What is a capacitive touch screen and how it will benefit your organization?

Remember the phrase “The World at your fingertips”, well thanks to the modern innovation of touch screen technology, the world is proverbially at your fingertips now. With just a light tap of your fingers, you can now perform a barrage of functions on account of this modern cutting-edge technology. Primarily used for smartphones, touch screen technology is now used across various electrical appliances as well. There are various methods through which an appliance will sense your touch and depending on the mechanism via which your touch is sensed there are three primary kinds of touchscreen technologies – resistive touch screen, Surface acoustic wave, and capacitive touch screen. The most widely used touchscreen technology in smartphones and other electrical appliances is a capacitive touch screen.

What is a capacitive touch screen?

In our day-to-day lives, we’re constantly using our smartphones and tablets to carry out numerous functions no matter how important menial or significant they are. Modern innovation has made our lives so much easier by letting us perform an assortment of functions by just using our fingertips but have we wondered how they work? How a mere tap of your finger will let you perform different activities like playing a game, controlling some of the switches in your house, making online transactions and much more? Have you wondered how it all works? If you’re wondering that now, the answer to wonderment is “Capacitive Touchscreen technology”. Capacitive Touch screen is a type of technology applied in a touch screen that detects a “touch” using the “capacitive coupling” method. In most of the electrical gadgets, a Capacitive touch screen is a control display with built-in sensors that help detect a touch of the human finger or a device that is specially designed for the control display, for input. The panel of a capacitive touch screen primarily contains an insulator –e.g. Glass, which is coated with a transparent conductor like indium tin oxide (ITO).  Since a human body is essentially a conductor of electricity, touching the screen’s surface will distort the screen’s electrostatic field, this change in charge is measured in Capacitance.  There are various kinds of technologies that can be used to ascertain the location of the touch. After determining the location, it is then sent to a controller for processing. The controller in most appliances is primarily CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). After the controller, the information is further sent as a signal to a CMOS digital signal processor (DSOP) for processing. In the majority of the designs, the capacitance is measured by the circuits present at every corner of the panel and the information is then sent for processing to the controllers. With modern innovations, Multi-touch screens are equipped with sensors that are categorically aligned in a grid which makes it possible for the touch screens to process a more complex input. Keeping the consumer in mind, manufacturers are developing touchscreens that are thinner and with more accurate sensors. Especially for smartphones, touch screen manufacturers are now making more efficient touch screens that use “in-cell” technology that provides various benefits to the device. A prime example of this technology is the “AMOLED” screens that have a built-in capacitor in the display itself which gets rid of an extra layer inside the display, thus reducing the thickness and the weight of the display screen, which in turn is desirable to the consumer. This technology also reduces the distance between the user’s finger and the screen, thus providing efficient and more comfortable user experience.

Advantages of Capacitive Touch Screen

There are various advantages of using Capacitive touch screens in comparison to other touch screen technologies. Some of the advantages are as follows

• Conductivity – Since this technology relies on “capacitance”, the pressure applied to register a touch is irrelevant and hence it is easier to use and lighter to operate.
• Responsiveness is enhanced – The objects with which a “touch” is registered are limited and that is why there is a chance of fewer accidental interactions.
• Durability – As compared to the other technologies, Capacitive touch screens are known to be more durable and hence can be used in relatively harsh environments.
• Improved image quality – Since the display screens have glass top layers as opposed to plastic layers, the image quality in these touchscreens is much better.
• Reliable – One of the most significant advantages of this technology is that it will continue to function even with minor cracks on the screen. Display screens suffering minor cracks are one of the most common problems faced by the consumers. In the case of capacitive touch screens, the “capacitance” will still be measured even with some minor cracks in the screen, thus ensuring the smooth functioning of your device.

Disadvantages of capacitive touch screen technology.

Even though this modern innovation is highly advantageous and efficient, it has a few disadvantages. Some of which are as follows

• Unlike the resistive touch screen, a capacitive touch screen depends on conductivity and hence in some cases, a touch screen may not detect the touch of a glove since some gloves are insulators and do not conduct electricity. It also requires special stylus that are conductors of electricity
•  In comparison to a resistive touch screen, a capacitive touch screen tends to be a tad expensive
• Since a capacitive touch screen contains a glass display screen, it is prone to breaking or cracking and hence requires a protective guard to protect the display screen

Uses of Capacitive touch screen

Due to its efficiency and other advantages, Capacitive touch screens are used in almost every smartphone today. It is also used in various tablets, Microsoft Surface laptop, Apple Ipads, Iphones, and Ipods.

How will the Capacitive touch screen benefit your organization.?

Smartphones along with other electrical appliances that employ touch screen technology are now an essential part of our lives. Whether you are a consumer or a business, you use a touch screen device in your day to day life. Whether you own a restaurant where you can quickly take your orders on a tablet or a smartphone, whether it is a ticketing kiosk where tickets can be bought by entering your information and paying through an Automatic Ticket Vending machine, a touch screen device with a capacitive touch screen will particularly be beneficial to you and your organization. Some of the benefits it will bring to your organization are as follows

• Capacitive touch screens are highly sensitive and maximize accuracy with potent sensors that more accurately detect your touch and hence it makes your work even more efficient and saves you a lot of time.
• It requires less pressure to use which will provide a relatively longer shelf-life to your device
• It provides a better display and higher resolution hence ensures a better consumer experience.
• Capacitive touch screen technology can also be used for Multi-touch touch screens which will help you perform various complex functions on your device

Capacitive touch screens with their dynamic functions and numerous advantages have truly ushered in a new area when it comes to touch screen technology. Employing this technology for your organization will be highly advantageous. Whether you are a consumer or a business, capacitive touch screen technology will provide you the best possible experience while dealing with touch screen devices