Cambridge spin-out Cambridge CMOS Sensors makes its first sale

Cambridge CMOS Sensors has announced that it has made its first sale just one year after being spun out of the university’s Department of Engineering.

In addition, the company said it recently signed an agreement with a UK-based sensor manufacturer to develop gas sensors based on its technology.

Gas-sensing technology has a wide range of residential, commercial and academic applications, including domestic gas detectors, industrial safety, explosive detection, medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

Cambridge CMOS Sensors’ patented microsystems technology involves new types of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) heaters for application in microsensors.

Using CMOS’s technology in microprocessors and other digital logic circuits, gas sensors can be developed based on a miniature heating element (micro-hotplate) design with smart drive and accurate temperature control. This will allow gas sensors to be produced in higher volume and at lower cost than current state products.

The devices can be heated from room temperature to 700°C in a fraction of a second and have the ultra-low power consumption suitable for battery operated devices. “We are delighted to see our technology get to market,” says Florin Udrea, one of the company’s founders. “CMOS micro-hotplate technology has a huge potential market, from the automotive industry to medical applications, and we look forward to the company’s continued growth.”

Cambridge CMOS Sensors was founded by Udrea, who is also a co-founder of CamSemi, with Julian Gardner, Professor of Electronic Engineering at Warwick University and Bill Milne, head of the Electrical Engineering Division at Cambridge and Director of the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics.

The three academics have worked together for 15 years and have a successful record of transferring research to industry. The company has received seed funding from Cambridge Enterprise, the university’s commercialisation office.