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Types of Smart Cards

This section is designed to provide you with some basic information about emerging card technologies. Referred to as electronic cards or simply "e-cards," these cards contain from one to three different types of embedded chip technologies: contact smart chip, contactless smart chip and proximity chip. E-cards that contain two or more chip technologies are referred to as hybrid cards or combi cards.

Contact Cards

Contact Cards
Cards the size of a conventional credit or debit card with a single embedded integrated circuit chip that contains just memory or memory plus a microprocessor.

Popular Uses:
Network security, vending, meal plans, loyalty, electronic cash, government IDs, campus IDs, e-commerce, health cards
Contactless Smart Cards

Contactless Smart Cards
Cards containing an embedded antenna instead of contact pads
attached to the chip for reading and writing information contained in the chip's memory.

Popular Uses:
Student identification, electronic passport, vending, parking, tolls, IDs
Combi Cards

Combi Cards
Cards containing one smart chip that can be accessed through either contact pads or an embedded antenna.

Popular Uses:
Mass transit and access control combined with other applications such as network security, vending, meal plans, loyalty
Hybrid Cards

Hybrid Cards
Cards containing two or more embedded chip technologies such as a prox chip with its antenna and a contact smart chip with its contact pads.

Popular Uses:
Accommodates legacy system infrastructure while adding applications that require different e-card technologies
Proximity Cards

Proximity Cards
"Prox cards" communicate through an antenna similar to contactless smart cards except that they are read-only.

Popular Uses:
Security, identification, access control