VCNL4040 Proximity and Ambient Light Sensor

The VCNL4040 is a versatile and compact sensor module from Vishay Semiconductor. VCNL 4040 is highly integrated sensor module which integrates a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor with a high power IR LED. The integrated ambient light sensor offers a high resolution of 16 bit, with the ability to use it with either dark or high transparency lenses. The VCNL4040 also offers programable interrupts for both proximity and ambient light sensors. The integrated proximity sensor features smart cross talk elimination and faster response time. The Filtron technology helps to achieve the spectral sensitivity of the ALS to closest to real human eye response and best background light cancelation capability.

 

VCNL4040 Pinout Configuration

Pin Number	Pin Name	TYPE	FUNCTION
1	GND	I	Ground
2	CATHODE	I	Cathode (sensor) connection
3	V_{DD}	I	Power supply input
4	ANODE	I	Anode for IRED
5	CATHODE	I	Cathode (LED) connection
6	INT	O	Interrupt pin
7	SDAT	I / O (open drain)	I^{2} C data bus data input / output
8	SCLK	I	I^{2} C digital bus clock input

 

Features

• Package type: surface mount

• Dimensions (L x W x H in mm): 4.0 x 2.0 x 1.1

• Integrated modules: infrared emitter (IRED), ambient light sensor (ALS), proximity sensor (PS), and signal conditioning IC.

• Operates ALS and PS in parallel structure.

• Filtron technology adoption for robust background light cancellation.

• Temperature compensation: -40 °C to +85 °C

• Low power consumption I2C (SMBus compatible) interface.

• Output type: I2C bus (ALS / PS)

• Operation voltage: 2.5 V to 3.6 V

• Immunity to red glow (940 nm IRED)

• Programmable IRED sink current.

• Intelligent cancellation to reduce cross talk phenomenon.

• Smart persistence scheme to reduce PS response time.

• Selectable for 12- / 16-bit PS output data.

• High accuracy of ALS ±10 %.

• Fluorescent light flicker immunity.

• Spectrum close to real human eye responses.

• Selectable maximum detection range (819 / 1638 / 3277 / 6553) lux with highest sensitivity 0.0125 lux/step.

• Programmable interrupt function for ALS and PS with upper and lower thresholds.

• Adjustable persistence to prevent false triggers for ALS and PS.

 

Alternative for VNCL4040

VNCL4030, VNCL4200

 

Note: Complete technical details can be found in the VNCL4040 datasheet at this page’s end.

 

VNCL4200 Block Diagram

The following image shows the internal block diagram of VNCL4040.

 

VNCL4200 Application Circuit Diagram

The following image shows the typical application circuit for the VNCL4040. 

Decoupling capacitor is connected to the power supply pins for filtering. Pullup resistors are connected to the I2C lines. In case there are pullup resistors that are already there with MCU circuit you can ignore these. You could also use pullup or pulldown resistor with the interrupt pin depending on the type of interrupt programmed to the chip. Connect the anode pin to the power supply and connect the cathode pin together. There are 13 registers that can be read or configured though I2C. Each of these registers are 16bit wide.

 

APPLICATIONS

• Handheld device

• Notebook, tablet PC

• Consumer device

• Industrial application

 

2D-Model and Dimensions

Below is the 2D CAD drawing of VCNL4040M30E along with its dimensions in millimetres. The dimensions can be used to create custom footprints of the module and be used for PCB or CAD modeling.