AMS introduces a new high-sensitivity three-channel CMOS sensor

AMS has announced the introduction of the three-channel UV-A/B/C sensor AS7331, making UV dose and exposure monitoring solutions more affordable for home cost-sensitive devices. This is the first Imis Osram CMOS sensor that can measure UV-A/B/C wavelength radiation. Targeted at consumer and industrial markets, the AS7331 has very high sensitivity and dynamic range, and customers also benefit from the cost effectiveness of CMOS device manufacturing.

With high sensitivity of up to 421 count /(µW/cm2) in the UV-A range, the AS7331 can detect bioluminescence (for water quality monitoring) or partial discharge in motors. The chips of low-cost UV sensors currently on the market are not sensitive enough to detect such a weak UV signal. On the other hand, the Ames Osram AS7331 has a high dynamic range of 3.43E+10, enabling designers to flexibly monitor UV regardless of the radiation source. The shortest measurement time is 125µs, which is four times faster than the last great UV sensor in the consumer market today.

 "The introduction of AS7331 means that highly sensitive UV dose monitoring is now affordable enough to be built into household devices such as sweeping robots, coffee makers, as well as home appliances and water and air purifiers," said Markus Busz, senior product manager, Spectral Sensing at Imas Osram. With low cost UV sensors having very low sensitivity and high performance, lab-grade UV sensors being too expensive for home devices, the AS7331 fills a gap in the market."

 The sensor is also suitable for applications such as UV curing and phototherapy. Markus Busz added, "Currently, consumer disinfection and decontamination products generally do not have UV-C monitoring capabilities due to the high cost of existing UV-C sensors. Without accurate dose information, these products set very high radiation and long treatment times to ensure more than the minimum necessary dose. This wastes electric energy and accelerates the aging of ultraviolet light source and irradiated material. Our compact, affordable AS7331 allows manufacturers to precisely limit the radiation of UV-C light sources to the minimum necessary, thereby improving performance and creating greater value for the end user."

By integrating UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C monitoring into a single device, the AS7331 also enables manufacturers to save space and reduce material costs in multifunctional applications. For example, in water purification systems, AS7331 can analyze water quality by measuring UV-A light absorption. It can then measure UV-C radiation to check if enough doses have been given to sufficiently purify the water.

It has precise optical properties

1)The AS7331 is a three-channel sensor that uses an interference filter to produce precisely characterized responses to radiation at the UV-A(315nm-410nm), UV-B(280nm-315nm) and UV-C(240nm-280nm) bands. Filters are also excellent at suppressing interference from ambient visible and near-infrared light sources.

2)The AS7331 has a built-in temperature sensor to compensate the measured results. The maximum resolution of radiation intensity digital measurement is 24 bits, and the measurement results are output through the 16-bit I2C interface.

3)The AS7331 features low power consumption and is suitable for mobile or battery-powered products such as sweeping robots. When the 3.3V supply voltage is used, the typical operating current value in active measurement mode is 1.5mA, while in standby mode, the device consumes only 970µA.

4)The AS7331 is packaged in 16-pin OLGA with a size of 3.65mm×2.60mm and a thickness of 1.09mm. The AS7331 UV sensor can be used with a variety of AMS UV leds, such as the new OSLON UV 6060, a high-power UV-C LED with market-leading electro-optical conversion efficiency and excellent sterilization.