Freescale Extends Industry's Only Highly Integrated E-field Technology; Leading-Edge E-field IC Supports Designs for Appliance/Industrial Control Panels, Liquid Level Sensing and Consumer Product Safety.NUREMBERG, Germany -- Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focuses their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedded and communications markets. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :FSL FSL - Formal Semantics Language. A language for compiler writing. ["A Formal Semantics for Computer Languages and its Application in a Compiler-Compiler", J.A. Feldman, CACM 9(1) (Jan 1966)]. [Sammet 1969, p. 641]. ) (NYSE:FSL.B) is expanding its line of electric field (E-field) sensing integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. (ICs) from automotive applications to the appliance and industrial markets with the introduction of the MC34940. Freescale continues to offer the industry's only single-chip IC that generates a low-level electric field and detects changes in that electric field. The MC34940 E-field IC offers designers greater functionality for creating embedded systems Embedded systems Computer systems that cannot be programmed by the user because they are preprogrammed for a specific task and are buried within the equipment they serve. that require non-contact sensing. "Freescale was the first to offer a low-level E-field imaging IC and is now broadening the technology's reach to new markets with this cost-effective model geared toward the consumer, appliance and industrial markets," said Tony Massimini, chief of technology for Semico Research. "This should allow designers to incorporate increased functionality, reliability and ease of use for devices in these areas." The MC34940 E-field IC can be used to implement proximity detection and three-dimensional E-field sensing. At the same time, it is able to trigger functions such as turning switches on or off, disabling features or setting off alarms to indicate dangerous situations for devices such as coffee pots, hair dryers and lawnmowers. Manufactured with SMARTMOS(TM) technology, the MC34940 integrates support for up to seven simple electrodes, which can be used independently to provide information to perform multiple functions simultaneously. For example, one E-field device in a refrigerator application is able to: --support touch screen selection for in-door water and ice, --perform proximity detection to control the dispensing of water and ice, --turn door panel lights on, --control defrosting and ice making and --detect a door that is ajar. The MC34940 is the only sensing IC on the market with an on-board shield driver for more demanding applications. The shield signal protects the electrode signal from any external disturbances. For example, with coaxial cables, electrodes can be remote while obtaining measurements as accurately as if the touch pads were in close proximity to the IC. More sophisticated applications include touch panel inputs where the E-field sensing IC is embedded in glass or behind the touch panel. This method eliminates membrane switches or expensive multi-layer resistive resistive /re·sis·tive/ (re-zis´tiv) pertaining to or characterized by resistance. touch pads. Problems of wear, dirt and corrosion are virtually eliminated because the input is sensed without requiring a contact mechanism. This is especially beneficial in harsh environments with extreme temperatures and corrosive liquids. For more information on the MC34940 or application examples, visit www.freescale.com/files/pr/efield.html. MC34940 technical features --Supports up to seven electrodes --Supports up to 28 touch pad sensors --Linear and rotational touch pad sliders sliders a species of tortoise kept as pets. They have a black shell and a red stripe behind the eye. Called also Chrysemys scripta elegans, red-eared sliders. --Proximity detection --Liquid level sensing --One device simultaneously supports multifunctional applications --Shield driver for driving remote electrodes through coaxial cable --High-purity sine wave A continuous, uniform wave with a constant frequency and amplitude. See wavelength.  A Sine Wave _title> Sine wave generator tunable with external resistor --Response time tunable with external capacitor --Re-programmable user interface --24-pin small outline integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for wide (SOICW) package --Pb-free and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliant Application versatility --Three-dimensional position determination --A wide range of objects and materials can be detected --People, metallic and non metallic materials can be detected Price and availability The MC34940 E-field imaging IC is currently available in production quantities at a suggested resale price of $1.85 (USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) in 10,000-piece quantities. Freescale offers an MC34940 evaluation kit, DEMO1985MC34940E, to help reduce customers' system development cycle times. The evaluation kit is available now for a suggested resale price of $56.35 (USD) and includes the MC34940 evaluation board, driver CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). , connectors and program software. About the original E-field IC The original electric field imaging IC, MC33794, was developed through a collaborative effort between Freescale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) Media Lab and Elesys North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . Elesys is currently using the MC33794 in its SeatSentry(TM) occupant sensing system for the vehicle. About Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) (NYSE:FSL.B) is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. Freescale became a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. in July 2004 after more than 50 years as part of Motorola, Inc. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale, a member of the S&P 500(R), is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2005 sales of $5.8 billion (USD). www.freescale.com Reader Inquiry Response: Freescale Semiconductor P.O. Box 17927 Denver, CO 80217 USA Freescale(TM) and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. (C) Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006. |
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