July 12, 2007 — ICx Photonics, a business unit of ICx Technologies, has launched its SensorChip CO2 4P, which it calls “a revolutionary technology” for carbon dioxide detection, in the U.S. and Europe. According to ICx, this is the first MEMS-based CO2 4P gas sensor module available.

ICx Photonics has further reduced power consumption for the sensor from the original design of 132 mW down to 99 mW, resulting in the lowest power IR CO2 4P sensor in its class. According to Keith Fallon, Director of Industrial Sales for ICx Photonics, “The low power consumption and intrinsic safety of our device is very attractive to many of our customers, and in particular to those making portable gas sensing instruments. We have had such strong interest in the product that our initial production quantities are spoken for and we are now ramping up production and accepting orders for October delivery.”

The 4P packaging, standard for industrial gas detection, allows the sensor to “plug and play” in many handheld instruments and makes it compatible for the market’s largest sensor suppliers.

The company says its Hydrocarbon (HC) SensorChip is scheduled to launch before the end of the summer. The HC device has all the benefits of the CO2 device and will also be available in a 4P format. The low power consumption and intrinsic safety of this device will make it equally attractive as the CO2 4P.

ICx Photonics, formerly ICx Ion Optics, provides advanced infrared photonic crystal devices that permit IR emission and absorption to be spectrally defined. These devices have been integrated into NDIR gas sensing systems as well as IR beacons and markers for defense and identification applications. The SensorChip CO2 4P complements the company’s line of high power IR light sources, MEMS gas sensors, and MEMS based gas specific IR light sources. It is one of several gas sensors and modules expected to be released by ICx Photonics in coming months.