Capacitive touch sensing technology unaffected by liquids

Building on its mTouch capacitive touch sensing technology, the company says the royalty free technology now works through gloves and on surfaces that contain liquids. It is also said to enable Braille to be used on capacitive touch sensing interfaces. The mTouch capacitive touch sensing functionality has been designed to integrate with existing application code in an 8, 16 or 32bit PIC microcontroller. Potential applications include the appliance, industrial and automotive markets. According to Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip's Security, Microcontroller and Technology Development Division, low power mTouch capacitive touch sensing technology features an active current of less than 5micro Amperes. "mTouch capacitive touch sensing technology enables customers to easily and inexpensively add touch sensing interfaces to their designs," said Drehobl. "Designers can implement our royalty free technology using their existing hardware and software in applications with metal front panels, where liquids are present, and for users wearing thick gloves."