Product category:
Touchscreens and Touch Sensors
News Release from: Saelig Company | Subject: QT100
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 08 September 2006
Sensor shrinks touch interfaces
Designed primarily for use in portable products such as mobile phones and MP3 players, the QT100 is reckoned to be the smallest charge-transfer device available.
The QT100 is an economical single-channel sensing chip in an RoHS-compliant, 6-SOT-23 package - ideal for handheld products Designed primarily for use in portable products such as mobile phones and MP3 players, this is the smallest charge-transfer device available
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 16 Nov 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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But there is no compromise with respect to the features provided for stable and reliable operation.
The QT100 can sense touch, as well as "near proximity" through any kind of dielectric including glass, plastic, stone, ceramic or wood.
Designers therefore now have a high degree of flexibility in the physical and aesthetic design of their products.
Furthermore, touch sensors famously eliminate the reliability and manufacturing complexity issues associated with electromechanical switches and membrane keypads.
That's why touch switches have been used in so many consumer products.
The QT100 only needs three external passive components (two capacitors and a resistor) to complete the sensor design.
The sense electrode can be any conductive surface, from a simple printed circuit board pad or an area of see-through conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) printed onto a transparent touch screen.
Sensitivity is easily adjusted through the design of sense electrodes or by changing capacitor values.
The QT100 offers unique, patented features such as self-calibration on power-up with automatic drift compensation.
A consensus filter, and the use of spread-spectrum signal acquisition, ensure high noise immunity and low RF emissions.
The QT100 operates from a single 2 to 5V supply and consumes only 10uA at 2V in low power mode.
Where speed and response time are critical, the chip offers a fast mode with just 1ms between bursts.
A sync mode is also available, where the device sleeps after each measurement burst, and enables multiple devices to be synchronised, while preventing cross-interference.
The operating mode is selected though the status of the sync pin.
Designed in UK by European capacitive-sensing specialist Quantum Research Group, the QT100 is available from stock from US distributor Saelig at less than $1.00 (10,000-off).
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