Date: 07/11/2011

1.2 x 1.7 x 1.0 mm thermal MEMS accelerometer has on-chip DSP

MEMSIC Inc. has made available of its MXC6226XC MEMS two-axis digital accelerometer based thermal technology. MEMSIC claims this motion sensor device is offered at price- point never before available to designers of cost sensitive systems like cell phones, toys, games, cameras and appliances. The MXC6226XC accelerometer is alo suggested for designs employing mechanical switches.

According to MEMSIC this BGA packaged MXC6226XC digital accelerometer is the world's smallest production accelerometer measuring 1.2 mm. x 1.7mm.x 1.0 mm. and thus is approximately 50% smaller than competitive offerings. The MXC6226XC integrates signal conditioning circuitry, and a DSP. Due to the thermal accelerometer technology, the MXC6226XC can withstand a shock up to 50,000g far higher than the shock survivability of capacitive accelerometers making it suitable for handheld consumer applications where the device getting dropped to ground is high. The MXC6226XC Digital Accelerometer can detect four orientation positions; offers shake detection and can measure acceleration over a +/- 2 g range with an absolute 0 g offset of less than +/- 50 mg. An I2C interface is used for communications and an interrupt pin (INT) is provided for shake and orientation detection. The device also has a power-down capability enabled through the I2C interface. Operating voltage is 2.5 v to 5.5 v. It operates over a -20 to +70 degree C. temperature range.

Dr. Yang Zhao, MEMSIC Chairman, President and CEO said, "Our wafer-level packaged digital accelerometer is truly a breakthrough design. We have listened to the voice of our customers who requested a small, low- priced, higher performance and function-rich solution to their existing and future motion sensing needs. Our engineers developed a design that perfectly matched their requirements by 'pulling out all the stops' when it comes to innovative design. Measuring only 2.0 mm. square in size, the MEMSIC digital accelerometer is the smallest full-function production accelerometer on the market today, the only one using wafer- level packaging (WLP) technology and the only single-chip MEMS accelerometer being built on a standard 0.18 um CMOS process. This is how we met their challenge." Dr. Zhao added, "Our solution leverages one of the inherent benefits of MEMSIC's approach - the elimination of moving parts. This makes our solution extremely robust and reliable in comparison to the mechanical approach used by other MEMS companies. The size reduction achievable with our high level of monolithic integration and WLP technology minimizes parts count and required board real estate. With our integrated DSP core, our digital accelerometer has the ability to add smart functionality and programmability. This simply is the best solution available today for consumer orientation sensing and control applications at this price. We expect to enable many new products through the adoption of the MXC6226XC."

Price: OEM quantities are $0.35
Availability: Delivery is in 8 weeks ARO. Samples are available upon request