An Antenna for RFID Tag Printed on Paper Substrate using Conductive Ink

In this work, its presented the design of a dipole antenna with bent ends for UHF passive RFID tags printed on hydrophobic paper substrate. Silver particles conductive ink is used in an inkjet printer to build the radiating strips. This approach leads to significant benefits to users of RFID tags through low cost and fast fabrication and for being a green solution in large scale production. The energy to "wake up" the tag is obtained from the electromagnetic wave emitted by the reader which is captured by the tag antenna. Impedance matching is achieved through a careful design of the antenna to maximize the energy transfer and, as a consequence the reading range. The reading rate versus tag sensitivity is investigated. The tests were performed in a GTEM Cell which provides an electromagnetic radiation immune environment.