News and New Products

Fingerprint scanner sweeps PDA and handset market

By Nicholas Cravotta -- EDN, 10/2/2003

Fujitsu Microelectronics America has introduced the MBF310 capacitive fingerprint Sweep Sensor. Swipe or sweep fingerprint scanners take up less space than full-image scanners, which must be as large as the size of the print they take an image of (Picture). By requiring users to sweep their fingers across the scanner, the swipe scanner takes multiple images of portions of the print, from which it then reconstructs the entire print.

The MBF310 has only eight image-sensing rows, making the device compact enough for PDAs and mobile phones. An AFD (auto-finger-detection) feature enables the device to wait in a low-power standby mode until it detects a finger, and an integrated finger-swipe guide helps the device locate and align fingers. The device has 2 kbytes of onboard FIFO memory to support frame-sweep rates of 8 ips. Packaged in a compact, 42-pin, plastic FBGA, the MBF310 is available now for $6 (1000) or less in higher volumes.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, www.fma.fujitsu.com/biometric.