IDEX Completes Development of ASIC for Off-Chip Sensors

IDEX has completed the development stage for its new ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) for off-chip fingerprint sensors, the company has announced.

In a statement, IDEX CEO Hemant Mardia called the ASIC’s development “a significant strategic milestone” for the company. Mardia said the ASIC offers “the smallest footprint of any chip we have ever introduced,” and moreover that it has low power consumption and “an extremely attractive price point”. As such, it could find applications across a range of products and services, but IDEX is primarily targeting it at smart cards, an area of focus for the company.

TSMC will be the foundry for mass production of the ASIC, which IDEX expects to offer substantial capacity given the firm’s work for major companies like Apple and Qualcomm. IDEX says the ASIC will begin sampling in Q2 of this year and will go into mass production in the latter half of 2017.

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February 17, 2017 – by Alex Perala