Hitachi claims smallest RFID chip

Hitachi recently announced the development of a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that the company said is the thinnest and smallest such chip in the world, measuring 0.15 x 0.15 millimeters and 7.5 micrometers thick. Compared with the company’s 0.3 x 0.3 mm IC chip, the new chip has a surface area and thickness that is one-fourth and one-eighth of the original, respectively. The smaller form factor increases the number of chips that can be fabricated on a single wafer, resulting in a four-fold increase in productivity, the company said.

Hitachi also said it was able to reduce the distance between each circuit element through the use of SOI (silicon on insulator) technology, which has an insulating layer in the substrate that lets high-frequency devices operate in close proximity without performance failures caused by interference. www.hitachi.com