Sensing Controllers Ease Mechanical Button Replacement With Capacitive Touch

CHANDLER, AZ -- Microchip Technology Inc. expands its MTCH10x mTouch sensing portfolio with the turnkey MTCH102-5-8 capacitive touch controllers. In a hardware-only configuration, these 2, 5 and 8-channel controllers replace mechanical buttons with a simple digital output, making it easy to add proximity and touch detection to any application that is constrained by size, power or cost. To achieve high reliability and more sensitive touch performance, including operation through a glove, the MTCH102-5-8 capacitive touch controllers come with advanced multi-stage noise filtering algorithms. The MTCH102-5-8 controllers support a wide range of touch-sensor shapes and sizes, feature automatic compensation for environmental conditions, and provide reliable operation in the presence of water. Moreover, active guarding increases proximity-sensing sensitivity and makes the electronic design robust, even with long board traces to the touch sensors.

"Our mTouch controllers offer a quick, turnkey solution for developing touch applications in low-cost embedded applications without sacrificing performance," said Dr. Roland Aubauer, director of Microchip's Human Machine Interface Division. "With no software to write and a very simple interface, developers can improve their products by quickly updating mechanical keypads to capacitive touch."

The MTCH102-5-8 low power touch controllers create robust, ready-to-go touch solutions to serve the rapid growth of capacitive human interfaces in the industrial (e.g., light switches), home-automation (e.g., security control panels, thermostats and lighting controls), office-equipment (e.g., printers, copiers and fax machines) and consumer (e.g., toys, white goods and appliances) markets, among others.

Development Support

To enable the easy evaluation and configuration of capacitive-touch interfaces, the MTCH102-5-8 is supported by Microchip's new compact demonstration board (part # DM160229, $29.95), which will be available in November.

Pricing & Availability

The new MTCH102 mTouch sensing, low-power, two-channel capacitive touch controller is available today in a MSOP or uDFN package, for sampling and volume production. Pricing starts at $0.44 each, in 10,000-unit quantities.

The MTCH105 low-power, five-channel capacitive touch controller is available today in a QFN or TSSOP package, for sampling and volume production. Pricing starts at $0.59 each, in 10,000-unit quantities.

The MTCH108 low-power, eight-channel capacitive touch controller is available today in a uQFN or SSOP package, for sampling and volume production. Pricing starts at $0.65 each in 10,000-unit quantities.

For additional information, visit:
http://www.microchip.com/mTouch-102815a
http://www.microchip.com/Homepage-102815a