austriamicrosystems' Magnetic Rotary Encoder IC at the Heart of Megatron's Next-generation Contactless Rotary Encoders
Share:
Compact AS5040 system-on-chip is ideal for company's broad range of industrial sensors
Unterpremstaetten, Austria (March 23, 2006) - austriamicrosystems (SWX:AMS), a leading global
designer and manufacturer of analog integrated circuits for industrial, medical, communication and
automotive applications, is providing its AS5040 small size 10-bit magnetic rotary encoder IC to encoder
specialist Megatron Elektronik AG & Co. The AS5040 will be included in a broad range of the Megatron's
next-generation contactless rotary encoder products.
Headquartered in Germany, Megatron Elektronik AG & Co. specializes in producing cost-effective
solutions for off-the-shelf and customized industrial encoder systems, such as contactless angle sensors,
precision potentiometers, incremental encoders, linear displacement sensors and industrial joysticks.
The innovative AS5040 magnetic rotary encoder IC is a true system-on-chip (SoC) integrating field
sensing Hall elements, analog front-end and digital signal processing. The rotary position is contactlessly
sensed by a small rotating magnet that is placed above the device. The AS5040 can detect 1,024
absolute positions in a full turn, which corresponds to a resolution of 0.35 degrees.
Because of its contactless measurement method, the AS5040 is ideally suited for harsh environments. It
is highly reliable and immune to adverse environmental conditions such as dust, moisture, vibration and
even unwanted magnetic fields. Additional features include a user programmable zero/index position and
a safety feature that monitors for the presence of the magnet.
"We are very excited about the business opportunities for our encoder product family based around
austriamicrosystems innovative AS5040," said Thomas Kunz-Vizenetz, CEO of Megatron. "Thanks to
excellent support from austriamicrosystems and the AS5040 competitive edge, we are well placed to
provide robust, cost-efficient solutions."
"We work as closely as possible with our customers to ensure that their design-to-market cycles are as
short as possible," said Matjaz Novak, Marketing Director Industry & Medical at austriamicrosystems.
"The AS5040 is a perfect fit with Megatron's product lines and their new Hall-based encoder family is an
example of the exciting new solutions they will be offering to their clients. The need for simple, reliable
contactless sensors continues to grow and, with our industry-leading magnetic encoder product family, we
enable our customers to develop a broad range of competitive solutions."
March 23, 2006
Megatron selects AS5040 Magnetic Rotary Encoder IC
About austriamicrosystems
austriamicrosystems is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, combining
almost 25 years of analog design capabilities and system know-how with its own state-of-the-art
manufacturing and test facilities. austriamicrosystems leverages its expertise in low power and high
accuracy to provide industry-leading customized and standard analog products. Operating worldwide with
more than 850 employees, austriamicrosystems focuses on the areas of power management, sensors &
sensor interfaces, portable audio and car access in its markets Communications, Industry & Medical and
Automotive, complemented by its Full Service Foundry activities. austriamicrosystems is listed on the
SWX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS). For more information visit
www.austriamicrosystems.com
For information contact
austriamicrosystems AG
Media Relations
Sonja Pieber-Hascher
Tel: +43 (0) 3136 500 5968
Fax: +43 (0) 3136 500 5420
press@austriamicrosystems.com
www.austriamicrosystems.com
