Copper thin film for RFID UHF antenna on flexible substrate

Nhan Ai Tran, Huy Nam Tran, Mau Chien Dang and Eric Fribourg-Blanc

Abstract

A process flow using photolithography and sputtering was studied for copper antenna fabrication on thin poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate. The lift-off route was chosen for its flexibility at laboratory scale. It was clarified that the cleaning of PET is an important step that necessitates mild oxygen plasma etching. Then copper is sputter deposited after photolithographic definition of the antenna. Care is necessary since PET, as a very flexible substrate, is temperature sensitive. The temperature increase generated by the impact of deposited copper should be maintained below the glass transition temperature of the polymer to avoid detrimental deformation. dc power of 40 to 50 W was found to be the maximum possible sputtering power for commercial PET. It was found that the resistivity of the thin film is below two times the bulk resistivity of copper for a deposition pressure below 4×10⁻³ mbar and thickness above 450 nm. These results enable the reliable fabrication of copper RFID UHF antennae on a PET substrate for further testing of new tag designs. The present paper summarizes the effort to test new designs of antennae for RadioFrequency IDentification (RFID) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) tags, for use in various applications (e.g. object tracking and environment monitoring) in Vietnam