Smart label

The result of decades of research and development by ThinFilm Electronics are “printed transistors, the multilayer tags combine a year’s worth of battery power, sensors and a small display, and will initially be used to show a temperature record of perishable food and medications.

Roughly 3 x 1.5 inches in size and consisting of five layers sandwiched in a roll-to-roll production process, the ThinFilm labels use the company’s own ferroelectric polymer technology for storing information.

After the first wave of technology hype with RFID, current consolidation in the market shows hard competitive Darwinism.

However, the integration of RFID to handling processes requires sound engineering to ensure the balance of benefit and effort.

The collaboration brings printed integrated systems, such as smart sensor tags, closer to commercial availability.