The Optoelectronics group of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. today introduced a new digital RGBW sensor featuring Filtron™ technology for accurate RGBW spectral sensitivity while providing ambient light spectral sensitivity with responses close to that of the human eye.
Vishay Semiconductors’ VEML6040 incorporates photo-pin-diodes (RGBW) and a signal processing IC in a compact 2.0 mm by 1.25 mm by 1.0 mm surface-mount package while offering an I²C bus interface for simple operation.
VEML6040
The device released today senses red, green, blue, and white light, and it offers 16-bit resolution for each color channel. The VEML6040 is ideal for consumer devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, and televisions, where it allows the brightness and color temperature of backlighting to be adjusted based on ambient light, making LCD and LED panels more comfortable for end users’ eyes. Containing the circuitry needed for color balancing, backlight control, and color temperature measurement in one device, the sensor saves space, lowers costs, and simplifies designs by eliminating the need for an external resistor.
The VEML6040’s built-in ambient light photo-diode offers extremely high sensitivity, with detection from 0.0056 lx to 11.7 klx, allowing the device to operate in applications with dark lens designs. The sensor provides fluorescent light flicker immunity, low power in shutdown mode of < 1 µA, and excellent temperature compensation stability from -40 °C to +85 °C.
The device features an operating voltage and I²C bus voltage range of 2.5 V to 3.6 V and is offered in a lead (Pb)-free, 4-pin OPLGA package. The VEML6040 is RoHS-compliant, halogen-free, and Vishay GREEN.
Samples and production quantities of the new color sensor are available now, with lead times of six to eight weeks for large orders.