TFT + NFC = Simplicity: Meet our newest integrated technology
There’s a word we really like here at Avnet Displays: simplification. Our engineers ask themselves, “how can we make this easier for our customers and their end-users?” and “what will it take to make using this display as simple as possible?” As you might imagine, this kind of approach has no finish line because as society changes, new big ideas are needed and, honestly, we kind of love that.
Contactless is a really great example of this. NFC technology began as a convenience-enabler, became normalized through payments and then fully came into its own during the pandemic. It’s now a fully-fledged member of the embedded gang – a communication technology that we expect to find everywhere. Even in displays. So, we have introduced TFT displays with fully integrated NFC antennas.
Space constraints and mechanical complexity in the worlds of industrial, medical and retail, mean that traditional methods of mounting NFC readers behind bezels or on separate PCBs are becoming obsolete. And yet they have never been so needed. Whether it’s EMVCo-compliant PoS terminals, secure patient identification on medical devices or driver authentication in commercial vehicles, our customers are looking for slick, simple contactless solutions.
Our new integrated technology embeds the NFC antenna directly into the display stack either on the touch sensor, the cover lens or the TFT substrate itself. So, there is no ‘tap zone’ – the whole screen is NFC enabled. A visual interface and wireless communication hardware in one module also equals even smaller devices that use less power.
And in the spirit of simplification, our NFC-integrated displays are the perfect complement to the wider Avnet and Farnell (an Avnet Company) portfolio, such as evaluation boards, single-board computers (SBCs) and development kits. And they also support major international standards, including ISO 14443A/B, ISO 15693, MIFARE, and EMVCo, making it perfect for terminals and identity validation.
Plus, we offer comprehensive support to bring your idea to life:
- Integrating NFC with touch screens is notoriously difficult due to signal interference between the touch driver and the NFC antenna. Our engineering support can guide you in selecting modules that feature pre-validated ‘time-sharing’ drive solutions and noise filtering algorithms, ensuring that touch sensitivity is not degraded when the NFC reader is active.
- Our displays have the NFC antenna pre-laminated and tuned (e.g., on the cover lens or sensor), removing the need for you to design your own antenna loops, matching circuits, or complex cabling. This mitigates risks associated with antenna misalignment or wiring wear-and-tear that often occurs with separate components.
- We can help you to select the right integration method to meet specific resistance requirements and ensure these components meet the necessary certifications (like EMVCo for payments) required for global deployment.
You might say that we’ve thought of everything. We say that we can never think enough. It’s that simple.
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