Abstract
Recently, a great deal of research is focused on the printed electronics. One of their mainly concerned products is printed RFID tag. RFID technology has attracted researchers and enterprises as a promising method for automatic identification, and they are expected to replace conventional bar codes in inventory tracking and management. The key to successful RFID technology lies in developing low-cost RFID tags and the first step in applying printing technology to RFID systems is to replace antennas that are conventionally produced by etching copper or aluminum. However, due to the printing quality variations, errors, and lower conductivity, the performance of the printed RFID antennas is lower than that of antennas manufactured by conventional etching methods. In this paper, the effect of variations in the printing conditions on the antenna performance is investigated. Three levels for each condition parameter is assumed and effect on the resonant frequency are examined experimentally based on orthogonal array. The most serious factor that affects the resonant frequency of the antenna is the non-uniformity of the edge and the resonant frequency is found to be lower as the non-uniformity increases.
