The QTouch™ devices are charging a sense electrode of unknown capacitance to a known potential. The electrode is typically a copper area on a printed circuit board. The resulting charge is transferred into a measurement circuit. By measuring the charge after one or more charge-and-transfer cycles, the capacitance of the sense plate can be determined. Placing a finger on the touch surface introduces external capacitance that affects the flow of charge at that point. This registers as a touch. QTouch™ microcontrollers can also be set up to detect the proximity of a finger, rather than absolute touch. -The QTouch™　devices are charging a sense electrode of unknown capacitance to a known potential. The electrode is typically a copper area on a printed circuit board. The resulting charge is transferred into a measurement circuit. By measuring the charge after one or more charge-and-transfer cycles, the capacitance of the sense plate can be determined. Placing a finger on the touch surface introduces external capacitance that affects the flow of charge at that point. This registers as a touch. QTouch™　microcontrollers can also be set up to detect the proximity of a finger, rather than absolute touch.