Silicon Laboratories announces ChipSensors acquisition

ChipSensors’ technology complements Silicon Labs’ touch, proximity sensing and recently acquired MEMS technology, expanding the company’s capabilities in the CMOS-based sensor arena.

ChipSensors - a fabless semiconductor company - has developed a novel sensor technology that addresses a wide range of target markets such as thermostats, automotive climate control, printers, wireless sensor networks, security systems, gas leak detectors, white goods, plus food and drug transportation.

Historically, sensors have been manufactured using specialised materials and manufacturing processes that demand external support circuitry and post-assembly calibration. ChipSensors’ proprietary technology can enable the sensors, signal conditioning circuits and RF transceiver functions, together with the microcontroller and memory, to be integrated and calibrated in a single CMOS IC. These highly integrated devices provide a cost-effective solution to precision sensing for high-volume applications.

’In addition to a strong alignment with Silicon Labs’ existing sensor-related research and development efforts, ChipSensors’ technology also offers synergy with our existing MCU and wireless products, targeting similar end market applications and therefore enabling more content per system and unique integration opportunities,’ said Mark Downing, vice-president of corporate strategy and business development for Silicon Laboratories.