Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new Gen4 TrueTouch® controller for the fast-growing tablet and ultrabook markets. The brand-new CY8CTMA1036 device has 65 sensor I/Os, allowing touch screens up to 12 inches to achieve perfect touch screen performance. Like the smaller screen Gen4 devices, the performance of this new device is industry-leading in all aspects, including the world‘s best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the presence of various noise sources (the biggest challenge for touch screen design) Unparalleled performance that can still be achieved under the environment. In addition, Gen4 also has the industry‘s lowest effective power consumption, unparalleled tracking accuracy and the fastest refresh rate. It can provide comprehensive support for major mobile operating systems including Win8 and Android.

The new CY8CTMA1036 uses a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ core with 65 sensing I/O channels and can support up to 1036 on-screen nodes, which is 35% more than any other single-chip solution. More sensing channels are essential for higher accuracy and linearity. In addition, it can support smaller fingers and solve the problems that arise when multiple fingers are gathered together.

Dhwani Vyas, Vice President of Cypress’s User Interface Business Unit, pointed out: “Just like in the mobile phone field, we have received the same positive response from tablet manufacturers. Customers’ tablet designs can benefit from Gen4 technology’s single-chip package resistance. Customers are very satisfied with the advantages of noise, low power consumption and excellent performance. We are launching samples to many customers, and we expect to start mass production and shipment by the end of this quarter."

New breakthrough in noise cancellation

The Gen4 series has been completely redesigned to provide the world‘s highest SNR in real-world applications. It is the first and only touch screen IC that can provide a built-in 10V Tx and drive the touch screen with 10V. Since SNR is directly proportional to the voltage driving the display, this feature enables Cypress to provide approximately four times the SNR of the strongest competitive solution.

As the first series of touch screen devices that can completely eliminate display noise in the hardware, the Gen4 series can further improve the SNR standard. The patent-pending Display Armor™ technology in Gen4 can provide unprecedented noise immunity to the noise generated by various displays, even including high-noise, low-cost displays such as ACVCOM LCD. In this way, touch screen designers can reduce the thickness of the product by eliminating the air gap between the display and the sensor. In addition, they can also reduce the cost by removing the shielding layer in the sensor. Regardless of the chemical nature of the display, Display Armor technology enables Gen4 to support stacking technologies such as direct lamination, on-cell and in-cell.

The world‘s fastest and lowest power touch screen controller

In addition to unparalleled noise performance, the Gen4 platform also has the world‘s lowest effective power consumption of only 2mW, and the power consumption in deep sleep mode is only 1.8uW-this mode can be awakened by the address matching of the COM port. Shortened battery life is a common problem for smartphones and other portable touch screen devices. Gen4 can provide another tool for OEM manufacturers to help solve this problem. In addition, the Gen4 product series also has the industry‘s fastest refresh rate of up to 400Hz, and has the unique feature of scanning capacitive touch screens at a frequency of 1000Hz-both are the industry‘s best indicators. This level of performance is achieved through the 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ core at the core of Gen4 products. The Gen4 series can achieve unlimited touch performance while providing the industry‘s highest accuracy and linearity of 0.2 mm.

In addition, the Gen4 series can also provide features that only TrueTouch have, including the waterproof function that enables the product to meet the IP-67 standard; support for the 1mm stylus for Asian character sets and precise handwriting capture; and provide similar mouse hovering Functional hover sensing, and real fingernail or thick glove support in mobile devices. The realization of these subdivision functions is due to Cypress‘s unique patent-pending technology, which enables dynamic switching between self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance sensing methods in applications. Cypress currently has more than 250 licensed and pending patents in the field of touch screens.