Cypress CapSense® Capacitive Touch Sensing Technology

Overview

Integrated touch-sensing user interfaces are replacing mechanical buttons and knobs everywhere. State-of-the-art products need a sophisticated and elegant user interface solution that works reliably in wet, electrically noisy conditions and complies with rigorous IEC 61000 generic standards for noise immunity and emissions. CapSense technology does all this. Cypress offers a range of devices integrating CapSense with LED and LCD control, sensor interfaces, system monitoring, USB-Serial bridging and many other system functions.

CapSense technology features include:

• 1 – 44 CapSense I/Os available for configuring buttons, sliders and proximity sensors
• Easy-to-use configurable options that require no programming know-how
• Fully-programmable options for power users wanting detailed control
• QuietZone™ technology for immunity to radiated and conducted noise
  • Superior signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in all conditions with CSDPLUS sensing method
  • Sensitivity to finger capacitance changes as low as 0.1 pF, supporting 15 mm glass and 5 mm plastic overlays
• Cypress’s SmartSense™ Auto-Tuning algorithm, which continuously compensates for system, manufacturing, and environmental changes during run-time
• Fully-tested solutions for features such as proximity sensing and water tolerance
• Ultra-low power with industry's widest voltage range: 1.8 V – 5.5 V
• Multiple memory and footprint options for easy device selection

Featured Evaluation Kit

CY3280-MBR3 CapSense MBR3 Evaluation Kit

The CY3280-MBR3 CapSense MBR3 Evaluation Kit can be used to evaluate the 3rd generation of Cypress's industry-leading register-configurable CapSense technology. The CapSense MBR3 Evaluation Kit provides to users the industry's best CapSense performance supporting CapSense buttons, proximity sensing, water tolerance and many more features.

Applications

CapSense® Express requires no coding and supports simple button or button/slider designs with up to 16 capacitive buttons or up to 5 capacitive buttons and 1 slider.

EZ-Click 2.0 is a simple yet powerful software tool that enables development of CapSense MBR solutions. This lightweight Windows® GUI-based tool has been improved to make development of capacitive user-interfaces extremely simple and quick. The tool allows you to setup sensor configuration, apply global system properties, monitor real-time sensor output, and run production-line system diagnostics – all in an intuitive, visually-driven tool, with absolutely no firmware development required.

How to Get Started with CapSense Express

1. Purchase the $25 CapSense MBR3 Evaluation Kit
2. Download EZ-Click 2.0
3. Read the EZ-Click 2.0 User Guide

CapSense® - supports up to 33 capacitive buttons and 6 sliders and features such as LED effects.

PSoC devices excel as sensor hubs, integrating CapSense touch and proximity with temperature-, pressure-, accelerometer, humidity- and light-sensing. PSoC also controls power subsystems, motors, fans, LED and LCDs.

Cypress USB-Serial bridge controllers integrate CapSense technology and battery charger detection with two serial channels for UART, I²C or SPI interfaces to full-speed USB.