On-Chip Antenna for Contactless Smart Card

Smart cards can be divided into the contact and contactless types. The contactless type has the obvious advantage of durability and convenience. However, the requirement of an antenna that is usually of the same size as the card complicates the card manufacturing process. Above all, the presence of an antenna prohibits the use of more durable card material like polycarbonate and of more advanced printing features (for counterfeit measure) to the card. If the antenna can be engineered into the card module (the part that encapsulated the smart card chip) or better still into the chip itself, its impact to the design of the card body will be minimal. Since the power of a contactless smart card derived from RF means and that influences greatly by the size of the antenna, taking such a step is more than just technology but also a challenge to the reader design, circuit design that works under low and unstable power and probably communication protocol between the reader and the card.