Magnetics Business & Technology - November/December 2023 - 22

PRODUCT NEWS
Azoteq Digital Crown a Super-Enabler for Consumer Electronics Devices
Using Hall-effect sensing to detect the rotation of a magnet,
Azoteq of South Africa calls its Digital Crown its crowning
achievement. For more than twenty years, the fabless semiconductor
company has been boldly enabling new applications
for electronic devices, many of them employing sophisticated
magnetic sensing technology. The Digital Crown can be used to
design a contactless and waterproof solution for many applications.
angle
of a magnet rotating parallel with the sensor. The sensor
is fully I2C compatible and on-chip calculations enable the IC to
stream the current angle of the magnet without extra calculations.
There are two internal Hall-effect sensing plates on die, so no
external sensing hardware is required for Hall-effect sensing. The
Hall-effect sensor measures the generated voltage difference
across the plate, which can be modelled as a Wheatstone bridge.
The voltage difference is converted to a current using an operational
amplifier in order to be measured by the same ProxSense
sensor engine.
It is among numerous ICs that
Azoteq makes for rotation and
other sensing needs. The company's
ProxFusion IQS7210 IC is
a sensor fusion device targeting
the wearable fitness market. A
low-power dedicated wake-up
touch button launches full trackpad
and touchscreen sensing for up
to 42 channels, integrated with wear detect, force touch and Hall
sensing capabilities.
Azoteq's technology allows for the designing of various dustproof
and waterproof user interfaces based on contactless inductive
sensing. A small deflection or change in distance, from a metal
target can be detected by an inductive sensing coil that is sealed
inside the housing of its waterproof button. Hermetically sealed
against dust and water, applications for the technology are numerous.
It can be used to design a contactless magnetic crown
for a smartwatch, to handle precise rotation for volume adjustment
or for a waterproof knob on a kitchen appliance.
The highly flexible IQS624 IC has multiple sensing
capabilities including Hall-effect rotation sensing,
along with dual-channel capactive proximity
and touch sensing, or single-channel inductive
sensing. The two Hall-effect sensors calculate the
22 Magnetics Business & Technology * November/December 2023
Founded in 1998 by Frederick Bruwer, a
pioneer in remote keyless entry technology,
Azoteq initially developed the LightSense
range intelligent drivers for flashlights and
headlamps and has since introduced other
products for lighting, as well as for touch and
proximity sensing. The ProxFusion product
line for multi-sensing on a single chip is its
latest addition.
The CTO of the company is Dieter Mellet, one
of the original inventors of ProxSense and
ProxFusion technologies.
For more info, see www.azoteq.com.
www.MagneticsMag.com
http://www.azoteq.com http://www.MagneticsMag.com
Magnetics Business & Technology - November/December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Magnetics Business & Technology - November/December 2023
