PCB Can Be Used in Flexible RFID Tags
The PCB, also known as a printed circuit board (PCB), is the essential building block of most electronic devices. It is used to connect components like chips and capacitors to a power source or to transmit signals between different parts of the device. It can be made of rigid, flexible or multilayer materials. A PCB can be single-sided or double-sided and can have one copper layer or multiple copper layers alternating with substrate layers.
Rigid pcb board are the most common type of pcb and are usually made of glass epoxy, sometimes abbreviated as FR4. These types of pcb are found in consumer electronics like MP3 players and mobile phones. Rigid flex boards are also used in industrial applications like control panels and motors. They are able to withstand the high vibration environments of these industries.
Unlike the rigid, fixed structures of rigid PCBs, flexible pcb board are made of a plastic or other soft material. They can be thin or thick and are able to flex and bend. They are often found in consumer electronics, medical devices, and automotive and aerospace applications. Depending on their specifications, they can be very lightweight, and some are designed to be able to conform to tight spaces, like behind the instrument gauges in an automobile dashboard.
How a PCB Can Be Used in Flexible RFID Tags
Flex pcbs can be single-sided, double-sided or multilayer, and may have either a single copper layer or a layer of copper alternating with layers of substrate. They are used in a wide variety of devices, from small LEDs to advanced computers and smartphones. They are more expensive than rigid pcbs because they require more complex and labor-intensive fabrication processes.
In order to function properly, a pcb must have the correct layout and connections. This can be done using a Computer-Aided Design or CAD system. There are many software programs available, but KiCad is the industry standard. Using this program, you can lay out the circuit on a virtual model of the PCB and then convert it into a Gerber file format. The resulting file will be used by the manufacturer to make the actual pcb.
RFID technology is widely adopted in manufacturing, supply chain management, logistics, retail, pharmaceutical and transportation industries for item-level tracking and anti-counterfeiting. In these applications, the RFID tag functions as an antenna with read distances of several millimetres and features fast data acquisition, high reading accuracy and the ability to read through enclosures and packaging. It also eliminates the need for printing and placing labels and improves operational efficiency, customer service and operational security.
To achieve these benefits, a well-designed RFID tag embedded on a PCB must have a small size, a low D/(lambda ), and moderate gain. Murata’s MAGICSTRAP antenna design library provides an optimized design rule set for these requirements. It can be downloaded from the Beta LAYOUT website. A RFID starter kit including a reader, MAGIC-PCB, and antenna modules is also available. This allows you to test and optimize your PCB antenna design before integrating it into the product.
