Ultra sensitive touch sensor works through steel

"We have developed a sensor design that is so sensitive that it can be mounted behind a 0.1mm stainless steel or 0.5mm glass sheet and still detect the pressure of a finger on the top of the sheet," said Peratech's cto David Lussey. "The QTC Ultra Sensor only takes a deflection of a micron or so for QTC to sense the touch through the sheet." While fitting conventional switches to products normally introduces a point of possible failure, Peratech says the QTC Ultra Sensor can either be fitted as a small piece of QTC sheeting or screen printed on the back of the steel plate as required by the product designer, eliminating this problem. The sensor is also optimised to work with other materials - such as plastics, glass or wood - provided that there is enough flex to activate the QTC switch. According to Lussey, it can even be used behind translucent materials to create secret till lit buttons.