ID matrix codes offer greater data density
A
Rofin-Baasel product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 12, 2004
ID matrix codes offer far greater information density than traditional barcodes.
ID matrix codes are an ideal solution to the problem of marking a circuit board or a medical component with a manufacturer's ID, part number and lot and date codes when the marking area is only slightly larger than a pin head.
For traceability, authenticity, and critical identification, more industries are turning to ID matrix codes to replace barcodes.
Primarily the electronic, automotive, aerospace and medical industries have the greatest needs.
Because of its small size and large information capacity, 2D matrix symbology is leading the way in these industries.
Such codes can be printed directly onto product or product packaging in a variety of ways, but probably the most flexible is laser.
Laser marked codes have the added advantages that they tend to be very permanent, highly resolved and add no inks or labels.
Rofin is a market leader in the design and manufacture of laser marking and coding solutions.
The matrix code, unlike regular codes or stacked bar codes, is made up of individual elements or cells of equal size.
These cells form a matrix similar to a checkerboard.
Most often this matrix is square, but elongated rectangular codes are sometimes used if the space available is restricted in one dimension.
The information is stored in the matrix by the selective placement of the black and white (or dark and light) cells.
Because this matrix can be made very dense, a large amount of information can be held in a very small area.
A two-dimensional reading device employing a CCD camera is necessary to read the symbology.
Such readers are available off the shelf from a wide variety of sources.
Rofin-Baasel supports a wide array of error correction code formats with square and rectangle data matrix codes, including the automotive code ECC200 (data matrix with up to 2335 alphanumeric characters in a field of 1in2 in a matrix of 144x144).
This allows users to incorporate a greater amount of data into a smaller footprint than was possible with barcode technologies.
Rofin manufactures a wide range of laser marking systems, both CO2 and YAG based, and continues to be the market leader in the area of laser marking.
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