ams introduces industry-leading, ultra-high sensitivity digital light sensor

2013/04/17, Unterpremstaetten, Austria
ams AG (SIX: AMS), a global leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog ICs and optical sensors for consumer and communications, industrial, medical and automotive applications, today introduced a new performance benchmark with the launch of newest digital light sensor family.

The TSL2591 device family offers a wide 600M:1 dynamic range up to 88,000 lux (bright sunlight), and detects as low as 0.000377 lux.  TSL2591 increases design flexibility and offers engineers new levels of performance in ambient light sensors for display management, as well as for a wide range of non-display applications.

Designs using lower-sensitivity light sensors face severe constraints and are forced to meet tight specifications governing the properties of the attenuating material they are placed behind, the physical placement of the sensor, and the minimum intensity of light it must be exposed to in order to deliver sufficiently accurate measurements. With the introduction of the TSL2591 device family, designers now have available to them far greater flexibility in system design and layout. Its ultra-high sensitivity and wide dynamic range mean that it can deliver accurate and meaningful measurements even when exposed to extremely low light levels. This gives the designer the freedom to place the sensor away from the direct path of the light it is measuring and behind a wider variety of darkened glass or attenuating materials.

TSL2591 is a fully integrated light-to-digital sensor with dual analog-to-digital converters and an I2C interface. It offers programmable gain and programmable integration time.

TSL2591 provides a 2 segment interrupt feature that simplifies and improves system efficiency by eliminating the need to poll a sensor for a light intensity value. The primary purpose of the interrupt function is to detect a meaningful change in light intensity. Meaningful change can be defined by the user in terms of light intensity and time, or the persistence of a change in intensity.

The complete ams portfolio of intelligent light sensors, including the TSL2591 device family, is included in the ams online product selector tool. This tool offers a user-friendly parametric search capability enabling engineers to quickly and easily compare design specifications and find the right product for their application.

You might also be interested in: light sensors, magnetic position sensors, power converters, and power management ICs (PMICs)---can all be found in the online product selector tool.
Visit at www.ams.com/productselector