Leadis Technology, Inc., an analog and mixed-signal semiconductor developer of color display drivers, power management ICs, LED drivers, and audio ICs for mobile consumer electronic devices, today announced sample availability of the LDS6000 and LDS6020, the first two products in a new family of low power controllers designed for capacitive touch applications. Targeted at both mobile and non-mobile applications, the devices support a variety of touch input types including buttons, sliders, and scroll wheels.

Optimized for low power operation at 1.8V, the LDS6000 and LDS6020 consume less than 200uW in full power mode, enabling implementation of capacitive touch in portable devices without the need for low power modes that introduce latency between the first-touch and system touch recognition. The LDS6000 features 15 touch sensor inputs, while the LDS6020 offers up to 13 touch sensor inputs with integrated keypad LED driver functionality.

The LDS6020 enables a high degree of flexibility by allowing up to eight of the 13 touch sensor inputs to be configured as keypad LED drivers capable of driving up to 8mA each, with 16mA available by connecting a single LED to two driver outputs. True current control in 0.25mA increments insures high LED-to-LED brightness consistency, with up to 32 dimming steps enabling smooth transitions between the on and off states. A high-side LED driver architecture allows for isolation from the system battery and a common cathode LED connection to system ground, improving system reliability and ESD performance compared to low-side architectures. Each LED driver may be associated with a different touch sensor input, allowing for automatic, host-less activation of an LED when a touch event occurs.

"We're pleased to introduce the first two members of our new family of PureTouch(TM) capacitive touch controllers targeted at button, slider, and scroll inputs," said Eric Itakura, Director of Business Development for Touch Technology at Leadis. "With industrial design advantages and high reliability, capacitive touch is gaining traction across multiple product segments, spanning the most portable of applications such as mobile handsets to non-mobile applications such as home appliances. Leadis offers industry-leading low power consumption with the option for integrated visual feedback to address this rapidly growing market."

About the LDS6000

The LDS6000 is a programmable touch controller for use with capacitive sensor arrays implementing touch-based input controls including sliders, scroll wheels, and buttons. Featuring 15 sensor inputs, the LDS6000 provides fast update rates of 2ms per sensor input with on-chip automatic calibration logic continuously monitoring the environment to adjust ambient baseline levels to increase touch accuracy.

The device operates with a 1.8V supply voltage and consumes less than 200uW of power in full power mode. Both SPI-compatible and I2C-compatible interfaces are supported with a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) and interrupt output for additional communication with the host processor. The LDS6000 is packaged in a 4mm x 4mm 28ld TQFN package with maximum thickness of 0.8mm.

About the LDS6020

The LDS6020 is a programmable touch controller with integrated keypad LED drivers for use with capacitive sensor arrays implementing touch-based input controls including sliders, scroll wheels, and buttons. Featuring 13 sensor inputs, the LDS6020 provides fast update rates of 2ms per sensor input with on-chip automatic calibration logic continuously monitoring the environment to adjust ambient baseline levels to increase touch accuracy.

Eight of the 13 sensor inputs are configurable as LED drivers capable of driving up to 8mA of current, with 16mA available for a single LED by connecting to two LED drivers simultaneously. LED dimming may be configured over various transition times, with 32 dimming steps available at maximum current drive. 
Automatic activation of LED with a valid touch event is achieved by associating an LED driver to a sensor input, alleviating the need for the host processor to turn on the LED.

The device operates with a 1.8V supply voltage and consumes less than 200uW of power in full power mode. Both SPI-compatible and I2C-compatible interfaces are supported with a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) and interrupt output for additional communication with the host processor. The LDS6020 is packaged in a 4mm x 4mm 28ld TQFN package with maximum thickness of 0.8mm.