LG subsidiary LG Innotek has announced a new under-glass fingerprint sensor module, allowing smartphone OEMs to do away with distinct buttons for fingerprint authentication.
The module is fitted under a mobile device’s glass via a 0.01″ furrow carved into the underside of the glass, and using LG Innotek’s proprietary adhesive. In a statement announcing the technology, the company asserted that its under-glass system maintains a false acceptance rate of 0.002 percent, and that in durability testing it could sustain an impact of 4.6 oz from a height of 7.9″.
It’s a design that could prove appealing; by allowing OEMs to eschew physical buttons while still incorporating the valued feature of a fingerprint sensor, it could enable sleeker designs and more robust water and dust resistance. And for these same reasons, major fingerprint biometrics companies like Fingerprint Cards are also exploring under-glass solutions.
For its part, LG Innotek has at least one client it can count on in parent company LG, which develops its own smartphones, among other consumer electronics. But it could prove competitive in marketing its new solution to other OEMs as well, as the mobile biometrics market continues on its upward trajectory.
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