RFID Transponder Ideal For Medical Applications

Smartrac has expanded its S-Tag product portfolio with an RFID transponder that withstands gamma radiation of up to 45kilogray (kGy) for medical applications where aseptic conditions are compulsory. Sanitising medical equipment with gamma rays is said to offer several benefits. As the irradiation destroys the DNA of any micro-organisms, medical equipment is sanitised reliably. In addition, radiation sterilisation is the only process in which products can be sanitised - including their packaging - as the gamma rays permeate materials and casings such as metal containers easily and without any appreciable increase in temperature.

Compared with heat and chemical sterilisation, irradiation is a fast, easy, effective and environmentally friendly process that leaves no residues on the sanitised objects. The transponder has been developed based on the company's S-Tag product family. Smartrac said its S-Tags are characterised by robustness, high mechanical durability, extended chemical and temperature resistance and compliance with the ISO/IEV 15693 standard.

The new S-Tag has a size of 16mm in diameter and comes with a Fujitsu FRAM chip, which offers low power consumption, good scalability, high-speed writing, long rewriting endurance, long data retention and high-quality communication performance. Due to the ferroelectric characteristics of the chip, the data is in no way affected by the radiation sterilisation process. Optional customer-specific engraving of identification numbers on the tag surface makes the use of additional stickers and barcodes obsolete. Besides medical applications, the S-Tag is also suited for use in aerospace, plant breeding, food irradiation and laundry applications.