Kionix
Encyclopedia
Kionix, Inc. is a global MEMS inertial sensor manufacturer. Headquartered in Ithaca, New York, USA, Kionix is a wholly owned subsidiary of ROHM Co., Ltd.
of Japan. Kionix developed high-aspect-ratio silicon micromachining based on research originally conducted at Cornell University. The company offers a broad array of inertial sensors, while also providing development tools and application support to enable motion-based gaming; user-interface functionality in mobile handsets, personal navigation and TV remote controllers; and hard-disk-drive drop protection in mobile products. Kionix’s MEMS products are also utilized in the automotive, industrial and health-care sectors. Kionix is ISO 9001:2008 and TS16949 registered.
In November, 2009, ROHM Co., Ltd. of Japan acquired Kionix. The acquisition expanded ROHM’s product offerings into the rapidly expanding, high-appeal, inertial sensor market with a suite of accelerometers, gyroscopes and unique combination sensors. Kionix, in turn, gained considerably from ROHM’s vast experience and know-how in high-volume manufacturing and supply-chain management. Additionally, Kionix now has access to ROHM’s international customer base, which has strengthened existing customer relationships and assisted business development worldwide.
Kionix has maintained a corporate focus on advancing the success of its customers through application development tools and product customization. Kionix’s applications engineering staff, located worldwide, works with customers to develop products that incorporate inertial sensors, creates algorithms that can be embedded within MEMS devices, and helps to optimize customer-developed applications and firmware.
For an up-to-date list of Kionix accelerometers, please click here. For more information on Kionix gyroscopes, please click here. For more information on development boards and kits, demonstration boards, and evaluation boards, please click here.
ISO/TS 16949 is an ISO Technical Specification developed by The International Automotive Task Force (IATF). It aligns existing American (QS-9000), German (VDA6.1), French (EAQF) and Italian (AVSQ) automotive Quality System standards within the global automotive industry, with the aim of eliminating the need for multiple certifications to satisfy multiple customer requirements. Together with ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949 specifies the quality system requirements for the design/development, production, installation, and servicing of automotive related products. In addition, there are customer-specific requirements that are required by individual subscribing vehicle manufacturers. Kionix achieved ISO TS 16949 registration in July 2005 and upgraded to ISO/TS16949:2009 in April, 2011.
China
Japan
Korea
Atmel
Kionix’s 3x3x0.9mm LGA KXTF9 tri-axis accelerometer contributes advanced sensing algorithms, low power consumption, programmable offset and sensitivity, high shock survivability, and excellent temperature performance to Atmel’s AVR Studio® 5 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Providing nine degrees of freedom, the Inertial Sensor Board Two (ATAVRSBIN2) allows customers to develop sensor applications with user-friendly drivers and ready-to-use sensor boards.
Read more about Atmel here
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Silicon Labs
The Kionix Accelerometer Application and Firmware Development Kit is based on a Silicon Labs microcontroller, and enables the development of applications and firmware that incorporate Kionix accelerometers. The Development Kit provides a common interface to Kionix evaluation boards. The included software provides an interface for displaying and recording acceleration data. Plus, a graphical register map allows the user to see and change the contents of control registers.
The Silicon Labs development board allows the use of a standard 8051 microcontroller core and a USB interface for PC development/evaluation environments. Additionally, the F340 Adapter Board provides a visual indication (through an LED array) of interrupts (motion and tap) and screen rotation output states for Kionix products that include those functionalities.
Read more about Silicon Labs here
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Texas Instruments
Kionix’s EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board has been combined with TI’s eZ430-F2013 MSP430 Development Board for low-power, cost-sensitive applications. This USB form factor kit allows users to advance toward the creation of accelerometer-enabled functionality. The EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board holds Kionix’s KXSC7-2050 accelerometer and plugs directly into an MSP430 Development Board, TI part number eZ430-F2013 (not included). A CD containing sample firmware for reading acceleration and step-by-step instructions is included.
The KXR94 Development Kit, a stand-alone development platform, includes a KXR94-2050 accelerometer, TI’s MSP430F149 MCU, onboard battery, and memory.
Read more about Texas Instruments here
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Cypress
Kionix’s KXSC7 tri-axis accelerometer helps enable the CY8CKIT-014 PSoC® 5 FirstTouchTM Starter Kit’s programmable system-on-chip architecture. The PSoC 5 FirstTouch™ Starter Kit includes software and example projects that take advantage of the kit’s onboard sensors, including the Kionix accelerometer, a thermistor, proximity sensing, and CapSense. The kit enables easy development via 28 general-purpose I/O pins, a 12-pin wireless module header, and Serial Wire Debugging (SWD). It also includes the PSoC Creator IDE.
Read more about Cypress Semiconductor here
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. Ithaca sits on the southernmost shore of Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes at 38 miles. The City is home to Cornell University
to the east and Ithaca College
to the south. Ithaca's public school system is ranked second nationally in metro areas of fewer than 500K people by Expansion Management 2007.
The City of Ithaca, in the heart of the Finger Lakes wine-producing and resort area of central New York State, is a small but thriving cosmopolitan city surrounded by an unspoiled, easily accessible environment of startling natural beauty. The City's motto "Ithaca is Gorges" derives from several deeply cut gorges, with spectacular waterfalls carved through the rolling terrain.
Ithaca has a resident population of about 30,000, and the surrounding county about 100,000, inclusive of students. The student populations include Cornell University (20,000), Ithaca College (6,500) and Tompkins-Cortland Community College (3,000).
The major industry is education and research, but tourism, aerospace, biotechnology, computer software, electronics, guidance system components for the space industry, heat resistant materials, power drive transmission systems for automotive and other applications, pharmaceutical research and drug testing, precision machine tools, scientific research instruments, computer terminals and peripherals, data processing, publishing, printing, photo engraving, salt mining and agriculture also play roles in Ithaca’s economy.
Rohm
ROHM Semiconductor is a Japanese electronic parts supplier based in Kyoto, Japan. ROHM was incorporated as Toyo Electronics Industry Corporation by Kenichiro Sato on September 17, 1958. The name was officially changed to Rohm in 1981 and then changed again to "ROHM Semiconductor" in January of...
of Japan. Kionix developed high-aspect-ratio silicon micromachining based on research originally conducted at Cornell University. The company offers a broad array of inertial sensors, while also providing development tools and application support to enable motion-based gaming; user-interface functionality in mobile handsets, personal navigation and TV remote controllers; and hard-disk-drive drop protection in mobile products. Kionix’s MEMS products are also utilized in the automotive, industrial and health-care sectors. Kionix is ISO 9001:2008 and TS16949 registered.
History
Founded in 1993, Kionix is now the third leading supplier of silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer products. Kionix was among the first companies to introduce the tri-axis accelerometer in a small form-factor package and ships millions of these devices to its customers each year.In November, 2009, ROHM Co., Ltd. of Japan acquired Kionix. The acquisition expanded ROHM’s product offerings into the rapidly expanding, high-appeal, inertial sensor market with a suite of accelerometers, gyroscopes and unique combination sensors. Kionix, in turn, gained considerably from ROHM’s vast experience and know-how in high-volume manufacturing and supply-chain management. Additionally, Kionix now has access to ROHM’s international customer base, which has strengthened existing customer relationships and assisted business development worldwide.
Kionix has maintained a corporate focus on advancing the success of its customers through application development tools and product customization. Kionix’s applications engineering staff, located worldwide, works with customers to develop products that incorporate inertial sensors, creates algorithms that can be embedded within MEMS devices, and helps to optimize customer-developed applications and firmware.
Kionix Products
Kionix supplies a broad selection of MEMS devices, including tri-axis accelerometers and gyroscopes along with the mixed-signal-interface integrated circuits that provide algorithm processing of sensor data. Its products and technologies include:- Accelerometers with one, two, or three axes; low-g or mid-g ranges
- Angular rate sensors about the x, y, or z axis
- Low power consumption, power management options, and self-test features
- Small form-factor, industry-standard packaging with high shock survivability
- Digital (I2C and SPI) interfaces and/or analog outputs
- Programmable motion interrupts, temperature compensation, gain, offset, bandwidth
- Embedded algorithms
- Lead-free solderability and RoHS compliant
For an up-to-date list of Kionix accelerometers, please click here. For more information on Kionix gyroscopes, please click here. For more information on development boards and kits, demonstration boards, and evaluation boards, please click here.
Applications for MEMS Accelerometers
MEMS accelerometers enable myriad applications, including those in numerous consumer electronics products. See the latest teardowns featuring MEMS accelerometers by clicking on the links below:- Microsoft Kinect sensor
- PlayStation Move controller
- Motorola Xoom tablet
- Motorola Atrix 4G Smartphone
- Motorola Droid X Smartphone
- Nook Color – The Reader’s Tablet
- Kyocera Echo Smartphone
Kionix Quality Standards
Kionix is ISO 9001:2008 and TS16949 registered. The quality management standards specified in ISO 9001:2000 have been adopted by more than one-half million organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide. These standards are considered to be foundational to many industry-specific quality principles. Kionix achieved ISO registration in FY2000 and upgraded to ISO 9001:2000 in May 2003. Kionix certified to ISO9001:2008 in April 2009.ISO/TS 16949 is an ISO Technical Specification developed by The International Automotive Task Force (IATF). It aligns existing American (QS-9000), German (VDA6.1), French (EAQF) and Italian (AVSQ) automotive Quality System standards within the global automotive industry, with the aim of eliminating the need for multiple certifications to satisfy multiple customer requirements. Together with ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949 specifies the quality system requirements for the design/development, production, installation, and servicing of automotive related products. In addition, there are customer-specific requirements that are required by individual subscribing vehicle manufacturers. Kionix achieved ISO TS 16949 registration in July 2005 and upgraded to ISO/TS16949:2009 in April, 2011.
Management Team
- Gregory J. Galvin, Ph.D. - President and Chief Executive Officer
- Timothy J. Davis, Ph.D. - Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer
- James C. Kirkwood - Executive Vice President, Strategic Projects
- Kenneth Hager - Vice President, Manufacturing and Chief Operating Officer
- Kenneth N. Salky - Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing
- Michael J. Maia - Vice President, Americas Sales and Marketing
- Kent P. Gallego - Vice President, Administration
- Scott A. Miller, Ph.D. - Vice President, Engineering
- Scott Adams, Ph.D. - Vice President, Sensor Technology
Manufacturing Facilities
Kionix, Inc. is a full-fabrication facility. As such, Kionix sensors are designed, manufactured, and tested at Kionix headquarters in Ithaca, NY. The ASICs used in Kionix accelerometers are designed in Ithaca, and fabricated elsewhere in the US. Wafers of sensor die and ASIC die are shipped from Ithaca to packaging houses in Asia, where the final product is created. At the packaging houses, the wafers of sensor die and ASIC die are diced into individual units, fastened one each to a lead frame, and wire-bonded together. Liquefied plastic is then squeezed into the frame and, once set, each part is cut from its construction housing. Lastly, the company logo and part number are silk-screened onto each part. Finished parts are returned to Ithaca for testing and programming.Sales Offices
- Ithaca, New YorkIthaca, New YorkThe city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
- Chicago, IllinoisChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
- Campbell, CaliforniaCampbell, CaliforniaCampbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
- Kowloon, Hong KongKowloonKowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
- Shanghai, ChinaShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
- Tokyo, JapanTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
- Seoul, South KoreaSeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
- SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
- Taipei City, TaiwanTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
& Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
- Actrontek International Co., Ltd
- Beijing Northking Electronic Technology Development Co. Ltd.
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JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
KoreaKoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
AtmelAtmelAtmel Corporation is a manufacturer of semiconductors, founded in 1984. Its focus is on system-level solutions built around flash microcontrollers...
Kionix’s 3x3x0.9mm LGA KXTF9 tri-axis accelerometer contributes advanced sensing algorithms, low power consumption, programmable offset and sensitivity, high shock survivability, and excellent temperature performance to Atmel’s AVR Studio® 5 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Providing nine degrees of freedom, the Inertial Sensor Board Two (ATAVRSBIN2) allows customers to develop sensor applications with user-friendly drivers and ready-to-use sensor boards.Read more about Atmel here
Atmel
Atmel Corporation is a manufacturer of semiconductors, founded in 1984. Its focus is on system-level solutions built around flash microcontrollers...
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Silicon LabsSilicon LaboratoriesSilicon Laboratories, Inc. is a mixed signal fabless semiconductor company based in Austin, Texas.The company was founded in 1996 by three veterans from the former Crystal Semiconductor – Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott . The company's CEO is Necip Sayiner. The company went public in...
The Kionix Accelerometer Application and Firmware Development Kit is based on a Silicon Labs microcontroller, and enables the development of applications and firmware that incorporate Kionix accelerometers. The Development Kit provides a common interface to Kionix evaluation boards. The included software provides an interface for displaying and recording acceleration data. Plus, a graphical register map allows the user to see and change the contents of control registers.The Silicon Labs development board allows the use of a standard 8051 microcontroller core and a USB interface for PC development/evaluation environments. Additionally, the F340 Adapter Board provides a visual indication (through an LED array) of interrupts (motion and tap) and screen rotation output states for Kionix products that include those functionalities.
Read more about Silicon Labs here
Silicon Laboratories
Silicon Laboratories, Inc. is a mixed signal fabless semiconductor company based in Austin, Texas.The company was founded in 1996 by three veterans from the former Crystal Semiconductor – Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott . The company's CEO is Necip Sayiner. The company went public in...
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Texas InstrumentsTexas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
Kionix’s EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board has been combined with TI’s eZ430-F2013 MSP430 Development Board for low-power, cost-sensitive applications. This USB form factor kit allows users to advance toward the creation of accelerometer-enabled functionality. The EZ430-C7 Evaluation Board holds Kionix’s KXSC7-2050 accelerometer and plugs directly into an MSP430 Development Board, TI part number eZ430-F2013 (not included). A CD containing sample firmware for reading acceleration and step-by-step instructions is included.The KXR94 Development Kit, a stand-alone development platform, includes a KXR94-2050 accelerometer, TI’s MSP430F149 MCU, onboard battery, and memory.
Read more about Texas Instruments here
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
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CypressCypress SemiconductorCypress Semiconductor Corporation is a Silicon Valley-based semiconductor design and manufacturing company founded by T. J. Rodgers and others from Advanced Micro Devices. It was formed in 1982 with backing by Sevin Rosen and went public in 1986. The company initially focused on the design and...
Kionix’s KXSC7 tri-axis accelerometer helps enable the CY8CKIT-014 PSoC® 5 FirstTouchTM Starter Kit’s programmable system-on-chip architecture. The PSoC 5 FirstTouch™ Starter Kit includes software and example projects that take advantage of the kit’s onboard sensors, including the Kionix accelerometer, a thermistor, proximity sensing, and CapSense. The kit enables easy development via 28 general-purpose I/O pins, a 12-pin wireless module header, and Serial Wire Debugging (SWD). It also includes the PSoC Creator IDE.Read more about Cypress Semiconductor here
Cypress Semiconductor
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation is a Silicon Valley-based semiconductor design and manufacturing company founded by T. J. Rodgers and others from Advanced Micro Devices. It was formed in 1982 with backing by Sevin Rosen and went public in 1986. The company initially focused on the design and...
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More About Ithaca, New York
Kionix, Inc. is headquartered in Ithaca, NYIthaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
. Ithaca sits on the southernmost shore of Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes at 38 miles. The City is home to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
to the east and Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
to the south. Ithaca's public school system is ranked second nationally in metro areas of fewer than 500K people by Expansion Management 2007.
- Ithaca is ranked #8 in Kiplinger's Personal Finance list, June 2006, of "50 Smart Places to Live."
- Expansion Management's 2006 ranking of a metro area's ability to provide the depth of talent that technology companies require, ranks Ithaca #1 overall, #1 for college-educated workers, and #5 for scientists and engineers.
- In 2004, Ithaca was ranked #1 in the "Emerging Cities" category of Cities Ranked and Rated, a book by Peter Sander and Bert Sperling.
The City of Ithaca, in the heart of the Finger Lakes wine-producing and resort area of central New York State, is a small but thriving cosmopolitan city surrounded by an unspoiled, easily accessible environment of startling natural beauty. The City's motto "Ithaca is Gorges" derives from several deeply cut gorges, with spectacular waterfalls carved through the rolling terrain.
Ithaca has a resident population of about 30,000, and the surrounding county about 100,000, inclusive of students. The student populations include Cornell University (20,000), Ithaca College (6,500) and Tompkins-Cortland Community College (3,000).
The major industry is education and research, but tourism, aerospace, biotechnology, computer software, electronics, guidance system components for the space industry, heat resistant materials, power drive transmission systems for automotive and other applications, pharmaceutical research and drug testing, precision machine tools, scientific research instruments, computer terminals and peripherals, data processing, publishing, printing, photo engraving, salt mining and agriculture also play roles in Ithaca’s economy.
Kionix Philanthropy
Kionix, Inc. provides financial and in-kind gifts that primarily support educational and access-to-education programs in Ithaca and the surrounding communities. Organizations and programs benefited by these gifts include:- IPEI Code Red Robotics
- The Museum of the EarthMuseum of the EarthThe Museum of the Earth is a public natural history museum. It is located in Ithaca, New York, on the campus of the PRI, its parent organization.-Paleontological Research Institution:...
- The SciencenterSciencenterSciencenter is a hands-on science museum in Ithaca, New York. It was founded on February 28, 1983 as a 501 not-for-profit educational organization. The Sciencenter grew out of the volunteer-run hands-on science program run for 15 years at several elementary schools in the Ithaca City School District...
- YMCA Kids-to-Camp Program
- Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca
- NYS 4-H Foundation
- Tompkins Learning Partners
- American Red CrossAmerican Red CrossThe American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...