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new products
New-Tech Magazine l 73
optical sensor solutions
deliver precise, ultra-low
power heart rate monitoring
for smart devices
Infineon Technologies AG (FSE:
IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) and GoerTek
Inc. (SHE: 002241) launched two
high-resolution, highly integrated
optical sensors. The optical chips
deliver the precise measurement,
small size and ultra-low power
consumption demanded by ambient
light sensing, proximity detection,
heart rate and pulse oximetry
monitoring applications in smart
devices. The sensor solutions
offer best-in-class performance for
headphones, fitness bands, smart
watches and phones. They are
integrating three LED outputs, a
photodetector, a low-noise analog
front-end, a digital interface and a
state machine into a single die. For
best application results the bare die
is either packaged with an infrared
or a green LED or can drive up to
three external LEDs.
The sensors offer a fully integrated
solution for optical heart rate
measurement featuring an I²C
interface for a programmable
sample rate of up to 256 per second.
This allows a significantly better
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than
discrete alternatives. Additionally,
monitoring algorithms can filter out
motion artifacts and deliver precise
heart rate and pulse oximetry
measurements during exercise.
High optical sensor resolution
enables accurate measurement
across the widest possible variety
of skin types, while high optical
sensitivity reduces photo diode
area and drives down LED power
consumption with a typical 300 μA
LED current on fair skin. A standby
current of just 0.3 μA further reduces
power consumption.
Availability
Infineon and GoerTek sensor
solutions are available either as bare
die or as packaged products with
application algorithm fromInfineon’s
long-term
partnerGoerTek.
Packages measure just 3.94 mm
x 2.36 mm x 1.35 mm. Packaged
samples are available now, with
volume production targeted in
August 2016. In addition to the
bare die chips from Infineon,
GoerTek is offering starter kits and
demonstration boards for designers
looking to rapidly evaluate and test
the technology for use in their smart
applications.
Cadence Next-Generation
Virtuoso Platform Deployed
by STMicroelectronics for
SmartPower Technologies
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
(NASDAQ: CDNS) todayannounced
that STMicroelectronics, a global
semiconductor leader serving
customers across the spectrum
of electronics applications, has
qualified and actively deployed
the next-generation Cadence®
Virtuoso®
platform
for
its
SmartPower technologies. The
latest Virtuoso platform successfully
enabled ST design engineers to
improve custom routing quality
and performance and significantly
reduce block-planning and pin-
optimization time using special pin
groups and guide constraints.
In addition to its successes in such
areas as sensors, microcontrollers
and applications for the Internet
of Things (IoT), ST is a worldwide
leader in BCD (Bipolar, CMOS,
DMOS) Smart Power technologies,
utilized to develop ICs for
automotive, power management,
industrial, consumer and healthcare
applications. To address the myriad
of complex challenges that come
with the development of these types
of applications, ST turned to the
next-generation Virtuoso platform to
improve layout design automation
without compromising the highest
level of quality and reliability.
Furthermore, the mixed-signal
design interoperability between the
Virtuoso platform and the Cadence
InnovusÔ Implementation System
offers best-in-class floorplanning,
pin-optimization and implementation
flows that led to a reduction in
turnaround time.
In addition to qualifying the next-
generation Virtuoso platform for
its SmartPower technologies, the
ST SmartPower Technology R&D
(TR&D) team has also updated
its design kits to support the latest
Virtuoso platform for production
use. This platform also includes the
Virtuoso Layout Suite for Electrically
Aware Design.
“We have been longtime users of
the Virtuoso platform and have a
very large user community that
trusts the platform to drive the
delivery of dozens of production
tapeouts each year,” said Pier Luigi
Rolandi, director of TR&D Smart
Power Design Enablement at
STMicroelectronics. “Layout design
automation needs to be done in a
way that is very seamless to the end
user while maintaining highest level