Tiny 3D magnetometer gives superior performance and high reliability
The new MLX90394 magnetometer from Melexis achieves an excellent trade-off between low noise, power consumption and cost to give designers an effective way to build position-sensing functions into an end product.
Melexis has introduced the MLX90394 Triaxis® micropower magnetometer, a tiny Hall-effect based sensor which balances the design trade-off between low noise, power consumption, and cost. It is suitable for rotary and linear sensing systems, push-buttons, and 3D joystick control in gaming and industrial peripherals.
Offering selectable modes and broad configurability, the MLX90394 enables OEMs to reuse a single hardware design across multiple product variants, and to reduce time-to-market. Helping to save power, the modes can be selected on-the-fly.
In position sensing functions, the MLX90394 provides an elegant, flexible and reliable alternative to traditional potentiometers, which suffer from contamination of the wiper surface as well as packaging constraints. The contactless MLX90394 is also more reliable than contacting switches.
Supplied in a compact 2 mm x 1.5 mm x 0.4 mm six-lead UTDFN package, this magnetometer helps designers to implement smaller, slicker human-machine interfaces.
The MLX90394 architecture delivers several benefits compared to existing solutions. It enables measurement and output of each magnetic axis individually. A built-in thermometer allows selectable temperature measurement to enable compensation for measurement error.