Visa Credit Smart Cards

[Squibcakes]

Does anybody know much about Visa's new smart card technology and what type of chips they use..Pic?

I see they are soon to release smart cards with RF transceivers in them to do away with swiping altogether.


Just what the world needs.. the next step to a NWO and cashless society.... not...

[johnramsbottom]

I may be wrong, but I would think it unlikely that Visa Smartcards would use PIC technology. They may use similar technology but probably not PICs. PICs have certainly caught the imagination of electronic hobbyists and industry alike but PICs are not the only microcontrollors around, and there are other devices as well! Large organisations can afford to pay for customised chips where large use is forecast. The chips used in these cards are probably custom types, especially as there is a security issue involved.

John R

[Darrel Taylor]

I'm not sure about Visa, but Mastercard is using Atmel and OTI chips. This is an excerpt from some financial news for Atmel dated December 10, 2003

MasterCard PayPass is a new "contactless" payment program that provides consumers with The Simpler Way to Pay(TM). Using MasterCard PayPass, consumers simply tap or wave their payment card on a specially equipped merchant terminal, eliminating the need to swipe a card through a reader. The new solution is ideal for quick payment environments where speed is essential, such as quick serve restaurants, gas stations, drug stores, supermarkets and movie theatres.

MasterCard PayPass functions using a secure contactless microprocessor chip and an antenna. Atmel has been selected to supply the secure contactless microcontroller and has partnered with OTI to provide the contactless solution expertise including the operating system, application support and inlay technology.

The contactless chip used is an 8-bit secure microcontroller from Atmel's AT05SC highly secure product family, currently used for a variety of banking applications. The chip features 40KB ROM, 2KB EEPROM, hardware DES and hosts Atmel's high security mechanisms. The contactless chip is compliant with lSO-14443B and ISO-7816 industry standards. Atmel and OTI provide the small, robust chip in both a contactless module form and in an inlay form, providing easy card embedding for card suppliers.