UHF RFCPUs on Flexible and Glass Substrates for Secure RFID Systems

Abstract

A radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) tag consisting of an 8 bit CPU, a 4 kB ROM, a 512B SRAM, and an RF circuit, which communicates using 915 MHz UHF RF signals, has been developed on both a flexible substrate and a glass substrate. Each of the RFIC tags employs a single DES and an anti-side channel attack routine in firmware for secured communication, and occupies an area of 10.5 mm in width and 8.9 mm in height. The RFIC tag on the flexible substrate is 145 mum thick and weighs 262 mg, and the RFIC tag on the glass substrate consumes 0.54 mW at a power supply voltage of 1.5 V and communicates with a maximum range of 43 cm at a power of 30 dBm. The high-performance poly-silicon TFT technology on flexible substrate and glass substrate of 0.8 mum design rule, and a gate plus one metal layer are used for fabrication. The RFIC tag realizes stable internal clock generation and distribution by a digital control clock generator and a two-phase nonoverlap clock scheme, respectively.