Microchip offers industry’s first automotive-qualified, single-chip, ultra-wide touchscreen

To better meet the need for safe, intuitive and easy-to-use user interfaces within automotive vehicles, designers are continuing to consolidate the vehicle’s cluster, center stack and co-driver displays into very wide screens. Streamlining and simplifying system development for these ultra-wide screens often seen in electric vehicles (EVs), advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and premium vehicles, is critical.

To this end, Microchip Technology Inc. announced its maXTouch MXT2912TD-UW touchscreen controller. This is the industry’s first automotive-qualified, single-chip solution that addresses display sizes up to 45 inches with a very wide aspect ratio, supporting liquid-crystal display (LCD), and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technologies.

The MXT2912TD-UW reduces the need for multiple touch controllers within a vehicle’s human-machine interface (HMI) display. This single-chip touch controller provides the highest report rate for wide displays and is independent of the display resolution, helping achieve the same smartphone user experience that consumers have come to expect. Also supported by the exceptional signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) intrinsic to maXTouch technology, the MXT2912TD-UW enables detection and tracking of multi-finger touch through thick gloves and a variety of overlay materials and thicknesses, even in the presence of moisture.

Driven by the ISO 26262 specification for functional safety in road vehicles, the MXT2912TD-UW contains a variety of safety related features, simplifying the display module system’s path to functional safety certification. These include periodic self-test, touch sensor test, internal Flash and RAM tests, full signal data-path integrity checks, and microprocessor (MPU) core testing. The embedded firmware is developed to Automotive SPICE processes.

“The automotive industry is driving innovations in interior design, including the integration of sleek human machine interface concepts. Microchip enables these revolutionary designs with our new touch controller, supporting wide aspect ratio touch sensors with our unique and patented technology,” said Fanie Duvenhage, VP of Microchip’s human machine interface business unit. “Our single-chip solution offers display makers and automotive Tier 1 suppliers simple and known touch solutions for modern vehicle HMI systems, reducing cost, risk and time to market.”

To support its touchscreen controllers, Microchip also offers complementary devices such as low-dropout regulators (LDOs), 8-,16-, and 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), controller area network (CAN) and CAN physical layer (PHY) controllers and more.

Development tools
Software support includes Microchip’s maXTouch Studio development tool and maXTouch Analyzer inspection tool for production line testing. Additionally, Microchip’s application and support centers provide customer support for ultra-wide designs around the world, including system and sensor simulation/development, integration, as well as system tuning. Development hardware and technical support are provided on request.