LG Innotek has announced the development of a fingerprint sensor for mobile devices. While fingerprint sensors are widely used already in higher end smartphones and other products, they all rely on a sensor that is located in an area outside the display itself. The user has to put his finger in a specific area with a certain orientation to trigger the fingerprint acquisition. LG Innotek is now offering an alternative solution that puts the fingerprint sensor behind the cover glass of the display.
The sensor is not located behind the complete display, rather a small part of the lower display area. To accommodate the sensor itself LG Innotek has created a crevice on the back of the cover glass that contains the sensor. According to their press release they create a 0.3mm deep groove in the strengthened cover glass. They claim to pass a ball drop test with a 4.6 oz (130grams) steel ball dropped from 7.9inch (20cm). Typical cover glass like Corning’s Gorilla Glass is only 0.4mm thick; that would leave only 0.1mm of material above the groove.
LG Innotek is offering its solution to smartphone makers without announcing any design wins so far. -NH
(Noet that this is similar to some work by Asahi Asahi Etches Glass for Fingerprints – BR)
