Omron and Renesas develop touch sensor solutions

Based on this agreement, Renesas will integrate Omron's touch sensor technology into its R8C 16-bit microcontroller (MCU) products and supply touch sensor solutions for fields including household appliances and mobile devices.

The R8C range has a large share of the market for 16-bit MCUs in the consumer field due to the wide selection of packages and memory configurations available.

By creating a hardware version of Omron's touch sensor technology in the form of a touch detection circuit device, Renesas will integrate it into the R8C MCU products as a single chip solution.

Integrating the MCU, which performs system control, and the touch detection circuit device in a single chip eliminates the need for a separate external chip to enable this functionality and increases noise tolerance.

This results in improved touch sensor sensitivity and more accurate touch detection.

Integration on a single chip also helps reduce power consumption.

Even in low-power mode, touch detection during low-frequency (4MHz/5MHz) operation is supported.

This contributes to extended battery life in battery-powered products such as game machines, PCs and mobile phones.

Integration on a single chip eliminates the current need for a large number of external peripheral devices such as capacitors and resistors, enabling the use of a more compact printed wiring board.

An entire system can be built from the MCU and some capacitors and resistors, reducing the total number of devices for lower overall cost and increased reliability.

The objectives of this joint development project are to achieve adoption of Omron's touch sensor solutions throughout the world and to establish Renesas' MCU products in a dominant position in the touch sensor market.