Research Project SeManTiK Investigates Latest Chip-Integration Technologies for Contactless Identity Documents

What are the requirements for electronic identity documents to provide reliable functionality during their long term of validity? Experts from Bundesdruckerei, semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies AG and the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM have teamed up in the research project “Secure and long-life eID applications for human-technology cooperation (SeManTik)” to find proper anwers. The project partners are investigating reliable and new integration technologies as well as realistic models to test and predict the lifespan of ID documents.

Identity and travel documents are valid for a long period of time and must often withstand harsh conditions of daily usage. Therefore they have to be extremely robust and at the same time secure and reliable.

“Our goal is to develop multifunctional technologies for identity documents that will work without failure during a long period of time. In order to test the reliability of these technologies under realistic conditions we need new standardized testing procedures and simulation models which are investigated within the scope of the research project,” explained Joachim Kloeser of Bundesdruckerei, overall project head of the research project.

“SeManTiK provides us with new approaches to the qualitative evaluation and selection of existing, long-life electronic high security documents. We are now taking a major step toward reaching our common goal of being able to predict the required durability of these documents reliably in the laboratory. In doing so, we extend our competitive edge in Germany,” said Peter Stampka, initiator and project manager of SeManTiK at Infineon Technologies.

SeManTiK is being supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). As an associated partner, the Bundeskriminalamt (German Federal Criminal Police Office) is contributing its expertise in forensic and methodical analysis. Bayer MaterialScience is contributing its expertise in supporting materials to the research project.