Jo Kyung-hoon, Section Manager at STMicroelectronics, stated in an interview with e4ds.com on October 20th that following MEMS, NFC and Dual Interface EEPROM, which combines RFID and EEPROM, will be the main drivers of an innovative tsunami through smartphones.

The basis for this assessment is that as of 2011, the current smartphone user base has reached 20 million people, and by 2012, over 70% of the domestic population is expected to use smartphones.

The latest smartphones are now being released with NFC capabilities built-in. NFC, a short-range wireless communication technology, was previously intended for use in electronic payment systems in the banking sector. As smartphones began to penetrate the market in earnest, several semiconductor companies manufacturing chips capable of NFC communication have been developing various solutions.

Jo Kyung-hoon, Section Manager at ST, noted that while NFC functionality can certainly be applied to electronic payment systems in the banking sector, considering the user base exceeding 20 million smartphone users, if NFC functionality is well understood and utilized, it can be easily applied from general white goods appliances to all industrial systems, and if solutions for ease of use are provided, revolutionary market responses will emerge.

The Dual Interface EEPROM currently being mass-produced and supplied by ST is a tag IC that can communicate passively with the reader IC in a smartphone. Since April of last year, ST has been actively promoting the Dual Interface EEPROM, which, unlike existing systems, provides both hardware and software at a price under US$ 1. For hardware, there are two specifications: drawing an antenna loop on the PCB to enable wireless communication, or inserting a coil in an inductor to reduce size and enable wireless communication. The system and Dual Interface EEPROM communicate via I2C wired communication. Additionally, to address the challenges many engineers face with wireless communication between tag ICs and smartphone reader ICs, ST provides a ready-to-use smartphone application. According to Jo Kyung-hoon, Section Manager at ST, this application can reduce the effort required to separately configure or develop software by simply changing the UI according to user convenience.

In the final part of the interview, Jo Kyung-hoon emphasized the reason developers should take interest in NFC, highlighting that the NFC infrastructure is naturally forming in the market. By 2012, most mobile phone users will be ready to use NFC, and the fact that everyone can use NFC means that any device can easily establish a single unified communication standard.

Furthermore, on November 15th, ST will participate in a large-scale web seminar event with e4ds.com, distributing 5 Dual Interface EEPROM chips to all participants, and providing a robot sample kit valued at approximately 25,000 won to the first 100 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Additionally, participants who submit video footage of the sample kit operation taken on a smartphone or mobile phone by December 15th will be eligible for prizes, with the best video selected to receive Philips iPhone docking audio, docking speakers, and MP3 multi-speakers.

The event will also feature a forum for NFC developers, and it is expected to serve as a venue where participants can comprehensively understand the overall flow and technology of NFC from A to Z.

E4ds.com