Have you heard of piezo touchscreens? Smartphones, tablets and other touchscreen devices are powered by an underlying touchscreen technology. Over the years, resistive and capacitive have become the market’s leading touchscreen devices. But there are other types of touchscreen technologies powering these devices, including piezo. So, what is a piezo touchscreen, and how does the technology work exactly?
The Basics of Piezo Touchscreens
A piezo touchscreen is a type of touch-controlled electronic device that’s able to detect touch commands by measuring piezoelectricity in the top layer. When you touch or tap the top layer of a piezo touchscreen — the top layer is made of glass — it triggers an increase in piezoelectricity. The piezo touchscreen then detects this change in piezoelectricity, thereby registering it as a touch command.
Piezo touchscreens rely on the properties of piezoelectricity to operate. Piezoelectricity is essentially a type of electrical charge that builds in certain materials, including glass, when the material is exposed to stress. As a result, touching or tapping a piezo touchscreen creates stress that manifests as an increase in piezoelectricity.
Piezo Touchscreen Advantages
When compared to other touchscreen technologies, piezo touchscreens are able to produce significant tactile feedback. In the early 2000s, the first piezo touchscreens were presented at the Mobile World Congress. While they looked like traditional touchscreens, spectators were surprised to discover the power of their tactile feedback. Piezo touchscreens are able to provide fast, strong tactile feedback.
In addition to their unparalleled level of tactile feedback, piezo touchscreens also support touch commands from any object. You can control a piezo touchscreen with a bare finger, gloves finger, stylus or any other object.
Piezo Touchscreen Disadvantages
Because the technology is still new, piezo touchscreens are more expensive than most other types of touchscreens. If you’re on a budget, you may want to choose an alternative type of touchscreen.
Piezo touchscreens also have a shorter lifespan than other types of touchscreens, including capacitive touchscreens. Each touch command triggers strong tactile feedback that, over time, can cause internal components to fail. It doesn’t happen immediately. But frequent use of a piezo touchscreen can cause its internal components to fail.
In Conclusion
After reading this, you should have a better understanding of piezo touchscreens and how they work. They rely on the properties of piezoelectricity to detect touch commands. All touch commands trigger an increase in piezoelectricity, which the piezo touchscreen uses to detect when and where these touch commands occur.
