TOKYO — Hitachi Ltd. has developed a chip that measures 0.4 millimeters on a side and can store security and identification information for items into which it is embedded, including money.
Originally developed to protect against counterfeit bills or documents, the chip is so small and thin that it won't damage material into which it is placed, nor be damaged if that material is folded, said Ryo Imura at Hitachi's corporate project room. If embedded into a bill or security document, for example, a chip reader could immediately tell whether or not the item is authentic.
The 60-micron thick CMOS chip integrates RF wireless communications circuitry and 128 bits of ROM. The chip transmits data stored on the ROM, including encrypted data, over the 2.45-GHz band. "The chip is the smallest among wireless chips. We limited functions to just the ROM and RF circuitry," Imura said.
Hitachi formed an intercorporate venture company on July 1 to promote the new IC, dubbed the Mew chip. Imura is chief executive officer of the venture, Mew Solutions.
When connected to a metal antenna, the chip can transmit over a distance of about 30 centimeters. The antenna is a separate unit at present, but Hitachi intends to offer a version of the chip with an attached antenna.
"We've got requests to add functions such as one-time writing or rewritable capability to the chip," Imura said. "We'll consider them for the next-generation products. But for higher security, read-only memory really prevents falsification." If the chip holds a 128-bit ID number, other information can be maintained off-chip, he said.
Hitachi expects the chip to meet much higher demand than conventional RF ID chips, which measure several millimeters on a side. Hitachi also expects the chip to open up new applications, possibly by linking information on the Internet with the Mew chip's ID number.
Samples of the Mew chip will be available this autumn, and marketing will begin next spring. Mew Solutions expects to achieve sales of $145 million per year by fiscal 2005.
