The RFID chips are at the core of the tags typically attached to commercial items in the marketplace - although they can have a lot more uses. The main goal of this project is to reduce the cost of RFID chips by eliminating most of the circuitry needed for managing the recovered power on the chip. This technique has potential to reduce the chip cost by about one-third. Another variant of this technology permits tags to operate at high efficiency, and thus at low RF or magnetic power levels. The research also has potential to increase the range at which the RFID tag can be powered. A successful outcome will open new market opportunities to use RFID technology.
The main technique employed in this project is to directly operate the circuits from recovered wireless power. A new chip design technique has been identified for doing this and will be exploited and further explored in this project. At the core of this proposal is a new circuit structure, one that permits digital and some analog operations to be performed from an AC, rather than DC, power supply. Unlike previous AC powered circuit concepts the proposed method can be powered from RF sources up to approximately the unity gain frequency of the device technology at that operating voltage. This circuit structure is likely to work well at next generation RFID frequencies in the 860 to 960 MHz range as well. Demonstrations at the level of complete RFID tags are planned.
