STMicroelectronics Expands MEMS Portfolio with Medium-G Accelerometers

ST’s newest MEMS accelerometer provides extremely accurate output across full-scale ranges of ±6/±12/±24g. The medium-g sensing enables high-level vibration monitoring and high-shock detection without any loss of information. In game applications, medium-g detection enhances user interfaces, adding previously unseen levels of realism.

Two separate, highly programmable interrupt signals enable immediate notification of desired events, such as when the acceleration value goes above/below a user-defined threshold.

Contributing to the reduction in power consumption of the entire system, ST’s LIS331HH motion sensor can be programmed to work in the sleep-to-wake-up mode. In this mode, the accelerometer keeps the read chain active, consuming less than 10uA, and wakes up when an event occurs, automatically increasing the output data rate.

ST’s digital-output medium-g accelerometer boasts high stability over a wide temperature range for both zero-g offset and sensitivity. Its ultra-compact robust design provides very high shock survivability up to 10,000g. Built-in self-test capability allows the customer to verify the functioning of the sensor after it has been assembled, without the need to do any movement with the board.

The LIS331HH is pin-to-pin- and firmware-compatible with all low-g sensors in the LIS331DL/DLx families. Housed in an environment-friendly 3 x 3 x 1 mm3 package, the device is in production, with unit pricing of $1.25 for volumes in the range of 10k.