Microchip Adds Parallel Sensing to Touch Controllers

Microchip Technology Inc. has launched its first turnkey touch controllers with parallel sensing for buttons, sliders, and wheels in appliances and outdoor and industrial applications. The two new additions to the capacitive-touch family offer enhanced touch sensitivity and noise immunity, enabling touch detection through thick cover materials and gloves.

The MTCH3380P and MTCH3240P controllers target applications where equipment manufacturers are looking to lower cost by replacing displays with human machine interfaces with illuminated capacitive-touch buttons, sliders, and wheels. The challenge is that these interfaces often need a large number of touch sensors, which can increase acquisition time and reduce signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Microchip said the new controllers address these challenges with parallel processing. By acquiring data from multiple sensors simultaneously, the MTCH3380P and MTCH3240P controllers can support a large number of buttons, sliders, and wheels, and maintain fast response times, a high SNR, and reliable touch detection in noisy operating environments.

This is thanks to 12 on-chip analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) operating in parallel. The MTCH3380P supports up to 38 sensors in self-capacitance mode and 64 sensors in mutual-capacitance mode, while the MTCH3240P supports up to 24 in self-capacitance mode and 32 sensors in mutual-capacitance mode.

The devices support IEC/UL 60730 Class B functional safety certification and operation up to 105°C. This makes them suitable for a range of home appliances such as ovens, cooktops, refrigerators, and washing machines as well as outdoor applications including EV chargers, parking meters, and kiosks.

Microchip supports developers with hardware, software, and development resources for design, evaluation, and testing. These tools include the mTouch Studio development environment and evaluation hardware, including host drivers for Linux and Zephyr.

Available now, prices start at $1.06 each for the MTCH3380P and $0.80 each for the MTCH3240P in 10,000-unit quantities.

The post Microchip Adds Parallel Sensing to Touch Controllers appeared first on Embedded.