Targeted at high growth applications such as mobile phones and personal electronics, Atmel has announced a new line of charge-transfer, capacitive touchscreen controller ICs. Both two touch and single touch controllers are available. The company also offers complete touchscreen solutions for common screen sizes, including the chips and sensors, typically implemented as ITO on PET or glass.
Atmels two touch controller ICs can track and report one or two simultaneous touches as separate X and Y positions. Common gestures include tap, double tap, flick and drag, enabling designers to incorporate user interface functions such as resizing and rotation of on-screen graphics, as well as replacing multiple levels of menu access with a two finger control.
It is also possible to implement the touch surface as a combination of touch keys and scrolling devices for additional flexibility.
General manager of Atmels microcontroller division, Peter Jones, said: Our two touch devices facilitate next generation, cost effective user interfaces. To support this activity our end-to-end reference designs help speed the development cycle. These new products overcome many of the limitations of traditional resistive and capacitive touchscreen technologies.
For single touch applications, Atmel offers a single layer sensor minimising the mechanical stack, and improving the optical performance of touchscreen displays. Reduced scatter and absorption of the available backlight are said to improve light transmission, resulting in reduced power consumption.
Pricing for touchscreen controller devices start at $2.50 for high volume projects.