Silicon Designs Announces Immediate Availability of MEMS Capacitive Accelerometer Chips

As one of the industry’s only 100% U.S-based OEM’s of its own MEMS capacitive surface mount accelerometer chips, plus its own in-house MEMS wafer development and fabrication, Silicon Designs is uniquely positioned to ensure the expeditious design and manufacture of its full standard product portfolio, while still keeping both pricing and lead times highly competitive. Each product family is carefully developed from both customer and industry feedback and may typically also be built to a customer’s own exacting standards. All product manufacturing and testing are conducted from the company’s own ISO9001:2015 certified global corporate headquarters and R&D center, located just outside of Seattle, Washington.

Image used courtesy of Silicon Designs, Inc.

Beyond its direct supply of MEMS capacitive accelerometer chips for zero-to-medium frequency customer testing and instrumentation requirements, Silicon Designs also routinely designs and manufactures chips to serve as key performance elements with the finished product designs of other sensors industry manufacturers, thereby also helping to mitigate industry challenges arising from recent ongoing global component shortages.

The following Silicon Designs’ single axis, industrial-grade surface mount MEMS capacitive accelerometer chip families are now available, in quantities ranging from test samples up to OEM volumes:

• Model 1521 Series low-cost, industrial-grade, high-stability OEM surface mount accelerometer chips, offered in eight unique standard ranges from ±2 g to ±400 g. Each features a ±4V differential output and is offered with a choice of either a 20-pin LCC or J-lead surface mount package, both of which are Nitrogen gas-damped, hermetically sealed and RoHS compliant. The distinguishing feature of the Model 1521 Series is its integration of a high-quality MEMS capacitive sense element, together with both an amplifier and internal temperature sensor. The industry-best-in-class MEMS capacitive sense element of the Model 1521 Series provides long-term measurement stability (+5 VDC, 5 mA power typical), reliable operation, durability, 5,000 g shock survivability and zero signal degradation. The Series is expressly designed for zero-to-medium frequency testing and instrumentation applications requiring extremely low noise (with 7 μg/√Hz typical for 2 g full-scale versions) and long-term stability. As such, they can respond to frequencies from zero (DC) to 2000+ Hz and can reliably perform over a standard operating temperature range of -55°C to +125°C.
• Model 1522 Series enhanced thermal performance MEMS capacitive accelerometer chips, offered in eight unique standard ranges from ±2 g to ±400 g (20-pin LCC package only). Its distinguishing features are its low-noise, superior bias, and scale factor performance over an expanded standard operating temperature range of -55°C to +125°C. The enhanced temperature performance of the Model 1522 Series allow these MEMS capacitive analog surface mount accelerometers to be specified within an expanded variety of zero-to-medium frequency testing and instrumentation applications, including those in which particularly large or rapid temperature variations, thermal gradients, or other hot and cold temperature extremes are present. To ensure their maximum reliability and measurement accuracy under thermally volatile conditions, each Model 1522 Series accelerometer chip is individually tested, programmed, calibrated, and verified within a climate chamber environment.
• Model 1531 high-temperature MEMS capacitive accelerometer chips, offered in seven unique standard ranges from ±5 g to ±400 g. This Series provides reliable and repeatable measurements within demanding applications, including higher temperature environments from -55°C to +175°C. The Model 1531 features near-identical performance specifications to that of the Model 1521 Series, but with additionally improved long-term thermal durability. The robust design of the Model 1531 Series incorporates both high-temperature materials and rigorous temperature conditioning protocols. Internal components are housed in a Nitrogen gas-damped, hermetically sealed and RoHS compliant, 20-pin J-lead surface mount package, thereby further isolating it from surface thermal expansion. The Model 1531 Series is additionally and meticulously tested within a climate chamber environment, thereby ensuring its continued performance reliability in temperatures up to +175°C.

About Silicon Designs, Inc.

Silicon Designs was founded in 1983 with the goal of improving the accepted design standard for traditional MEMS capacitive accelerometers. At that time, industrial-grade accelerometers were bulky, fragile, and costly. The engineering team at Silicon Designs listened to the needs of customers who required more compact, sensitive, rugged, and reasonably priced accelerometer modules and chips, though which also offered higher performance. Resultant product lines were designed and built to surpass customer expectations. The company has grown steadily over the years, while its core competency remains accelerometers, with the core business philosophies of “make it better, stronger, smaller and less expensive” and “let the customer drive R&D” maintained to this day. Silicon Designs is a 100% U.S. based and veteran owned small business.