IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 11, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011 1759 Printed Write Once and Read Many Sensor Memories in Smart Packaging Applications Hans-Erik Nilsson, Henrik A. Andersson, Anatoliy Manuilskiy, Tomas Unander, Krister Hammarling, Johan Sidén, and Mikael Gulliksson Abstract—A horizontal printed Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) resistive memory has been developed for use in wireless sensor tags targeting single-event detection in smart packaging applications. The WORM memory can be programmed using a 1.5-V printed battery. An alternative programming method is to use chemical sintering which allows the development of exposure-time triggered single event tags that can be accessed wirelessly. The new WORM memory has very low losses in the ON-state which allows direct integration into antenna structures. A sensor tag that utilizes the WORM memory functionality and the well established Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) commu- nication standard has been outlined. Both active and fully passive sensor tag solutions have been proposed. The role of printed electronics in smart packaging applications has been reviewed and discussed. Important enabling factors for the future development have been highlighted, such as the need for hierarchical design and test tools, better printed interconnect technologies as well as better components that allow communication with existing information and communication technology (ICT) standards. This is illustrated and underlined by the presented smart packaging concept demonstrators. Index Terms—Flexible structures, printed sensors, telemetry. I. INTRODUCTION S ENSOR applications are increasing in importance since products are requested to become more and more intelli- gent and safe. As the cost of sensor technology decreases the usage will spread to new market segments including new areas with products that never before has carried such functionalities. For example cellulose-based products for packaging, hygiene, or graphical use [1]. Currently, there is a growing interest to de- velop technology that will allow objects to become interactive and integrated with digital services accessible on the Internet [2], [3]. Such digital functionalities would further increase the communication capability of the package, which may allow the Manuscript received October 09, 2010; revised November 14, 2010; accepted November 14, 2010. Date of publication December 03, 2010; date of current version July 27, 2011. This work was supported in part by the EU FP7 project PriMeBits under Grant agreement no. 215132, The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems under Grant agreement no. 2007-01962, and the EU regional fund procet Paper 4 under Grant ID number 00042045. The associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and approving it for publication was Prof. Evgeny Katz. H.-E. Nilsson, H. Andersson, A. Manuilskiy, T. Unander, and K. Hammarling are with the Department of Information Technology and Media, Mid-Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden (e-mail: hans-erik.nilsson@miun.se). J. Sidén and M. Gulliksson are with the Department of Information Tech- nology and Media, Mid-Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden, and also with Sensible Solutions Sweden AB, SE-851 70, Sundsvall. Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2010.2095496 package to become an access point or a point of sales display for a series of products related to the product itself or the brand of the product [4]. In some cases, the digital communication channel will be used to get feedback from or direct contact with the customer through digital channels (see for example the PriMeBits and Stora Enso compliance card [5], [6]). The information harvested through the digital channel is useful in further development of the product, building customer loyalty programs, and to further enhance the story-telling around the product. The use of 2-D graphical codes, such as the QR code or the Datamatrix code is being introduced on the market and provides a communication channel for new services [7]–[9]. Smart packaging solutions also include adding surveillance functions to ensure that for example food quality is preserved [10]. Packaging logistics is another area where smart packing solutions based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with future sensor functionality will provide trans- parency and traceability, where the major beneficiaries are the stakeholders along the entire supply chain [11]. Smart packaging applications are normally based on sensor functionality that provides information or interactive services. Interactive services usually involve large area integration of sensor functionality. Each package has its own design and message, and therefore electronic functions often have to be customized for a particular case. Thus, the system integra- tion technique should both provide low-cost production and low-cost customization. This means that even small series should reach low cost. Here, printed electronics have the poten- tial to provide such low-cost customization solutions. Printed electronics is still in an early state and there are many challenges both for devices and system integration, but as stated in [12] “it is possible to realize printed systems that exploit the advantages of printing while working around the disadvantages of the same.” Thus, it is meaningful to address system integra- tion of printed electronics in spite of the limitations of today’s technology. In the present work, we focus on possible system integration of printed WORM sensor memories in smart packaging applica- tions. The WORM technology has been used to provide single event logging functionalities in chip-less wireless security la- bels, so called EAS tags (electronic article surveillance tags). II. PRINTED WRITE-ONCE-READ-MANY SENSOR MEMORIES IN PACKAGING APPLICATIONS Resistive on/off sensor solutions provides a simple way to reach wireless and chip-less watch-dog alarm functions in smart 1530-437X/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE