The good folk at Peratech have just signed a $1.4 million deal with Nissha, ‘one of the world’s largest manufacturers of touch screen technology’, to license Peratech QTC force sensitive technology in small touchscreens.
If the tech takes off we could see a raft of new phones with pressure sensitive touchscreens, offering new features such as pressure sensitive artistic capabilities on a cell phone, faster scrolling with increased finger pressure or audio loudness control based on the pressure exerted on the screen.
The trick is done using a screen printed overlay, which is around 75 microns thick, which lowers resistance and passes more current the harder it is pressed. Cool stuff all right.
With QTC, touch screens can be made feature rich and ultra-thin allowing for the development of even slimmer, lighter weight and lower-power portable devices. Takao Hashimoto, Director, CTO of Nissha and General Manager of Technology Research & Development, added, “QTC will be a disruptive technology for mobile phones enabling thinner phones to be designed with amazing new input interfaces.”