STMicroelectronics (ST) announces miniature contactless modules with built-in boostedNFC™ technology, extending secure payments to wearable devices

Unique contactless chip card solution on the market that integrates a tiny contactless RF booster and secure microcontroller in the same package, overcoming wearable device space constraints

Industry-leading RF solutions to ensure that small antenna devices bring users an expected experience

System-in-package meets security standards and chip card industry standards, providing development ecosystem including software and development tools

China / 19 Oct 2017

Across multiple electronic applications, STMicroelectronics (STMicroelectronics, ST; NYSE: STM), the world's leading semiconductor supplier, has launched the most popular fashion accessories such as bracelets, watches or jewelry for convenient and safe non-smoking. Semiconductor technology for contact transactions. ST's industry-leading ST53G system-in-package solution integrates its market-leading Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and a secure transaction chip in the same package.

As consumers become more comfortable using smart devices for secure transactions, card merchants intend to enter the market for contactless wearables with payment, ticketing and access control functions, which are difficult to achieve in wearable products constrained by size and cost function, because the traditional contactless IC card is composed of two independent devices, the NFC radio frequency chip and the security chip, it requires more space and the design is complicated. In addition, the small size of wearable devices means that they can only use small antennas with limited communication performance.

ST's new ST53G system-in-package overcomes these technical barriers, integrating a miniaturized and enhanced NFC RF chip and a secure transaction chip in the same small 4mm x 4mm module. ST's industry-leading, market-leading boostedNFC™ technology enables small antenna wearables to provide a premium experience when communicating with readers within normal contactless communication distances.

From fashion accessories to one-off products, such as wristbands distributed to event attendees, this 2-in-1 module allows card merchants to quickly introduce wearables that are both functional and well-designed. STMicroelectronics also provides a robust development ecosystem for this module, including RF tuning tools and predefined antenna configurations. ST53G meets all relevant card industry standards, including EMVCo™ compatibility standard, ISO/IEC-14443 NFC card emulation mode and MIFARE® ticketing specification.

The ST53G completes ST's SoC portfolio, running the out-of-the-box STPay smart card operating system and VISA/Mastercard/JCB certified banking applications pre-installed on secure microcontrollers.

Laurent Degauque, Marketing Director, Secure Microcontroller Products, said: "From disposable devices to fashion accessories, by enabling secure transactions on wearable devices, our new chip modules give consumers an even greater opportunity to enjoy fast, convenient, and unobstructed bank cards. Payment and ticketing services. We are already working with customers to develop new ST53G-based products and support these market-friendly use cases.”

The ST53G system package adopts a 4mm × 4mm WFBGA64 package. Engineering samples will be available from now on, and mass production is planned in the first quarter of 2018. For product details and value information, please contact your local STMicroelectronics sales office.

More technical details:

Inside the ST53G system package, the secure transaction chip uses ST's market-proven ST31G480 high-performance smart card security microcontroller based on the Arm® SC000 SecurCore® processor core; the security architecture includes the NESCRYPT co-processor that handles public key encryption algorithms and hardware accelerators that perform AES and 3DES encryption algorithms; multiple anti-tamper protection features, including active protection, environmental monitoring, chip one (one chip comes with a unique serial number), and many other attack defense features, which are related to The software security function running on the SC000 core builds the strongest line of defense to protect the user's certificate security.

The contactless chip is the STS3922 RF booster, which maximizes the communication distance and omnidirectional RF performance of the card emulation mode through the active load modulation (ALM) technology, making the wearable device more usable, and the position tolerance from the device to the card reader is comparable or even better. Compared with traditional contactless smart cards, it has excellent performance even with smaller antennas. The ST53G helps optimize end-product cost, as small antennas can be etched onto printed circuit boards for essentially no additional cost. In some cases, the metal housing can function as part of the RF antenna, but this design presents some challenges.

In addition, technologies such as automatic power and gain control, configurable sensitivity, and configurable signal/reader magnetic field phase differences ensure consistent communication performance at different distances, while improving interoperability with different types of readers and terminals sex, including various bus cards. The STS3922 itself is a low-power RF chip, and the dedicated output for safe microcontroller wake-up allows the ST53G system-in-package to power down when idle, thereby maximizing battery life.

The ST31G480 security unit has obtained two standard certifications of EMVCo and Common Criteria, and the STS3922 RF chip complies with ISO/IEC 14443 and EMVCo Level 1 standards, ensuring full interoperability with existing payment terminals and ticketing equipment.

In addition to RF tuning tools, ST also offers software development kits (SDKs) for implementing chip card services on different wearable device architectures, as well as reference designs and expansion boards, as well as tools to simplify design and speed time-to-market. Pre-authentication service.

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics (STMicroelectronics; ST) is the world's leading semiconductor company, providing smart, energy-efficient products and solutions that are relevant to everyday life. ST's products are everywhere, working with customers to enable smart driving, smart factories, smart cities and smart homes, as well as next-generation mobility and IoT products. Enjoy technology, enjoy life, STMicroelectronics advocates the concept of technology leading intelligent life (life.augmented). STMicroelectronics had net revenue of US$6.97 billion in 2016 and has more than 100,000 customers worldwide.