Accelerometers for automotive airbags

STMicroelectronics introduced a new family of high-g acceleration sensors for advanced airbag systems. These micro devices pick up rapid deceleration of the vehicle during a collision and relay instantaneous information to the airbag control unit.

ST's AIS1xxxDS peripheral-sensor accelerometers offer single-axis in-plane motion sensing across five full-scale ranges, from ±20g up to ±400g. An on-chip IC interface interprets the deceleration data into a

high-resolution digital bit stream which is transmitted to a dedicated microcontroller chip via a standard Distributed System Interface (DSI) protocol. Algorithms process the situation and decide whether or not to deploy the airbag, all within a few milliseconds.

ST's new high-g accelerometers function within an extended temperature range from -40° to 125°C. Robust to electromagnetic interference, they are compliant with AEC-Q100, a critical stress-test qualification for automotive integrated circuits established by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC).

The sensing component of the airbag accelerometer is fabricated on ST's 8in MEMS line, which has produced more than 850 million motion sensors to date. On the other hand, the electrical component benefits from the high level of integration and specific control of parasitic currents made possible by the Silicon-On-Insulator technology in the ST's proprietary BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) manufacturing process.

ST's AIS1xxxDS peripheral acceleration sensors for airbags are available for sampling; volume production is due in 2012. Unit pricing is $3, for volumes in the range of 1,000 units.

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