeds between 0.5 m/s and 100 m/s. Up to 240 tags can be read per second, while average tag ID reading rate is nearly 200 tags per second.
“This kind of UHF circuit can also be used in other applications closely linked to logistics and supply chain management, such as transport management of goods, anti-counterfeiting and tampering, toll collection, sport applications, parcel and baggage tracking and pallet tracking,” says Mougahed Darwish, president of the management board of EM Microelectronic. “Such achievements and capabilities are no surprise, since EM Microelectronic has more than 14 years experience in this market and is number one in the worldwide RFID IC market, according to a recent study.”
Now that the trial has ended, Marks & Spencer will be evaluating the performance of the technology and its acceptance by customers.
About EM Microelectronic
EM Microelectronic is a semiconductor manufacturer designing and producing ultra low-power, low-voltage, digital, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) for battery-operated and field-powered devices in consumer, automotive and industrial applications. The company’s RFID chips feature read/write, anti-collision, 125kHz, 13.56MHz, UHF and 2.45GHz operation for applications in security and access control, animal ID, logistics and automobile immobilization. Other EM Microelectronic products include microprocessor supervisors and reset ICs, microcontrollers, smart card ICs, mixed analog and digital gate arrays, ASICs, LCD drivers and displays and optoelectronic ICs. EM also produces LCD modules and offers bumping services.
EM Microelectronic was founded in 1975 with headquarters in Marin (Neuchatel), Switzerland. It is a company of The Swatch Group Ltd., the world’s largest manufacturer of finished watches. Additional company and product information is available at www.emmicroelectronic.com http://www.emmicroelectronic.com/ .
Editor’s Note:
Read recent articles about this Marks & Spencer garment’s trial in the UK at
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/623/1/1/
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=73076
http://www.silicon.com/management/smedirector/0,39024679,10006439,00.htm
Please send business inquiries to:
North America
Marketing Communications Department, EM Microelectronic-US, 5475 Mark Dabling Blvd. Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, or [email protected]
Europe and Asia
EM Microelectronic, Rue des Sors 3, CH-2074 Marin, Switzerland, Ph: +41.(0)32.755 51 11,
Fax: +41.(0)32.755 54 03, or [email protected]
Media contacts:
In Europe:
Nicolas Cuendet
Marketing Manager
EM Microelectronic
Tel: 41.32.755.5855
Fax: 41.32.755.5403
In Asia:
Dan Lee
EM Microelectronic Asia
Sales Manager
c/o The Swatch Group
Tel: +65.2756388
Fax: +65.2719896
[email protected]
Jil Goebel
Origin Communications Inc.
Tel: 719.785.9900
Fax: 719.630.8537
[email protected]