Temperature sensor uses ultra-low-power in tiny package

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Targeting a range of applications, ams launched the AS621x family of temperature sensors that offers high accuracy and ultra-low-power consumption in a tiny wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP). In addition, ams has decreased the supply voltage range to 1.71 V, and increased the number of I² C addresses to eight, enabling designers to monitor up to eight hot spots in their systems more easily, particularly during prototyping.

Designers of IoT products can integrate the AS621x family of temperature sensors without paying a power or space penalty, said ams. The AS621x offers the same footprint as the preceding generation (AS620x) of sensors at 1.5 × 1 mm (WLCSP), and low-power consumption at a typical current of 6 µA at a measurement rate of four samples per second.  

The factory-calibrated temperature sensors provide an industry-standard serial interface with eight I²C addresses, which makes prototyping and design verification easier for designers. The AS621x sensors have been factory-calibrated to an accuracy up to +/-0.2°C. Applications range from consumer electronic devices and wearables, to health-related monitoring systems and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

The AS621x temperature sensors comes in three accuracy versions: ±0.2°C for the AS6212; ±0.4°C for the AS6214; and ±0.8°C for the AS6218. As the AS621x is a complete digital temperature system, designers only need to solder the sensor solution onto their PCB without further calibration. For greater sensitivity to temperature change, ams increased the resolution of the temperature value output to 16 bit.

Pricing information is available here. An evaluation board is available.