Overview: A1140/41/42/43
Sensitive Two-Wire Chopper-Stabilized Unipolar Hall-Effect Switches
The A1140, A1141, A1142, and A1143 devices are sensitive, two-wire, unipolar, Hall effect switches that are factory-programmed at end-of-line to optimize magnetic switchpoint accuracy. These devices are produced on the Allegro MicroSystems advanced BiCMOS wafer fabrication process, which implements a patented, high-frequency, chopper-stabilization technique that achieves magnetic stability and eliminates the offsets that are inherent in single-element devices exposed to harsh application environments. Commonly found in a number of automotive applications, the A1140-43 family of devices are utilized to sense: seat track position, seat belt buckle presence, hood/trunk latching, and shift selector position. Two-wire unipolar switches are particularly advantageous in price-sensitive applications, because they require one less wire than the more traditional open-collector output switches. Additionally, the system designer gains inherent diagnostics because output current normally flows in either of two narrowly-specified ranges. Any output current level outside of these two ranges is a fault condition.
