Reader IC combines high RF performance, small footprint

NXP Semiconductors N.V. has release the first member of a new generation of its high-performance proximity contactless reader ICs, the CLRC663.

The CLRC663 combines robust multiprotocol support with the highest RF output power and patented low-power card detection technology, NXP stated. The CLRC663 is designed for use in a wide variety of infrastructure use cases such as banking, eGovernment, transport and mobile payment.

Supporting all 13.56MHz contactless standards, NXP's reader IC is compatible with all established smart card, smart tag and smart label technologies, including NFC Forum Tag Types and MIFARE products. NXP said the reader IC ensures best-in-class interoperability with the billions of smart cards, electronic documents and NFC-enabled phones based on NXP technology.

The intelligent low-power card detection feature introduced by NXP improves power efficiency and realizes energy savings for customers, taking into account the growing need to reduce energy consumption. It enables the reader terminal's microcontroller to go into sleep mode while still polling for cards, thus ensuring energy-efficient operation.

The CLRC663 uniquely combines high RF performance with a very small HVQFN33 package, ensuring large and reliable read ranges, as well as energy- and resource-efficient implementations. It is supplied by 5V for POS and AFC implementations, or by 3V for energy-efficient battery-powered operations. Offering a read/write device fully compliant with ISO/IEC 14443 A&B, ISO/IEC 15693, ISO/IEC18000-3 Mode3 and FeliCa and supporting NFC initiator mode in peer-to-peer communication, the CLRC663 sets a new standard for high-performance multiprotocol contactless reader ICs.