MEMS manufacturer Kionix Inc recently announced the introduction of their thinnest full-functional tri-axis accelerometers: the KX112 (2.0 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm) and the KXCJB (3.0 x 3.0 x 0.45 mm). At 0.45 mm thick the KXCJB is half the thickness of its predecessor.

The size of the KX112 makes it suitable for integration into compact devices for wearable and health/medical applications. A wide range of functionality is built into the small outline with algorithms to detect motion for power management, free-fall detect for device protection or warranty monitoring, an orientation engine for portrait/landscape detection and tap/double-tap for user interface functionality.  It also incorporates Kionix’s FlexSet performance optimizing technology for control of accelerometer power usage and noise value trade-off. It features a large 2048-byte FIFO/LIFO buffer which allows the rest of the system to remain in low power mode while the KX112 stores sensor measurements. The accelerometer can supply output data with 8 or 16-bit resolution and with a user selectable range of  ± 2g, 4g or 8g.

Model KXCJB measuring 3 x 3 x 0.45 mm supports the move towards thinner mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and HDDs as well as activity monitors and smartwatches. Its form-factor is half the thickness of most accelerometers currently on the market. This allows it to be easily embedded into devices such as badges, access cards and payment or smart cards as well as glass or thin plastic structures.