Indium Tin Oxide Touch Screen

From smart phones, tablets and laptops to cash points, transatlantic aircrafts’ seat backs, musical instruments (touch screen guitars, for instance), touch screens are now a firm part of our lives and can be found wherever we happen to go.

Touch Screen Technology

Touch screen design can vary significantly (partly depending on applications and price-points) between electronic devices of varying sizes and shapes. Some systems have the ability to track light or sound wave reflection; light/shadows moving across a surface or vibration. Today’s smart phones and tablets most commonly use technology that monitors changes in the electrical current within the conductive layer of a screen’s surface.

Indium Tin Oxide Touch Screen Technology

The material used to provide this conductive layer has to be very fine; highly conductive, transparent and tough enough to survive exposure to pockets; the bottom of bags, sweaty palms and other unforgiving environments. Optically transparent, highly conductive and easy to mass produce as thin films, indium tin oxide is now one of the most widely used, popular transparent conducting oxides in the world and is therefore used for the conductive layer of the vast majority of tablets and smart phones.

Indium Tin Oxide Touch Screen Principles

In essence, an indium tin oxide touch screen works by a finger or other suitable object touching the screen and changing the electric state of the conductive layer at the specific point of contact. The device (tablet, smart phone, etc.) then completes the requested task/s by tracking the changes made by the movement of the finger (or fingers, as the case may be in multi-touch systems).

Diamond Coatings

Having positioned themselves as the leading indium tin oxide touch screen manufacturers in the UK, Diamond Coatings can provide anything from development to production volumes in both resistive and capacitive touch screens. Available in sizes up to 1,000 mm x 1,000 mm, screens can be produced on plastic (flexible or rigid) or glass and provided with anti-glare and/or other required finishes.

Resistive Indium Tin Oxide Touch Screen

Resistive ITO touch screens enable completely variable X-Y detection of touch points, Diamond Coatings have the ability to provide ready-to-use, complete X-Y resistive touch screens including all bonding, connections and patterning, as well as offering fully shielded ITO touch screens.

Capacitive Indium Tin Oxide Touch Screen

Capacitive ITO touch screens have higher visible transmission (approximately 90%) than resistive ITO touch screens, which have a visible transmission of approximately 70%. Using index matching technology, Diamond Coatings can produce capacitive touch screens with a visible transmission equal to that of uncoated plastic or glass. Capacitive screens require chips to drive them. Diamond Coatings’ good links to chip manufacturers enable them to provide customers with complete packages.

More Information

For additional information on our indium tin oxide touch screen range and/or to discuss specific requirements, please contact us on Tel.: +44 (0) 121 550 9430 or +44 (0) 8451 360 603 (Local Rate) or via e-mail: enquiries@diamondcoatings.co.uk now.