TOKYO--(Business Wire)--Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:6703) today announced it
has started volume shipment of its ultraviolet (UV) sensor ICs,
ML8511, starting this month. OKI plans to ship over 100 thousand chips
to Hong Kong and the Chinese markets this year.
"As trends toward health and anti-aging grow, many people are
protecting their skin by monitoring the UV level they are exposed to.
We believe it would be convenient if one could check the UV level more
easily on a portable UV monitoring device," said Takaki Yamada,
President of Silicon Microdevice Company at Oki Electric Industry.
"OKI succeeded in developing a UV sensor IC based on SOI-CMOS(1)
technology, a first in the world. This IC will enable users to embed
UV sensor functions in a variety of portable devices, offering end
users the ability to check the UV level wherever they are."
The ML8511 is the world's first UV sensor IC to be based on
SOI-CMOS technology, and it integrates a UV light-receiving element
and an analog output circuit into a single chip. This helps to reduce
the number of components, cost and size compared to conventional
devices. Because the IC includes an energy-saving standby function, it
is perfect for battery driven portable mobile devices which require
low power consumption.
OKI is also releasing a reference board to support customers'
product development. The board includes the ML8511 IC to measure the
light density of incident UV light and display a UV index. Once the UV
index is measured, the UV level is displayed using LEDs on the printed
circuit board. Starting from April 2008 OKI will provide reference
designs to provide detailed guidelines detailed measures for skin care
based on the UV level measured by the ML8511.
Going forward, OKI plans to offer sensors with higher
functionality based on SOI-CMOS technology and to increase its product
line up of easy-to-use sensor ICs for skin care.
(Glossary)
(1) SOI-CMOS (Silicon-On-Insulator Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor):
This is a technology to develop CMOS on insulator. It uses an SOI
substrate with an embedded Insulator instead of a conventional silicon
substrate. This enables lower voltage operation and decreases the
effect of leak current temperature, which is attractive for low
voltage, low current and low leakage operation.
About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first
telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo,
Japan. OKI provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions
to its customers through its info-telecom system business,
semiconductor business and printer business. All three businesses
function as a collective force to create exciting new products and
technologies that satisfy a spectrum of customer needs in various
markets. Visit OKI's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.
Notes:
-- Names of companies and products are trademarks or registered
trademarks of the respective companies and organizations.
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
For Europe and Americas:
Naomi Takeuchi, +1-408-737-6279
Public Relations Division
Email: press@oki.com
or
For Asia and Other Areas:
Akiko Horiguchi, +81-3-3580-8950
Public Relations Division
Email: press@oki.com
Copyright Business Wire 2007
