VISA Selects Infineon’s SOLID FLASH Security Controllers

“Infineon’s SOLID FLASH offering combined with our innovative ‘Coil on Module’ chip package will provide major advantages to card manufacturers facing growing demand for Dual Interface payment cards worldwide and particularly in Latin America,” says Thomas Rosteck, Vice President and General Manager Secure Mobile & Transaction of the Chip Card & Security Division at Infineon Technologies. “As market and technology leader for security chips in payment applications, we always aim to provide best-in-class secure semiconductor solutions to the smart card industry,” he adds.

SOLID FLASH controllers can be quickly and securely programmed by card application developers, which speeds time-to-market compared to less flexible programmable ROM devices. Furthermore, card manufacturers using Infineon’s ‘Coil on Module’ package technology can produce Dual Interface chip cards on existing contact-based equipment without major investments, hence accelerating the introduction of payment solutions which support contactless functionality.

Dual Interface controllers that can be used for both contact-based and new contactless applications face growing demand in the global payments industry. In the Latin American region, IMS Research (an IHS company) estimates that shipments of DIF payment cards will rise from 25 million units in 2012 to 248 million in 2017. This means the share of DIF payment card shipments in respect to total shipments of smart cards (DIF and CB) will rise from 11 percent in 2012 to 67 percent in 2017.

Reduced Time-to-Market and Increased Flexibility

Infineon’s true 16-bit SLE 77 SOLID FLASH security microcontrollers enable quick, easy and secure loading of smart payment applets that run on the Visa GlobalPlatform Operating System. Their transaction time for contactless applications is proven in the field to be up to 40 percent faster than conventional 8-bit products.

SOLID FLASH products significantly reduce the application development schedule due to much faster cycle times, improve the logistic process and optimize time-to-market. Furthermore, chip samples can be instantly delivered while lead times for volume delivery can be cut in half compared to traditional security microcontrollers. The SLE 77 SOLID FLASH products are fully tested and compliant with the security and interoperability requirements of EMVCo (Europay, Mastercard, Visa).

In addition to the advantages of its flash-based security controllers, Infineon’s new ‘Coil on Module’ package allows chip card manufacturers to better serve growing demand for Dual Interface chip cards. ‘Coil on Module’ uses an RF link instead of a mechanical-electrical connection between the card antenna and the chip module. This improves the robustness of the payment card, simplifies card design and the chip module can be implanted into the card up to five times faster compared with conventional technologies.