Apr 28, 2009 10:38 ET

Microchip Technology Launches mTouch™ Capacitive Touch Evaluation Kit

Kit Enables Designers to Quickly and Easily Evaluate Capacitive TouchUser-Interface Designs Using Microchip’s 8- and 16-bit PIC® Microcontrollers

CHANDLER, Ariz. --(Business Wire)-- Apr 28, 2009 Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP), a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced the mTouch™ Capacitive Touch Evaluation Kit (part # DM183026), which enables designers to quickly and easily develop capacitive touch user-interface applications using Microchip’s 8- and 16-bit PIC^® microcontrollers (MCUs). The flexible, comprehensive kit includes two main boards—one populated with a PIC16F72X 8-bit MCU and the other with a PIC24F256GB110 16-bit MCU; four daughter boards for developing capacitive-touch keys, sliders and a matrix; a PICkit™ Serial Analyzer; an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI); and several code and schematic examples. The modular kit makes it easy for designers to try different keypad configurations, and experiment with touch-pad sizes and shapes using the mother boards.

Touch-sensing technology is increasingly being adopted to improve the look and durability of user interfaces in appliances, consumer-electronic devices, medical electronics, automobiles and many other markets and applications. Microchip’s new MCU-based kit provides a one-chip, highly-integrated solution based upon either the PIC16F72X 8-bit or the PIC24FGB 16-bit general-purpose MCUs, providing a flexible evaluation platform that lowers costs and shortens time to market.

“Microchip continues to make it easy and inexpensive for designers to differentiate their products in the marketplace by incorporating touch-sensing user interfaces with the mTouch Capacitive Touch Evaluation Kit,” said Derek Carlson, vice president of Microchip Development Tools.

Pricing & Availability

The mTouch™ Capacitive Touch Evaluation Kit (part # DM183026) is available for $84.95 today, at http://www.microchipdirect.com. For further information, contact any Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor, or visit Microchip’s Web site at http://www.microchip.com/mtouch.

Microchip Customer Support

Microchip is committed to supporting its customers by helping design engineers develop products faster and more efficiently. Customers can access four main service areas at http://www.microchip.com. The Support area provides a fast way to get questions answered; the Sample area offers evaluation samples of any Microchip device; microchipDIRECT provides 24-hour pricing, ordering, inventory and credit for convenient purchasing of all Microchip devices and development tools; finally, the Training area educates customers through webinars, sign-ups for local seminar and workshop courses, and information about the annual MASTERs events held throughout the world.

About Microchip Technology

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at http://www.microchip.com.

Note: The Microchip name and logo, and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. mTouch, and PICkit are trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.

Photo available through editorial contact, or Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/microchiptechnology/3477912133/sizes/l/

Tags / Keywords: touch sensing, mTouch, capacitive, Microchip, PIC, 8-bit, 16-bit, user interface, evaluation kit, eval

RSS Feed for Microchip Product News: http://www.microchip.com/RSS/recent-PRProduct.xml

Microchip Technology Inc.
Editorial Contact:
Michelle Ragsdale
480-792-4111
michelle.ragsdale@microchip.com
or
Reader/Literature Inquiries:
1-888-MCU-MCHP
http://www.microchip.com/mtouch