Hitachi shows off 7.5 micron thick mu-chip RFID tag

RFID chips are already well beyond the embeddable-anywhere threshold, but the breakthrough Hitachi's planning to show off at this year's ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) is their newest mu-chip, an RFID tag that's a mere 0.15 x 0.15 millimeters, and 7.5 microns thick -- ten or more times thinner than a sheet of paper with all the 128-bit identifying goodness we've to know and love / loathe. Ah, just think of the possibilities of embedding these things all the places their previous, positively bloated 0.3 x 0.3mm  / 60 micron thick chip wouldn't go (pictured right is the even more obese 0.4 x 0.4mm version). Ahem.

[mark f @ Feb 6th 2006 9:51AM]

No only would you never know if someone placed these on you, but they are now small enough to be inhaled. This must be an early Xmas present to the Homeland Security nutcases.

[Ryan @ Feb 6th 2006 9:53AM]

This is why implanting people with these is bad. Now that whole family that got RFID tags are obselete! sheesh. ^ ^

~Ryan~

[pete @ Feb 6th 2006 10:05AM]

still boggles my mind why having one of these "installed" isn't an option for civilian contractors and/or intelligence personnel in Iraq.

[Jean @ Feb 6th 2006 10:08AM]

These tags must still be attached to what is a rather large flat antenna (think paper thin stick of gum). By themselves these chips are not capable of doing any communicating. When was the last time you inhaled a stick of Doublemint?

[furtim @ Feb 6th 2006 10:59AM]

And even then, they're pretty much useless for the kind of global tracking business people are so frightened of.

No, my fear with RFID is that they'll decrease security. It's so easy right now to read any RFID that somebody's carrying around on them, and once you get that far you're in a position to start spoofing just about anybody you can scan -- which is just about anybody. If we start relying on RFID alone for personal identification, identity theft will become (more?) rampant. And if we use RFID in conjunction with more traditional forms of identification, we lose all the advantages of the technology.

I say leave RFID for applications where it's useful and the lack of security doesn't matter so much, like inventory scanning or those RFID-based checkouts that some stores (not in the US, AFAIK) have. For personal identification and the like, mag strips are a lot more secure (since you have to actually swipe the card to read the data on it, rather than pinging it from across the room) and really not any less convenient. Also, the need to remove a mag strip card to swipe it makes human backup checks more practical. (Looking to see if the picture on the card jives with the person walking through, etc.)

RFID is a great and useful technology, but as usual people are throwing it about willy-nilly like it's some universal panacea, when it's got its flaws just like anything else. I wouldn't worry overmuch about inhaling RFID tracking devices, though. (Mainly because RFID is just about useless for tracking.)

[Dave @ Feb 6th 2006 12:21PM]

Maybe they could put these on footballs and actually let the players decide who wins the game instead of the refs.

[Dave @ Feb 6th 2006 12:46PM]

#6: I think that it's only a matter of time before RFID (or some similar technology) finds its way into all manner of sports -- football, baseball, hockey. Touchdowns, home runs, goals, could all be determined this way. It takes some of the human element out of the game, but I always thought that the players should determine the outcome and not the officials.

I am eating "black-pepper" chicken right now that appears to be covered with these things...

[Jeff Henderson @ Feb 6th 2006 1:24PM]

I think RFID is a great technology with many positive uses. Unfortunately There are a lot of ways this technology can be misused and abused. Think about this. All the products you buy have RFID tags, all someone or some agency has to do is drive by your house with a scanner and they will know everything you have in your house. It's all part of building a control grid. These chips are also going into the stickers that go on your license plates. That way they will be able to track your movement, which, in some ways isn't that beig of a deal. What scares me is that if they can track where you are, it makes it possible to set limits of where you are allowed to travel. All of the sudden everything changes. Just something to think about.

Jeff

[anon @ Feb 6th 2006 2:38PM]

Yeah, just think of the possibilities of where we can embed these things. Like inside of an insect or wild animal for scientific purposes. Or inside of a man's right hand or forehead for other purposes altogether. What's ahead of nigh?

[music maniac @ Feb 6th 2006 9:51PM]

I must admit, inventions such as these make me terribly nervous about the lack of privacy that is yet to come.

[Cuba @ Feb 7th 2006 12:26AM]

"all someone or some agency has to do is drive by your house with a scanner and they will know everything you have in your house"

I think three semi-trailers loaded full of batteries and a goddamn massive aerial mounted on top (not to mention the electronic devices that will malfunction) might be a bit of a giveaway that the government is trying to read the public's RFID chips over long ranges.

Please remember that the range of passive RFID is only around a foot, in most cases, much less. Inverse square law, people!

[Max @ Feb 7th 2006 4:51AM]

If these things got enbedded in clothing and other products, couldn't they just be fried by a brief trip in the microwave?

[Vigleik @ Feb 7th 2006 8:34AM]

Hey... what happened to smart data engineering? You're right, Cuba: "Inverse square law, people!" AND why should the tag give away information like "Diet Coke, bought on 06052006, sold by Annie"? Why not just a number like a barcode, linked to an encrypted database.. or something

[robogeek @ Feb 7th 2006 8:43AM]

Any RFID tag that is not self powered Like my EPass(Toll collection device) it has a small 3v Battery in it. would not be readable from a Distance more than about 5-10 feet, Passive RFID Devices get their power from an RF signal being sent out, they use the power to modulate a signal back and send it back out, so like #12 said they would have to have a big huge antenna, a huge power source with a lot of transmission equipment then they would sit wherever and point a 12foot antenna at the person they are trying to read. Very Descrete don't you think.

[robogeek @ Feb 7th 2006 8:55AM]

Oh how could I forget if you want to keep your RFid Credit Card or whatever from being read unknowingly you should use a metal wallet/Purse or just wrap it in tinfoil. any of the the above should create a faraday cage therfore sheilding the outside power pulse from the Tag and therefore prevent reading the tag. Even if the power pulse is enough to penetrate the shielding, the cage should be enough to snub out the low level transmission from the tag.

[Dissent @ Feb 7th 2006 11:23AM]

Oh THANK YOU, Jeff! I clicked on this article about microscopic RFID tags just hoping someone might tell me where to buy shitty cigars! ROCK ON, DUDE!

[Joan @ Feb 19th 2006 4:48PM]

for #10 & #11 if we go back centuries ago, we can see in the Bible that the day will come where all of us has to have the mark of the beast (Satan) either in our hand or forehead, right now it is optional, is a few short years it will be mandatory. I think I would rather take the death sentence the Bible speaks of, after all that will be swift

[Mutasim @ Jul 5th 2006 1:25PM]

Our school is now forcing all of its students to carry around an rfid card. to open doors etc. They told me that it is encrypted, so that if I managed to get hold of the data I couldn't interpret it. But all I need to do is copy that "encrypted" data and voila! a replica. I can now get teacher access to all floors!! hehe! (Only problem - the equipment is too much just to prove the fact that I can do it)

[DavidKiff.co.uk @ Nov 12th 2006 4:33PM]

All this RFID tag worries seems far fetched.. now. passive devices can only be read from a shot distance, unless the reciever uses a high gain antenna, in which case the distance is greater.

Only give it time when these things can transmit miles and everyone of us will have an RFID identifying us as a person.

The collation of various datasources will mean that our id will enable 'officials' to gather EVERY THING about you, including what you have last purchased, when you visited the doctors and what for.

Currently personal data is scattered accross the internet and in issolated systems, the govenment want to draw this information together using a common ID (like an ID card, RFID Tag etc) so that they can view every thing about you,

Scary stuff!

[Mark @ May 18th 2008 7:15PM]

This is excalty from the Bible. It say everyone will have to take the mark of the beast which will be on hand or forehead. You will not need to be able to buy or sell or do anything without this. If you think this could never happen do you know that President Bush made a law and passed it stating he can cancell the election if another major event happens and he can keep the presidency for as long as he sees fit. Also that the goverment has printed new currency which is the Mexico/Canada/America currency, All one country. Do not beleive me search the new laws that have been made in the past few years and you will see it there in black and white. But the Media will never tell you this stuff. PS. I have a friend that is involved in Navy Seals and they use chips in some of the seals so they know where they are.