TI Korea (CEO Kent Chon, www.ti.com/ww/kr ) May 28, 2013 – TI (CEO Kent Chon) announced the expansion of its industry-leading low-power capacitive touch portfolio and stated that it is providing new MCU software libraries, sensor tuning GUIs, and design guides to make the development of capacitive touch solutions even easier. By supporting ultra-low power operation with an average current of less than 1 μA per button, TI’s MSP430™ MCUs provide the industry’s best solutions for capacitive touch buttons, sliders, wheels, and proximity applications in portable electronics, home appliances, and accessories. Developers wishing to support the MSP430 capacitive touch ecosystem can utilize a comprehensive library of design guides, software tools, and MCU support across the entire design process at www.ti.com/cte-pr-lp .

By utilizing TI’s extended open source MSP430 capacitive touch software library, the recently released MSP430G2xx5 value line devices and Wolverine MSP430FR58xx/FR59xx devices can be used for button, slider, wheel, and proximity capacitive touch application designs. These latest devices feature capacitive touch capabilities and offer various options for price-sensitive low-power applications.

TI's expanded capacitive touch ecosystem provides the following advanced tools to support designers throughout the development process.

• The MSP430 Capacitive Touch Pro GUI (graphical user interface) is a new PC-based tool that enables real-time evaluation, diagnosis, and tuning of capacitive touch buttons, sliders, and wheels. This tool charts raw capacitive data from up to 10 sensors, allowing for convenient visual analysis of elements. Consequently, it enables rapid debugging and testing, as well as reduced time-to-market. It also provides user-configurable ranging, recording, and printing options. The software can be downloaded from www.ti.com/cte-pr-ctpro .
• By utilizing TI’s MSP430 Capacitive Touch Power Designer GUI and application notes, you can predict the power consumption of a capacitive touch system before implementing the hardware. The GUI simulates the expected average current consumption of a capacitive touch system using a selected MSP430 MCU, and allows the user to adjust system parameters such as operating voltage, frequency, number of buttons, and gate time. This new tool can be downloaded from www.ti.com/cte-pr-ctpd .

In addition, it provides a comprehensive design guide written by TI's experts in the field of capacitive touch. This design guide covers sensor design techniques required for designing buttons, sliders, and wheels, as well as methods to reduce power consumption and improve response time.

• Capacitive Touch Sensing, MSP430 Button Gate Time Optimization and Tuning Guide: Introduction to methods for optimizing button performance to lower power consumption and improve response times, as well as button expansion methods including additional buttons.
• Capacitive Touch Sensing, MSP430 Slider and Wheel Tuning Guide: Introduction to Slider and Wheel Layout Methods Using Multiple Electrodes and Software Optimization Methods for Providing Linear Representation with Raw Capacitive Data
• Capacitive Touch Sensing and Sensor Design Guide: Introduction to considerations and best design practices for capacitive touch hardware design, including schematic, mechanical, and layout.

In addition, the ultra-low power MSP430 MCU supports capacitive touch button, slider, and wheel functions in TI's haptic technology evaluation kit. The DRV2605 haptic driver evaluation module is a comprehensive demo and evaluation platform that provides haptic feedback through a touch-based interface. The vibrations generated by these devices provide a new, richer user experience and differentiated value.

More detailed information on TI's capacitive touch solutions, support, and related products
• TI's Capacitive Touch Solution Ecosystem: www.ti.com/cte-pr-lp
• MSP430 Capacitive Touch Ecosystem Video: www.ti.com/cte-pr-vid
• Evaluation using the Capacitive Touch Booster Pack: www.ti.com/cte-pr-ctbp
• Added realistic haptic feedback using TI's haptic drivers: www.ti.com/hapticspl-pr
• Q&A and troubleshooting on the TI E2E™ Community MSP430 Forum: www.ti.com/cte-pr-e2e
• Switching to TI MCUs: www.ti.com/maketheswitch
• TI MCU Facebook: www.facebook.com/timicrocontrollers

TI's various MCUs and software portfolio
As a leader in the ultra-low power, real-time control, safety, and connectivity MCU market, TI has continuously innovated for over 20 years, providing the industry's broadest portfolio of microcontrollers. From ultra-low power MSP430™ MCUs to real-time control C2000™ MCUs, Tiva™ ARM® MCUs, and Hercules™ safety ARM MCUs, TI helps designers accelerate time-to-market through complete software and hardware tools, comprehensive partner products, and technical support.