mCube Introduces 3-Axis Accelerometer Smaller Than a Grain of Sand

mCube, provider of the world’s smallest MEMS motion sensors, today announced the industry’s first 3-axis accelerometer which is less than a cubic millimeter in total size (0.9mm³).

The MC3571 is only 1.1x1.1x0.74mm in size making it 75% smaller than current 2x2mm accelerometers on the market today, enabling developers to design high-resolution 3-axis inertial solutions for products that require ultra-small sensor form factors.

The MC3571 features a Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP), making it smaller than a grain of sand. This achievement marks a major innovation milestone in the MEMS sensor industry and opens up new design possibilities for the next generation of sleek new mobile phones, surgical devices, and consumer products.

“The new MC3571 truly represents mCube’s vision of delivering a high-performance motion sensor in less than a cubic millimeter size,” said Ben Lee, president and CEO, mCube. “This advancement demonstrates how our monolithic technology can unleash amazing possibilities for designers to create exciting new products that could never be possible with today’s standard 2x2mm sensors.”

“mCube is the first company we’ve seen with a 1.1x1.1mm integrated MEMS+CMOS accelerometer and stretches once again the limits of miniaturization establishing new standards for the industry,” said Guillaume Girardin, Technology & Market Analyst MEMS & Sensors at Yole Développement (Yole). And his colleague, Thibault Buisson, Technology & Market Analyst, Advanced Packaging added: “Clearly, there is a growing trend among consumer companies to transition to wafer-level CSP packaging designs and with the MC3571 inertial motion sensor, mCube is at the forefront of this market evolution and at Yole, we are curious to see how competition will react.”

The high-resolution 14-bit, 3-axis MC3571 accelerometer is built upon the company’s award-winning 3D monolithic single-chip MEMS technology platform, which is widely adopted in mobile handsets with over 100 million units shipped. With the mCube approach, the MEMS sensors are fabricated directly on top of IC electronics in a standard CMOS fabrication facility. Advantages of this monolithic approach include smaller size, higher performance, lower cost, and the ability to integrate multiple sensors onto a single chip.

About the MC3571 Accelerometer

MC3571 is a low-noise, integrated digital output 3-axis accelerometer, which features the following:

• 8, 10, or 14-bit resolution;
• Output Data Rates (ODR) up to 1024Hz;
• Selectable interrupt modes via an I2C bus;
• Requires only a single external passive component, compared to competitive offerings requiring 2 or more.

Samples of the world’s smallest 1.1x1.1mm WLCSP accelerometer are available to select lead customers now with volume production scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.