Inkjet-printed system-on-paper/polymer “green” RFID and wireless sensors

In this talk, inkjet-printed flexible antennas, RF electronics and sensors fabricated on paper and other polymer (e.g. LCP) substrates are introduced as a system-level solution for ultra-low-cost mass production of UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags and Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSN) in an approach that could be easily extended to other microwave and wireless applications. A compact inkjet-printed UHF “passive-RFID” antenna using the classic T-match approach and designed to match IC's complex impedance, is presented as a demonstrating prototype for this technology. In addition, the authors briefly touch up the state-of-the-art area of fully-integrated wireless sensor modules on paper and show the first ever 2D sensor integration with an RFID tag module on paper, as well as the possibility of a 3D multilayer paper-based RF/microwave structures, that could potentially set the foundation for the truly convergent wireless sensor ad-hoc networks of the future. Plus, the authors present benchmarking results for various scavenging approaches involving RF, kinetic and thermal energy. Various challenges of packaging, passives, antennas, sensors and power sources integration are investigated in terms of ruggedness, reliability and flexing performance for space, automotive, “smart-skin” and wearable applications. This is the first time a complete 3D “green” system-on-paper including vertical interconnects and silver epoxy for the attachment of IC's will be presented for operability in frequencies in excess of 900 MHz.