Capacitive Touch Sense Controller
October 2012
Reference Design RD1136
Introduction
Capacitive sensing is a technology based on capacitive coupling which takes human body capacitance as input.
Capacitive touch sensors are used in many devices such as laptop trackpads, digital audio players, computer dis-
plays, mobile phones, mobile devices, tablets and more. Capacitive sensors are preferred for their versatility, reli-
ability and robustness, unique human-device interface and cost reduction over mechanical switches.
The Capacitive Touch Sense Controller reference design demonstrates touch sensing and control using the
iCE40™ FPGA. This design implements four touch sense buttons with outputs to LEDs.
This reference design is implemented in Verilog. The Lattice iCEcube2™ Place and Route tool integrated with the
Synplify Pro synthesis tool is used for implementation of the design. The design can also be targeted to other
iCE40 family members.
Features
• Four capacitive touch sensitive user buttons
• Up to four LED toggle control outputs
• 3.3 MHz frequency operation
• Touch sensitive resolution up to 300ns
Functional Description
Figure 1. Block Diagram
BTN1
BTN2
LED1
LED2
LED3
LED4
Capacitive
Touch
Capacitive
Touch
Sense
LED
BTN3
BTN4
Button
Block
Sense
Controller
CLK_3P3_MHz
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or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. The specifications and information herein are subject to change without notice.
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rd1136_01.0