$1.4m contract for touch screen licence (From The Northern Echo)

$1.4m contract for touch screen licence

8:57am Monday 8th February 2010

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A COMPANY which specialises in technology used in touch screens is expanding after signing new licensing agreements.

Peratech, based in Brompton- on-Swale, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, has signed its first million dollar licensing agreement with Nissha, a leading manufacturer of touch screens for mobile phones and games consoles.

The deal is worth $1.4m (£895,000) and gives the Japanese firm exclusive worldwide rights to use Peratech’s socalled Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) technology to create next generation touch screens with 3D input for mobile phones and portable electronic devices for an initial period of one year.

Peratech has also signed a similar deal with Samsung Electro-mechanics, which will use the same technology in a range of pressure-sensing components used for menu navigation and interaction on mobile phones.

Commenting on the Nissha agreement Philip Taysom, joint chief executive of Peratech, said: “This is Peratech’s first million dollar licensing agreement and is a huge testament to the power and potential of QTC technology by one of the world’s leading manufacturers of touch screens for mobile phones and gaming consoles.

“QTC is also ideal for creating solutions for larger touch screens and we are actively investigating this market.”

Takao Hashimoto, director of Nissha, said: “QTC will enable thinner mobile phones to be designed with amazing new input interfaces.”

QTC technology is already widely used in robotics and defence and was brought to the commercial market by Peratech in 2006.

It consists of electro-active polymeric materials which enable the action of “touch”

to be translated into an electrical reaction. Its unique properties enable it to be made into force sensitive switches of any shape or size.

It also has no moving parts and requires no air gap between contacts, making it extremely reliable and suitable for the thinnest electronic designs.

With QTC, touch screens can be made feature rich and ultra-thin allowing for the development of even slimmer, lighter weight and lowerpower portable devices.

Mr Taysom said the Samsung agreement was a “huge testament to the power and potential of QTC technology”

as Samsung supplies components to most of the leading mobile phone manufacturers.

QTC switches will be used in Navikey devices, made by Samsung and used in mobile phones, which allow the user to navigate through menus and around their phone.

Since the switches are force sensitive. the speed of scrolling through a list, or the speed of movement in game, for example, can vary depending on how hard the switch is pressed, making interaction faster and more intuitive.

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