Integrated circuit technology greatly improves MEMS performance2

ST's accelerometers have many enhanced features built in, including single and double-click recognition, motion detection/wake-up, and 4D/6D orientation detection. Other important features include a programmable FIFO (first-in, first-out) buffer and two programmable interrupt signal output pins to immediately notify the host processor of conditions such as motion detection, single/double-click events, etc.

The integration of compass modules in mobile phones to provide advanced location-related services has triggered an application revolution in the mobile phone market. With the compass and GPS functions, consumers can identify and search for information about nearby service facilities, such as hotels or shopping malls, by simply pointing their mobile phones at them.

Combining motion detection with magnetic sensing can improve the mobile user experience in many ways. Application developers can solve the problem of viewing maps on mobile phones or PDAs with limited display size. They put the user's current location at the bottom of the map, and the rest of the display shows the direction of travel (directly above), so that users can get accurate information about the direction of travel. When there is no GPS signal, it can indicate the direction a person or car is traveling. This solution also supports dead reckoning applications, including walking navigation in places where GPS signals are absent or weak, for example, when walking in tall buildings or densely forested mountainous environments.

STMicroelectronics has integrated a 3-axis digital accelerometer and a 3-axis digital magnetometer in the LSM303DLH module. This digital compass combines high accuracy, small size, low power consumption and other advantages to meet the market's growing demand for advanced navigation functions and emerging smart positioning services. STMicroelectronics' high-performance system-level package digital compass uses Honeywell's magnetoresistive technology to promote the application of enhanced electronic compass functions in portable consumer electronic devices. Compass functions include direction finding, map/display direction, positioning services and walking direction estimation. The product's linear acceleration measurement range is ±2/±4/±8g, and the magnetic field strength measurement range is from ±1.3 to ±8 Gauss. These two ranges can be selected by the user.

Many technology and business experts believe that wireless sensor networks, home robots, smart pills and lab-on-a-chip are the next business opportunities for MEMS sensors. For example, lab-on-a-chip for personalized drug development and tire pressure monitoring system composed of 5-node wireless pressure sensor network.

STMicroelectronics' MEMS experts are currently working hard to develop smart sensors. 'Smart sensors' integrate MEMS devices and processors in a single package, and can independently run sensor algorithms without the intervention of a host processor, thereby reducing system-level power consumption, which is of great significance for power-hungry handheld devices.