Turnkey touch controllers are a fast and easy way to upgrade from mechanical buttons to modern touch buttons or displays. With the launch of its 12-button MTCH2120 touch controller, Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) is providing designers with a straightforward pathway for implementing touch button capabilities on user interfaces. The low-power, water-tolerant turnkey touch device is integrated with Microchip’s unified ecosystem, allowing for an easier design process and facilitating transitions between other turnkey solutions and MCU-based touch implementations. The MTCH2120 is the first of what will be a family of I2C-based touch controllers with a comprehensive design-in ecosystem.
The MTCH2120 provides a robust touch experience independent of noise events and moisture, while offering high flexibility to adapt to individual product requirements. Low-power features allow buttons to be grouped, which reduces scan activity and lowers power while enabling the buttons to remain fully operational.
The MTCH2120 offers features and tools that streamline design processes. Its Easy Tune feature auto-adjusts sensitivity and filters based on real-time noise, removing manual threshold tuning. The MPLAB Harmony Host Code Configurator simplifies integration with Microchip MCUs and MPUs by eliminating the need to implement the I2C protocol manually.
Design validation is enabled through the MPLAB Data Visualizer, while its I2C port expander capabilities add versatility. Compatibility with Microchip’s touch library reduces software engineering efforts, shortening design cycles.
For prototyping, the MTCH2120 evaluation board, featuring a SAM C21 host MCU, ensures seamless, out-of-the-box integration. Together, these features make the MTCH2120 an efficient solution for advanced designs.
“The MTCH2120 brings together decades of touch experience with Microchip’s comprehensive ecosystem of support and development tools to deliver an easy-to-use, advanced touch experience,” said Rodger Richey, vice president of development systems and academic programs at Microchip Technology. “It’s a win-win solution. Developers can implement the highest level of touch robustness and great design flexibility, without the hassle of tuning or programming.”
The MTCH2120 is the first in Microchip’s MTCH family to incorporate I2C, with the recently released MTCH1010, MTCH1030 and MTCH1060 offering the same robust touch performance and an uncomplicated GPIO interface. The MTCH2XXX family will add more solutions with bus-controlled flexibility, making the ease of use provided by the design-in ecosystem available to additional markets.
