If you’ve ever used a capacitive touchscreen, you recall it being bright. All touchscreens produce light. They feature a backlighting system that illuminates the pixel layer from behind — just like most traditional display devices. There are different types of touchscreens, however, some of which are brighter than others. Capacitive is arguably the brightest touchscreen technology. It’s able to produce brighter images than resistive and other types of touchscreens technologies.
Glass Top Layer
One of the reasons why capacitive touchscreens are so bright is their glass top layer. Capacitive touchscreens are constructed of multiple layers. The top layer — the outermost layer that sits above the controller and other components — is constructed entirely of glass. Glass, of course, is completely transparent, so it allows nearly all light to pass through it.
Not all types of touchscreens have a glass top layer. Some of them have a plastic or acrylic top layer. Plastic and acrylic are transparent materials as well. When compared to glass, though, plastic and acrylic don’t allow as much light to pass through them. Therefore, touchscreens that use a plastic or acrylic top layer aren’t as bright as capacitive touchscreens.
Backlighting
Another reason why capacitive touchscreens are so bright involves backlighting. As previously mentioned, all touchscreens devices feature backlighting. Backlighting is a lighting system that illuminates the pixel layer of a display device, including the display devices of touchscreens.
With that said, capacitive touchscreens support a variety of backlighting systems. Some of them feature electroluminescent (EL) backlighting, whereas others feature light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting. EL and LED backlighting can even be used with light guides. The end result is a superior level of brightness that’s not found in other types of touchscreens.
90% of Light Passes Through Them
With their glass top layer, 90% of the light produced by the backlighting system can pass through a capacitive touchscreen. Glass has excellent transparency. Nearly all of the light produced by the backlighting system of a capacitive touchscreen will pass through the glass top layer.
In Conclusion
If you’re looking to buy a new touchscreen that’s capable of producing bright images, you can’t go wrong with capacitive. Capacitive touchscreens are brighter than nearly all other types of touchscreens. Their brightness can be attributed to their use of a glass top layer and a high-quality backlighting system. With these components, approximately 90% of the light can pass through capacitive touchscreens, resulting in brighter images.
