austriamicrosystems, a leading global designer and manufacturer of analog integrated circuits (ICs) for communication, industrial, medical and automotive applications, launches a contest for the most attractive application ideas for its innovative data acquisition product family AS8500/AS8501. Following the successful market introduction of the products, teams and individuals are invited to submit concepts showing how these innovative data acquisition ICs improve the performance of measurement devices or enable radically new concepts.

The key benefit of the AS8500/AS8501 family is its ability to measure very small voltage changes over an extremely wide bandwidth without any offset. This is based on the devices’ 21-bit resolution and up to 64 kHz sampling rate. First impressive applications include a battery management system for cars where current is being measured from the mA to kA range over one single shunt, a temperature measurement device that works from 0ºC up to 1200ºC displaying temperature variations of less than 0.1ºC, and a weight scale offering individually definable ranges with a resolution of 1g over a range of 100 kilograms.

The contest is meant to showcase the most innovative application concepts using the benefits of the AS8500/AS8501. It consists of two phases: Participants are invited to submit a detailed description of their project until June 30, 2006, following registration for the contest. The most interesting concepts will be elected for the contest’s second phase in which physical prototypes will be assessed. Teams will be invited to present their prototypes in the context of austriamicrosystems’ 25th anniversary celebrations in September 2006 at austriamicrosystems’ headquarters in Austria. A jury of recognized industry and academic experts will elect the three winners who will receive cash prizes of € 7,500/$ 9,000, € 5,000/$ 6,000 and € 2,500/$ 3,000, respectively. All contest details can be found at www.austriamicrosystems.com/promo/application_contest.htm

“After we introduced the AS8500/AS8501 family to the market, we received a large number of inquiries from a broad range of industries asking whether the products would be suitable for their respective application”, says Bernhard Czar, Director Marketing Business Unit Automotive at
austriamicrosystems. “The answer was ‘yes’ in most cases, so we realized we should tap the creativity of customers, students and designers to see the full picture of possible applications for our AS8500/AS8501. These products are so versatile we would never be able to come up with all applications ourselves.”

About austriamicrosystems
austriamicrosystems is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, combining almost 25 years of analog design capabilities and system know-how with its own state-of-the-art manufacturing and test facilities. austriamicrosystems leverages its expertise in low power and high accuracy to provide industry-leading customized and standard analog products. Operating worldwide with more than 850 employees, austriamicrosystems focuses on the areas of power management, sensors & sensor interfaces, portable audio and car access in its markets Communications, Industry & Medical and Automotive, complemented by its Full Service Foundry activities. austriamicrosystems is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS).