Infineon Expands Family of Object RFID Chips for Logistic and Manufacturing Applications

Munich, Germany – September 13, 2006 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced availability of two new RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) transponder chips for item tracking applications in logistics and manufacturing environments. The my-d® light and the my-d® vicinity HC RFID chips, which operate at the global 13.56 megahertz radio frequency band, add applications-specific capabilities to the Infineon RFID product line-up.

The my-d light RFID chip is used for brand protection and supply chain item tracking as well as asset and inventory control, such as library and media management applications. The my-d vicinity HC RFID chip is used for applications that require exceptionally small-sized labels or tags, such as laundry management.

“RFID technology is a key technology for optimizing logistics and manufacturing processes,” said Tilo Pannenbaecker, Director of Contactless Memories & RFID at Infineon. “Infineon is among the leading suppliers of high-frequency 13.56 MHz RFID chips in a market which industry experts expect to break the ten-billion-unit-barrier by 2010. Applications are in need of RFID tags that bring measurable advantages like fast and reliable anti-collision and special form factors. Infineon is committed to contribute its semiconductor expertise and our inlay partners use our chips to provide the tags you need.”

Infineon’s my-d light chip features an “advanced quiet mode” that improves the ability to use the chips when items are stored closely together. This mode enhances anti-collision performance, which prevents radio waves of one device from interfering with those of another device. The feature makes my-d light RFID chips ideal for applications which require reliable identification, reading and writing of up to 50 adjacent objects at the same time in about one second regardless of their orientation. For example, identifying individual parts within a supply chain management or inventory management application. With alternative RFID chips, identification performance tops out at 30 labels per second. The my-d light chip stores 416 bits of non-volatile user memory, equal to 52 text characters, which enable the storage of unique manufacturing codes, time-stamps, audit trails or encrypted codes for brand protection. This memory size is specifically tailored and adequate for the broad spectrum of high-volume applications of supply chain item tracking as well as asset and inventory control. This memory size also reduces overall chip size which lessens mechanical stress on the chips.

The new my-d vicinity HC chip is suitable for object identification applications where the RFID inlay has to be significantly smaller than today’s standard size of 4.5 cm x 7.5 cm (approximately 1.7 inches x 2.9 inches). The chip features a high input capacitance – “HC” stands for High Capacitance – allowing the design of very small antennas at 13.56 MHz of only eight millimeters (ca. 0.3 inches) in diameter. This enables an average size of the whole inlay – comprising of chip, antenna and connection between chip and antenna – of about 10 mm (ca. 0.4 inches), which can be used in garment labels or button tags, for example. The my-d vicinity HC is the ideal RFID chip for inventory control and logistics of professional linen and laundry, as required in hospitals, restaurants and hotels, and other industries.

Offering a data retention of more than ten years, both chips can be read and rewritten more than 100,000 times. Depending on the reader configuration and antenna design, the ICs are programmable up to a distance of 120 cm (ca. 47 inches). Both new chips are compliant to ISO/IEC 15693 and ISO/IEC 18000-3 mode 1 standards.

Availability

The new RFID chips, the my-d light (SRF55V01P) and the my-d vicinity HC (SRF55V02P HC), are available as un-sawn wafers as well as sawn and bumped wafers. A variety of inlay and label formats are offered by Infineon’s inlay partner companies, such as KSW Microtec, TagStar Systems, and UPM Raflatac.

For further technical information on Infineon’s RFID chips please visit: http://www.infineon.com/rfid

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