Omron Corp.

Sept. 18, 2006
Aluminum RFID Inlay Offers Copper-Like Performance

Omron RFID has introduced a new aluminum HF inlay that is suited for security and asset tracking applications such as library and access control.

This credit-card sized, aluminum-based inlay, known as V730S-D13-PO1, is compliant with the ISO15693 HF standard for 13.56MHz frequency and achieves comparable performance with the copper version of the same size inlay. Omron, which has been producing copper inlays for 20 years, said it will continue manufacturing copper inlays for the HF market alongside aluminum.

"Some of our customers prefer aluminum instead of copper inlays due to environmental concerns about disposal of copper waste," says Bill Arnold, chief strategist of Omron RFID. "The combination of an aluminum antenna with Omron's patented chip bonding technology called Jomful dramatically reduces the use of environmentally unfriendly materials and enables us to meet RoHS standards."

Arnold adds, "Omron focuses on developing new UHF products to meet market requirements described in numerous RFID mandates from large retailers. These retailer mandates inspired widespread investigations of the use of RFID across industries. For some applications, HF performance characteristics are more suitable than those of UHF. Thus, we are broadening our lineup of inlays and RFID readers to help our customers select the optimum RFID solution to meet specific business needs."