A test conducted by the independent Touch Panel Laboratories proved that a standard digital resistive touch panel can endure more than 20 million touches while remaining 100% functional and requiring the same low actuation force. Touch Panel Laboratories (http://www.touchpanel.co.jp) is a Japanese company established in 1998 that provides evaluation tests of touch panels and materials.

"The lifetime limit remains to be found," said Pascal Joguet, Stantum's CTO. "New test campaigns will be made, and we are confident that our technology can achieve even more touches."

The Touch Panel Laboratories industry-standard test featured hitting a single point repeatedly at a 250g force with a hard stylus. Fingers operation will lead to a greater lifetime because hitting with a hard stylus is far more intensive.

"These results demonstrate the superiority of digital resistive to analog multi-touch resistive – or AMR – in terms of lifetime usage," said Stantum CEO Robert Pelissier. "The AMR sensors that we tested encountered calibration issues as early as at one million touches, while digital resistive sensors had none after 20 million.

"These results underline the inherent robustness of digital resistive sensors. Unlike 4-wire or AMR touch panels, whose accuracy irrevocably deteriorates over time due to micro-scratches propagating on the ITO coating, digital resistive sensors' simple sensing scheme prevents them from being affected by resistivity changes."

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