Cypress introduces Gen4 technology single-chip TrueTouch controller

Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new Gen4 TrueTouch controller for the fast-growing tablet and ultrabook markets. The new CY8CTMA1036 device features 65 sensing I/ OS, enabling perfect touch screen performance on screens up to 12 inches long. Like Gen4 devices with smaller screens, the new device delivers industry-leading performance across the board, including the world's best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and unmatched performance in the presence of a variety of noise sources - the biggest challenge in touchscreen design. In addition, Gen4 has the industry's lowest effective power consumption, unmatched tracking accuracy, and the fastest refresh rate. It offers full support for all major mobile operating systems, including Win8 and Android.

The new CY8CTMA1036 features a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ core with 65 sensing I/O channels that can support up to 1036 on-screen nodes, 35% more than any other single-chip solution. More sensing channels are necessary for greater accuracy and linearity, as well as to support smaller fingers and solve problems when multiple fingers are clustered together.

Dhwani Vyas, Vice President of the User Interface Business unit at Cypress, said: "We have received the same positive response from tablet manufacturers as we have in mobile phones. Customers are pleased that their tablet designs can benefit from the noise resistance, low power consumption and excellent performance of Gen4 technology in a single chip package. We are rolling out samples to a number of customers and expect to start volume production by the end of the quarter."

New breakthrough in noise elimination

The Gen4 series has been completely redesigned to deliver the world's highest SNR in real-world applications. It is the first and only touchscreen IC to offer a built-in 10V Tx and a 10V driven touch display. Because SNR is proportional to the voltage that drives the display, this feature enables Cypress to offer about four times the SNR of the most robust competing solutions.

As the first family of touch screen devices capable of completely eliminating display noise in hardware, the Gen4 series further raises the bar for SNR. Gen4's patent-pending Display Armor™ technology provides unprecedented noise resistance to a wide range of displays, even noisy, low-cost displays such as ACVCOM LCDS. This allows touchscreen designers to reduce product thickness by eliminating the air gap between the display and the sensor, and also to reduce costs by removing the shielding layer in the sensor. Display Armor technology enables Gen4 to support lamination, on-cell and in-cell technologies, regardless of the chemistry of the display.

The world's fastest and lowest power touch screen controller

In addition to unmatched noise performance, the Gen4 platform has the world's lowest effective power consumption of just 2mW and only 1.8uW in deep sleep mode - which can be woken by an address match on a COM port. Shortened battery life is a common problem for smartphones and other portable touchscreen devices. Gen4 provides Oems with another tool to help solve this problem. In addition, the Gen4 family features the industry's fastest refresh rate of up to 400Hz and the unique ability to scan capacitive touch displays at 1000Hz - both industry best metrics. This level of performance is achieved through the 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ core located at the core of the Gen4 product. The Gen4 series enables unlimited touch performance while delivering the industry's highest accuracy and linearity at 0.2 mm.

In addition, the Gen4 series can provide features only available in TrueTouch, including water resistance to the IP-67 standard; 1mm stylus support for Asian character sets with accurate handwriting capture; Offers hover sensing similar to mouse-hover functionality, as well as true fingernail or thick glove support in mobile devices. These subdivisions are possible thanks to Cypress's unique patent-pending technology, which enables dynamic switching between self-capacitance and mutual capacitance in applications. Cypress currently holds more than 250 granted and pending patents in the touch screen field.