A research group at 3M Company has developed a prototype for new RFID tags that are inexpensive and can be used on consumer items such as shampoo bottles and soup cans.

According to a report in MIT Technology Review, the group is working on

"RFID chips that could be cheaper alternatives to those made from silicon, which cost around 20 cents each. The key: using pentacene as the chips' semiconducting material. Existing prototypes of the chips are built on glass or plastic surfaces; the glass versions can communicate with a reading device several centimeters away. The 3M researchers are working on increasing that distance and getting the plastic version to communicate with the reader as well."