PRISMA research project

New materials and processes for printed polymer electronics
The central goal of the PRISMA project sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) was to develop new processes and application scenarios for printed smart RFID labels. Both the physical and functional properties of new materials and the commercial risks and opportunities of innovative products and processes could be studied against the background of realistic customer specifications. The project which ran from 1 September 2005 to 30 November 2008 is now completed.

Based on polymeric semiconductors, so-called polymer electronics (or in the broadest sense, organic electronics) enable the manufacture of extremely thin, flexible and reasonably priced storage media, offering future potential in the fields of security, public transport and event ticketing which were analysed within the scope of the PRISMA project. This concerned the functionalities, forgery resistance, performance stability and durability of future end products (such as tickets, luggage tags or security documents) as well as their capacity for integration into optimised access control or demanding ID security systems.

As a specialist for innovative solutions and systems for ID security and as a competent manufacturer of high quality printed products, Bundesdruckerei was extensively involved in the "security document" project area. Internal tests geared towards realistic scenarios were carried out in order to analyse the interaction of state-of-the-art RFID technologies and polymer-electronic components, in particular with a view to improved production times and enhanced security standards.

As one result of its project work, Bundesdruckerei presented at the 2007 Annual Conference of the Organic Electronic Association (OE-A) first specimen documents with integrated pRFID (printed RFID). Further field testing was made at the "Media Tech EXPO" in May 2008 (4,000 participants) and "Die lange Nacht der Wissenschaften 2008" at Bundesdruckerei Berlin (850 visitors). One question that will have to be answered in the future is whether and how such demanding pRFID system studies can be integrated into existing systems and value chains and which concrete security advantages printed electronic security features can offer.

Even if printed electronics are at a very early stage, their potential as a future-orientated platform technology should not be underestimated. This is why Bundesdruckerei will continue to co-operate in projects like PRISMA and in many other innovation projects that explore options of a polymeric future and will also contribute its expertise as an ID systems supplier.  

Facts and figures of the PRISMA research project:
Sponsored: within the scope of the microsystems framework programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Project support: VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH Project coordinator: PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG

Project partners: PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG; Leonhard Kurz GmbH; Siemens AG; Bundesdruckerei GmbH; Bartsch GmbH; Höft & Wessel AG, Technische Universität München