CTI Membrane Switch Brochure

Partnership and Confidentiality
Due to the proprietary and innovative nature of both CTI components and products that enable and activate
your end use designs, CTI technology should commonly be specified in the initial stages of design, and we
welcome the opportunity to participate as your partner, facilitating a smooth integration of our products and
services into your own, in the most efficient and economical manner.
Competition and the unique proprietary nature of our products, when combined with the high level of
innovation of your system designs, dictates that we readily prepare and enter mutual consent Confidentiality
Agreements that become part of this partnership.
CTI stands ready to assist in every way to assure that this partnership is beneficial to both parties prosperity
and progress, and we will tailor such agreements to the specific conditions and restraints that our customers
deem necessary, ensuring your confidence and loyalty.
Our MISSION
We shall reach and maintain our goal of complete customer satisfaction through the challenge of continuous
process improvement. It shall be our commitment to satisfy every one of our customers through the participation
and active contribution of everyone at Conductive Technologies on an ongoing basis.
Continuous process improvement brought about by the daily participation of each of us shall assure the
financial strength and technical leadership position of conductive technologies into the future.
It shall be by meeting our challenge and pursuing our goal on a daily basis that we will best serve our
customers, our community and each other.
Certified ISO-9001:2008, 13485:2003
CTI Global is affiliated with production facilities on five continents
935 Borom Road
York, PA 17404
Voice 1-800-706-0618
Voice 1-717-764-6931
Fax 1-717-764-3470
www.conductivetech.com
Certified ISO-9001:2008, 13485:2003
9
Certified ISO-9001:2008, 13485:2003

Conductive Technologies, Inc. vertically
integrates every process necessary to create
custom electronic components with a
repeatable precision unmatched by any
other switch manufacturer.
Push your Imagination to new
limits and CTI will meet you there
CTI wants to help you push the limits of interactive
imagination and together realize tomorrow's state-of-the-art
technology. We've been doing it for over half a century, with so
many of our "firsts" becoming industry standards. Our multiple
teams of designers and technicians with a unparrelled host of
expertise and specialty disciplines are ready to handle your
toughest challenges. As a partner in the success of your project,
we welcome early participation in the development of your
project and when doing so, are all the more ready and able to
provide maximum input and superior support.
UV Hardcoating & Texturizing
Further aesthetic and functional enhancements may
be realized through CTI's available surface treatments.
CTI offers designers wide latitude in specifying desired
surface finishes and durability.
Through utilization of a variety of “standard”
finishes and a broad range of special order finishes, CTI
switches and faceplates may feature the Euro-matte
look, high gloss reflectivity, and a selection of textures.
The utilization of various finishing techniques all on the
same surface can provide additional interface aesthetics
with exceptional effect. Often the blending of velvet,
matte and gloss finishes set over nameplates, ports and
windows is a typical application of this procedure that
provides superior appearance with reasonable economic
investment.
Armor-Plated Switches
Totally sealed , impervious to attack by moisture,
most grease, chemicals and solvents, and with no
moving parts to wear out, CTI's armor plated switches
provide durability and performance in the most server
service environments.
The CTI “Armor-Plated” switch has been designed
for harsh heavy duty usage in places such as as car
washes, public-access ATMs, Laundromats, arcade
games just to name a few. Using a proprietary
technique for preparing materials, inks and adhesives
for extraordinarily exposure and high volume use, CTI
has produced an interface system which will both
withstand abuse and resist tampering.
9
Photo courtesy of Lionville Systems Inc.

CTI’s state-of-the-art design and production facilities are
ISO-9001:2000 certified to assure the most precise and most
accurate design and preparation.
1
The tools man develops and uses are the result of an
ever-evolving reach for better, simpler ways to accomplish
a task. From wheels and ropes to levers and pulleys, we
have found ways to get things done faster and easier.
With the harnessing of combustion to power new machines,
we multiplied our basic capabilities a hundred fold and
through an applied knowledge of physics and electronics,
man's imagination has yielded automation and controls
that in their own time, defied the conventional thinking of
what we could accomplish. In that tradition, the people at
Conductive Technologies, Inc. remain proudly committed
to thinking — unconventionally.
Drawing upon a rich heritage of technological
advancements, and our collective brain trust of experience,
expertise and an unrestrained imagination in design —
CTI continues to push boundaries and raise the limits of
innovative thinking to new levels of what is possible in
the field of conductive interactivity. And while the
technology behind these advancements is the result of
highly sophisticated science and engineering, the result
for our customers is just the logical evolution toward
delivering a simpler tool.
A tool to get the job done in the best way. Which often
means to get it done faster. And easier. And to do so while
consuming the least of possible resources. And always with
a repeatable precision that has built for us an unparalleled
confidence in our products.
CTI is an unequalled leader in the field of conductive
membrane controls, switches and instrumentation.
At CTI we continue to explore emerging electronic
technologies and to harness these opportunities to make
better products, capitalizing on our own experience and
the advances of over a quarter decade of expertise in an
exceptionally wide range of vertically integrated
technologies.
From this heritage, we can lay claim to being a catalyst
in the electronic membrane revolution that changed the
landscape of interface technology across the electronic
spectrum.
We present this guide then, as a toolbox of its own
kind, to enable you to imagine what new possibilities you
yourself may accomplish. And CTI stands ready to help you
in whatever engineering assistance you might need — to
extend your own designs and erase the limits of your
imagination — using our technology to reach new
possibilities in interactivity.
The Evolution of Advancement

Membrane Touch Switches
At the intersection of intended desire and the
automation of the equipment you wish to control lies
the switch. Whether it is of the most primitive or
sophisticated of design, it might be used hundreds of
times each day and without any thought. You touch
it and it works, and you move on. Performance
must be exact and absolute, and with CTI, it is.
Our switches work because we give them all the
thought you can possibly imagine, and then we study
it some more, mounting an enormous effort to make
it all seem effortless. This is the dedication behind
all CTI membrane switch technology — the most
experienced, most knowledgeable, most original
and most imaginative creator of custom membrane
touch switches. At that same intersection of human
interaction with machine, each CTI momentary
contact membrane touch switch brings together
extreme accuracy in signal generation, superior
graphics, unprecedented operational longevity,
and all in a sealed matrix impervious to moisture,
chemical and solvent attack, and extreme cold and
heat. Maintenance is limited to that of a damp cloth!
Each CTI membrane switch is unique. Each is a
singular integration of CTI’s proprietary adhesive
formulations and coatings. Each utilizes the most
advanced and functional materials possible,
engineered to specific advantages that will meet
the requirements of your project. Each draws on
continued electro/mechanical research seeking the
best grades of inks, adhesives, polyester and
polycarbonate materials suitable as substrates for
spacers, pads, faceplates and conductivity — to
achieve an optimal design. Each brings these elements
together in one instantly-applied format, with clear
and concise graphics, the latest generation of CAD
systemics, and all rendered with the industry’s most
sophisticated production processes. And then each
unique switch is made to be identical — from first one
to the last one, no matter how many hundreds or
thousands you require in between.
Advanced features such as embossed keypad surfaces, embedded
RFI shielding, ESD grounding, precision die-cut access spacers, ports,
windows and apertures, exacting printed conductive ink traces,
exclusive TriDome tactile domes and superior graphics, make the CTI
membrane touch switch an exceptionally high-quality electronic
instrument for electronic interface signal generation.
The very latest in production
equipment including such pace-
setting systems as advanced, ultra-
accurate, vision-system die-cutting,
high-speed multi-color presses,
“pick ‘n place” robotic assembly
and digital proofing ensures
realization of — and perhaps even
enhancement of — the customer’s
expectations from prototype to
expedited throughput to on-time
and on-site delivery.
2

3
SUBSTRATE CHARACTERISTICS AND PERFORMANCE
Materials Gauge Moisture Resistance Weather Resistance Solvent Resistance Abrasion Resistance Stability Remarks
Polyester .005 Superior wear,
(clear or anti-glare .007 E E E G E solvent &
hard-coated finish) .010 weather resistance
Polyester .006 Superior wear,
(matte or textured .008 E E E G E solvent &
finish) .010 weather resistance
Polycarbonate .005 Excellent
(clear or anti-glare .007 E G G G E clarity for clear
hard-coated finish) .010 surface appearance
Polycarbonate .005 Textured surface,
(matte or .007 E G G G E non-glare &
textured finish .010 scuff resistance
Spacer .005 Superior wear,
Clear Polyester .007
E E E G E
solvent &
with adhesive .011 weather
two sides .017 resistance
Circuit .003 Heat stabilized,
Clear Polyester .005*
E E E G E
for maximum
.007 circuit
.010 performance
E = Excellent G = Good * 5 mil most common material in Conductive Technologies' switch products
ADHESIVES: Conductive Technologies adhesives used in switch construction have been developed to provide permanence, durability, and compatibility with
conductive compositions throughout the life of the switch.
TEMPERATURE: Recommended service
Printed Flexible heaters
Printed flexible heaters are constructed using
several elements including positive-temperature-
coefficient (PTC) materials for delivering heat.
Such constructions can be designed to operate in
a steady-state or limiting modes. In the latter mode,
the final temperature is bounded by the limiting
resistance of the PTC material. Temperatures up
to 80°C can be achieved by allowing the heater
to draw a small amount of current at a fixed
potential. At the start of the heating the current
draw is typically a few microamperes, but as
the heater approaches equilibrium, the current
requirement is diminished to a level that is
necessary to maintain the limiting temperature.
Critical parameters for heater construction
include physical and chemical characteristics of the
electrodes and the applied voltage. PTC material
can be deposited using standard screen-printing
techniques in a wide range of thickness.
As the deposit thickness increases, its resistance
decreases and the observed temperature decreases.
Electrode spacing as small as 250 microns (0.010")
can be achieved. Typical spacings are in the range
of 0.75-1.5 mm. Heating temperatures at a fixed
potential increase as the electrode spacing
decreases. The temperature response as function
of applied potential is always positive. Applied
voltages are usually in the range of 5-48 VDC as
well as 120VAC.

NON-TACTILE CHARACTERISTICS
The baseline electrical and mechanical characteristics include:
Rated Voltage 30 vdc
Rated Current 100 ma
Contact Resistance Typically less than 50 ohms
(varies with length of trace)
Open Circuit Resistance 106
or 10 Mega-ohms
Breakdown Voltage To Ground 100 vdc
Contact Bounce Less than 10 milliseconds
Contact Materials Silver to silver
Cycles 10 million @ 20 vdc, 30 ma
Actuation Force 5 oz. to 9 oz.
Switch Capacitance 20 pf
Temperature (Storage-Operating) *-40°C (-40°F) to +66°C (+150°F)
*Other temperature ranges upon request.
TACTILE CHARACTERISTICS
Rated current/voltage (integral dome) 10ma @24vdc into resistive load
Rated current/voltage (non-integral dome) *100ma @30vdc into resistive load
Contact resistance MOS, TTL, DTL compatible
Breakdown voltage Over 250 volts
Contact bounce (integral dome) Less than 20 milliseconds
Contact bounce (non-integral dome) *Less than 5 milliseconds
Temperature (Storage-Operating) **-40°C (-40°F) to +66°C (+150°F)
Humidity 0–98% (no condensation)
Surface profiles available Flat or embossed to spec
Panel surface materials available See “Materials”
*100 ma @ 30vdc construction available with TD3, TD4
**Other temperature ranges upon request.
TACTILE CHARACTERISTICS
Dome Type* Diameter Operating Force Life Expectancy**
TD1L .350 10 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD1M .350 12 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD1H .350 14 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD3M .440 12.0 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD3H .440 16.0 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD4L .500 8.0 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD4M .500 12.0 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
TD4H .500 16.0 ± 2oz. 2,000,000 Minimum
*Other dome types may be specified
**Continuous operation at 220 closures per minute
HUMAN ENginEERING/
ERGONOMIC STRUCTURES
Each CTI interfacing system is designed to assure
maximum operational ease, confidence and efficiency.
Each signal-generating switch event is confirmed by
CTI’s proprietary embedded Tridome tactile response
mechanisms. Designed and offered exclusively by
CTI, this Tridome system is mounted beneath the key
surface providing a range of confirming counter
pressures and is more durable than other standard
tactile response systems.
Other ergonomic innovations by Conductive
Technologies include embossing of key surfaces,
perimeters, logos, legends, and even raised Braille
characters to facilitate ease of use and compliance
with laws for meeting the needs of the vision impaired.
Additionally, CTI switches may be curved or shaped,
canted and hinged to conform to cabinetry or provide
multi-level arrays and displays.
Key size may be increased to accommodate
industrial or environmental applications where gloves
or other protective gear might impede or hinder
activation. And all of this is critically repeatable in our
final productions — from batch to batch, quantity to
quantity — no matter the intensity of design.
Precision engineering and ergonomic innovations from CTI enhance the
human mechanical interface with aesthetics, efficiency and ease of use.
4

RFI/EMI/ESD Shielding
Conductive Technologies' family of RFI/EMI
shielding products include both independent and
switch integrated protective shields that guard against
digital interference as well as grounding of vagrant
electro-static charges. Indeed, CTI pioneered the
technology behind the discrete stand alone shields
now widely used throughout the industry.
Totally flexible, CTI’s RFI shields may be folded,
creased, crimped and shaped as discrete attenuating
envelopes for sources of electronic noise. Additionally,
CTI shields may be configured as total keyboard
shields or as shields within an entire system
framework. CTI shielding structures eliminate such
common problems as pinholes, skips, voids and air
entrapment.
These comprehensive mechanisms are available
in a wide range of substrate materials giving you
flexibility in your choice of design vehicles for CTI’s
patented-process, printed conductors. Attenuating both
incoming and outgoing RFI, switch-integrated systems
also serve as grounding paths for ESD discharges.
CTI’s break-through MSD-4 shielding packages are custom shaped to
your design demands, providing protective, one piece shielding
envelopes for the most critical logic systems and configurations.
As shown here,
the CTI patented-
process RFI shield
may be crimped,
folded and shaped
to envelope electronic
“noise” without
de-lamination,
creasing, pinholes,
skips and voids
and air entrapment
common to other
forms of shielding.
MATERIALS/SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS
Materials Gauge Description Shielding Effectiveness in Decibels (dB)
Name 30kHz 5mHz 10mHz 100mHz 1000mHz
MSD 4 5 Mil / (.126mm) Clear Polyester / Printed Conductor † 76 dB 70 dB 69 dB 70 dB 65 dB
MSD 6 5 Mil / (.126mm) Clear Polyester / Printed Silver/Carbon Blend* 64 dB 58 dB 58 dB 58 dB 58 dB
AL 807 3 Mil / (.076mm) “Dead-Soft” Aluminum / Acrylic Adhesive 80 dB 70 dB 67 dB 56 dB 52 dB
* ESD Material †MSD-4 is a patented product of Topflight Corporation (1987).
5

interactive Terminations
System designers have a wide choice of terminations
for optimal economics and space efficiencies when
working with CTI switch circuitry. The common
standard is through use of a printed tail which exits
the switch matrix from anywhere within the matrix,
or through peripheral diversion. CTI switch tail
connections are most often through the .100" CTR-CTR
DuPont®
clincher or AMP, BERG, or Nicomatic multi-
crimp connectors. Other options include .050 or .100
CTR-CTR PC Board-mounted slide-in pressure
connectors; Elastomeric®
“zebra-strip” connectors;
and “Z-axis-only” conductive adhesives.
With these wide range of choices, designers are
assured efficient, economical, and reliable interactive
connections for their specific requirements.
Advanced electronics
CTI has a unique position within the industry to
harness and exploit a wide range of captive in-house
technologies, from printing, processing, and design,
to proprietary adhesives, coatings of all relevant
substrate materials and instant on-line prototyping.
These capabilities in-turn, yield an unparralled palate
for designers to access in creating, hand-in-hand with
our own engineers, the most imaginative and efficient
of conductive interactive technologies,taking their
concepts from drawing board to functional reality
with our help, and with a repeatability unmatched
by any other supplier in the business.
To an unprecedented degree, CTI is incorporating
interactive electronic systems wholly within the matrix
of the membrane switch itself. Further innovations that
reduce the number of PCB elements and the number of
required exiting trace signals all combine to allow for
significant minimization of logic circuitry, as permitted
through surface-mount LEDs, chip resistors, diodes,
and capacitors embedded within the switch printed
resistor. These elements provide on-board contact
potentiometers and rheostats that contribute to
improved performance.
CTI’s advanced switching options
are designed to provide fast, reliable
and efficient innovations to the
systems designer. Cutting edge
membrane technology offers a
near fail safe signal generation
for exacting activation in the
most critical of applications.
Antennae
Utilizing technologies closely related to sensors, CTI
produces customized printed, shaped and critically spaced
circuitry for smart-card antennae, enabling what is essentially
a radio frequency transformer. Applications for these
conductive vehicles include financial, identification, licensing
and other critical security systems.
For detailed sensor and antennae information visit
www.conductivetech.com/product/sensor.
Photo courtesy of Kraut Kramer Branson.
6

Sensors
Conductive Technologies’ designs are at the apex
of emerging electronic technologies, creating the most
sophisticated concepts for the highly specialized field
of electronic sensing and allowing these concepts to
become realities. realities you need and can exploit to
great competitive advantage. Printed and intricately
shaped conductive materials react to and report changes
in states of impedance, resistance, current flow or
thermal fluctuations. CTI sensors are circuit-based
recognition instruments which convert biochemical
activity into measurable energy events. Functioning as
critical diagnostic and biomedical testing systems, CTI
sensors can be created through the most precise printing
of reagents and catalysts on engineered substrates.
CTI imagination also brings this specialized expertise
to its creation of our RFID tags for various security-
oriented antennae applications.
These technologies are of greatest value to the
specialized biochemical and security markets, and we
invite all inquires for complete details and specifics
on our proprietary designs.
CTI sensors are circuit-based bio or chemical recognition
instruments which convert biochemical activity into measurable
energy events.
RAPID PROOFING and JUST ONE®
PROTOTYPING
Somewhere in the infancy of engineering design,
you will need a prototype. Maybe several prototypes
of variable designs, but critically, it would be nice to
have JUST ONE. A look into to the future, of all you
have imagined.
CTI answers that need with state-of-the-art, direct
EDI-activated high-speed LASER processing system,
we call JUST ONE. This provides the designer computer-
driven prototypes of digitally printed or unprinted
switch components to assure pin-point accuracy and
graphic compatibility, giving you the confidence you
need to go forward with your designs, and your
investment in R&D. JUST ONE provides adhesive/non-
adhesive parts for testing, graphics evaluation, usage
environment suitability and display compatibility, prior
to your final commitment and without the burden of
pre-production tooling expenses!
Additionally, CTI offers full color Digital Proof
Printing for customer evaluation.
PROCESSING
Materials Engineered plastics; paper
(Not recommended for highly reflective
surfaces or foils)
Processes Laser-cutting (external or internal),
shaping, surface etching, perforation
Maximum cutting depth Materials up to 1⁄ 8" in thickness
Maximum cutting dimensions 24" x 36" (May vary by materials and designs)
Maximum cutting speed 16.5” per second
Cutting line diameter 0.007"
Registration repeatability - 0.005"
CONTROL ACCESS
Disk 31
⁄2" or CD
Drawings/blueprints Input via AUTOCAD
CTI’s DigiProof®
system offers single or only a few pre-
production samples of disk-driven, four color, inkjet printed
proofs of graphic related to any job. These are available on 6 mil
polyester or color proofs of face graphics on semi-gloss stock in
any size up to 35” x 60”.
7
PhotocourtesyofESA.

Displays and Illumination
As pioneer developers of the technologies of embedded
switch face illumination, CTI gives system designers the
latitude to specify an exceptionally wide range of light-source
options. Ranging from incandescence to light pipe fiber optics
and glass epoxy-based chip LEDs contained within the switch
matrix. LEDs may be viewed up to 165° from center. Interior
backlighting of fiberoptic lamps are also available to enhance
the overall aesthetic elegance of the interface, when final
installations demand it .
Nearly any aesthetic effect can be achieved through CTI’s
unique capabilities fusing art, materials selections, printing
techniques and illumination options.
Display Illumination
Custom Membrane Switch-Mounted LED Systems (SML)
• Switches are available in a variety of mounts, common mounts are
L, H and S configurations.
• L configurations use custom configured lead subminiature LEDs,
rear spacer requires a .100" thickness with finished product
typically a .138" thickness.
• H configurations utilize yoke mounted lead configured
subminiature LEDS, rears spacer requires a minimum .040"
thickness with finished product typically a .120" thickness. These
may be configured to an off center angle up to 165˚.
• S configurations use glass-epoxy based, surface-mount chip style
LEDs and require no additional rear spacer thickness, are typically
finished with a .080" thickness and also can be set off center at
angles up to 165˚.
Illumination for Membrane Switches
Electroluminescence (EL) involves wafer-thin flat lamps to provide
interior switch illumination without incandescence. Other
illumination options include fiber-optics and incandescence.
Award-Winning Graphics
Membrane switch engineering and design is an
art and science unto itself. And while certainly we
have the credentials to ensure absolute electronic
switch and conductive performance, the face of
these switches is no less important than the science
underneath them. For over sixty years, CTI has been
designing the most aesthetically brilliant, crisp and
often most recognizable interfaces of membrane switch
interfaces in the industry. And we offer these resources,
and our full creative palette to all our customers in
the development of their designs.
There is virtually no graphics effect which CTI’s
studio artists and technicians cannot first visualize
and then assist you in realizing. Crisp raised-letter
legends and icons, embossing or debossing,
proprietary opaquing, transparency, vignetting and
dead fronting techniques to interface surfaces all
combine to yield the most visually unique and highly
functional interfaces in the industry. Harnessing a
variety of imaging techniques, custom formulated
inks and their computerized spectrographic matching
ensures exact printing, from the first piece to the last
piece, with an infinite number of perfect matches in
between, making CTI not just a designer's choice, but
production's prefered resource unmatched by any
other supplier in the business.
8

Push your Imagination to new
limits and CTI will meet you there
CTI wants to help you push the limits of interactive
imagination and together realize tomorrow's state-of-the-art
technology. We've been doing it for over half a century, with so
many of our "firsts" becoming industry standards. Our multiple
teams of designers and technicians with a unparrelled host of
expertise and specialty disciplines are ready to handle your
toughest challenges. As a partner in the success of your project,
we welcome early participation in the development of your
project and when doing so, are all the more ready and able to
provide maximum input and superior support.
UV Hardcoating & Texturizing
Further aesthetic and functional enhancements may
be realized through CTI's available surface treatments.
CTI offers designers wide latitude in specifying desired
surface finishes and durability.
Through utilization of a variety of “standard”
finishes and a broad range of special order finishes, CTI
switches and faceplates may feature the Euro-matte
look, high gloss reflectivity, and a selection of textures.
The utilization of various finishing techniques all on the
same surface can provide additional interface aesthetics
with exceptional effect. Often the blending of velvet,
matte and gloss finishes set over nameplates, ports and
windows is a typical application of this procedure that
provides superior appearance with reasonable economic
investment.
Armor-Plated Switches
Totally sealed , impervious to attack by moisture,
most grease, chemicals and solvents, and with no
moving parts to wear out, CTI's armor plated switches
provide durability and performance in the most server
service environments.
The CTI “Armor-Plated” switch has been designed
for harsh heavy duty usage in places such as as car
washes, public-access ATMs, Laundromats, arcade
games just to name a few. Using a proprietary
technique for preparing materials, inks and adhesives
for extraordinarily exposure and high volume use, CTI
has produced an interface system which will both
withstand abuse and resist tampering.
Please call CTI today for more infor-
mation on our products and services.
Or visit our informative website at
www.conductivetech.com
Photo courtesy of Lionville Systems Inc.

CTI Membrane Switch Brochure

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