Santa Clara, Calif., Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 -- Capella Microsystems, Inc. to­day an­nounced their All-In-One (AIO) optical sensor which has an Ambient Light Sensor (ALS), a Proximity Sensor (PS), and a high power infrared Light Emitting Diode (LED) all integrated into a single package.

The CM3663 optical sensor adds to Capella’s broad optical sensor portfolio which includes the recently introduced first to market smart optical lid sensor.  By incorporating all three elements (ALS, PS and infrared LED) in a single package, designers are not burdened with creating their own mechanical designs involving an isolation wall between infrared LED and sensor which needs to be monitored in manufacturing or could be affected if the smartphone falls to the ground.  In addition, light leakage and cross talk is eliminated.  

The ambient light sensor adjusts screen brightness under various lighting environments to improve readability, reduce eye strain and extend battery life.  It has high sensitivity to support dark cover lens designs.  The 850nm infrared LED offers high output power to improve object sensing distance and works in conjunction with the proximity sensor to turn off the backlight when the smartphone is held in the listening position next to an ear. 

The CM3663 incorporates Capella's patented Filtron™ technology which eliminates the need for external optical filters for both the proximity and ambient light sensors.  Filtron™ allows the closest ambient light spectral sensitivity to real human eye responses and offers the best background light cancellation capability (including sunlight) without utilization of the microcontroller’s resources.  CM3663 has excellent temperature compensation to keep the output stable under various temperature configurations.  The ALS and PS functions are easily operated via the simple command format of I2C (SMBus compatible) interface protocol. There is also both an independent and programmable interrupt function for the ALS and PS.

The part comes packaged in a lead-free low-profile 10 pin ceramic package which offers design flexibility for slim form factor applications.