COVER STORY
Making smart connections with NFC Revolutionising connectivity with NFC solutions for every industry
Near Field Communication (NFC) is transforming everyday interactions – from tapping your phone to pay for coffee to verifying product authenticity in the field. As this technology becomes increasingly embedded in our lives, its applications are expanding at an unprecedented pace. At the forefront of this evolution is STMicroelectronics, a trailblazer in RFID and NFC innovation.
Their robust portfolio of NFC readers and tags is designed to power a wide spectrum of industries, delivering secure, seamless, and smart connectivity wherever it’s needed. In this month’s edition, Gregorio Vidal, field application engineer at Anglia, gives an overview of NFC technology, the range of NFC products offered by STMicroelectronics, their key attributes, benefits, and some of the applications they can address.
NFC overview
NFC (Near Field Communication) is a short-range, always on, lower power wireless technology that allows devices to exchange data when they are within a few centimetres of each other. Its simplicity of use, by just touching two NFC compatible devices together, has made it extremely popular in a wide range of applications such as contactless payments, file transfer, access control, product authentication and even pairing devices. Depending on the application, NFC technology can operate in four dynamic modes, each unlocking unique capabilities. In Card Emulation mode, a smartphone acts like a contactless smartcard, enabling seamless experiences in payments, public transport, or secure access control. Peer-to-Peer mode allows two NFC-enabled devices to establish a direct, two-way communication, allowing them to exchange data – like photos or videos – with just a tap. In Reader mode, the smartphone becomes a contactless reader, capable of interacting with battery-less NFC tags such as RFID labels, commonly used in retail and logistics. Finally, Charging mode transforms the smartphone into a wireless power source, ideal for recharging small devices like wearables, adding a layer of convenience to everyday tech use.
NFC operating modes A typical system can comprise of NFC Tags and NFC Readers. NFC tags are battery-less devices which contain EEPROM memory with capacities up to 64 Kbits, they require no directly connected power source, the power they need is harvested directly from the magnetic field of the NFC reader when it is positioned in close proximity to the tag.
STMicroelectronics provides a variety of NFC tags under the ST25 product family. They are designed for advanced digital experiences. The ST25T NFC / RFID tags are known for their reliability and ease of integration into products. The ST family of NFC tags include short and long range
10 September 2025 Components in Electronics
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versions (ISO/IEC 14443 A/B & 15693) to suit a wide range of applications.
The STMicroelectronics NFC range also includes dynamic tags – the ST25D product family. These tags can be accessed in two ways, either by using an NFC reader or with a wired connectivity options such as the I²C interface from a Microcontroller. This enhanced functionality and flexibility makes them suitable for both consumer and industrial applications, allowing
seamless communication between devices. STMicroelectronics NFC tag ICs meet all the requirements of the NFC Forum – standardisation organisation of the industry – and offer an attractive combination of performance and state-of-the-art features. The NFC reader can communicate with NFC tags and cards (such as credit or access cards, consumables), another NFC reader, or an NFC-enabled device (for example, smartphones, tablets, or consumer goods) in short distances up to 10cm, and in special cases, over
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