Study of Miniaturization Techniques for a UHF RFID Tag on Package

Abstract

With the increasing demand of compact and lightweight wireless devices, there is a significant need to miniaturize the antennas, which are one of the largest radiofrequency components. The radiation performance of antennas degrades as their physical size becomes smaller in terms of operating wavelength [1]. The key challenge in antenna design, therefore, lies in the compromise between size and radiation performance. This challenge becomes critical for low frequency antennas such as for the RFID band. The Antenna-in-Package (AiP) concept, where the antenna is realized as part of the package along with the driving electronics, provides some console in terms of size as the antenna does not need any additional space. In this approach, the package becomes a functional module along with its primary job of protecting the components from the environment. This work aims to investigate various miniaturization techniques for a UHF RFID tag on package. Firstly, a dipole is given a 3D shape by carefully folding it over a package, in a manner that the currents on different segments add constructively. Secondly, the package material (which acts as the substrate for the antenna) is chosen to have a dielectric constant of 5.3 which further helps in size reduction. Finally, loading of slow-wave structures, comprising of inductors and capacitors, is used to achieve further miniaturization. The Artificial Transmission Line approach 5 is utilized to determine the required values of the lumped components, and its location is optimized by analyzing the current distribution of the antenna to maintain a good efficiency. The RFID chip with a large capacitive impedance is conjugately matched to the antenna without an external matching network. This is done by carefully selecting the values of the lumped components as well as by adjusting the trace width of the antenna. The package has been realized through a low-loss filament (𝑡𝑎𝑛(𝛿) = 0.004) with the Raise3D Pro2 printer, and the conductor has been realized by copper tape using laser patterning technology with the laser platform PLS6MW. At an operational frequency of 866 MHz, a 𝑘𝑎 of 0.26, a read-range of 2.7 𝑚, and a radiation efficiency of approximately 32% is achieved.