mySENS® – Micronas Announces Major Breakthrough In Gas Sensing Technology Based On Standard CMOS

Enabler for highly integrated and cost-effective system solutions

Micronas (SIX Swiss Exchange: MASN), a leading supplier of innovative application-specific IC and sensor system solutions for automotive electronics, announces a major breakthrough in gas sensing technology. Based on Micronas’ mySENS platform, this innovative technology rests upon standard CMOS technology which has been utilized and proven in Micronas’ current products for automotive and industrial applications for many years.

“Leveraging its extensive experience in Hall-effect sensors, Micronas is in an ideal position to use existing know-how for developing new sensor technologies for a broad range of markets and applications,” says Peter Zimmermann, Director Marketing at Micronas. “With the mySENS technology we are expanding our sensor expertise towards the field of gas sensing to target industrial as well as automotive applications.”

Similar to its success story within the Hall-effect sensor market, where Micronas pioneered the CMOS Hall-effect sensor, mySENS technology enables the combination of sensing elements with standard electronic devices such as amplifiers, logic circuits, and memories. Such integration capability will significantly contribute to the miniaturization of existing gas sensing applications and – as a result of its small size – enable completely new applications.

Micronas’ mySENS technology provides a unique platform for solid-state gas sensors enabling adaptation towards different target gases. Small system size in proven and cost-efficient standard semiconductor mass-manufacturing technology leads to lower system cost through the integration of external components. This is in contrast to existing gas sensing approaches. The mySENS technology allows detection capabilities unmatched by any existing principle, such as selective gas detection at minimal power consumption and reliable detection in combination with a long lifetime.

With its superior features, Micronas mySENS technology is well-suited to meet the application requirements of several markets including building technology, automotive, industrial, and healthcare. Prototype testing has already been performed by selected lead customers. A first gas sensor product version is expected to be available within the current year with production volumes ramping up in the second half of 2010.