Our products

Digital triaxial acceleration sensors

The digital acceleration sensors of Bosch Sensortec mark a new generation of digital acceleration sensors.
Function and performance of the sensor can be tailored to customer specific applications by means of parameter and control settings.

The sensors have a footprint of 3 mm x 3 mm and a height of 0.9 mm and use a very low current consumption of only 200 µA.

Due to their versatility a grand concurrency of application is made possible, combined with an advanced system power management for mobile devices.

The latest sensor, BMA020, addresses applications that do not exhaust the full potential of the two high performing models BMA150 and SMB380. Thus, it comes with a slightly limited key feature set.

Accelerometer portfolio overview:

	QFN package	LGA package
Digital acceleration sensors:
3 mm x 3 mm x 0.9 mm	SMB380	BMA020, BMA150
Analog acceleration sensor:
3 mm x 3 mm x 0.9 mm	-	BMA140
4 mm x 4 mm x 0.9 mm	-	BMA145

  
Analog acceleration sensors

Analog triaxial acceleration sensors of Bosch Sensortec provide three parallel analog output signals in a +- 4g acceleration range. In addition to the parallel x, y, and z output signals there is the option to multiplex any axis to a single supplementary output pin in a freely customized manner.

With an ultra-low power consumption of only 200 µA and a wake-up feature the sensors are ideal for measuring tilt, motion, shock or vibration for example in advanced gaming console applications and all kind of mobile devices.

BMA140 comes in a 3 mm*3mm * 0.9 mm LGA package, BMA145 in 4mm * 4 mm * 0.9 mm (LGA).

General overview

MEMS acceleration sensors for various applications

The triaxial acceleration sensor family is specifically designed for low-power applications to enhance functionality in mobile phones and consumer electronic devices as well as in health, logistics and security systems. All triaxial accelerometers are available in small and thin QFN or LGA packages. The interrupt feature of the sensors offers an additional special advantage for mobile applications such as a battery saving mode or free-fall detection.

Bosch produces acceleration sensors since 1990. Applications within the automotive area are airbag restraint systems, the electronic stability program (ESP), ABS (anti-lock braking system) and tilt measurement for alarm systems, hill-hold control and active suspension systems.

The first systems incorporated piezoelectric ceramics or Hall devices as sensing elements. Volume production of a new generation started in 1997 as a low-cost solution with increased functionality and reliability. Since then, more than 130 Million micromechanical accelerometers have been produced. These sensing elements are manufactured using surface micromachining technology developed by Bosch. The process features a thick polysilicon layer to realize movable structures. Proof mass and electrodes are covered with bulk micro-machined caps on wafer level. Sensors and specifically designed ASICs are assembled in standard SMD packages.

The sensing principle of all listed sensors is capacitive detection.

Features:

• surface micromachined sensor element and ASIC in standard QFN or LGA packages for consumer
• acceleration measurement ranges from 2g to 8g
• all sensors are 3-axis acceleration sensors - ultra-low power
• full self test capability of sensor and ASIC
• temperature range -40..+ 85°C (or higher)
• small number of external components necessary