Highly accurate relative humidity and temperature sensor IC from ams ideal for space- and power-constrained designs

Premstaetten, Austria (8 November, 2016) -- ams AG (SIX: AMS), a leading provider of high performance sensors and analog ICs, today launched the ENS210, a single-die sensor IC providing extremely accurate, pre-calibrated measurements of relative humidity and ambient temperature. The ENS210 is on display for the first time at the ams stand A5.107 at the Electronica trade show 
(Munich, 8-11 November 2016).

The ENS210 provides a digital temperature output in Kelvin, accurate to a maximum ±0.2°C over the range 0°C to 70°C. It also provides relative humidity measurements as a digital output accurate to a maximum ±3.5%. Shipped to customers as a calibrated unit, the sensor requires no trimming on the production line. It provides its digital outputs over an I²C interface, eliminating the need for signal processing by the host device’s applications processor or microcontroller.

Housed in a molded plastic surface-mount package measuring just 2mm x 2mm x 0.75mm, the ENS210 is small enough to be accommodated in smart phones and wearable devices including fitness monitoring wristbands.

Drawing just 40nA in stand-by mode and 7.1µA in active measurement mode (sampling at 1Hz), the ENS210 drains very little energy from the battery in handheld and portable applications. It operates from a wide input voltage range of 1.71V-3.6V, which means that systems with a dual 1.8V/3.3V power supply need no additional level-shifting voltage regulator at the point of load.

In wearable devices, the ENS210’s readings of relative humidity and ambient temperature may be used to enhance the accuracy and reliability of measurements of physical activity that are highly dependent on environmental conditions. It can also be used to add sophisticated automation or performance-enhancement features to thermostats and to connected home appliances such as air conditioning and purifiers systems, refrigerators, clothes dryers, microwave ovens, kitchen air extractors and weather stations.

The device may also be used alongside the ams CCS811 or CCS801 gas sensor ICs, which measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air, to provide a complete system solution for indoor air quality monitoring. ams provides application software and a development board to enable OEMs to integrate the ams environmental sensor solutions rapidly into end product designs.

‘By integrating relative humidity and ambient temperature sensing functionality in a single small IC, ams is helping consumer electronics OEMs to improve the performance of their products, and to offer new features that users find valuable, while occupying a tiny piece of real estate on what are often densely populated boards’, said Giovanni de Majo, Senior Marketing Manager at ams. ‘In addition, the ENS210 offers a user-friendly digital output which places no additional processing burden on the applications processor or MCU.’

The ENS210 is available now in production volumes. Unit pricing is US$1.9 in order quantities of 100.

An evaluation board for the ENS210 is available from the ams ICdirect online store. For more technical information, go to ENS210.