Industrial & Specialty Printing - November/December 2012 - 32

smart card technology
Julia Goldstein, Ph.D.
The market for smart cards is growing. Industry association Eurosmart (www. eurosmart.com) forecasted double-digit growth for microcontroller-based smart devices in 2012, expecting more than seven billion such devices to be shipped this year. Popular applications in the U.S. include employee ID cards that provide keyless workplace access, transit cards that store and automatically deduct train or bus fare, stored-value cards for specific What makes up a smart card? Smart cards don’t have to be actual cards. The Smart Card Alliance (www.smartcardalliance.org) defines a smart card as any device that uses an embedded microcontroller that stores data and communicates with a reader. The technology could be incorporated into a key fob or other handheld product. The subscriber identity modules (SIM) in smart phones fall under the category of smart cards. Still, most smart-card applications are for products that have a form factor similar to that of a standard credit card. Contactless cards, which include an embedded antenna and communicate to card readers via RF signals, are becoming more popular. When the card is brought near a reader, the chip inside is powered and data can be transferred. An important difference between contactless smart cards and RFID tags is the level of security. Smart cards conform to ISO 14443, which requires close proximity to the reader (10 cm or less) and specifies protocols for signal reading and data transmission. Devices operate at a frequency of 13.56 MHz and cannot function without first receiving a signal from a reader. The cards use dataencryption methods that make them just as secure as contact-based smart cards. Some products provide contact and contactless communication in the same card. Applications driving smart-card growth worldwide include EMV-compliant credit cards, national ID card programs, passports, mass transit, and smart phones. While the U.S. has been behind Europe in smart-card adoption for financial applications, things are changing. Major suppliers such as MasterCard, Visa, and American Express have recently announced roadmaps for EMV-compliant credit cards in the U.S. that will accelerate adoption over the next few years. They are offering cards to U.S. customers beginning this year. Current focus is on customers travelling to Europe, where magnetic-stripe cards are being phased out—but there are also efforts to encourage merchants in the U.S. to process EMV transactions. Visa’s roadmap will eventually require merchants, rather than credit-card companies, to pay for fraudulent card use if they do not have appropriate technology to process EMV cards. This policy is not scheduled to take effect until 2015. Smart-card production has been historically concentrated in Europe, but cards are being produced in the U.S. as well for customers worldwide. One example is CPI Card Group, a global supplier of smart cards, headquartered in Littleton, CO. They currently manufacture EMV cards for U.S. customers traveling abroad and are supporting their clients as adoption of smart credit cards increases in the U.S. card-manufacturIng process Manufacturing a smart card involves many processing steps to produce the chip, associated circuitry, and the card itself. Each card consists of multiple layers that are laminated together. The external plastic layers are usually made from polycarbonate, polyvinylchloride (PVC), or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Some companies produce cards with materials designed to be more environmentally friendly. Examples include recycled PVC, composites that combine PVC with proprietary specialty materials, and even wood-based products. One layer of contactless cards is the RFID inlay (Figure 1), which includes an antenna and circuitry to make electrical contact to the chip. The chip is attached to the inlay foil and embedded into the card before lamination. In the case of contact cards, the chip is not attached until after individual cards are singulated from the sheet. The chip module includes an external contact plate, typically with gold contacts, that provides power to the chip and enables data transfer once the card is inserted into a compatible reader. Process flow for card manufacture varies depending on whether the card uses contact or contactless technology or incorporates both, as shown in Figure 2. Hybrid cards contain two chips: one embedded into the card and one attached on the surface. Dual-interface cards contain a single chip that has surface contacts and electrical connection to the embedded antenna. role of prIntIng Printing is integral to the card-manufacturing process. The fronts and backs of plastic cards are screen printed with solid colors at the beginning of the process. Final card personalization involves printing customer name, card ID number, company logos, or colorful graphics. New card materials can pose challenges to manufacturers, who must select compatible inks. While high-volume printing of blank cards is done in factories, it is possible for small businesses to print their own personalization on smart ID badges or customer-loyalty cards. Portable cardprinting machines can use thermal transfer to print full-color images and can even apply holograms for improved security. There are opportunities to use printing in nearly all steps of the manufacturing process for contactless cards, beyond the decorative printing that the end user sees. The antenna coils and other circuitry in

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