What is NFC (Near Field Communication) technology?

NFC technology, which is used for touch payments and My Number cards, is a wireless communication standard that operates in the 13.56 MHz frequency band and has a short-range communication distance of about 10 cm.

There are many different situations in which NFC is used, some examples of which are listed below.

• The spread of cashless payments
• Connect and manage IoT devices
• Product Traceability

In this article, we will introduce the basic structure of NFC technology, the types of NFC, and the NFC products offered by Infineon.

How NFC works

NFC technology is realized by an IC chip and antenna inside a card or tag (hereafter referred to as an NFC device). When an NFC device is placed in the magnetic field generated by a reader/writer, power is supplied to the IC chip through electromagnetic induction. NFC devices do not emit radio waves, but they can communicate with the reader/writer in both directions.

Types of NFC

There are several types of NFC, each based on a different technical standard. The main types are Type A, Type B, Type F, and ISO/IEC 15693. Type A and Type B are based on the ISO/IEC 14443 standard, with Type A being used primarily in credit cards and Type B in driver's licenses and passports. Type F is based on FeliCa technology and is widely used in Japan and other Asian countries, including Suica. ISO/IEC 15693 is a standard that allows communication over long distances and is often used in logistics and inventory management.

*Types 2 to 5 are tag categories defined by the NFC Forum.

NFC products provided by Infineon

NFC tag chip with MCU connection - NBT2000

​The OPTIGA™ Authenticate NBT (NBT2000) provided by Infineon is an IC chip for NFC tags, but also has an I2C interface that can connect to a host SoC/MCU. Therefore, it can be used with a bridge tag like the one shown below.

Application to IoT devices

Since the NBT2000 is an NFC tag, it can be powered by a smartphone or tablet. Therefore, you can write the product's setting information to the NBT2000 when the product is turned off, and when the product is turned on, it will read the setting information written in advance in the NBT2000 and complete the settings. In addition, if you regularly write the product's operation log to the NBT2000, even if the product breaks down and cannot be turned on, you can obtain the latest log from your smartphone just before the product breaks down.
The NBT2000 also has a wide range of security functions, so it can be used for product authentication using the NBT2000 and a smartphone, and this authentication can also be performed when the product itself is not turned on.

It can also be used in situations where Bluetooth was previously used, such as uploading data to the cloud via a smartphone or using a tablet to operate devices that do not have a display.

Features of NBT2000

• Interface: NFC (compliant with ISO/IEC 14443 Type A) and I2C
• NVM：8 kByte
• NFC communication speed: 106~848 kbit/s
• Capacitance: 78 pF
• Cipher: AES-128, ECDSA
• Package: PG-USON-8-8
• Temperature range: -40 ~ 85℃

Evaluation Board

An evaluation board is available for evaluating the NBT2000. The evaluation board is equipped with an Infineon MCU, PSoC™ 62, and a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chip, CYW43439, so it can be operated immediately.

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