“Screenprinting is an easy to manage, one step process that has been successfully applied to the production of high volume, low cost RFID transponders,” comments François Chirol, Regional Segment Manager Europe, DuPont Microcircuit Materials. “Using conductive inks for the production of RF antennae and for the assembly of electronic units is likely to become the preferred manufacturing method for UHF tags. Those manufacturers that want to benefit from the growing market opportunity offered by the RFID revolution in retail and supply chain management could soon find it necessary, for a number of reasons, to abandon the use of currently popular subtractive technologies, such as Copper etching.

“Today, most manufacturers of RFID transponders are still using more costly and difficult to manage manufacturing technologies, even when trying to achieve lower costs per unit in order to the meet emerging market requirements,” continues François Chirol. “The reason for this is simply that people have already made significant investments in that direction. I am convinced that any new player entering the RFID Transponder manufacturing arena and starting from scratch with his investments in capital equipment will go for the screenprinting option. There is no good reason to choose Copper etching when you are looking for a manufacturing solution that offers high stability, performance and the possibility of offering the product to clients at the lowest possible price.”