Renesas RX130 Group 32-bit MCUs for touch-based applications

Renesas Electronics is expanding development support for touch-based home appliance, building, industrial automation and portable medical applications with the RX130 Group of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs). The group allows embedded developers to incorporate both user interface (ie, touch key) and system control capabilities in a single MCU. Developers working with capacitive touch-based applications can leverage Renesas’s second-generation capacitive touch technology, with self- and mutual-capacitance capability, in an ultralow-power, 32-bit MCU fabric.

The group combines good sensitivity and noise tolerance, making it possible to develop touch keys employing a variety of cover materials — including thick acrylic, glass, wood, fabric or stone — for use in a broad array of applications. These include control panels for electric appliances used in locations where they are likely to get wet, home equipment employing recessed switches for a more attractive design and industrial machinery that must be operated with gloves on for safety reasons.