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AN2292
Authors: Mark Lee
Associated Project: No
Associated Part Family: CY8C21x34, CY8C24794
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Software Version: None
Associated Application Notes: AN2233a, AN2277, AN2318, AN2403
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AN2292
Figure 2. Two Layer Stack Up for CapSense Boards Figure 3. Multi Layer Treatment of Sensing and
Communication Lines
COM
COM
Board Thickness
FR4-based designs are found to perform well with B ad G ood
standard board thickness ranging from 0.020" (0.5 mm) to
0.063" (1.6 mm).
Flex circuits work well with CapSense. All guidelines PSoC Pin Assignment
presented for PCBs also apply to flex. A flex circuit is
An effective method to reduce the interaction between
typically much thinner than a PCB. The flex circuit is
communication and sensor traces is to isolate each by
ideally no thinner than 0.01" (0.25 mm). One good feature
port assignment. Figure 4 shows a basic version of this
of flex is the high breakdown voltage provided by the
isolation for a 32-pin QFN package. Because each
Kapton material (290 KV/mm), which provides built in ESD
function is isolated, the PSoC is oriented such that there is
protection for the CapSense sensors.
no crossing for communication and sensing traces.
Trace Length and Width Figure 4. Port Isolation for Communication and Sensing
The parasitic capacitance of the traces and sensor pad is T o S ensors
minimized to make the dynamic range of the system as
large as possible. Trace capacitance is minimized by short
and narrow traces. Traces must be less than 12" (300
mm) for a standard PCB and less than 2" (50 mm) on flex
To Sensors
To Sensors
circuits.
Trace width also plays a role in the parasitic capacitance.
Decreasing the trace width decreases the parasitic
capacitance. Trace widths of 0.0065"0.008" (0.170.20
mm) suffice for most applications.
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Figure 9. Button-Ground Plane Fringing Fields Figure 11. Sensor Capacitance, Csensor, as a Function of
Button-Ground Clearance and Button Diameter
G round B utton G round
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Figure 13 plots finger capacitance as a percentage of the Slider Segment Size and Spacing
sensor capacitance. This is the sensitivity of the sensor.
When the finger is placed on the slider, a signal must be
The sensitivity of the system changes with the routing of
produced on at least three adjacent sensor segments for
the CapSense traces. For example, increasing the trace
proper operation of the centroid algorithm. This guides the
length between the PSoC and the sensor pad decreases
sizing of the slider segments. The jagged edges of the
the buttons sensitivity.
slider pattern enable more segments to be active at each
Figure 13. Sensitivity, Cf,/Csensor as a Function of Button- finger location along the slider.
Ground Clearance and Button Diameter
As with buttons, the total surface area of each slider
element influences the signal. Bigger slider segments lead
to a higher signal level.
The same guidelines given for button to ground clearance
apply to sliders. Slider segments are scanned one at a
time, with all other CapSense inputs grounded.
Neighboring segments present ground to the segment
being scanned, so the segment to segment gap must be
the same as the gap from segment to ground.
Figure 14. CapSense Slider
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Figure 19. Hexagon Touchpad Layout The geometry of this simple system is captured in the ratio
A/d. A is the area of the conductive plates, d is the
distance between the plates, r is the dielectric constant
Y1 (permittivity) of the material between the sensors, and 0 is
Y2 the permittivity of free space.
C r 0 f ( A, d ) Equation 2
Figure 20. Octagon Touchpad Layout Similar to the parallel plate capacitor, the finger
capacitance of the sensor is directly proportional to r.
High dielectric constants lead to high sensitivity. Air has
the lowest dielectric constant, and any air gaps between
Y1 the sensor pad and overlay must be eliminated.
Dielectric constants of some common overlay materials
Y2 are listed in Table 2. Materials with dielectrics between 2.0
and 8.0 are well suited to capacitive sensing applications.
Y3 Sensing through a metal surface is challenging and is not
recommended.
X1 X2 X3 Table 2. Dielectric Constants of Common Materials
In both layouts and for touchpads in general, it is good Material r
practice to surround the touchpad with a ground plane that
Air 1.0
follows the contours of the sensing elements.
Formica 4.64.9
Protective Overlay
An overlay is the covering that is placed over the sensor
pads of the sensor PCB. The overlay material and
thickness are both important design considerations.
Overlay Material
The influence of the dielectric properties of the overlay
material on system performance is understood by
considering a simple parallel plate capacitor. The
capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is given in
Equation 1.
r 0 A
C Equation 1
d
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Both signal and noise are affected by the overlay GlassCommon 7900 1.5
properties. As thickness of the overlay increases, signal GlassBorosilicate 13,000 0.9
and noise both decrease. A representative plot of (Pyrex)
CapSense signal versus overlay thickness is shown in Formica 18,000 0.7
Figure 22.
ABS 16,000 0.8
Figure 22. Signal Level Drops as Overlay Thickness Acrylic 13,000 0.9
Increases (Plexiglass)
Polycarbonate 16,000 0.8
(Lexan)
PET Film (Mylar) 280,000 0.04
Polyimide Film 290,000 0.04
(Kapton)
FR4 28,000 0.4
WoodDry 3900 3
Overlay Adhesives
Overlay materials must have good mechanical contact
with the sensing PCB. This is achieved using a
nonconductive adhesive film. This film increases the
Table 3 lists the recommended maximum overlay sensitivity of the system by eliminating any air gaps
thicknesses for PSoC CapSense applications (plastic between overlay and the sensor pads. 3M makes a high
overlay). As stated previously, the dielectric constant plays performance acrylic adhesive called 200MP that is widely
a role in the guideline for maximum thickness of the used in CapSense applications in the form of adhesive
overlay. Common glass has a dielectric constant around r transfer tape (product numbers 467MP and 468MP).
= 8, while plastic is around r = 2.5. The ratio of r/2.5 is an
estimate of the overlay thickness relative to plastic for the CapSense Operation with a Gloved Hand
same level of sensitivity. Using this rule of thumb, a
If the sensors must work with a gloved hand, add the
common glass overlay is about three times as thick as a
thickness of the glove material to the total overlay stack up
plastic overlay for the same sensitivity.
when sizing the buttons. Dry leather and rubber are similar
to plastic with a dielectric constant of 2.53.5. Ski gloves
have a dielectric constant of two or less, depending on the
air content of the gloves thermal insulation.
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In March of 2007, Cypress recataloged all of its application notes using a new documentation number and revision code. This new documentation
number and revision code (001-xxxxx, beginning with rev. **), located in the footer of the document, will be used in all subsequent revisions.
PSoC is a registered trademark of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. "Programmable System-on-Chip," PSoC Designer, and PSoC Express are trademarks
of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks or registered trademarks referenced herein may be the property of their respective owners.
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