News & Events
Intersil's EL7900 Ambient Light Sensor Named a Finalist in EDN Magazine's 16th Annual Innovation of the Year Awards
MILPITAS, CA, February 7, 2006 Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog solutions, has been selected from a field of hundreds as a finalist for this year's EDN Innovator/Innovation Awards. Instituted in 1990, the Innovation Awards honor the people, products and technologies that have shaped the semiconductor industry over the past year.
Intersils EL7900 ambient light sensor was selected in the Analog ICs category based on Intersils innovative sensor technology. It is a small-footprint optical sensor that converts light to current and operates in a wide range of lighting conditions from 1 lux to 10,000 lux. With an optical response very close to the human eye and a simple current output that can be converted into a voltage with a single external resistor, the part opens up many new possibilities in LCD backlight control, motion sensing, intrusion detection and other various medical or industrial sensing applications.
With the increased use of handheld electronics for viewing calendars, photos and even watching TV, the amount of power consumed to illuminate the display is significantly increasing impacting battery run-times, said Simon Prutton, vice president and general manager of Intersils Analog and Mixed Signal Products group. Intersils light sensing products provide a simple way to monitor ambient light levels so that the system can throttle back the brightness of the display in low light levels. This is a great example of how Intersil innovates through new technology to address the problems that our customers face in their markets. Were very proud that EDN has recognized this innovation.
Section Criteria
Nominees for the Innovation of the Year category must have demonstrated innovation that resulted in a significant advance in technology and/or product development during the past 12 months and must also have shipped in volume in the 2005 calendar year.
The advancements that distinguish the finalists in the annual EDN Innovation program may seem subtleminimally lower power, a slight reduction in cost, the ability to discern a faster signal, or the gateway to new semiconductor processes, states EDN Editor-In-Chief Maury Wright. Yet those subtleties represent hard-won engineering victories that make all the difference in the latest compelling consumer products, computers, and communication systems. I congratulate all of this year's finalists for advancing the state-of-the-art in everything from discrete components to processors to chip-design tools.
In the next few weeks, EDN's worldwide audience of electronics engineers and engineering managers will use an online ballot to select the ultimate winners from among these finalists. EDN's editorial staff and Editorial Advisory Board also take part in determining the final winners. We encourage you to visit http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=InnovationAwards&year=2005 to review each of the nominees. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on April 3, 2006 in San Jose, CA.
About EDN/Reed Business Information
Known as the Voice of the engineer, Waltham, MA-based EDN serves the vital information needs of design engineers and engineering managers worldwide. The EDN franchise includes EDN, EDN Europe, EDN Asia, EDN Australia, EDN China, EDN Japan, and EDN.com. EDN is published by Reed Business Information (www.reedbusiness.com/us), the largest business-to-business publisher in the U.S. and a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL) - a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business industry sectors. About Intersil
Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL) is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors. The Company’s products address three of the industry’s fastest growing markets: flat panel displays, handhelds and power management. Intersil products include power management devices for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers,linear regulators, supervisory ICs, switching DC/ DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and rad-hard applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the Company’s web site and career page at www.intersil.com.
