Microchip Technology Inc., the world's leading provider 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 capabilities that acts as a USB mouse or single-input digitizer. The new controllers are available as off-the-shelf chips or boards and support all 4-wire, 5-wire and 8-wire touchscreens with free drivers for most major operating systems. The AR1100 is an ideal solution for customers who need an embedded touch controller to broadly support their entire portfolio of standard resistive touch products.

Touch input is fast becoming a standard user interface. Resistive touch offers advantages such as ease of integration, low total system cost, and acceptance of finger, glove, or handwriting input, and can be used in a variety of applications such as medical devices, industrial controls, handwriting or signature capture, and other touch input mechanisms. Additionally, USB communication is the industry standard for connecting peripherals to computers. The AR1100 is an easy-to-integrate touchscreen controller that meets all of the above requirements in a single-chip solution. It also features advanced calibration options for alignment and linearity, enabling higher precision 4-, 5-, and 8-wire touchscreens, as well as accurate detection of key events in critical applications where buttons are closely spaced.

"Microchip is very pleased to announce the advanced features of the AR1100 USB resistive touchscreen controller chip and board product," said Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip's Security, Microcontroller and Technology Development Division. A high-performance resistive touch solution 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 solutions for applications involving resistive Various application needs of the touch-type touch market.

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