Semtech debuts world’s lowest power, fully integrated capacitive touch sensor IC platform

CAMARILLO, USA: Semtech Corp., a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, announced the SX864x platform of capacitive sensing ICs that come in 8- and 12-channel models and feature integrated LED drivers.

This platform supports a wide range of button, slider and touch wheel capacitive sensor designs that are increasingly found in white goods, mobile phones, media players, notebooks/netbooks and other consumer electronics.

The capacitive analog interface on each of the seven ICs in the SX864x platform is designed with a highly accurate ADC that provides superior sensitivity to work with overlay materials more than 5mm thick, offering extremely robust and ESD-immune system design.

With current consumption as little as 80uA at operation, these ICs are the ideal choice for battery-powered devices. This SX864x platform also integrates eight, 256-step LED drivers with individual intensity and linear and logarithmic fading control that is optimized for human vision.

The SX864x devices are specifically designed to reduce capacitive touch control design time-to-market. Users may customize various parameters such as scan time, slave address, channel gain and sensitivity thresholds in their applications without the need for new firmware development. False triggers due to environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and dust can also be eliminated via our on-chip calibration algorithm.

“Unlike competitive alternatives, the SX864x family integrates all the functional blocks necessary for capacitive sensing in a tiny footprint that requires zero external components. This simplifies the PCB design and reduces the overall solution BOM cost,“ said Sam Massih, Product Line Manager, Consumer Analog Products for Semtech. “The integrated, advanced features of the SX864x platform coupled with their low power consumption, makes these ICs ideal for a wide range of capacitive sensing applications.”

The devices in the SX864x platform include the 12-channel SX8643/44/45, which are offered in 5mm x 5mm 32-QFN packages; and the 8-channel SX8646/47/48/49 that come in 4mm x 4mm 28-QFN packages. Semtech guarantees all of these devices to operate over the extended (-40°C to +85°C) temperature range.

The 12-channel SX8643 (order code: SX8643I05AWLTRT), SX8644 (order code: SX8644I05AWLTRT) and SX8645 (order code: SX8645I05AWLTRT) are available in production quantities and are priced at $0.94, $0.99 and $1.02 respectively in 3,000-piece lots.

The 3,000-piece price for the smaller pin-count 8-channel SX8646 (order code: Sx8646I05AULTRT), SX8647 (order code: Sx8647I05AULTRT), SX8648 (order code: Sx8648I05AULTRT) and SX8649 (order code: Sx8649I05AULTRT) are $0.89, $0.93, $0.94 and $0.98, respectively.