Microchip Technology Inc., the world's leading supplier of patented solutions integrating microcontrollers, analog devices and flash memory, announced the launch of the mTouch™ AR1100 analog resistive USB touch screen controller. Based on the AR1000 family of analog resistive touchscreen controllers, the AR1100 controller is a high-performance, USB plug-and-play device with advanced calibration functions that acts as a USB mouse or single-input digitizer. The new controllers are available ready-to-use on-chip or on-board and support all 4-, 5- and 8-wire touchscreens with free drivers for most major operating systems. The AR1100 is an ideal solution for customers requiring an embedded touch controller to broadly support their entire portfolio of standard resistive touch products.

Touch input is rapidly becoming a standard user interface. With the advantages of easy integration, low total system cost, and acceptance of finger, glove, or handwriting input, resistive touch can meet the needs of various applications such as medical equipment, industrial control, handwriting or signature capture, and other touch input mechanisms. Additionally, USB communication is the industry standard for connecting peripherals to computers. AR1100 is an easy-to-integrate touch screen controller that can meet all the above needs with a single chip solution. It also features advanced calibration options for alignment and linearity, enabling higher precision 4-, 5-, and 8-wire touchscreens, and accurate detection of key events in critical applications where buttons are closely spaced.

  “Microchip is pleased to announce the advanced features of the AR1100 USB resistive touchscreen controller chip and on-board products,” said Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip’s Security, Microcontroller and Technology Development Division. “The AR1100 builds on the AR1000 series and enables customers to High-performance resistive touch solutions combined with the benefits of USB plug-and-play. Free drivers for most major operating systems help designers use the AR1100 to quickly create low-risk touch interface Various application requirements in the touch market.

In addition to the AR1100 controller, Microchip also announced enhancements to its AR1000 analog resistive touchscreen controller with new production market pricing, a full set of drivers supporting Windows® CE, Linux and Android™ operating systems, and new support for Minimum operating voltage as low as 2.0V is supported. The AR1000 is a ready-to-use analog resistive touch controller targeting low-cost embedded applications using I2C™, SPI or UART communication.