Tools such as smartphones and tablet PCs that allow intuitive control through touch panels are quickly spreading, and the demand for the touchscreens that make these possible is rising. There are a wide variety of touchscreen panel structures and methods. Sinto S-Precision’s measuring machines are used in forming electrodes on glass panel or film for “resistive” and “capacitive” touchscreens that electrically detect the position touched.
As touchscreens are layered over displays such as LCDs or OLEDs, in general transparent electrodes (ITO) are used in the display area. Measurements are performed for the position and width of these ITOs and metal electrodes. Because ITOs are difficult to see with standard lighting equipment, lighting with wavelengths suited to these characteristics are used to generate image contrast. In addition, image processing software capable of detecting low-contrast edges increase the stability of the ITO measurements.
