Even more importantly, all signal related discrete parts
(resistors and capacitors) should be very close to the body of
the chip. Wiring between the chip and the various resistors
and capacitors should be as short and direct as possible to
suppress noise pickup.
A single ceramic 0.1uF bypass capacitor should be placed
very close to supply pins 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the IC. Pins 18, 20,
and 21 do not require bypassing.
Vdd can range from +1.8V to +5V nominal.
2.10 Startup / Calibration Times
The devices require initialization times of <1ms. A calibration
takes one matrix scan.
Ground planes and traces should NOT
be used around the keys and the Y lines
from the keys. Ground areas, traces, and
other adjacent signal conductors that act
Disabled keys are subtracted from the burst sequence and
thus the cal time is shortened. The scan time should be
measured on an oscilloscope.
as AC ground (such as Vdd and LED drive
lines etc) will absorb the received key signals and
reduce signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and thus will be
counterproductive. Ground planes around keys will also
make water film effects worse.
2.11 Reset Input
The /RST pin can be used to reset the device to simulate a
power down cycle, in order to bring the part up into a known
state should communications with the part be lost. The pin is
active low, and a low pulse lasting at least 10µs must be
applied to this pin to cause a reset.
Ground planes, if used, should be placed under or around the
QT chip itself and the associated resistors and capacitors in
the circuit, under or around the power supply, and back to a
connector, but nowhere else.
The reset pin has an internal 30K✡ - 60K✡ resistor. A 2.2µF
capacitor plus a diode to Vdd can be connected to this pin as
a traditional reset circuit, but this is not required.
If an external hardware reset is not used, the reset pin may
be connected to Vdd or left floating.
2.8.2 LED Traces and Other Switching Signals
Digital switching signals near the Y lines will induce transients
into the acquired signals, deteriorating the SNR perfomance
of the device. Such signals should be routed away from the Y
lines, or the design should be such that these lines are not
switched during the course of signal acquisition (bursts).
2.12 Spread Spectrum Acquisitions
QT60xx0 devices use spread-spectrum burst modulation.
This has the effect of drastically reducing the possibility of
EMI effects on the sensor keys, while simultaneously
spreading RF emissions. This feature is hard-wired into the
device and cannot be disabled or modified.
LED terminals which are multiplexed or switched into a
floating state and which are within or physically very near a
key structure (even if on another nearby PCB) should be
bypassed to either Vss or Vdd with at least a 10nF capacitor
of any type, to suppress capacitive coupling effects which can
induce false signal shifts. LED terminals which are constantly
connected to Vss or Vdd do not need further bypassing.
Spread spectrum is configured as a frequency chirp over a
wide range of frequencies for robust operation.
2.13 Detection Integrators
See also Section 6.6, page 16.
2.8.3 PCB Cleanliness
All capacitive sensors should be treated as highly sensitive
circuits which can be influenced by stray conductive leakage
paths. QT devices have a basic resolution in the femtofarad
range; in this region, there is no such thing as ‘no clean flux’.
Flux absorbs moisture and becomes conductive between
solder joints, causing signal drift and resultant false
detections or transient losses of sensitivity or instability.
Conformal coatings will trap in existing amounts of moisture
which will then become highly temperature sensitive.
The devices feature a detection integration mechanism, which
acts to confirm a detection in a robust fashion. A per-key
counter is incremented each time the key has exceeded its
threshold and stayed there for a number of acquisitions.
When this counter reaches a preset limit the key is finally
declared to be touched.
For example, if the limit value is 10, then the device has to
exceed its threshold and stay there for 10 acquisitions in
succession without going below the threshold level, before
the key is declared to be touched. If on any acquisition the
signal is not seen to exceed the threshold level, the counter is
cleared and the process has to start from the beginning.
The designer should specify ultrasonic cleaning as part of the
manufacturing process, and in cases where a high level of
humidity is anticipated, the use of conformal coatings after
cleaning to keep out moisture.
The QT60xx0 uses a two-tier confirmation mechanism having
two such counters for each key. These can be thought of as
‘inner loop’ and ‘outer loop’ confirmation counters.
2.9 Power Supply Considerations
As these devices use the power supply itself as an analog
reference, the power should be very clean and come from a
separate regulator. A standard inexpensive Low Dropout
(LDO) type regulator should be used that is not also used to
power other loads such as LEDs, relays, or other high current
devices. Load shifts on the output of the LDO can cause Vdd
to fluctuate enough to cause false detection or sensitivity
shifts.
The ‘inner’ counter is referred to as the ‘fast-DI’; this acts to
attempt to confirm a detection via rapid successive
acquisition bursts, at the expense of delaying the sampling of
the next key. Each key has its own fast-DI counter and limit
value; these limits can be changed via the Setups block on a
per-key basis.
lQ
6
QT60240-XSG X7.04/0706
Preliminary information; subject to change