Renesas launches new sensor signal conditioner (SSC) to simplify sensor platform development

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a global supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the launch of the ZSSC3240 sensor signal conditioner (SSC). As the latest member of Renesas' leading SSC product portfolio, the ZSSC3240 brings high accuracy, high sensitivity and flexibility to sensor applications such as resistive pressure sensors and medical infrared thermometers. This new SSC product has best-in-class performance and speed, as well as up to 24-bit analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) resolution. With a flexible sensor front end and a wide range of output interfaces, the ZSSC3240 can be applied to almost all types of resistive and absolute voltage sensor elements, helping customers develop a complete sensing platform based on a single SSC device.

The above performance, combined with its compact size, makes the ZSSC3240 ideal for a variety of sensor-based devices in the industrial, consumer and medical fields, including industrial pressure transmitters, HVAC (H=VAC) sensors, weight scales, factory automation equipment, smart meters and continuous smart health monitoring devices.

“With the ZSSC3240 SSC, we have combined best-in-class technology, expertise, and leading IP to create an all-in-one solution that enables product designers to easily build a complete sensing platform based on a single device,” said Uwe Guenther, Senior Director of Sensing Solutions, Emerging Market Business Unit at Renesas Electronics Corporation. “Customers can leverage the SSC’s leading performance, small size, and flexible configurations in the next generation of smart sensor-based devices to enable smart factories, smart buildings, smart energy, and smart healthcare.”

Micromechanical and silicon-based sensing elements mainly provide nonlinear and very small signals, requiring special techniques to convert sensor signals into linear outputs. The ZSSC3240 SSC simplifies the design and production of sensor interfaces by providing programmable, high-precision, wide gain and quantization capabilities combined with powerful high-order digital correction and linearization algorithms.

Features such as high performance, flexible sensor front-end configuration, and analog output options will make the design of sensor platforms based on monolithic ICs easier. These features can help customers balance the cost of SSCs with a variety of sensors with different characteristics.

Key Features of the ZSSC3240 SSC

Up to 24-bit ADC resolution provides excellent accuracy to compensate sensor measurements

Supports high gain analog front end, up to 540V/V

Integrated 26-bit DSP for high-precision sensor calibration

Provides 4-20mA current loop output, analog voltage output, and supports digital interfaces such as I2C, SPI, and OWI

On-chip diagnostics for medical and safety applications

Availability

The ZSSC3240 SSC is available now in a 4mm x 4mm, 24-pin QFN package and is priced at $1.57 in 10,000-unit quantities. The SSC is available in bare die form.