Silicon Labs has announced opening a new chapter in the hall-effect sensor field by introducing a magnetic sensor product family that delivers industry-leading power efficiency, best-in-class sensitivity, flexible I2C configuration, built-in tamper detection and temperature sensing capabilities.

Silicon Labs' new Si72xx portfolio includes the most advanced and feature-rich magnetic sensor product family that surpasses reed switches and conventional hall-effect sensor products currently used in a wide range of open/close and position sensing applications.

The Si72xx magnetic sensors provide robust reliability for white goods appliances, flow meters, cordless power tools, dial-type controls for consumer electronics, industrial alarms, motor control, and door/window security applications. These sensors guarantee AEC-Q100 quality for automotive applications and are designed to withstand harsh industrial environments.

The Si72xx sensors from Silicon Labs address several trade-off issues when users select a magnetic sensor solution suitable for power and price-sensitive applications. Reed switches consume very low power but are bulky and have lower reliability. Hall-effect sensors offer better reliability while consuming higher power.

Conventional hall-effect sensors are locked into legacy approaches, providing only a few programmable functions and advanced features that other modern sensors used in IoT applications offer. In contrast, the Si72xx sensors address these requirements by combining the power efficiency of reed switches with the reliability of hall-effect sensors, while also providing advanced features, excellent sensitivity, and outstanding configurability.

The Si72xx sensors consume 100nA in sleep mode and less than 400nA when operating at a 5Hz sampling rate, enabling battery life of several years to 10 years even when using small batteries.

The Si72xx sensors feature excellent sensitivity (1.1mT Bop), allowing developers to reduce the magnetic size by 0-80% in system design or extend the sensing range by more than two times. Control via the I2C interface provides excellent flexibility both in the design process and in the final product. By utilizing the I2C interface, current consumption can be significantly reduced in position sensing applications by enabling operation only when needed rather than continuous sensing.

The sensors include numerous useful built-in features such as tamper prevention functionality that enables the system to detect malicious attempts to breach security. Most reed switch and hall-effect sensor-based security systems can be breached through strong external magnetic fields.

The Si72xx sensors' tamper detection technology detects malicious magnetic fields, and the self-test mode is used to verify that the sensor is operating continuously and accurately in the field.