Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. offers MBF200 fingerprint sensor

NOVEMBER 7--A new solid-state fingerprint sensor targeted at secure mobile-computing systems and physical-access authentication systems is now available from Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. (FMA; San Jose, CA; www.fma.fujitsu.com/biometric/biometric.asp). The sensor features a 256 x 300-pixel sensor array that produces clear 500-dpi resolution fingerprint images. The sensor area, which is approximately 1.28 x 1.5 cm, allows single-touch fingerprint authentication for all users. The sensor also features an ultrahard, patented, scratchproof protective coating and an integrated two-stage 8-bit A/D converter. The user can choose from three interfaces: an 8-bit microprocessor bus, an integrated Serial Peripheral Interface, and an integrated full speed USB interface.

The sensor's operating voltage ranges from 3.3 to 5.0 V, and the product features very low operating and standby power consumption of 100 mW and 165 μW, respectively. The sensor also includes an automatic finger-detect circuit that generates and sends a finger-detect interrupt to the host CPU when a finger is placed on the sensor. This feature reduces CPU overhead associated with continually polling the sensor for the presence of a fingerprint. The MBF200 is pin-to-pin compatible with the Veridicom FPS200 fingerprint sensor.