NOVOSENSE unveiled the NSA1080 dual-channel electrochemical sensor AFE at SENSOR CHINA 2026, providing a domestic signal-chain solution for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices.
Per the International Diabetes Federation, 589 million adults aged 20–79 worldwide have diabetes, with about 148 million in China, the largest globally. Huge chronic disease management demand is driving rapid CGM growth. CGM uses a flexible probe inserted into subcutaneous tissue to monitor interstitial fluid glucose in real time, with use cases extending to low-GI diets, fitness, and weight monitoring.
CGM adoption's top issue is cost. Mainstream patches are single-use consumables worn 7–14 days, priced near RMB 100 each, or about RMB 10 per day. The industry wants longer wear cycles to lower daily cost, which requires power control—pressure that ultimately falls on the AFE signal chain. Subcutaneous electrochemical sensors output extremely weak current signals that MCUs cannot read directly; the AFE handles amplification, conversion, and processing, largely determining CGM terminal capability.
On power, the NSA1080's shutdown mode quiescent current is just 20nA, with Phase/Frame-level auto power-down turning off high-power blocks like TIA and ADC outside measurement. On-chip moving average filtering and 128×32-bit FIFO buffer data locally before waking the MCU, avoiding frequent wakeups. It supports 2–3.3V and 1.2–1.8V wide supply ranges, giving devices a hardware basis for longer wear.
On accuracy, glucose and ketone concentrations in interstitial fluid are far below blood levels, with electrochemical currents decaying to nanoampere or picoampere levels easily disrupted by noise. The NSA1080 achieves 0.5pA ultra-low system RMS noise, TIA input bias current under 4pA, a 24-bit Sigma-Delta ADC, and multiple programmable TIA gains. It features dual independent potentiostats supporting two working electrodes, aligning with glucose and ketone multi-marker monitoring.
For mass production, the NSA1080 ships factory gain-calibrated, with calibration coefficients burned into on-chip OTP, so customers can use it directly—eliminating production-line multi-point precision current source calibration. An on-chip ±0.5°C temperature sensor handles temperature drift compensation across the 5–45°C human use range, removing external sensors and simplifying BOM. Two package options: a light-blocking optimized WLCSP-25 to avoid light-induced signal disturbance, and QFN for traditional SMT lines, lowering adoption barriers for medical makers at different process levels.
For development, NOVOSENSE offers EVB boards, hardware/software reference designs, and demo code; makers can connect sensor probes and get data directly. It also offers the NST1002 high-precision, low-power temperature sensor for body surface and system temperature monitoring, supporting CGM temperature compensation algorithms.
CGM analog front-end market has long been dominated by overseas semiconductor giants, with higher costs and slower response to domestic customization needs. The NSA1080 gives domestic terminal makers a localization option, with competition extending from chip design to packaging adaptation, calibration efficiency, and development ecosystem.
ICgoodFind Summary: CGM's cost bottleneck is the consumable, and the consumable's experience bottleneck is the AFE. NOVOSENSE's NSA1080 uses 20nA shutdown current, 0.5pA noise, and dual potentiostats to advance both power and precision—the two links constraining wear duration and multi-marker monitoring. Domestic AFE competition has moved from a single chip to mass-production calibration and development ecosystems.
