Resistive Touch vs. Capacitive Touch

When deciding between resistive and capacitive touch, be sure to consider where as well as how the display will be used. Different use cases call for different touch technology.

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How does resistive touch work?

Resistive touchscreens use a relatively simple technology. A resistive touchscreen comprises two flexible sheets with an air gap between them. When the screen is touched, the sheets make contact. Then the touch location is calculated based on voltages using and an ADC. Read more about how to implement a resistive touchscreen.

Resistive touchscreens register touches made with a finger (even if gloved), stylus, pencil eraser or anything with an end blunt enough not to damage the screen. Most ATMs, card readers at the grocery store, and older home electronics (think that GPS you bought for your car in ) use resistive touch sensing.

This is our 5&#; resistive touch display. The tail from the touchscreen is visible coming down in the middle of the display and is connected to the main display tail under the black protective tape.

Because resistive touchscreens are relatively simple and require only four lines to sense touch, the lines connecting the touchscreen to the microcontroller are often incorporated into the main display tail, meaning only one connection between the display module and the controller are needed.

How does capacitive touch work?

Capacitive touchscreens are a little more complicated. Capacitive touchscreens work by registering a change in an electrostatic field on the screen when touched with an adequately capacitive object, like a finger. Gloved fingers or a stylus may be used, but they must have conductive materials to simulate a bare finger.

As capacitive touchscreens require a controller and more lines, the tail of a capacitive touchscreen is usually separate from the main display tail.

This is our 5&#; capacitive touch display. It is the same display as the display with the resistive touchscreen. On the main tail, you can see four pads where the resistive touchscreen tail would connect. To the right of the main tail, you can see the capacitive touch tail.

Pros and Cons of Resistive Touch vs. Capacitive Touch

Beyond the methods of obtaining a touch, there are pros and cons that must be considered when deciding between a resistive touchscreen and a capacitive touchscreen.

The following table compares resistive and capacitive touchscreens across a variety of categories. In short, resistive touchscreens are less expensive and work well in outdoor applications, but do not age well (they can get scratched, and become hazy with age) and can only register a single touch. Capacitive touchscreens use a glass top layer so they maintain more of the display&#;s brightness. Plus, capacitive touchscreens can support multiple touches and gestures. The main draw backs for capacitive touchscreens are the higher cost and lower tolerance of environmental factors.

Resistive vs Capacitive Touch Pros and Cons

Resistive TouchCapacitive TouchCostLow. Uses simple circuits and interfacing.Higher. Requires a processor for interfacing.Impact ResistanceHigh. The screen can be scratched, but is more impact durable. However, if the screen is cracked, the touch will no longer function.Low. An impact can crack the screen. However, the touch will still function with a cracked screen.Contaminant ResistanceHigh. Dirt and moisture droplets do not affect the touch sensing.Low. Dirt and moisture interfere with touch sensing, resulting in registering unintended touches.Light TransmissionPoor. A new touchscreen cuts light transmission from the display by about 20%. As the touchscreen ages, it can yellow or become hazy, further limiting light transmission.Good. A cap touchscreen cuts light transmission by approximately 10%, or less. Age does not affect the light transmission.Long Term DurabilityPoor. The flexible material will yellow with ages and is prone to scratches. This will affect readability of the display.Good. The outer surface of the touchscreen is fairly scratch resistant, offering protection to the display.Touch SensingSingle touch. Some pressure is required to register the touch.Multiple touches detectable. Gestures like swipes and pinches can be supported.Other ConsiderationsRequires calibration.Higher power consumption.Best Uses* Large screens
*Simple touches
*Cost constrained applications
*Outdoor applications where environmental conditions are a factor
*Applications where wet or gloved hands will be used*Small screens where accuracy is critical
*Applications requiring multiple touches or gestures
*Applications requiring high contrast and brightness
*Applications where long-term durability is critical

Compare Display Families

Compare some of our families of displays that include a no-touch, resistive touch, and cap touch version. The 5&#; sunlight readable displays, above, start at nits and drop into the 800s.

Further, consider our 3.9&#; bar-type display. Without a touchscreen, this display boasts a respectable brightness of 500 nits. With a capacitive touchscreen applied, the brightness drops to a typical brightness of 400 nits. The brightness with a resistive touchscreen applied drops even further, to a typical brightness of 350 nits.

This is the 3.9&#; cap touch display which can recognize five distinct touches at once. The photographed display is running as part of an EVE module.

Further Reading

https://ca.pipglobal.com/archive/literature/PIP-WP-Gloves-and-Touchscreen-Compatibility.pdf

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Kelsey is an engineer at Crystalfontz. She graduated from Gonzaga University with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Kelsey&#;s roles at Crystalfontz include customer support, documentation, product demonstrations, and design.

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With the growth of smart devices, the application of touchscreens is getting closer and closer to our life. Various electronic devices, vehicle tools, daily entertainment equipment, shopping navigation equipment, etc., and the LCD touchscreen has already been integrated into our daily life. When we meet various touch technologies and choose a device with a touchscreen, many questions often arise. What are the advantages of touch displays, and how to choose a better one? Today I will show you a brief introduction to 5 common types of touch screens, as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

According to the touch principle, touch screens can be divided into five basic types: capacitive touchscreens, resistive touchscreens, infrared technology touchscreens, surface acoustic wave technology touchscreens, and low electromagnetic guidance touchscreens. In fact, there are four types of touch screens that we often come into contact with at present, they are resistive touch, capacitive touch, infrared and surface acoustic wave touch. We mainly introduce the differences between these 4 types of touch displays.

1: Capacitive Touchscreen

The technology of the capacitive touch is inseparable from the human body. It needs the mutual induction of the human body current and the ITO conductive layer to work.

First of all, the capacitive touch has 4 layers of glass. The inner surface of the glass and the interlayer are each coated with a layer of ITO. The outermost layer is a protective layer of silica glass. The interlayer ITO coating is used as the working surface, and the electrodes are respectively drawn out from the four corners. when there is a touch with the human body, the finger and the working surface form a current, and the current flows out from the electrodes on the four corners of the touch screen, and the electrodes can sense the change of the surface charge and then determine the coordinates of the touch point. Capacitive touchscreens require only touch, not pressure.

Pros of Capacitive Touchscreen

1. The capacitive touch has fewer corrections working after production, which can improve work efficiency and reduce the generation of defective products;

2. Long working life;

3. Light transmittance and clarity are better than the resistive touchscreen;

4. Capacitive touch is easy to design on large-size LCD display and the cost is relatively low;

5. Can support multi-touch technology.

Cons of Capacitive Touchscreens

1. When a large-area palm or a handheld conductor is close to the capacitive touch display, even if there is no touch on the screen panel, it can also cause a touch action on the display panel;

2. For objects such as wearing gloves or holding an insulating object, the touch does not work, because the insulation medium is added, and the touch point will move;

2. The light transmittance of the capacitive touch screen is not uniform, and there is a problem with color distortion. Due to the reflection of light between the layers, the image characters will be blurred;

4. When the ambient temperature and humidity change, it will cause the capacitive touch point to move and the touch will be inaccurate.

 

2: Resistive Touchscreen

A resistive touchscreen is a type of touchscreen that uses pressure sensing for control.

It uses two layers of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) plastic film (ITO+Glass) coated with conductive function. The side of adjacent to the film and glass are all coated with ITO coating. When there is no pressure, there is a gap between the two layers of ITO, and the certain gap is in a non-conductive state. When there is pressure, whether it is human finger pressure or object pressure, the two ITO layers will contact to form a current signal, and then convert the corresponding pressure point by detecting the X-axis and Y-axis voltage changes to complete the touch processing of the entire screen mechanism.

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Pros of Resistive Touchscreens

1. Mature technology, low cost;

2. Good environmental adaptability, no worry about the influence of dust, water vapor and oil pollution;

3. Good stability, both the human body and objects can be touched;

4. The precision of the resistive touch screen is high; it is easy to design on a large resolution LCD screen;

Cons of Resistive Touchscreens

1. The touchscreen is easily scratched and the makes the touch is unavailable;

2. Poor light transmission, easy to increase battery consumption;

3. When multi-touch is used, due to unbalanced pressure, the tactility is not good, and the touch point will be incorrect;

4. Relatively low touch sensitivity.

Click this to check the Difference Between Resistive Touchscreen and Capacitive Touchscreen.

 

3: Infrared  Touchscreen

The infrared touchscreen is easy to install, just add a light spot distance frame on the LCD display panel, no need to coat any IoT. The infrared touch display uses the dense infrared matrix in the X and Y directions to detect and locate the touch point. When the user touches the screen, the touching object will block the two horizontal and vertical infrared rays passing through the position, so as to obtain the position of the touch point to realize the touch. Any touching object can change the infrared rays on the contacts to realize the touch screen operation.

Pros of Infrared Touchscreen

1. The infrared touchscreen is not affected by the current, voltage and static electricity;

2. Low price, easy installation, no need for any controller;

3. Compatible with computers of various grades.

Cons of Infrared Touchscreen

1. Difficult to use on large size LCD screens;

2. Easily disturbed by external light,

3. The infrared touch screen is not waterproof or oil-proof, and any small foreign objects will cause errors and affect its performance.

 

4. Surface Acoustic Wave Touchscreen

The touch screen part surface of acoustic wave touch can be in a flat, spherical or cylindrical glass plate, a piece of glass installed in front of the CRT, LED, LCD or plasma display screen. This glass has been strengthened and specially treated, and it is installed on the surface of the display. Vertical and horizontal ultrasonic senders are installed on the upper left and lower right corners of the glass, and ultrasonic receivers are installed in the upper right and low left corners. when the finger touches the glass surface, the finger absorbs part of the sound wave energy, the controller records this anomaly and calculates the position of the touch point.

Pros Surface Acoustic Wave Touchscreen

1. High clarity and good light transmittance.

2. Highly durable, good scratch resistance and responsive.

3. Not affected by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, high resolution, and long prolife;

4. High light transmittance, can maintain clear and bright image quality;

Cons of Surface Acoustic Wave Touchscreen

1. Applicable to smaller screens, hard to use on larger screens more than 30 inches;

2. Susceptible to moisture damage, so not suitable for many industrial and commercial applications;

3. Dirty surfaces can cause dark spots on the screen and require regular cleaning

RJOYTEK LCD TOUCH SOLUTION

Introduced so much knowledge about touchscreens, we provide customers with personalized LCD TFT display solutions, we provide different touch technology TFT LCD panel customization according to customer requirements, and design touch solutions that meet the requirements according to user application scenarios, such as different material glove touch, water environment touch, saltwater environment touch, hover touch, 3D (force) touch, haptic touch, etc. Orient Display can also provide very low cost fixed area button touch, single (one) finger touch, double finger (one finger+ one gesture) touch, 5 finger touch, 10 points touch or even 16 points touch.

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