In touchscreen devices, the digitizer is a layer of glass designed to convert analog touch comments to digital signals. Both capacitive and resistive touch screen devices have digitizers. It is essentially a layer of glass placed over the liquid crystal display (LCD) layer of the device. The main purpose of a digitizer is to convert an analog signal in a touch command into a digital signal that the device can read.

The advent of touchscreen technology has revolutionized the way we control computers, smartphones, and other devices. We no longer have to use mechanical keyboards and peripherals. With touchscreen technology, we can now control them through physical contact. While touchscreen devices contain various components to accomplish this, one component that is often overlooked is the digitizer.

Capacitive touchscreens include an insulating outer layer (usually glass) coated with a transparent conductive metal compound. The technique works by detecting changes in the conductivity of the layer. Since the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen will cause the interference of the electrostatic field of the screen, the position of the electrostatic field can be detected and sent to the controller for processing. Because the technology relies on electrical interference from conductive sources, capacitive touchscreens don’t work through most gloves because they are electrically insulating.