Capacitance is an electrical effect that opposes change in voltage between conducting surfaces separated by an insulator. Capacitance stores electrical energy when electrons are attracted to nearby but separate surfaces. The voltage across an...

Capacitance is a measure of the amount of electric charge stored (or separated) for a given electric potential. The most common form of charge storage device is a two-plate capacitor. If the charges on the plates are +Q and −Q, and V gives the voltage...

San Jose, Calif.-Having missed your opportunity to invest in the hula hoop and burned by the dot.com run-up and collapse, you might be on the make for a product that rocks and a stock that'll roll. High technology research firm Frost & Sullivan...

Most proximity sensors use an electromagnetic field to sense the presence of a target metal. But there are times when it's necessary to sense nonmetallic materials such as plastics, liquids, or powders. Those target materials have little effect on electromagnetic fields, so inductive...

Get your fingers ready. Apple Inc.'s iPhone is leading a new wave of gadgets using touch-sensitive screens that react to taps, swishes or flicks of a finger. The improvements promise to be slicker and more intuitive than the rough stomp of finger presses and stylus-pointing...

In today's high-tech world, there's a specialist for just about everything. For Synaptics, it's touch pads for notebook computers and other devices. Its chip-based "capacitive" sensor technology replaces buttons and other mechanical interfaces.Synaptics SYNA holds more than 65% of the worldwide laptop market in such...