Spun off by ams in 2020, the start-up exhibited a barometric pressure sensor that is both compact and highly accurate at Electronica.

Like a second birth. ScioSense, which encompasses the environmental sensors outsourced by ams in 2020, took advantage of the recent Electronica show to reaffirm its presence in the industry. At Electronica, it exhibited the ENS220, a Cmos barometric pressure and temperature sensor that combines small size (2×2 mm LGA package) with precision. The ENS220 has an error of less than +/-2.5 Pa, corresponding to an altitude of +/-21 cm. The temperature measurement is accurate to +/-0.2 K and is used to compensate for pressure sensing between -40 and 85°C over the full range of 300 to 1200 hPa.
ScioSense attributes the accuracy of the sensor to its fully monolithic construction, unlike many competitive devices that combine a micromachined diaphragm with signal processing circuitry. The ENS220 is a single block design, so it does not suffer from noise or capacitance mismatches between the sensor part and the processing block, which includes 24-bit analogue-to-digital conversion. The ENS220 will be sampled in the first quarter of 2023.

Born in the middle of an epidemic

Based in Eindhoven, ScioSense achieved a fast-growing turnover last year, despite being born in the midst of a pandemic. “The day I was appointed CEO of ScioSense, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out“, Dirk Enderlein told us at the trade fair. The company has grown from 85 employees to 135 and expects sales in 2022 to expand by almost 10% (44 million dollars in 2021), even though it has experienced difficulties in meeting demand : “At one point, we were no longer getting wafers from foundries“, explains Dirk Enderlein. A shortage that no longer seems to exist, which should give ScioSense and its pressure, gas, flow and humidity sensors a fresh start.