ISO 14443A active load modulation technology and its integration in the micro-SD card form factor

Abstract

A more detailed analysis of the market for mobile phones shows that the proportion of Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled devices for contactless mobile payment in comparison to the total number of non-NFCenabled mobile phones has grown very slowly. It is predicted that approximately 1.3 billion mobile phones will be sold in 2011 but only a very small proportion with NFC interface equipment. Mobile phone manufacturers are hesitant to implement NFC technology (ISO\IEC 14443/13.56 MHz band) into their mobile phones as there is a lack of mobile payment applications and a small payment infrastructure with point of sales terminals. As a result, a typical ‘chicken or egg’ causality dilemma currently exists in this field. In order to make a breakthrough for mobile payment applications, a far greater share of NFC capable handsets is required. One possible way to solve this dilemma can be to use a standard mobile phone with a replaceable memory device (micro-SD card) including active load modulation for ISO\IEC 14443 type A. In this paper the active load modulation technique and the integration in the micro-SD form factor are described.