Capacitive touch sensors are used in various applications such as mobile phones, mouse pads, smart watches, TVs and various home appliances. Capacitive touch sensors are user interface devices that detect the presence of a finger on or near a sensor using human body capacitance. In this paper, we go through fundamentals of capacitive touch sensing, overview the different sensor patterns used to design capacitive touchscreens and compare them based on key performance parameters. The limitations and potentials of different patterns are discussed and a final conclusion regarding appropriate patterns to be used as per application requirement is summarized in the end.

touchscreen, capacitive touch sensing, human machine interface, self capacitance, mutual capacitance.