STMicroelectronics Enables Paco Rabanne to Fuse Sustainable Luxury and Advanced Contactless Technology in New Fragrance Launch

Paco Rabanne’s new fragrance for men comes in perfume industry’s first-ever connected bottle powered by ST’s NFC contactless chip
ST experts will be present at Luxe Pack 2021 in VPI (FaiveleyPlastBeauty) booth DC09, September 27-29, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco

Geneva, September 23, 2021 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, today announced its collaboration with Paco Rabanne on the European fashion house’s new Phantom fragrance for men. Phantom is packaged in a unique connected bottle that uses an embedded NFC (Near-Field Communication) tag IC (integrated circuit) using a popular contactless technology supported by most smartphones to connect to its online “Phantom Universe.”

Access to Paco Rabanne’s Phantom Universe is enabled by ST’s chip, the ST25TV, which is encapsulated into the innovative Phantom-bottle cap. The novel cap meeting the technical and esthetic needs of Paco Rabanne’s Phantom fragrance was developed through close collaboration among ST, Paco Rabanne, tag inlay-specialist Paragon ID, and VPI (FaiveleyPlastBeauty), an expert in injection molding, decoration, and assembly.

Together, the partners worked out how to embed a general-purpose, NFC-certified Type 5 tag IC for maximum operating volume and range along with a custom small antenna into a space-constrained perfume bottle cap where the parasitic effects of the shiny chrome-metal finishing can wreak havoc on connectivity. Using NFC eliminates the need for a battery in the cap, as the tag gets powered by the contactless fields between the tag IC and the connecting device —typically a smartphone, or tablet.

“Paco Rabanne challenged us to help them develop a pioneering use case: a connected, user-friendly, sustainable luxury bottle for a new fragrance. With our partners, we built a novel solution built on a standard product and a proven design methodology, now available for consumer and luxury brands globally. Phantom’s bottle brings together cutting-edge contemporary design, sustainability with a refill system, and user-friendly connected services enabled by the integration of our ST25TV NFC tag IC in a challenging environment,” said Yvon Gourdou, EMEA Application and Marketing Director, Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group, STMicroelectronics.

“Innovative in the approach and futuristic in the fragrance and bottle appearance, Phantom brings a new dimension to users and a pathway to the digital universe, allowing them to meet their new Wingman,” said Fabien Leclercq, Packaging Development Manager from Paco Rabanne. “Our own luxury craftmanship, combined with high-tech knowhow and expertise from STMicroelectronics brought our vision to reality.”

ST experts will be present at the upcoming Luxe Pack trade show in the VPI (FaiveleyPlastBeauty) booth DC09 on September 27-29 in Monaco. To book a meeting, please contact your ST sales representative or philippe.horcholle@st.com.

The ST25TV is part of ST’s NFC/RFID tag IC series, which offers specific modes to protect tag access, including Kill and Untraceable modes, 64-bit encrypted password with a failed attempt counter to protect read/write access to user memory, and a digital signature that can be used to prove the origin of the chip in cloning detection. Tamper detection option is also available.

The ST25TV tag ICs also contain a configurable EEPROM with 60-year data retention and can be operated from a 13.56 MHz long-range RFID reader or an NFC phone.

The contactless interface on the ST25TV devices is compatible with the ISO/IEC 15693 standard and NFC Forum Type 5 tag. The ST25TV is NFC Forum certified, which ensures interoperability with all NFC-enabled smartphones.

You can also read our blogpost at https://blog.st.com/phantom/

About STMicroelectronics

At ST, we are 46,000 creators and makers of semiconductor technologies mastering the semiconductor supply chain with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. An independent device manufacturer, we work with more than 100,000 customers and thousands of partners to design and build products, solutions, and ecosystems that address their challenges and opportunities, and the need to support a more sustainable world. Our technologies enable smarter mobility, more efficient power and energy management, and the wide-scale deployment of the Internet of Things and 5G technology. Further information can be found at www.st.com.