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What is an NFC Inlay?

An NFC inlay is the most basic form of a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag. It consists of an NFC chip, antenna, and substrate, and often includes a top layer and adhesive backing. NFC inlays are thinner and lower cost compared to other converted NFC tag products. They maintain a slimmer profile than NFC stickers which incorporate additional layers for color printing. NFC inlays are not durable and provide minimal protection against environmental elements unlike NFC tokens or NFC cards which have rigid exteriors housing the inlay component.

NFC inlays function as digital proxies for the physical objects they are attached to or embedded within. They serve marketing and branding purposes when placed behind printed materials. NFC inlays serve as the internal component for converted products such as NFC stickers, NFC labels, NFC tokens, NFC cards, NFC key fobs, and NFC wristbands.

How to Choose an NFC Inlay

Size: NFC inlays are available in various dimensions, but they have limitations regarding minimum and maximum sizes. The antenna size significantly impacts read performance. Larger NFC inlays contain larger antennas which deliver better performance.
Inlay Type: NFC inlays come in three types: simple, wet, and dry. Simple inlays have minimal protection, offering low costs and thin profiles but less durability. Wet inlays include a protective layer (clear or white) with adhesive backing. Dry inlays lack adhesive and remain on their substrate for embedding during manufacturing. Selection depends on application needs, durability requirements, and integration methods.
Availability Popular sizes of NFC inlays are stocked in large volumes for immediate dispatch. Other sizes can be specially ordered. Customizing the shape, size, or layout of an NFC inlay requires a new antenna design and a minimum purchase volume of 50k or more.
NFC Chip Type: Each has unique features, memory size, and API. NXP NTAG213 suits most projects. Specialized uses include NTAG215 for Amiibo, NTAG216 for large data storage, ICODE SLIX for extended range and NTAG 424 DNA for self-authentication.

Customizing an NFC Inlay

Printing: GoToTags provides thermal printing services for black text, digits, or barcodes on white wet and clear wet NFC inlays and their surrounding matrix or liner. Simple NFC inlays cannot be printed but their surrounding matrix might be printable with black text, digits, or barcodes.
Encoding: Tags can be pre-encoded by GoToTags during purchase or self-encoded later using the Desktop App.

Recommendations

NFC inlays can be written on with markers as an alternative to printing.
Use existing NFC inlay sizes and shapes to minimize costs, and avoid lead times, mold fees, and volume requirements.
Place NFC inlays on the back of printed products rather than embedding them to reduce expenses.
Simple or wet inlays suit most applications; dry inlays are for automated embedding processes.
Test read range with actual devices before large deployments.
Consider environmental factors when selecting inlay type for exposed applications.