March 24, 2009 08:44 AM Eastern Time 

Biometrics Industry’s Thinnest, Most Durable Fingerprint Sensor Announced

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sonavation™, Inc., today announced the introduction of the biometrics industry’s thinnest, most durable and highly accurate fingerprint sensor for the wireless and smartcard markets. Called the SonicSlide™ STS3000, the sensor is about the thickness of a postage stamp, and is constructed from polymers similar to those used to build wings of commercial aircraft, giving it superior durability compared to fingerprint sensors available on the market today.

“Sonavation has developed new biometrics technology that is certain to revolutionize the industry by delivering higher quality and reliability at a much more competitive price”

The SonicSlide STS3000 uses the patented SonicTouch™ technology, which is based on ultrasound comparable to that used in medical applications, resulting in significantly improved fingerprint imaging. Because it is not a semiconductor, the sensor eliminates the electrostatic discharge (ESD) issues that have hampered the incorporation of semiconductor-based sensors into notebook PCs, mobile phones and other consumer electronics. The SonicSlide STS3000 is capable of withstanding more than 10 million swipes, uses less power, enabling a set of applications that currently is not addressed within the commercial biometrics industry.

“Sonavation has developed new biometrics technology that is certain to revolutionize the industry by delivering higher quality and reliability at a much more competitive price,” said Sonavation Chairman and CEO Ted Johnson. “To develop and bring to market such robust technology in such a relatively short period of time is testament of our management team’s considerable understanding of the biometrics market.”

Biometrics is the use of physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, to secure information and enable financial transactions and applications on mobile phones, PCs and other consumer devices.

“The SonicSlide STS30000 is the biometrics industry’s most technologically advanced fingerprint sensor,” said Steve Mansfield, Sonavation president and COO. “Sonavation is positioned to be a leader in the burgeoning billion-dollar financial transaction business and the 1.1-billion unit mobile handset market. A host of applications capabilities is now available that were not previously addressed by currently available fingerprint sensors.”

Unparalleled Accuracy and Durability Delivered Through SonicTouch Technology

Based on the SonicTouch technology, the SonicSlide STS3000 uses ultrasound principles similar to those used in medical applications, enabling it to achieve far greater accuracy of fingerprint images than available through DC or RF capacitive silicon sensors. Additionally, unlike silicon-based sensors that may be damaged through electrostatic discharge (ESD), the SonicSlide STS3000 is based on composite ceramic MEMS technology, which is not affected by ESD. It combines this Micro-Electro Machine Systems technology with advanced polymers to deliver very high resolution fingerprint images at very low cost.

The fingerprint sensor module is an array of ceramics MEMS piezoelectric transducers and advanced polymers combined with a silicon-imaging ASIC. All of these components are integrated into a single package about 35 mm in length by 14.5 mm wide with a thickness of only 0.25 mm. The sensing element alone is only 3 mm in length by 14 mm wide by 0.1 mm thick. The key imaging component of the sensor is the ceramic MEMS piezoelectric transducer array that is made from a ceramic material. This material is formed into pillars, each one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. The pillars have a unique set of properties that enable them to mechanically oscillate when an electric field is applied. The oscillations then register in 256 shades of gray to form the images of ridges and valleys of the fingerprint. This ensures a level of accuracy that cannot be achieved by most other swipe sensor technologies, including semiconductor-based sensors.

The SonicSlide STS3000 is designed with a ZIF interconnect scheme for easy integration into virtually any mobile handset platform. The SonicSlide STS3000 integrates the necessary software and device drivers to be compatible with significant mobile hardware platforms and offers compatibility with the Symbian™, Microsoft® Windows Mobile™, and Android mobile operating systems. Limited production samples are now available.

Headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Sonavation designs and manufactures biometric fingerprint sensors providing ultrasonic identity and life solutions for consumer electronics. Sold to OEMs and ODMs for integration into PCs, mobile phones and other electronic devices, the Sonavation product line is designed to replace passwords and PINs and secure applications data and enable a variety of applications including financial processing, transactions and authentication. Sonavation is committed to perfecting biometric sensor technology in order to deliver fingerprint sensors with the highest level of accuracy, durability and reliability. For more information, please visit http://www.sonavation.com.

SonicTouch and SonicSlide are trademarks of Sonavation, Inc.

Symbian is a trademark of Symbian Software Ltd.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

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