NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR DELIVERS HIGH ACCURACY DIGITAL TEMPERATURE SENSOR AND THERMAL WINDOW COMPARATOR

LM76CHM-5 Expands Applications of LM76 Product Family

January 31, 2000 - National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM) today announced the newest member of its digital temperature sensor family. The LM76CHM-5 , a±1.0°C accuracy temperature sensor, with thermal window comparator and I² C® or SMBus™ compatible serial bus interface, provides improved accuracy over a wider temperature range. The LM76CHM-5 combines a patent-pending high-accuracy technology with improved test methodologies to deliver an excellent multi-market product for applications such as heating, ventilating, air conditioning, vending machines, refrigeration, and blood analysis, which require high accuracy over a limited temperature range.

According to Deborah Brown, technical marketing manager at National, "The marketplace is continually looking for higher accuracy digital sensors. With an accuracy of ±1°C the LM76CHM-5 is ideal for use in a wide range of thermal management and protection applications such as electronic test equipment, office electronics and bio-medical."

At 25°C, the LM76CHM-5 achieves ±0.5°C accuracy, and over -10°C to +45°C temperature range, it achieves +1.0°C accuracy. The LM76 combines an integrated temperature sensor, a 12-bit + sign analog-to-digital converter and three comparators in a single IC. A window-comparator architecture simplifies the design of temperature control systems. An open-drain interrupt output becomes active when the temperature varies outside a programmable window, while a separate critical temperature shutdown output activates when the temperature exceeds a programmable critical-temperature limit. Programmable hysteresis and a fault queue minimize false tripping. The LM76CHM-5 supply voltage range is 4.5V to 5.5V.

Pricing and Availability
Available now in the SO-8 package, the LM76CHM-5 is priced at $1.55 in volumes of 1,000 units. For more information on these products, visit National's World Wide Web site at http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LM76.html, or contact National's Customer Response Group at 1-800-272-9959.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2 billion for its last fiscal year and has about 10,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.