MEMSIC INTRODUCES INDUSTRY’S FIRST FULLY INTEGRATED DIGITAL ORIENTATION SENSOR

ANDOVER, MA., - MAY 10, 2010 - MEMSIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:MEMS), a leading MEMS sensor solution provider, today introduced the world’s first family of Digital Thermal Orientation Sensors (DTOS).  The first member of the DTOS family, the MXC6225XU, is an ultra –low-cost, two -axis motion/orientation sensor, designed for cost sensitive applications like mobile phones, toys/games, digital cameras, flat panel TV’s, appliances and other consumer electronics products.  It is based on MEMSICs proven MEMS thermal technology, which has been implemented in millions of devices shipped by MEMSIC to mobile phone and consumer electronics customers to date. 

The MXC6225XU provides mobile phone and consumer electronics customers with the ability to integrate key user interfaces – like programmable “shake to change” menu navigation or TV/music channel selection, as well as vertical/horizontal picture orientation.  It can also provide some basic game play control  – which has been a traditional strength of MEMSIC in supporting its accelerometer products.  For other applications like toys, games, or appliances, the MXC6225XU provides horizontal/vertical detection for features such as fall-over detection in irons or other appliances. 

The MXC6225XU was designed specifically to compete against ball sensor products, providing a better level of performance at a similar price point.  For instance, the MXC6225XU will include orientation thresholds and hysteresis, thereby eliminating the problems of false detects which are common in ball sensors.  And because it is based on MEMSIC’s thermal technology, which has no moving parts, it will not suffer from the noise or “clicking” which is common with ball sensor products.   And finally, it will have a high level of shock survivability – 50,000G – so MEMSIC expects that it will exhibit the same level of quality – less than 5ppm – as its thermal accelerometer products. 

The MXC6225XU will include an I2C interface, power down mode, operating voltage of 2.5 – 5.5V and be packaged initially in a 3x3x1.05mm LCC package.  The MXC6225XU will be manufactured in standard CMOS technology. 

“We expect that the MXC6225XU will be a disruptive product for high volume mobile phone and consumer electronics applications,” says Mark Laich, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at MEMSIC. “MEMSIC will sell it at a price point which will compete against low end motion sensor products such as ball sensors, but the MXC6225XU will support many more features and have much better performance than ball sensor products.  In addition, when compared against low-end products from our competitors that make accelerometers, the MXC6225XU will offer many of the same features as those products at a significantly lower price point. We also believe the MXC6225XU has the lowest zero g offset, at +/- 50mg over the entire operating temperature range, of any accelerometer product in this class. We are thrilled to be bringing this product to market to enable our customers to design new and exciting features into their products.”

Pricing and Availability

The MXC6225XU is sampling now and will be offered at high volume prices which are competitive with ball sensors.  

About MEMSIC

MEMSIC Semiconductor is a world's leading MEMS technology solution provider. MEMSIC provides customers with one-stop solutions from MEMS sensor chips, software algorithms to application solutions. MEMSIC’s stable and mass-produced products include the globally unique thermal accelerometers, capacitive accelerometers, AMR magnetometers, low-power consumption Hall switches and more, which are widely used in automotive, industrial, medical, wearable, smart home, and consumer electronics applications, providing people with a more intelligent, reliable and safe technological experience by sensing the displacement and motion changes of the physical world. Sensing the beautiful life with MEMSIC. For more information, please visit www.memsic.com or follow us on WeChat and LinkedIn.