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NEWS

Hitachi develops speck-of-dust size RFID tags

From "RFID 'Powder' - World's Smallest RFID Tag," Technovelgy, 14 February 2007. Photo at right shows the new Hitachi RFID tags next to a human hair - via Pink Tentacle:

"The world's smallest and thinnest RFID tags were introduced yesterday by Hitachi. Tiny miracles of miniaturization, these RFID chips measure just 0.05 x 0.05 millimeters. The previous record-holder, the Hitachi mu-chip, is just 0.4 x 0.4 millimeters... The 'powder type' tags are some sixty times smaller.

"The new RFID chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38 digit number, like their predecessor. Hitachi used semiconductor miniaturization technology and electron beams to write data on the chip substrates to achieve the new, smaller size.

"Hitachi's mu-chips are already in production; they were used to prevent ticket forgery at last year's Aichi international technology exposition. RFID 'powder,' on the other hand, is so much smaller that it can easily be incorporated into thin paper, like that used in paper currency and gift certificates.

"Science fiction fans will have a field day with this new technology. In his 1998 novel Distraction, Bruce Sterling referred to bugged money:

"They always played poker with European cash. There was American cash around, flimsy plastic stuff, but most people wouldn't take American cash anymore. It was hard to take American cash seriously when it was no longer convertible outside US borders. Besides, all the bigger bills were bugged...

"These tiny RFID tags could be worked into any product; combined with RFID readers built into doorways, theft of consumer goods would be practically impossible.

"It's not clear from the references provided, but even if this chip needs an external antenna, the attached antenna would be a tiny ribbon of wire more narrow than a human hair and only a fraction of an inch long.

"These devices could also be used to identify and track people. For example, suppose you participated in some sort of protest or other organized activity. If police agencies sprinkled these tags around, every individual could be tracked and later identified at leisure, with powerful enough tag scanners...
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See "Hitachi pins big hopes on world's tiniest chip," Asahi Shimbun, 14 February 2007, for confirmation of details.

[RFID - 19 February 2007]