Chip cards are plastic cards with an integrated memory chip that stores personal data such as name, address, ID or membership number.
As an official partner of leading chip card manufacturers, we offer all chip cards from LEGIC (prime, advant, CTC), MIFARE (Classic, Plus, Ultralight, DESFire), HID Global (iCLASS, Prox), Hitag, Infineon, EM Microelectronics, and many other manufacturers.
In addition to contact chip cards, which transmit their information when touching a card reader, we also offer RFID cards. This card type transmits encoded data contactlessly via radio waves.


Which Chip Cards Can I Get from YouCard?
We offer all contact chip cards, contactless RFID cards, high-security cards (Smartcards), cards with multiple memory types (Hybrid cards), and dual interface cards (Dual Interface) from leading manufacturers. Custom orders and cards with emulated chips are also available. You can print, encode, and personalize these cards yourself or commission us to do it for you.
YouCard offers every card type, regardless of chip, in the following variants:
- Blank chip cards (available in many colors for self-printing)
- Printed chip cards (custom design including company logo, barcode, QR code, signature field, etc.)
- Personalized chip cards (individually printed with name, date of birth, membership number, photo, etc.)
- Encoded chip cards (e.g., with LEGIC or MIFARE encoding)
- Chip cards with security features (holograms, guilloches, microtext, embossing, barcodes, etc.)
Overview of Chip Card Types

RFID Cards – Contactless Chip Cards
RFID cards are transponder cards that exchange information contactlessly via RFID technology. Unlike contact chip cards, direct physical contact between the card and the card reader is not necessary. The required transponder (antenna), which is powered by an electromagnetic field from the reader, is not visible from the outside.

Smartcards – High-Security Cards with Microprocessor
Chip cards can be equipped with an additional microprocessor chip to maximize the security of your storage and data transmission. With the integrated processor, which has its own operating system and memory, the stored information can be cryptographically encrypted. The most well-known smart card is the credit card.

Hybrid Cards – Equipped with Multiple Storage Media
Hybrid cards are plastic cards that combine multiple storage technologies. For example, hybrid cards can have both a contact chip and an RFID chip, or an RFID chip and a magnetic stripe. By combining the advantages of different storage media, functionality and application possibilities can be significantly enhanced.

Dual Interface Chip Cards – Cards with Two Data Interfaces
Dual Interface chip cards are plastic cards whose memory chip offers two data interfaces, usually one contactless and one contact-based. Unlike hybrid cards, both interfaces are integrated into a single chip. Dual Interface cards provide significantly more flexibility, performance, and application possibilities compared to regular chip cards.
Application Areas of Chip Cards
A small selection of use cases for cards with chips:
- Accreditation
- Visitor passes
- Season tickets
- Company ID cards
- Employee ID cards
- Key cards
- Student ID cards (school)
- Student ID cards (university)

Contact-based chip types at a glance
| Manufacturer | Type | Memory (up to) |
|---|---|---|
| Atmel | 6464C PRO 64K | 64K EEPROM |
| Atmel | 6464C PRO USB 64K | 64K EEPROM |
| Atmel | AT24C02B | 2 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C04B | 4 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C08B | 8 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C16B | 16 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C32B | 32 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C64B | 64 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C128B | 128 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C1024B | 1024 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C02D | 2 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C16D | 16 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C32D | 32 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT24C64D | 64 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC0104C | 1 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC0204C | 2 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC0404C | 4 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC0808C | 8 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC1608C | 16 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC1616C | 16 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC3216C | 32 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC6416C | 64 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC12816C | 128 Kbit |
| Atmel | AT88SC25616C | 256 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC01SC | 1 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC02SC | 2 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC04SC | 4 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC08SC | 8 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC16SC | 16 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC32SC | 32 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC64SC | 64 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC128SC | 128 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC256SC | 256 Kbit |
| Microchip | 24LC512SC | 512 Kbit |
How to personalize your cards
Personalization
In addition to the base layout, which is the same for all cards, each individual card can be customized. Personalization can include, for example, a photo, name, barcode, or other attributes.
Security Features
To protect your ID cards against tampering, you can enhance them with secure features such as embossing, signature fields, scratch-off fields, or custom holograms.
Chip Encoding
You can also receive your cards with contact and contactless chips from us. As a partner of leading manufacturers, we offer you all common transponders with your desired encoding.
Overview of RFID Chip Types
| Manufacturer | Type | Version |
|---|---|---|
| Giesecke+Devrient | StarSign FIDO Card | |
| NXP MIFARE | Classic EV1 | 1K, 4K |
| NXP MIFARE | Classic EV1 DBond | |
| NXP MIFARE | Plus SE | 1K |
| NXP MIFARE | Plus EV2 | 2K, 4K |
| NXP MIFARE | DESFire EV1 | 2K, 4K, 8K |
| NXP MIFARE | DESFire EV3 | 2K, 4K, 8K |
| NXP MIFARE | DESFire Light | 1K |
| NXP MIFARE | Ultralight AES | |
| NXP MIFARE | Ultralight C | |
| NXP MIFARE | Ultralight EV1 | |
| NXP MIFARE | Ultralight Nano | |
| LEGIC | prime MIM256 | |
| LEGIC | prime MIM1024 | |
| LEGIC | advant | 256, 1024, 4096 |
| LEGIC | CTC4096 | |
| HID Global | iCLASS | |
| HID Global | Prox 2 | |
| NXP / Philips | Hitag 1 | |
| NXP / Philips | Hitag 2 | |
| NXP / Philips | Hitag S | |
| NXP / Philips | I-Code SLI SL2 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4105 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4150 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4169 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4200 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4205 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4305 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4450 | |
| EM Microelectronic | EM4550 | |
| Temic | T5557 | |
| Texas Instruments | Tag-it | TI2048 |
| Thales | SafeNet IDPrime 931 | |
| Thales | SafeNet IDPrime 3930 FIDO | |
| Thales | SafeNet IDPrime 3940 FIDO | |
| Thales | SafeNet IDPrime PIV 3.0 |
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