Most noise-immune capacitive touch MCU first to offer IEC 61000-4-6 certified

This post is sponsored by Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced MSP430 FRAM microcontrollers (MCUs) with CapTIvate technology, the world’s lowest-power capacitive touch MCUs. The new MSP430FR2633 MCU with CapTIvate technology offers comprehensive hardware and software features for the most reliable performance in noise-challenged applications, including electronic access controls, appliances, personal electronics, industrial control panels and more. Expanding TI’s 16-bit ultra-low-power FRAM MCU portfolio, the MSP430FR2633 MCU with CapTIvate technology enables designers of all skill levels to build robust human-machine interfaces (HMI) with capacitive buttons, sliders, wheels or proximity (BSWP) sensors. It also enables multi-touch designs with plastic, glass and metal overlays of various thicknesses. Designers can quickly create innovative solutions with the new CapTIvate Design Center, a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows developers to drag and drop sensors for quick system configuration and start tuning for performance in five minutes or less. Wake-on-touch hardware on chip can continuously scan up to four electrodes while the CPU is shut down, enabling up to 15 years of operation on a single coin cell battery with industry-leading current consumption of 0.9µA per button in sleep mode. The industry’s broadest portfolio of ultra-low-power MCUs with Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FRAM) feature non-volatile memory with greater endurance and 100 times faster write speeds, enabling systems to wake from the lowest power standby modes in a fraction of the time. FRAM also provides the option of saving and restoring button state in the event of power failure without the use of space-consuming backup batteries. MSP430FR2633 MCUs with CapTIvate technology offer developers a great deal of design flexibility without compromises. In an access control system, a proximity sensor may be needed to illuminate the screen and a large matrix of buttons to support user input. Self-capacitance provides higher sensitivity for proximity sensing, while mutual-capacitance allows for a large number of tightly packed buttons with lower crosstalk. CapTIvate technology provides flexibility to simultaneously support self-capacitance and mutual capacitance for an enhanced system solution. The MSP430FR2633 MCU can support 16 button self-capacitance and 64 button mutual-capacitance modes. TI’s new CapTIvate technology, offered for the first time on the MSP430FR2633 MCU, provides advanced hardware features like a dedicated voltage regulator, frequency hopping, zero crossing synchronization and signal processing algorithms that prevent false detects in noisy environments. Furthermore, spread spectrum clocking lowers electromagnetic radiation, reducing emissions to system circuitry. Additional features : 1 - MSP430FR2633 MCUs can be used to meet the standards for IEC-4-x with conducted noise immunity up to 10 Vrms and ESD and EFT up to 4KV peak voltage 2 - Create intelligent Human Machine Interface (HMI) systems with low-power data logging capabilities that do not sacrifice lifetime or power consumption of the product. 3 - Comprehensive MSP430FR2633 MCU development kit available for a quick evaluation of self-capacitance, mutual-capacitance and proximity solutions. Reference designs and code examples provided for noise immunity and moisture rejection to enable quick evaluation and faster time-to-market. 4 - TI’s haptic solutions work with a wide range of piezo, Linear Resonant Actuator (LRA) and Eccentric Rotating Mass (ERM) actuators to provide realistic and consistent tactile effects. A reference design for integrating haptic-feedback is provided in the MSP430FR2633 MCU development kit.