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Matsushita and Panasonic Hall ICs

Contents

Overview

Matsushita and Panasonic made a number of Hall sensor IC models. DN837 is confirmed as being used in keyboard switches. “DN” denotes “digital bipolar” (バイポーラ ディジタル).

Models

DN830 and DN831 appear to be the original models. Thus far, no details of the IC packaging have been found. DN834, DN385, DN837, DN838 and DN839 followed. At 7.2 × 7.2 × 2.2 mm, these are presently the smallest observed Hall IC, being smaller than the better-known 10 × 6.5 × 2.1 mm Siemens package (copied by HFO and used in RAFI keyboards). However, DN6835 and its siblings are smaller still at only 4.5 mm wide, 4.0 mm tall and 2.0 mm deep.

DN830

DN830 is a discrete output Hall sensor, introduced at the Japan Electronics Show in 1973 in Osaka, as reported in Electronic Design magazine, December 20, 1973. DN830 offered a fanout of 8 for TTL/DTL, and “can be used for keyboard and other switches as well as speed and position sensing.” DN830 is dual-output current sinking.

DN831

DN831, introduced at the same time as DN830, is a linear model with analogue output.

DN834

DN834 is believed to be used in Omron B2H switches. B2H switches with output type 4 are described as providing “collector resistance” (current sink): there is an internal pull-up resistor for each output. It is documented as follows (translated from Japanese for convenience):

特徴 (Special characteristics)

用途 (Use)

DN837

DN837 is found in Omron B2H-F7W and presumably all other B2H models with output type 7. It is an open collector (current sink) model with dual outputs, the same operating principle as Micro Switch SW and Micro Switch SD sink level switches.

View full-size image DN837 Hall sensor IC

The summary of DN837 is the same as for DN834, except for the output which is characterised as follows:

DN6835 and DN6835

These are current sourcing sensors, not currently known to have been used in keyboards.

DN6837

DN6837 was used by Omron B2A switch models B2A-□□7. This is an open collector sensor.

DN6852

DN6852 was used by Omron B2A switch models B2A-□□2.This is an open collector sensor.

Documentation