UCODE 8 UHF chips are made by the trusted chip manufacturer NXP Semiconductors, and are very popular chips for UHF tags, stickers, labels, cards, and wristbands.
They operate on a frequency range of 860 MHz to 960 MHz and are compatible with the RFID standards EPC Gen2v2, the Specification for RFID Air interface, and other worldwide regulations.
The UCODE 8 chips were designed for inventory management in Retail and Fashion stores. They support the EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) applications and mandatory commands like the ‘Kill Command’ which guarantees a user privacy after the chip has done its job. When an electronically protected item is purchased, the chip can be electronically turned off or destroyed and cannot be used for unauthorized people tracking.
The most common applications for UHF chips UCODE 8 chips are:
- High accurate and fast inventory management, enabling omnichannel retail processes
- Tracking along the supply chain from source to store
- High-speed store checkout process, bringing convenience to the customer
- Loss prevention
- Brand Protection
- After sales operations: Return and Warranty management
UHF cards with a UCODE 8 chip are made from multiple layers of PVC cards and have a standard credit card dimension 86 x 54 x 0.85 mm. The cards are bright white, without numeration or other printed elements, and have a top layer with a coating that allows subsequent printing with thermo transfer or thermo retransfer printers. They can be printed with various brands of card printers like Zebra, HID Fargo, Matica, Magicard, Datacard, and others.
Options for customization (for pricing please send us an inquiry)
For printing smaller quantities (1–500 pcs.), we usually use high quality thermal retransfer printers which print each card separately with CMYK colors. We can print just a single side or both sides of the card. The cards can be even personalized with color employee photos or the chip UID numbers. The disadvantages of the thermo retransfer print are high costs of ribbons and slow speed, so it makes it less cost effective for higher quantities.
When there is a need to print 500 or more cards, we make a pre-print with offset printing technology and subsequent personalization with thermal printers. Beside the CMYK colors, we can print the gold, silver, or Pantone colors as well.
The advantage of the pre-printed cards is that the print is done during a card manufacturing process and therefore very high quality and protected against scratches with top transparent layers. Offset printing technology is very cost effective for high quantities of cards and the higher the quantity, the cheaper a single card becomes. The disadvantage is that the process takes quite a long time (approx. 2 weeks).
Our other personalization services include:
- Numeration or personalization form Excel table,
- Printing of employee photos, multiple artwork variations,
- Printing different kind of barcodes and QR codes,
- Reading and printing the chip ID numbers in various formats,
- Chip encoding – the content of digital business cards, writing custom data, change keys.
If you need printed UHF cards, please send us an inquiry with the desired card quantity and deadline.
Reading test for UHF cards with a UCODE 8 chip
We have tested our UHF cards with different kinds of readers and measured the reading distances. This is not an official test, but it was made to inform you what reading distances you may expect with your application.
The reading distance between the card and the reader is affected by many different factors, like the size of the antennas and quality of the chips, the interferences of metal, and electromagnetic signals, etc.
Technical specification for UCODE 8 UHF cards
Chip manufacturer: NXP Semiconductors
Chip: UCODE 8
standards: EPC Gen2v2, the Specification for RFID Air interface
Memory size: 128 bits of EPC memory, 96-bit Tag Identifier, 48-bit UID number, 0-bit User Memory, 32-bit Kill Password, 32-bit Access password
Operating frequency: 860 MHz to 960 MHz
Reading distance: depends on the reader’s signal strength (even more then 5 m)
Card dimensions: CR80 (85.60 x 53.98 mm)
Thickness: 0.84 mm
Material: PVC
Printing options: offset print, thermo re-transfer, thermo transfer
Official technical documentation for UCODE 8 chips is available here:
https://www.nxp.com/products/rfid-nfc/ucode-rain-rfid-uhf/ucode-8-8m:SL3S1205-15
If you need printed cards, please send us an inquiry to info@rfidspecialist.eu with the desired card quantity and deadline and we will send you an offer.