New capacitive touch sensor IC achieves 50% power reduction, reduces external component, and costs less

The new device has several enhancements to simplify design and caters for a broader range of operating environments. Eliminating the need for resistors on each channel has reduced external component count. As well as a reduction in circuitry, the device features increased sensitivity, by as much as four times, which in turn has led to as much as a 50% power reduction compared with the QT1080 under most operating conditions. Refinements made to the drift and recalibration algorithms allow the QT1081 to better adjust to rapidly changing environments.

The device features discrete outputs for ease of design and a user-defined low power mode. This mode, offering microamp current drain, operates with slower response times but wakes up into its normal full speed mode as soon as a touch is detected. Spread-spectrum modulation is used to reduce false key detections caused by external fields or noise. Also incorporated is Quantum’s patented Adjacent Key Suppression (AKS), which locks out unintentional key touches, for example due to fingers covering more than one key on small keypads. The QT1081 is ideally suited for use across a broad range of mobile, consumer appliances and personal electronics devices. In addition to being an improvement over the QT1080, the QT1081 also offers a substantially lower price, making it economical for low cost PC peripherals, MP3 players, and even toys.

The QT1081 is priced below $0.80 in OEM volumes.