STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a world leader in MEMS products, has announced a new 3D orientation sensor, the company’s initial offering in a significant new family of MEMS functional sensors that consolidates multiple conventional sensor functions in an easy-to-use surface-mount package. The new FC30 device embeds both 3D orientation functionality and click/double-click detection allowing developers to integrate mouse-button controls.

“The FC30 is the first product in a new family of functional sensors, a turn-key solution that allows our customers to simplify system complexity and reduce the processing overhead on the system microcontroller,” said Benedetto Vigna, General Manager of ST’s MEMS And Healthcare, RF and Sensor Division.

The FC30 is a 14-pin LGA device measuring 3 x 5 x 0.9mm, imposing a small footprint and low integration effort with no extra programming required. The device’s three external interrupt lines allow developers to quickly build applications, such as automatic portrait/landscape recognition for portable products.

With very low current draw in normal operation, as well as an external Power-down control, the FC30 can be used in systems such as battery-operated devices or consumer products. The 14-pin LGA ECOPACK® surface-mount package also aids compliance with green criteria, meeting the EU RoHS specifications.

Further advantages include freedom from mechanical friction, which reduces wear to enable long-lasting, error-free operation.

The AT86RF212 offers an industry best RF performance with a link budget of up to120 dB in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz ISM bands available in Europe and North America, respectively. The link budget is the result of the -110 dBm sensitivity offered by the device and the maximum output power of +10 dBm. The extremely high link budget combined with the reduced path loss in the 800/900 MHz enables long range wireless communication without the use of costly external LNA or PA.

Designing products with the AT86RF212 chipset enables battery operated devices to run for many years on a single battery because of the AT86RF212′s low current consumption in both active and in sleep mode. The current consumption in receive mode is 9 mA and the consumption in transmit is 17 mA at a power output level of 5 dBm. The sleep mode current consumption is down to 0.2 uA.

“Selecting a 800/900 MHz radio chip for your wireless applications gives you a range benefit of nearly 3 times compared to a 2.4 GHz device due to the reduced path loss on the lower frequencies,” said Magnus Pedersen, Director of Wireless MCU Product Marketing at Atmel. “Adding the benefit of the extremely high link budget of the AT86RF212, the device outperforms most solutions available in the industry today by as much as 10 times the range. This has been confirmed by initial range tests performed by our partner MeshNetics, showing an outdoor range of about 6 km without the use of any external LNA’s or PA’s,” he added.

“Atmel is our long-standing silicon partner, and we are pleased to pair their best-in-class AT86RF212 transceiver with our BitCloud ZigBee PRO Feature Set software on our ZigBit 900 RF module for sub-1 GHz band,” said Alexey Rybakov, Managing Director of MeshNetics’ ZigBit Business Unit. “MeshNetics is a ZigBee House that offers easy-to-integrate RF modules, ZigBee software and engineering services for OEMs and system integrators. By using the industry-leading silicon from Atmel, we can offer our customers high quality ZigBee modules and development tools.”

To support the wide range of wireless applications requested by the market, AT86RF212 handles multiple data rates. The 20/40 Kbit/s and 100/250 Kbit/s supported by the device is compliant to IEEE 802.15.4-2006. High speed data rates such as 200/400/1000 Kbit/s are also supported enabling wireless applications demanding more bandwidth.

Security is handled by an AES 128-bit onboard hardware engine. The security engine improves the overall system power efficiency and timing. The stand-alone 128-bit AES engine can be accessed in parallel to all PHY operational transactions and states using the SPI interface. Atmel wireless solution is made of radio devices and microcontrollers such as AVR® offering the best-in-class combination of performance and low power consumption required for such applications. A set of firmware and applications notes has been prepared for AT86RF212 to shorten time to market for the Atmel customers. This includes low-level drivers for simple wireless applications, IEEE 802.15.4 MAC for standard compliant solutions as well as solutions for ZigBee. Updated firmware and documentation are available from the web pages of Atmel and partners.

Detailed information about AT86RF212 can be retrieved at: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?PN=AT86RF212

Melexis adds light-to-voltage sensor to the SensorEyeCTM series.

Melexis announces the launch of the MLX75305 Light-to-Voltage SensorEyeCTM. This is the second member of the SensorEyeCTM series of optical sensors specifically designed for high volume automotive, industrial and consumer applications. The light sensor’s output gives a voltage that varies linearly with incident light.

This MLX75305 is an integrated sensor IC, which means that the photodiode, transimpedance amplifier and linear voltage output stage are all included in the sensor chip. This guarantees stable light responsivity over time and over temperature, and also drastically improves noise behavior when compared to designs that use discrete photodiodes. It simplifies application design, requires fewer external components and improves quality.

The first SensorEyeCTM device – the dirt-robust MLX75303 Optical Switch – was launched in April 2008.

More than 15 Years of Lifetime
Melexis did not wait 15 years before bringing this light sensor to the market. Instead, SensorEyeCTM devices are baked in an oven at 150°C and remain powered-on during a total test run time of more than 500 hours. This test accelerates the aging process of the silicon by a factor of 258 for sensor operations at 55°C, resulting in an equivalent continuous operating lifetime of more than 132000 hours.

Because all sensors performed well after the aging test, their lifetime thus exceeds 15 years.

SensorEyeC series
“The high temperature operating lifetime (HTOL) testing is one of many qualification tests we do on our light sensors,” says Sam Maddalena, Business Unit Manager Opto Sensors. Maddalena continues, “Our automotive customers request this kind of reliability evaluation because repairing defects in cars is very expensive and inconvenient for car owners. Our customers will benefit tremendously from the low PPM, temperature independency of the sensor’s behavior and the 260°C solder reflow capabilities.”

The MLX75305 is suited for measuring ambient light or for controlling LED light in LCD backlight dimming applications. Its unique features include:
- Highly linear voltage output

- Light responsivity that is relatively independent of temperature

- Small DFN open cavity package: 3mm x 3mm x 0.65mm
(also available in SO8 package)

- Very high positional accuracy: the small, symmetrical DFN package provides pin-to-photodiode accuracy better than ±85µm.

- Extended operating temperature range of -40°C to +125°C that meets AEC-Q100 automotive specifications. A consumer version up to +85°C is available also.

- Lead free solder reflow compatible for 260°C peak process temperatures

Applications

The MLX75305 Light-to-Voltage SensorEyeCTM is perfectly fit for a number of applications:

1. LCD backlight dimming of television sets, notebook computers, mobile phones (GSM), GPS receivers and portable multimedia players (MP3, DVD). This enables easier screen reading and helps save battery power on portable devices.

2. Hand presence detection. For instance for automatic activation of water taps and hand dryers.

3. LED lighting: LED monitoring and control of light intensity & colour.

4. Automotive applications include automatic light dimming of instrument panels and displays, headlights on/off control and hand presence detection for opening doors.

www.melexis.com