An image forming apparatus supporting a near field communication function and a method of performing authentication of an NFC device in the image forming apparatus is provided. The solder mask layer exposes partial area of the layout wire layer at the center and peripheries of the signal transmission plate to form a plurality of die bonding pads and a plurality of wire bonding pads. The IC operates on a sub-cycle clock that has multiple sub-cycle periods within a user period of the user design clock cycle. When the via-holes V are formed, part of the third metal layer having a comparatively high electric resistance is removed, and the corresponding portion is connected to a wiring layer including via-conductors. A second embodiment includes two cone shaped balloons.