No, I don’t work for Freescale. Just saw this in Embedded magazine.
Freescale Semiconductor has unveiled three highly sensitive XYZ-axis accelerometers for smart mobile devices at the Consumer Electronics Show 2007 in Las Vegas. The MMA7360L, MMA7340L and MMA7330L triple-axis accelerometers provide motion-sensing solutions for consumer electronics devices that require fast response times, low current consumption, low-voltage operation and sleep mode in small-profile packages.
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The MMA7360L, MMA7340L and MMA7330L sensors are available now in sample quantities, with general availability expected in the second quarter 2007. The suggested resale price in quantities of 10,000 starts at $3.66 for the MMA7360L, $3.59 for the MMA7340L and $3.53 for the MMA7330L. Suggested consumer product pricing is less than $2 in high volume.
Some notes: 2.2 to 3.6V operation
7330L is 4G or 16G selectable with freefall signaling
7340L is 3G or 12G selectable with freefall signaling
7360L is 1.5G or 6G selectablewith freefall signaling
All are in a 14 pin LGA format, so they shrunk… AGAIN. It looks like it’s mostly a design revision of the older system to reduce cost and expand the dual sensing range a bit more. It is kinda nice to be able to have the various ranges, though, as some systems may need to change G range along the way to something above 6G but still maintain a sub 6G sensing region.
They seem to still have the same noise response as the old 7260, but they don’t quote RMS noise, only power spectral noise in the new part datasheets. Bandwidth has been improved (350/150 to 400/300Hz). They do better in high shock now, too (2000G to 5000G).
Looks like the winner really is price, though, we’re down from $5.68 a unit in 1K quantities. Overall, I’d say this moves the Freescale 3axis parts into the low cost area vs the Analog parts which are higher performance but higher price ($5.45 @ 1K).