TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor

TEMT6000 was designed as a silicon NPN epitaxial planar phototransistor. These are manufactured in a miniature-sized transparent mould for surface mounting onto a printed circuit board. This ambient light sensor device is highly sensitive to the visible spectrum. TEMT6000 Light Sensor functions by detecting the brightness of its surroundings by measuring the illuminance (measured in lux (lx), often denoted Ev).

TEMT6000 basically being a phototransistor, this sensor functions like any other NPN transistor. Higher the incoming current to the base of the transistor, the more current that flows from the Collector to the Emitter. The light that falls within the visible spectrum at a range of 390–700 nm will alter the Base. The light rays such as Infrared, ultraviolet, or any other light we can’t directly see with the naked eye will have no effect on the sensor. This sensor can typically handle voltages from both 5V and 3.3V devices.

To make light measurements, this sensor was designed into a voltage divider circuit. And thus the  TEMT600 acts as one of the resistors in the divider. As the light hits, it changes the voltage on the SIG pin. As a result, by simply connecting the SIG pin on the TEMT6000 to any analogue to digital conversion pin on your microcontroller, we can read the value. The voltage value returned from the SIG pin will vary depending on what voltage is being used to power the sensor and depending on the resolution of your ADC.

Applications:

• Ambient light sensor for display backlight dimming in:
• Mobile phones
• Notebook computers
• PDA’s
• Cameras
• Dashboards
• Absolute Maximum Ra