Peratech has secured a licensing deal with Samsung Electro-mechanics for its quantum tunnelling composite (QTC) pressure sensing switch technology.
Samsung will use Peratech’s QTC switches in 5-way input devices that are used for menu navigation and interaction on mobile phones.
“This is a very significant step for Peratech and we are delighted Samsung EM has chosen our QTC technology,” said Philip Taysom, joint CEO of Peratech.
Samsung EM supplies components to a number of phone manufacturers so Peratech has the opportunity to see its technology used in next generation phone models.
“In fact, a Navikey using QTC from Samsung EM is already being used into a Tier 1 mobile phone,” said Taysom.
According to Dr. Ho-Chul Joung, principal manager at Samsung EM: “The pressure sensitivity of the QTC switches changes the game when it comes to human machine interface design enabling truly 3D user interfaces to be created in small, low power devices. This three-dimensionality cannot be matched with existing resistive and capacitive technologies.”
According to Taysom, phones incorporating the technology will be on the shelves in Japan this quarter.
QTC was a commercial invention, which was then developed by the University of Durham, where there is still a QTC team.
“We are unusual in that we are a university spin-in,” said Taysom.
Although QTC is a particle-loaded polymer, it differs from similar pressure-sensitive materials, claims the firm, in that increased electron tunnelling between particles is responsible for its force/resistance change rather than increased physical contact between particles.
“QTC’s properties enable it to be made into force sensitive switches of any shape or size,” said Peratech. “QTC switches and switch matrices can be screen printed.”
For low-current operation, the material can also be engineered to have no connection at zero pressure.Until 2006, Peratech was both making QTC inks and polymers, and making products from them.
In that year it stopped making products and changed its business model to licensing its intellectual property to other product makers,
See: Peratech gets $1.4m for phone touch IP