TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY:

The four most common touch screen technologies include resistive, infrared, capacitive and SAW (surface acoustic wave). Each technology offers its own unique advantages and disadvantages as described below. Resistive and capacitive touch screen technologies are the most popular for industrial applications. They are both very reliable. If the application requires that operators can wear gloves when using the touch screen, then it is recommend the resistive technology. Otherwise the capacitive technology should be favored.

Resistive:
A resistive touch screen typically uses a display overlay consisting of layers, each with a conductive coating on the inner surface. The conductive inner layers are separated by special separator dots, evenly distributed across the active area. Finger pressure causes internal electrical contact at the point of touch, supplying the electronic interface (touch screen controller) with vertical and horizontal analog voltages for digitization. For CRT applications, resistive touch screens are generally spherical (curved) to match the CRT and minimize parallax. The nature of the material used for curved (spherical) applications limits light throughput such that two options are offered: Polished (clear) or antiglare. The polished choice offers clarity but includes some glare. The antiglare choice will minimize glare, but will also slightly diffuse the light throughput (image). Either choice will demonstrate either more glare (polished) or more light diffusion antiglare) than associated with typical non-touch screen displays. Despite the tradeoffs, the resistive touch screen technology remains a popular choice, often because it can be operated while wearing gloves (unlike capacitive technology). Note that resistive touch screen materials used for flat panel touch screens are different and demonstrate much better optical clarity (even with antiglare). The resistive technology is far more common for flat panel applications. Offering excellent durability and resolution, resistive technology is used in a variety of applications and environments. The analog resistive touch screen is a sensor consisting of two opposing layers, each coated with a transparent resistive material called indium tin oxide (ITO). The ITO used has a typical sheet resistivity between 100 and 500 ohms per square. The layers are separated by a pattern of very small transparent insulating dots. Silver ink bus bars to an electromechanical connector used for interfacing to the sensor. The cover sheet has a hard,

durable coating on the outer side, and a conductive coating on the inner side. When touched, the conductive coating makes electrical contact with the coating on the glass, and a touch is registered by the analog controller.

Resistive touch screens deliver cost-effective, consistent and durable performance in environments where equipment must stand up to contaminants and liquids, such as in restaurants, factories, and hospitals. Disadvantages of Resistive technology include only 75% optical transparency and the fact that a sharp object can damage the resistive layers.

The Analog Resistive technology is perfect for PDAs, web phones, and other handheld consumer applications.

STRUCTURE:
Resistive touch screens consists of a glass or acrylic panel that is coated with electrically conductive and resistive layers made with indium tin oxide (ITO). The thin layers are separated by invisible spacers.

CHARACTERS:
1. Cost effective solutions 2. Activated by a stylus, a finger or gloved hand 3. Not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light 4. 75%~85% clarify 5. Resistive layers can be damaged by a very sharp object.

Capacitive:
A capacitive touch screen includes an overlay made of glass with a coating of capacitive (charge storing) material deposited electrically over its surface. Oscillator circuits located at corners of the glass overlay will each measure the capacitance of a person touching the overlay. Each oscillator will vary in frequency according to where a person touches the overlay. A touch

screen controller measures the frequency changes to determine the X and Y coordinates of the touch. Because the capacitive coating is even harder than the glass it is applied to, it is very resistant to scratches from (SIC) sharp objects. It can even resist damage from sparks. A capacitive touch screen cannot be activated while wearing most types of gloves (nonconductive). A capacitive touch screen panel is one which consists of an insulator such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide (ITO).As the human body is also an electrical conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Different technologies may be used to determine the location of the touch. The location is then sent to the controller for processing. Unlike a resistive touch screen, one cannot use a capacitive touch screen through most types of electrically insulating material, such as gloves; one requires a special capacitive stylus, or a special-application glove with finger tips that generate static electricity. This disadvantage especially affects usability in consumer electronics, such as touch tablet PCs and capacitive smart phones. The touchpad contains a two-layer grid of electrodes that are connected to a sophisticated full-custom mixed signal integrated circuit (IC) mounted on the reverse side of the pad. The upper layer contains vertical electrode strips while the lower layer is composed of horizontal electrode strips. The IC measures "Mutual capacitance" from each of the horizontal electrodes to each of the vertical electrodes. A human finger near the intersection of two electrodes modifies the mutual capacitance between them, since a finger has very different dielectric properties than air. When a user touches the screen, some of the charge is transferred to the user, and makes the potential difference on the screen. After the panel controller recognizes that, the controller will send the X-Y axis information to the PC port. The advantage is that capacitive technology transmits almost 90% percent of the light from the screen. The superior efficiency gives capacitive better than resistive technology.

Capacitive touch screen technology is recommended for use in KIOSK applications that require a "finger touch". It will not operate with either a gloved hand or with a mechanical stylus. It is made of glass, which makes it extremely durable and scratch resistant. This glass overlay has a coating that stores the charge deposited over its surface electrically. Capacitive touch screens operate using oscillator circuits that are located in each corner of the glass overlay and measure the capacitance of the area be "touched". Depending on where the person touches the overlay, the oscillators will vary in frequency. Then a touch screen controller measures the frequency variations to ascertain the coordinates of the person's touch. When used with flat panel displays, capacitive offers drift-free stable performance that is not susceptible to deterioration over time. A capacitive touch screen is impervious to grease, dirt and water, which makes it ideal for frequent use.

Surface capacitance:
In this basic technology, only one side of the insulator is coated with a conductive layer. A small voltage is applied to the layer, resulting in a uniform electrostatic field. When a conductor, such as a human finger, touches the uncoated surface, a capacitor is dynamically formed. The sensor's controller can determine the location of the touch indirectly from the change in the capacitance as measured from the four corners of the panel. As it has no moving parts, it is moderately durable but has limited resolution, is prone to false signals from parasitic capacitive coupling, and needs calibration during manufacture. It is therefore most often used in simple applications such as industrial controls and kiosks.

WORKING PRINCIPLE:
A human body is an electric conductor, so when you touch the screen with a finger, a slight amount of current is drawn, creating a voltage drop. The current respectively drifts to the electrodes on the four corners. Theoretically, the amount of current that drifts through the four electrodes should be proportional to the distance from the touch point to the four corners. The controller precisely calculates the proportion of the current passed through the four electrodes and figures out the X/Y coordinate of a touch point.

Projected capacitance:
Projected Capacitive Touch (PCT) technology is a capacitive technology which permits more accurate and flexible operation, by etching the conductive layer. An X-Y grid is formed either by etching a single layer to form a grid pattern of electrodes, or by etching two separate, perpendicular layers of conductive material with parallel lines or tracks to form the grid (comparable to the pixel grid found in many LCD displays). The greater resolution of PCT allows operation without direct contact, such that the conducting layers can be coated with further protective insulating layers, and operates even under screen protectors, or behind weather and vandal-proof glass. Due to the top layer of a PCT being glass, PCT is a more robust solution versus resistive touch technology. Depending on the implementation, an active or passive stylus can be used instead of or in addition to a finger. This is common with point of sale devices that require signature capture. Gloved fingers may or may not be sensed, depending on the implementation and gain settings. Conductive smudges and similar interference on the panel surface can interfere with the performance. Such conductive smudges come mostly from sticky or sweaty finger tips, especially in high humidity environments. Collected dust, which adheres to the screen due to the moisture from fingertips can also be a problem. There are two types of PCT: Self Capacitance and Mutual Capacitance. A PCT screen consists of an insulator such as glass or foil, coated with a transparent conductor sensing (Copper, ATO, Nanocarbon or ITO). As the human finger (is also a conductor) touching

the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the local electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Now PCT used mutual capacitance, which is the more common projected capacitive approach and makes use of the fact that most conductive objects are able to hold a charge if they are very close together. If another conductive object, in this case a finger, bridges the gap, the charge field is interrupted and detected by the controller. All PCT touch screens are made up of an electrode - a matrix of rows and columns. The capacitance can be changed at every individual point on the grid (intersection). It can be measured to accurately determine the exactly touch location. All projected capacitive touch (PCT) solutions have three key features in common: Sensor as matrix of rows and columns Sensor lies behind the touch surface Sensor does not use any moving parts.

Structure:
Projected capacitive touch screens have front and back protective glass providing optical and strength enhancement options. Its middle layer consists of a laminated sensor grid of micro-fine wires, and optical enhancement options.

During a touch, capacitance forms between the finger and the sensor grid. The embedded serial controller in the touch screen calculates touch location coordinates and transmits them to the computer for processing.

CHARACTERS:
1. Durable and resistant to scratches for demanding applications 2. Faster and more responsive 3. Immune to surface contaminants 4. Superior optical clarity, brighter display and less surface reflection 5. Must be touched by finger, will not work with any non-conductive input

INFRARED TOUCH SCREEN:

An infrared touch screen surrounds the face of the display with a bezel of light emitting-diodes (LEDs) and diametrically opposing photo-transistor detectors. The controller circuitry directs a sequence of pulses to the LEDs, scanning the screen with an invisible lattice of infrared light beams just in front of the surface. The controller circuitry then detects input at the location where the light beams become obstructed by any solid object. The infrared frame housing the transmitters can impose design constraints on operator interface products.

Infrared (IR) technology relies on the interruption of an IR light grid in front of the display screen. The touch frame contains a row of IR-light emitting diode (LEDs) and photo transistors, each mounted on two opposite sides to create a grid of invisible infrared light. The IR controller sequentially pulses the LEDs to create a grid of IR light beams. When a stylus, such as a finger, enters the grid, it obstructs the beams. One or more photo transistors from each axis detect the absence of light and transmit signals that identify the x and y coordinates.

Infrared sensors mounted around the display watch for a user's touch screen input on this PLATO V terminal in 1981. The monochromatic plasma display's characteristic orange glow is illustrated. An infrared touch screen uses an array of X-Y infrared LED and photo detector pairs around the edges of the screen to detect a disruption in the pattern of LED beams. These LED beams cross each other in vertical and horizontal patterns. This helps the sensors pick up the exact location of the touch. A major benefit of such a system is that it can detect essentially any input including a finger, gloved finger, stylus or pen. It is generally used in outdoor applications and point of sale systems which can't rely on a conductor (such as a bare finger) to activate the touch screen. Unlike capacitive touch screens, infrared touch screens do not require any patterning on the glass which increases durability and optical clarity of the overall system.

CHARACTERS:
1. Clear as glass, improves reading ability 2. Most durable surface

SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave):

A SAW touch screen uses a solid glass display overlay for the touch sensor. Two surface acoustic (sound) waves, inaudible to the human ear, are transmitted across the surface of the glass sensor, one for vertical detection and one for horizontal detection. Each wave is spread across the screen by bouncing off reflector arrays along the edges of the overlay. Two receivers detect the waves, one for each axis. Since the velocity of the acoustic wave through glass is known and the size of the overlay is fixed, the arrival time of the waves at the respective receivers is known. When the user touches the glass surface, the water content of the users finger absorbs some of the energy of the acoustic wave, weakening it. The controller circuitry measures the time at which the received amplitude dips to determine the X and Y coordinates of the touch location. In addition to the X and Y coordinates, SAW technology can also provide Z axis (depth) information. The harder the user presses against the screen, the more energy the finger will absorb, and the greater will be the dip in signal strength. The signal strength is then measured by the controller to provide the Z axis information. This gives the SAW the ability to detect in 3D.

Principle:
Surface waves are readily absorbed when a soft object such as a fingertip touches the substrate. SAW Touch Screen use pure glass with transmitting and receiving piezoelectric transducers for both the X and Y axes. The touch screen controller sends an electrical signal to the transmitting transducer, which converts the signal into ultrasonic waves within the glass. When you touch the screen, you absorb a portion of the wave traveling across it. The received signal is then compared to the stored digital map, the change recognized, and a coordinate calculate.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the

controller for processing. Surface wave touch screen panels can be damaged by outside elements. Contaminants on the surface can also interfere with the functionality of the touch screen. On the pure glass substrate, there are four piezoelectric transmitting and receiving transducers on the three corners for both the X and Y axes. The SAW controller sends a 5 MHz electrical signal to the X-axis and Y-axis transmitting transducers. When the touchscreen is touched, the finger absorbs a portion of the wave passing across the surface of the panel. SAW can be used in any and all applications for the best possible image clarity an unlimited life.

Characters:
1. Durable glass construction 2. High optical clarity 3. Activated by a finger, gloved hand or soft tip 4. Not completely sealable, can be affected by large amounts of dirt, dust, and / or water in the environment.

SAW touch screen technology is suggested for use in ATMs, Amusement Parks, Banking and Financial Applications, Gaming Environments, Industrial Control Rooms, and KIOSK. SAW touch cannot be used within NEMA environments, as the technology cannot be gasket sealed. It has excellent durability that allows it to continue working if scratched since the overlay for the touch sensor is a solid glass display. The disadvantage to this glass overlay is that is breakable and won't work in wash down conditions. The waves are spread across the screen by bouncing off reflector arrays along the edges of the overlay. The waves are detected by two "receivers". The acoustic wave weakens when the user touches the glass with their finger, gloved hand or soft stylus. The coordinates are then determined by the controller circuitry that measures the time at which the amplitude declines. It is the only technology that can produce a Z-coordinate axis response. SAW technology offers drift-free stable performance that is always precise. SAW offers superior image clarity, resolution, and high light transmission.