Capacitive Touch Screen
Capacitive touch screens are electronic interfaces that transmit commands based on the location of their users' fingers in connection with a capacitive matrix. In this way they differ from switches, which have to be individually pressed in order to transmit signals.
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Design of Capacitive Touch Screens
Electrical engineers discovered the many advantages to capacitive coupling technology, which developed into a network of sensors that could be accessed through the use of a conductive stylus, such as a human finger. In essence, this type of touch screen works because the electrical charge from a finger or similar object may access and engage a computer program, allowing various options to be chosen and new options to pop up in response. A basic description of a common capacitive touch screen involves surface capacitance, which means that only one side of the product, such as a thick glass screen, is covered with a conductive substance. Other varieties of application are also used, such as the etched conductive layer of projected capacitance. Certain types of plastic may also be used as the base screen, while the conductive substance is commonly a solution of indium tin oxide; this liquid dries clear when applied in a thin layer while still retaining a high electrical conductivity. Other varieties of coating are also used in capacitive touch screens, although not as often as the liquid already mentioned.
Applications of Capacitive Touch Screens
Capacitive touch screens are found in a variety of environments. Banks utilize them for ATM services, enabling individuals to access their accounts and practice transfers, deposits and withdrawals with their fingertips. Many grocery stores now have self check-out lines that utilize capacitive touch screens, allowing customers to purchase objects that can not be self scanned, such as fruit, through interacting with the screen. These touch screens are also the faces of smartphones such as iphones and blackberrys, and are therefore being carried through every industrial and commercial setting in the world. Other touch screen technologies are also utilized in today’s market, such as resistive touch screens that utilize membrane switches and infrared touch screens. Infrared touch screens employ an x and y axis based program accessed by the breaking of infrared lights through touching the screen. Where on the grid the light is disturbed is processed by way of the x y axis, linking to the next screen or series of options. Touch switches are the membrane switch touch screens that involve pressure to enact the proper response on a screen, since the electrical charge that tells the computer program what to do requires two thin metal layers within the screen to connect. All of these programs have positive and negative qualities, therefore giving touch screen producers many options for production.