New PSoC® Devices Extend Cypress’s Leadership In Capacitive Sensing

Optimized CapSense Devices Deliver 45X Better Noise Immunity, 30 Percent Faster Update Speeds and 60 Percent Lower Power Consumption for Handsets and Other Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif., September 27, 2006 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today introduced a family of PSoC® (Programmable System-on-Chip™) devices optimized for use in capacitive sensing interface applications. The new CapSense devices deliver 45X better noise immunity, 30 percent faster update speeds with 60 percent lower power consumption and 300 percent greater resolution than previous devices, improving on the industry's most flexible capacitive sensing solution.

A single CapSense device can replace dozens of mechanical switches and controls with a simple, touch-sensitive interface. CapSense-based "button" and "slider" controls are more reliable than their mechanical counterparts because they are not prone to the environmental wear-and-tear that affects exposed buttons and switches. Cypress recently announced that it has surpassed 100 CapSense design wins worldwide in applications that include mobile handsets, portable media players, white goods, computers, printers and automotive, among others.

"We are improving upon what is already the premier capacitive sensing solution on the market," said George Saul, vice president of Cypress's PSoC Business Unit. "These improvements, particularly much better noise immunity and lower power consumption, strengthen PSoC CapSense as a clear choice for designers looking to implement capacitive sensing in next-generation handsets and other systems."

Price and Availability
There are three versions of the new CapSense optimized devices: the CY8C20234 (16-pin QFN package), the CY8C20334 (24-pin QFN) and the CY8C20434 (32-pin QFN). Pricing in 10,000-unit quantities ranges from $1.26 each for the 32-pin device, to about $1.09 each for the 16-pin part. A high-resolution photo is available for download at www.cypress.com/CapSense-photo.

About CapSense
Capacitive sensing is fast becoming the solution of choice for front-panel display and media control applications." Increased durability, decreased bill of materials (BOM) and a clean, minimalist appearance make this elegant interface attractive to a wide range of designs. With Cypress's CapSense interface, a finger on the interface forms an electrical connection with embedded sensors, which work with the PSoC device to translate data about the finger's presence into various system control functions. The sensor itself is only a copper pad on the PCB, not an actual component.  All of the circuitry for controlling the sensor is inside the PSoC device.

Cypress's CapSense solution offers system designers numerous advantages over capacitive sensing products built around modules and sub-assemblies, including increased flexibility, reduced board space and lower cost. Because of the unique PSoC architecture, designers can easily integrate multiple functions (e.g., LED drivers and LCD displays), in addition to capacitive sensing. The PSoC CapSense solution also delivers benefits such as easy communications using either I2C or SPI interfaces, the ability to implement both trackpad (x-y matrix) and linear slider applications with the same device, and the ability to make quick design changes using the flash-based PSoC architecture.

About the PSoC Family
PSoC devices are configurable mixed signal arrays that integrate a fast 8-bit microcontroller with many peripheral functions typically found in an embedded design. PSoC devices provide the advantages of an ASIC without the ASIC NRE or turn-around time. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions with a microcontroller, saving customers design time, board space and power consumption. Customers can save from 5 cents to as much as $10 in system costs. Easy to use development tools enable designers to select configurable library elements to provide analog functions such as amplifiers, ADCs, DACs, filters and comparators and digital functions such as timers, counters, PWMs, SPI and UARTs.  The PSoC family's analog features include rail-to-rail inputs, programmable gain amplifiers and up to 14-bit ADCs with exceptionally low noise, input leakage and voltage offset.  PSoC devices include up to 32KB of Flash memory, 2KB of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I2C communications.

All PSoC devices are dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to create new system functions on-the-fly. Designers can achieve far greater than 100 percent utilization of the die, in many cases, by reconfiguring the same silicon for different functions at different times.

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