The ST25R500 and ST25R501 meet Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) and Wireless Power Consortium requirements for digital key and centre console applications for device pairing and engine start and wireless charging NFC card protection.
These readers combine a 2W peak output power and high receiver sensitivity, ensuring up to a 70% greater interaction range than is the case with many other readers currently on the market.
The ST25R501, housed in a 4mm x 4mm QFN package, occupies 36% less PCB area which makes it suitable for doorhandle and B-pillar modules. Both chipsets are AEC-Q100 qualified, NFC Forum CR13 compliant, and meet the stringent requirements of car and phone OEMs.
In addition to car access and start systems, both devices are used in NFC card protection on centre-console Qi chargers, phone pairing, and data transfer.
While the ST25R501 is optimised for space-constrained applications, the ST25R500 has higher continuous output power and is also suited to applications like keyfob charging. Both ICs support widely used protocols, including NFC-A, NFC-B (ISO14443A/B), and NFC-F (FeliCa), as well as NFC-A/NFC-F card emulation for Qi charging NFC card protection.
The new readers benefit from enhanced noise suppression with very high receiver sensitivity, which lets the readers operate in harsh conditions while also simplifying electromagnetic immunity and easing certification. There is also dynamic power output with active waveshaping control on each power level, as well as diagnostics and NFC card protection features, including test outputs for easy non-intrusive debugging.
Dynamic power output automatically adjusts the transmitted power to compensate the detuning effects of different antenna sizes and distances, keeping within NFC Forum limits and ensuring the safety of tags.
Active waveshaping helps to simplify compliance with the latest NFC Forum and mandatory CCC Digital Key requirements including monotonicity tests and signal over/undershoot limits. Developers can adjust the signal with simple register settings to meet these conditions, using the GUI available in ST’s software development tools.
Rich software libraries and APIs are also available for all ST25R devices, including code for automotive applications including CCC digital key and RF abstraction layer (RFAL) middleware.
The ST25R readers are also included in ST’s eDesignsuite tools, like the new PCB Thermal Simulator.
The ST25R500 is in production now, in a 5mm x 5mm QFN package, while the ST25R501 will be available in the third quarter of 2025, in an ultra-compact 4mm x 4mm automotive-grade QFN package.
