Barcodes are being used all over the world for various applications. Barcodes are optical machine readable data which are attached on items. Barcodes of linear and 2D symbologies are printed on labels called barcode labels. These are read by barcode scanners or barcode readers. Symbol scanners and others with different technologies like laser and CCD are mostly used.

2D barcodes are the ones which can store information in two dimensions, that is horizontally and vertically. So they can store more data when compared to linear barcodes. Barcode labels attached to items on grocery stores and other general purposes may be paper labels, ceramic labels, or aluminum labels.

Many identification cards like driver’s license, library cards, student and employee identification cards and others are made of plastic. 2D barcodes are encoded on them for tracking details of personal information and other related data. It is very difficult to print 2D barcodes on plastic cards because ink may not stick to the cards. After designing a barcode, a plastic card sheet is entered into a barcode printer. Specific thermal transfer barcode printers are used to print the 2D barcodes on plastic cards. Black resin is generally preferred for printing them on plastic cards. These may however be erased gradually after few months. It is difficult to read such erased barcodes by scanners like Symbol scanners. Therefore, a new technology of embossing the barcodes on plastic cards and rubber items is being started.