A touch screen is a combination of an input and output unit. The touch screen is typically layered above an internal data processing device of an advanced information processing system. The screen is most often an LCD or LED touch screen while the unit is typically a tablet, laptop, or smartphone. The touch screen can interact with many different types of hardware such as a mouse, keyboard, or touchpad. These systems have grown in popularity over the years because they provide an extremely convenient way for consumers to interact with their devices without having to use a keyboard or pointing device.

Touch screen technology has improved dramatically in the past few years because of the development of touch screen panels. Typically, the touch screen consists of three layers – the resistive layer, the capacitive layer, and the underlying glass. The resistive touch screen panel usually uses a resistive layer of silicon which reacts to pressure and allows the user to manipulate the user interface. Capacitive touch screen panels, however, work by having charge reservoirs that provide the user with a point of contact when the user presses a finger against the screen.

There are four different technologies that make up touch screen panels including acoustic wave, piezoelectric wave, surface wave, and capacitive wave. The acoustic wave technology is the oldest and involves two acoustic transducers which are placed on either side of the screen and resonate the sound from the environment causing vibrations in the second area. Piezoelectric wave works by using a continuous electric field to change the electrical resistance of a layer of a semi-metallic material such as plastic. This change changes the material’s porosity which changes the material’s conductivity. Lastly, the capacitive wave works by using the principle of piezoelectric force which is the product of the electric field and the surface tension of a fluid or solution.

An example of a capacitive touch screen panel would be the Dell printer or embedded pc you often see around. When you press down on the screen there is a slight push and pull with the finger which causes the printout to appear as an image. With the new Windows operating systems and Microsoft Office software, touch screen technology can include a virtual keyboard. The advantage to this is that the user does not have to learn how to touch type using a regular keyboard, and with Windows based programs and office software they will find the process to be much more comfortable than typing on a traditional touch screen panel.

To make a capacitive touch screen panel, the resistive screen top is first electrically charged while the bottom surface of the screen is charged with a short pulse of DC current. Because the two areas are so close together, they generate a small amount of capacitance between them. When you touch the screen, the electrical field from the computer or the finger is picked up by the screen and sent to the touch screen panel, which translates the pressure from the touch into an electric signal. This electric signal is then converted to a voice frequency by the screen into the audio signals which are outputted onto the monitor.

The process is extremely smooth and accurate which means that the display should be clearer, brighter and free of errors when touch screen displays are used for corporate applications. This also means that text characters can be entered much more easily and quickly than they can be on a traditional touch screen panel. The other advantage of using a capacitive touch screen panel is that it eliminates the need for touch sensitive sticky notes which makes entering notes much easier on many computer programs. A capacitive screen also has fewer dead zones, which is to say that areas of the screen that do not receive a capacitive impulse are not activated, thus ensuring that areas of the screen do not get too hot during use. One of the biggest complaints about touch screen monitors is that they tend to heat up faster than other types of monitors, and although the increased heat is not visible to the users it can lead to the screen becoming uncomfortable over a period of time, especially in situations where people spend a lot of time working at a high screen resolution.