Sontec Selects EPC Gen 2 Silicon from Texas Instruments to Deliver Improved Mount-on-Metal RFID Tag Performance

Sontec Selects EPC Gen 2 Silicon from Texas Instruments to Deliver Improved Mount-on-Metal RFID Tag Performance

October 12, 2006

Retail Supply Chain Management Solution for Consumer White and Electronics Goods

    DALLAS, Texas, Oct. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Radio
frequency identification (RFID) technology for ultra-high
frequency (UHF) application and metal products or
environments compliment one another about as well as oil
and water, making RFID-enabled retail supply chain (RSC)
management of metal goods a difficult challenge. Sontec Co.
Ltd., a leading Korean developer and manufacturer of RFID
components and middleware, today announced the availability
of various types of mount-on-metal tags and its RFID
transponder for metal, which is based upon EPC Gen 2
integrated circuit (IC) chips from Texas Instruments
Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN). 

    According to the agreement, Sontec will purchase 10
million Gen 2 IC chips from TI. Initial shipments have been
made with the remainder to be delivered to Sontec by the
first half of 2007. Sontec's new RFID transponder features
high read-range performance to facilitate supply chain
optimization for consumer goods suppliers of appliances,
electronics and products with high metal content. The
company will i nitially target sales to white-goods and
electronics manufacturers in Asia, though ultimately the
manufactured products will ship to global retail markets
including Japan and the U.S.
 
    Traditionally, the radio waves emitted from an RFID tag
are reflected by metals at ultra-high frequencies and
weakened by the eddy currents metals produce. This effect
reduces read-range performance and renders the tags less
effective in retail supply chain applications where read
distances of 10 to 30 feet are required. 
 
    "Sontec's tag , based on TI Gen 2 technology , is
the first practical UHF Gen 2-based RSC management solution
for the normally difficult application environment
associated with metals," said Dong-Jin Lee, CEO of
Sontec, Incorporated. "Retailers no longer need
additional handheld or labor-intensive solutions to move
white-goods and electronics through the supply chain; they
can now provide regular retail supply tracking performance
when shipping high-content metal materials." 

    "Normal UHF transponders can suffer pronounced
reductions in read-range performance when attached to metal
due to the fact that the UHF signal is drastically
attenuated by the metal surface," said Mikael Ahlund,
director of asset tracking for TI's RFID Systems division.
"Sontec's mount-on-metal packaging technology enables
the UHF Gen 2 tag to operate effectively with a very good
read range, especially when attached to metal. This is one
step towards providing a multitude of solutions needed to
move beyond compliance in the supply chain." 

    TI recently announced the availability of the
EPCglobal(TM) certified Gen 2 UHF IC chip used in the
Sontec tag. Offered in wafer and strap form factors, TI has
developed its Gen 2 silicon on the most advanced analog
process node at130 nanometer and a built-in Schottky diode
for more efficient conversion of RF signal energy,
resulting in chips with low power consumption and increased
chip-to-reader sensitivity. 

    About Texas Instruments RFid Systems

    Updated May 2006 Texas Instruments is the world's
largest integrated manufacturer of radio frequency
identification (RFID) transponders and reader systems.
Capitalizing on its competencies in high-volume
semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics packaging,
TI is a visionary leader and at the forefront of
establishing new markets and international standards for
RFID applications. For more information, contact
TI-RFid(TM) Systems at 1-800-962-7343 (North America) or
[phone] (International), or visit the Web site at
http://www.ti-rfid.com . 

    Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP
and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world
signal processing requirements. In addition to
Semiconductor, the company includes the Educational &
Productivity Solutions business. TI is headquartered in
Dallas, Texas and has manufacturing, design or sales
operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN.
More information is located on the World Wide Web at
http://www.ti.com .
 
    About Sontec, Inc., Ltd.

    Sontec Co., Ltd. is a high-tech Korean company that
specializes in the development and manufacturing of RFID
components and middleware. The company has developed an
extensive line of RFID components that support the
deployment of RFID-based solutions in industrial and
logistic-intensive environments. These components include
EPC RFID metal tags based on copper, silver and electronic
ink technologies, antennas, car-sticker tags, access
control/ID-cards, handheld readers, and middleware.

    Trademarks

    TI-RFid is a trademark of Texas Instruments.  All other
trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their
respective owners.

    For more information, please contact:

     Stephen Jones 
     OMA Marketing and Communications
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Texas Instruments Incorporated