CAPACITIVE TOUCH

By Joe Gleason
8/7/2017
Contents
1. Project Overview Page 3

2. Introduction to Capacitive Touch Page 3

3. Cypress Chip Page 4

4. Designing the Schematic Page 5

5. Designing the Layout Page 6

6. Future Plan Page 7

7. Conclusion Page 7

8. Documentation Page 8

9. Screenshot notes Page 9

 1. Project Overview
Our goal for this new technology is to use it in our Toro Display Modules (TDM). We are
looking to expand the use of our display modules with the use of a capacitive touch slider bar.
The addition of a slider bar will give the user the ability to scroll through the display on the
TDM. Parameters for designing the capacitive touch board are minimal sizing to fit in the TDM
and ability to mount and connect to the processor.

2.Introduction to Capacitive Touch

Capacitive touch technology is a growing industry and found on many devices. There are
two types of capacitive touch, self-capacitive touch and mutual capacitive touch. It is called
self-capacitance because its measures a change in capacitance based on the response of a
single electrode. If a finger gets close to the electrode, the capacitance of the electrode
increases as shown in figure 1. The capacitance increases because the human body holds a
certain amount of parallel capacitance, which increases the total electrode capacitance. The
disadvantage of using self-capacitive touch is the inability to detect more than one touch.
Mutual capacitive touch is more popular in modern cell phones and other devices
because of its ability to detect an unlimited number of objects with a higher resolution in less
space. Mutual capacitance makes use of the fact that most conductive objects are able to hold a
charge if they are very close together. If another conductive object, such as a finger, comes close
to two conductive objects, the charge field capacitance between the two-object decreases
because the human-body capacitance steals some of the charge. This example is shown is
figure 2.

Figure 1: Self-Capacitive Touch

 Figure 2: Mutual-Capacitive Touch

3.Cypress Chip
From previous intern testing and research, it was decided to go with the cypress
CY8CMBR106S CapSense express controller. This controller went through various water testing,
glove testing and sensitivity testing. More details about the testing are in the Capacitive Touch
Development folder. In summary, the board worked well with a recommended touch setting of
200 and a threshold of 40. The board performed well in preventing small amounts of water
from having an effect; however, larger amounts of water may cause problems. It is worth noting
the importance of the controllers slider capabilities and low-cost. Other important features
about this chip are in figure 3.

Features CY8CMBR106S
Maximum number 2
of sliders
Maximum number 10
of slider segments
Shield Electrode Yes
Threshold Override Yes
Sensitivity Control Yes
EMC Yes
Liquid Tolerance No
Host Interrupt Yes
Sensor auto-reset Yes
2
I C Interface Yes
 Figure 3: Features

The CY8CMBR106S supports a maximum of two sliders and a total of ten segments. The
segments can combine to create other arrangements, such as one slider with 10 segments and
so forth. The evaluation software is EZ-Click customizer tool, which is a simple GUI for device
configuration. Data viewing and monitoring for CapSense button, sliders and proximity sensors
are also available. This device feature communicates through I 2 C Interface.

4.Designing the Schematic

I found several schematic examples in the datasheet for the CY8CMBR3106S. The
datasheet specifies the pins for VCC, VDD, VSS, CMOD (external modulator capacitor), sliders, HI
(Host interrupt) and I 2 C . The schematic for the capacitive touch board is shown below in
figure 4. VCC is the power-supply pin for internal regulator output. The datasheet specifies to
connect a 0.1uF decoupling capacitor if VDD is greater than 1.8V. Our VDD pin has a 5V supply
and two decoupling capacitors of 1uF and 0.1uF. The datasheet specifies VSS to connect to
ground. The CMOD pin is the external modulator capacitor, which recommends connecting a
2.2nF capacitor too.
Due to sizing restrictions, we decided to use four sliders. Pins 10-13 connect to the slider
pads and a 560-ohm resistor. The unused buttons, sliders and proximity sensors all connect to
ground. Pin 21 and 22 are the I 2 C inference pins to connect to the host processor. Pin 23 is
the host interrupt and pin 24 is the external reset.

Figure 4: Capacitive Touch Schematic

 5.Designing the Layout
Our PCB designer, Rod, completed the layout for the capacitive touch board. One layout
parameter that came into question is putting ground pads on each end of the slider. The
datasheet recommends the ground pads for more precise reading on both ends of the sliders. It
is more precise, because mutual capacitive touch detects changes between two electrode pads.
So without the ground pads on each end, it is more difficult to detect changes on the end pads
without having another pad of reference. Due to sizing restrictions, we could not fit the ground
pads into our layout design. The datasheet recommended the ground pads, however,
mentioned they are not necessary for the layout. In addition, the Cypress kit did not use the
ground pads either, so we decided against using them in our layout.

The slider pad width is 7.7mm and the height is 7mm. The datasheet specifies a
minimum and maximum slider width of 2mm-8mm. The datasheet recommends a width of
8mm, which is relatively close to our 7.7mm width. The datasheet specifies a min and max
slider height of 7mm-15mm. The datasheet recommends a height of 12mm, which our design
meets the minimum requirement. This dimension may affect the overall performance of the cap
touch board. The clearance between the slider segments is 0.5mm. Figure 5 and 6 show the top
and bottom layer of the board.

Figure 5: Top of board

 Figure 6: Bottom of board

6.Future plan
I made a list of the following steps for this project below. The CY8CKIT can be used for
testing and developing our board. The CY8CKIT can be disassembled and connected to our
board. EZ-Click is a software tool for configuring the CY8CKIT. Once the our board is connected
and EZ-Click software is downloaded, testing can begin. One disclosure, I have not used the EZ-
Click software yet, so hopefully it will be as simple as it sounds to configure. A previous intern,
Alex, tested other boards with this software so I am confident it will work. Check the datasheet
and design guide for more information about EZ-Click.

The next step is testing the board performance. A few tests items for the board are
sensitivity, glove testing, and water droplets testing. You can adjust the sensitivity of the board
using EZ-Click. The previous intern recommended settings of sensitivity of 200 and threshold of
40. Make sure a pad is picking up the correct location of your finger and smoothly transitions
between pads. There will also be a 2mm plastic overlay from the TDM, so test the board with
this overlay. Glove and water droplets testing may also be necessary for the evaluating the
boards performance.

Next Steps

1. Order and solder parts to Cap Touch board

2. Connect Cap Touch board to Cypress CY8CKIT
3. Configure with EZ-Click
4. Test board performance
5. Evaluate performance

Further steps, figuring out how to mount the Cap touch board to the TDM and connect
to the processor. For mounting, the Cap touch board should push up against the plastic on the
TDM. Katie and I talked about connecting the Cap touch board to either the TM4C
microcontroller or the TDM processor.

7. Conclusion
The goal for this project is to use a capacitive touch slider bar in our Toro Display
Modules (TDM). My expectations are the board will have decent but not high-end performance.
Because of the limited space, there is only room for 4mm width pads instead of the
recommended 8mm width pads. This will cost us in the performance of the board, however,
adjusting the sensitivity may be beneficial.
Documentation
1. Datasheet CY8CMBR3106S: http://www.cypress.com/file/46236/download

2. Design Guidelines: Capacitive Touch Folder

http://www.cypress.com/documentation/application-notes/an90071-
cy8cmbr3xxx-capsenser-design-guide

3. EZ-Click software: http://www.cypress.com/documentation/software-

and-drivers/ez-click-20
4. Cypress Kit:
I:\Electronics\Commercial\Capactive Touch Development\Gleason
5. Testing results completed by Alex: I:\Electronics\Commercial\Capactive
Touch Development\Gleason
6. PCB Layout and Schematics:
I:\Electronics\Commercial\Capactive Touch Development\schematic
Screenshot notes
I2C
Host Communication Protocol (TM4C)
-More info an Master TRANDMITTING and RECEIVING databits/ multiple/ repeat start

TM4C Configuration pins

-PIN 61 and 62 are open on TM4C to connect to the cypress processor. I2C module 2 data
PF7(3) and PE5(3)