CN111492335A

CN111492335A - Transparent conductive coating for capacitive touch panel and method of manufacturing the same

Info

Publication number: CN111492335A
Application number: CN201980006130.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿列克谢·克拉斯诺夫; 威廉·登布尔
Original assignee: Guardian Glass LLC
Current assignee: Guardian Glass LLC
Priority date: 2018-01-11
Filing date: 2019-01-11
Publication date: 2020-08-04
Also published as: RU2020126578A3; JP2021510438A; RU2020126578A; CA3079814A1; WO2019138370A1; BR112020009830A2; EP3738021A1

Abstract

The present invention provides a multilayer conductive coating that is substantially transparent to visible light, comprises at least one conductive layer sandwiched between at least one pair of dielectric layers, and can be used as an electrode and/or conductive trace in a capacitive touch panel. The multilayer conductive coating may contain one or more dielectric layers and may be used in applications such as capacitive touch panels for controlling bathrooms, home appliances, vending machines, electronics, electronic devices, and the like. In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes of the touch panel may be formed from different silver-based layers of the same or different multilayer coatings. In certain exemplary embodiments, different respective conductive layers of one or more of the same or different multilayer coatings can be patterned using different laser scribing wavelengths when patterning the electrodes.

Description

Transparent conductive coating for capacitive touch panel and method of manufacturing the same

This application is a partial continuation application (CIP) of U.S. serial No. 15/678,266 filed on day 16, 8, 2017, a partial continuation application (CIP) of U.S. serial No. 15/647,541 filed on day 12, 7, 2017, a continuation application of U.S. serial No. 15/215,908 (U.S. patent No.9,733,779) filed on day 21, 7, 2016, a partial continuation application (CIP) of U.S. serial No. 15/146,270 filed on day 4, 5, 2016, a continuation application of U.S. serial No. 13/685,871 (now U.S. patent No.9,354,755) filed on day 27, 11, 2012, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. This application is also a partial continuation application (CIP) of U.S. serial No. 15/678,266 filed on day 8, month 16, 2017, which is a partial continuation application (CIP) of U.S. serial No. 15/409,658 filed on day 19, month 1, 2017, which is a continuation application of U.S. serial No. 14/681,266 (now U.S. patent No.9,557,871) filed on day 8, month 4, 2015, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to multilayer conductive coatings that are substantially transparent to visible light, contain at least one conductive layer sandwiched between at least one pair of dielectric layers, and can be used as electrodes and/or conductive traces in a capacitive touch panel. In certain embodiments, the multilayer conductive coating can comprise a layer having or including zirconia (e.g., ZrCh) and/or silicon nitride, and can be used in applications such as capacitive touch panels for controlling bathrooms, appliances, vending machines, electronics, and the like. The coating may have improved conductivity (e.g., a lower sheet resistance Rs or a lower emissivity given similar deposition thicknesses and/or costs) and/or durability compared to typical ITO coatings used in touch panels. In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes of the touch panel may be formed from different layers of the same or different multilayer coatings. In certain exemplary embodiments, different laser scribing wavelengths may be used to pattern different respective layers of one or more of the same or different multilayer coatings when patterning the electrode. In different exemplary embodiments, different electrodes may be patterned from the same or different sides of the supporting glass substrate.

Background

A capacitive touch panel typically includes an insulator (such as glass) coated with a conductive coating, since the human body is also a conductive object, the surface of the touch panel causes a deformation of the panel's electrostatic field, which can be measured, for example, as a change in capacitance.

Fig. 1(a) through 1(g) illustrate examples of related art projected capacitive touch panels, see, for example, U.S. patent No.8,138,425, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Referring to fig. 1(a), a substrate 11, x-axis conductors 12 for rows, insulators 13, y-axis conductors 14 for columns, and conductive traces 15 are provided. The substrate 11 may be a transparent material such as glass. The x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14 are typically Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) as a transparent conductor. The insulator 13 may be an insulating material (e.g., silicon nitride) that suppresses electrical conductivity between the x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14. The traces 15 provide electrical conductivity between the plurality of conductors and a signal processor (not shown). ITO used for electrodes/traces in small PROCAP touch panels typically has a sheet resistance of at least about 100 ohms/□, which has been found to be too high for certain applications. Furthermore, conventional ITO coatings for touch panels are typically highly crystalline and relatively thick and brittle, and thus such ITO coatings are prone to failure in applications involving bending.

Referring to fig. 1(b), an x-axis conductor 12 (e.g., ITO) is formed on a substrate 11. ITO is coated in a continuous layer on a substrate 11 and then subjected to a first lithographic process in order to pattern the ITO into x-axis conductors 12. Fig. 1(c) shows a cross-section a-a' of fig. 1(b) including an x-axis conductor 12 formed on a substrate 11. Referring to fig. 1(d), an insulator 13 is then formed on the substrate 11 over one or more x-axis channels of the x-axis conductors 12. Fig. 1(e) shows a cross section B-B' of fig. 1(d) including an insulator 13 formed on the substrate 11 and the x-axis conductor 12. The insulator islands 13 shown in fig. 1(d) -1 (e) are formed by: a continuous layer of insulating material (e.g., silicon nitride) is deposited on substrate 11 over conductors 12, and then the insulating material is subjected to a second photolithography, etching, or other patterning process to pattern the insulating material into islands 13. Referring to fig. 1(f), a y-axis conductor 14 is then formed on the substrate over the insulator island 13 and the x-axis conductor 12. ITO for the y-axis conductors 14 is coated on the substrate 11 over 12, 13 and then subjected to a third photolithography or other patterning process in order to pattern the ITO into the y-axis conductors 14. While most of the y-axis conductor material 14 is formed directly on the substrate 11, a y-axis channel is formed on the insulator 13 to suppress electrical conductivity between the x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14. Fig. 1(g) shows cross-section C-C' of fig. 1(f), including portions of ITO y-axis conductors 14 formed on substrate 11 over insulating islands 13 and over exemplary ITOx axis conductors 12. It will be appreciated that the process of fabricating the structures shown in fig. 1(a) -1 (g) requires three separate and distinct deposition steps and three lithographic type processes, which makes the fabrication process cumbersome, inefficient and costly.

Fig. 1(h) shows another example of the intersection of an ITO x-axis conductor 12 and an ITO y-axis conductor 14 of a projected capacitive touch panel according to the related art. Referring to fig. 1(h), an ITO layer is formed on a substrate 11 and may then be patterned into x-axis and y-

axis conductors

12, 14 in a first photolithography process. Then, an insulating layer is formed on the substrate and patterned into insulator islands 13 in a second photolithography or etching process. A conductive layer is then formed on the substrate 11 over 12-14 and patterned into conductive bridges 16 in a third photolithographic process. The bridge 16 provides electrical conductivity to the y-axis conductor 14 over the x-axis conductor 12. Also, the manufacturing process requires at least three deposition steps and at least three different lithographic processes.

The projected capacitive touch panels shown in fig. 1(a) to 1(h) may be mutual capacitance devices or self-capacitance devices. In a mutual capacitance device, there is a capacitor at each intersection between the x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14 (or metal bridge 16). A voltage is applied to the x-axis conductor 12 (and/or vice versa) while measuring the voltage of the y-axis conductor 14. When a user brings a finger or a conductive stylus close to the device surface, changes in the local electrostatic field reduce the mutual capacitance. The change in capacitance at each individual point on the grid can be measured to accurately determine the touch location. In a self-capacitance device, the x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14 operate substantially independently. The capacitive load of a finger or the like is measured by the galvanometer on each of the x-axis conductor 12 and the y-axis conductor 14 by self capacitance.

As mentioned above, the prior art

transparent conductors

12 and 14 in touch panels are typically Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), which is problematic for a number of reasons. First, ITO is costly. Second, a thin ITO layer has a relatively high sheet resistance Rs (typically at least about 100 ohms/□ at a given thickness); in other words, the conductivity of ITO is not particularly good and its resistivity is high. In order for the ITO layer to have a much lower sheet resistance, the ITO layer must be very thick (e.g., greater than 300 or 400 nm). However, such thick ITO layers are cost prohibitive and are less transparent. Thus, the high sheet resistance of the thin ITO layer limits its use in layouts that require long, narrow traces on touch panels (especially on large panels). Thus, it should be appreciated that there is a need in the art for touch panel electrodes whose materials do not suffer from the drawbacks of ITO (i.e., a combination of high cost and low conductivity) at smaller thicknesses.

Disclosure of Invention

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to a multilayer conductive coating that is substantially transparent to visible light, contains at least one conductive layer (e.g., comprising silver and/or NiCr) sandwiched between at least one pair of dielectric layers, and can be used as an electrode and/or conductive trace in a capacitive touch panel. In certain exemplary embodiments, the multilayer conductive coating can comprise a coating having or including zirconia (e.g., ZrO)₂) And/or one or more dielectric layers of silicon nitride, and may be used in applications such as controlling bathrooms, appliances, etc,The capacitive touch panel is used for applications such as vending machines, electronic devices, and electronic apparatuses. The coating has improved electrical conductivity (e.g., a lower sheet resistance Rs or a lower emissivity given similar deposition thickness and/or cost) as compared to typical ITO coatings used in touch panels. The coating may be used as an electrode layer and/or traces in a capacitive touch panel, such as a PROCAP touch panel or any other type of touch panel.

In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes of the touch panel may be formed from different silver-based layers of the same or different multilayer coatings. In certain exemplary embodiments, different laser scribing wavelengths may be used to pattern different corresponding silver based layers of one or more of the same or different multilayer coatings when patterning the electrodes. For example, when the first and second electrodes of the touch panel overlap each other, a first laser scribing wavelength may be used when patterning the first conductive layer into one or more first electrodes, and a second laser scribing wavelength may be used when patterning the second conductive layer into one or more second electrodes. For example, the emitter electrode may be laser patterned using one or more first wavelengths, and the receiver electrode may be laser patterned using one or more different second wavelengths. Advantageously, the use of different wavelengths reduces damage to one or more electrodes that are not intended to be patterned in a given process.

In certain exemplary embodiments, when different electrodes of the touch panel can be formed from different conductive base layers of the same or different multilayer coatings, a first set of electrodes can be patterned from a first side of the supporting glass substrate by laser scribing, while a second set of electrodes can be patterned from an opposite second side of the supporting glass substrate by laser scribing. Thus, one of the two laser patterning processes is performed by supporting the glass substrate, since the electrodes are on the same side of the glass substrate. For example, the emitter electrode may be laser patterned from a first side of the supporting glass substrate, while the receiver electrode may be laser patterned from an opposite second side of the supporting glass substrate. Advantageously, this technique reduces damage to electrodes that are not intended to be patterned in a given laser patterning process. Embodiments involving laser patterning of different electrodes from opposite sides of a supporting glass substrate may or may not be used in combination with embodiments that use different wavelengths to pattern different electrodes.

In certain exemplary embodiments, coatings for at least one electrode of a touch panel may have increased resistance and thus reduced conductivity as compared to the pure silver layer of certain coatings in order to make silver-based coatings more suitable for touch panel electrode applications. The increased resistance, and thus reduced conductivity, of the one or more conductive layers (e.g., Ag-based and/or NiCr) in the coating may be achieved by any of several techniques. For example, increased resistance, and thus reduced conductivity, of one or more conductive layers in a coating may be achieved by: doping silver with impurities, such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, etc., and/or replacing crystalline zinc oxide directly below, and contacting the silver with another material, such as a suitable amorphous dielectric, an amorphous semiconductor, or using a metal alloy (e.g., NiCr). Silver with increased resistance may be used for all electrodes and/or traces (and/or NiCr may be used) in the touch panel, or alternatively may be used for only a portion of the electrodes and/or traces in the touch panel.

In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes of a touch panel may have different resistances, with the respective silver-based structures of the various electrodes being different from one another to provide different resistances for the different electrodes. For example, in certain exemplary embodiments, the transmitting electrode may have a higher sheet resistance (ohm/□) than the receiving electrode. Thus, for example, one, some or all of the emitter electrodes may be composed of a multilayer coating comprising a layer of NiCr and/or silver having a higher sheet resistance (and thus lower conductivity) than pure silver in certain types of coatings, wherein the higher sheet resistance of the silver-based layer is achieved by, for example: doping silver with impurities such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, etc., and/or replacing crystalline zinc oxide directly below, and contacting the silver with another material such as a suitable amorphous dielectric, an amorphous semiconductor, or using a metal alloy (e.g., NiCr) in order to increase the resistance of the silver. The difference in resistance between the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode can also be achieved by: the conductors of these electrodes are made of different thicknesses, the silver of the emitter electrode is doped, and/or the silver of the emitter electrode is provided above and in direct contact with a layer other than the crystalline zinc oxide-based layer.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a capacitive touch panel including a glass substrate; a patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating supported by the substrate, the multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising a first conductive layer (e.g., comprising silver and/or NiCr), a dielectric layer located between at least the substrate and the first conductive layer, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride, and tin oxide located over at least the first conductive layer; a first set of electrodes; a second set of electrodes; wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes are configured to allow determination of a touch location, wherein at least some of the electrodes comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating; the method comprises the following steps: laser patterning the first conductive layer with a first wavelength while forming the first set of electrodes; and forming the second set of electrodes by (i) laser patterning with a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and/or (ii) with a laser beam from an opposite side of the substrate different from a laser beam used in laser patterning the first conductive layer. The patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating can further include a second conductive layer, and another dielectric layer (e.g., silicon nitride or tin oxide) positioned between at least the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes can each include the multilayer transparent conductive coating, and wherein the forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning with a second wavelength different from the first wavelength can include laser patterning the second conductive layer with the second wavelength. The first conductive layer may be a conductor of the first set of electrodes and the second conductive layer may be a conductor of the second set of electrodes.

Drawings

Fig. 1(a) to 1(h) show examples of a projected capacitive touch panel of the related art.

Fig. 2(a) shows a top or bottom plan layout of a projected capacitive touch panel that may include one or more of the coatings of fig. 4, 6, 7, and/or 8 as one or more conductive electrodes and/or one or more conductive traces, according to an example embodiment.

Fig. 2(b) shows a schematic diagram of a circuit for the projected capacitive touch panel of fig. 2(a), 3, 9 and/or 10.

Fig. 3(a) shows a top or bottom plan layout of a projected capacitive touch panel that may include one or more of the coatings of fig. 4, 6, 7, and/or 8 as one or more conductive electrodes and/or one or more conductive traces, according to another exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 3(b) shows a top or bottom planar layout of a projected capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to another example embodiment, which may include one or more coatings of fig. 4, 6, 7 and/or 8 as one or more conductive electrodes and/or one or more conductive traces.

Fig. 3(c) shows a top or bottom planar layout of a projected capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to another example embodiment, which may include one or more coatings of fig. 4, 6, 7 and/or 8 as one or more conductive electrodes and/or one or more conductive traces.

Fig. 3(d) is a perspective view of a portion of a capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, wherein the resistance of the transmitting electrode is higher than the resistance of the receiving electrode.

Fig. 3(e) is a perspective view of a portion of a capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which the resistance of the transmitting electrode is higher than the resistance of the receiving electrode.

Fig. 3(f) is a top view of a portion of a capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, where the transmit and receive electrodes overlap and are substantially orthogonal to each other in different planes.

FIG. 3(g) is a cross-sectional view of the capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement of FIG. 3(f) along section line a-a'.

Fig. 4(a) -4 (h) are cross-sectional views of various silver-containing transparent conductive coatings for use in the touch panels of fig. 2, 3,7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and/or 14 according to exemplary embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph of visible light transmission/reflectance percentages versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light Transmission (TR) percentages and Glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) percentages of Comparative Example (CE) coatings on Glass substrates compared to those values for Glass substrates alone (Glass-TR, Glass-BRA).

Fig. 6 is a graph of visible light transmission/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light Transmission (TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) of the exemplary coating of fig. 4(a) on a glass substrate according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance more closely matches the reflectance of the glass substrate than the CE in fig. 5. Similar to FIG. 5, FIG. 6 also shows the visible light transmittance (Glass-TR) and visible light reflectance (Glass-BRA) of the individual Glass substrates without the coating thereon.

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel assembly including a touch panel according to any one of fig. 2-4, 6, 8-10 coupled to a liquid crystal panel for use in an electronic device (such as a portable phone, portable tablet, computer, etc.) according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8(a) is a graph of visible light transmission/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light transmission (CGN-TR or TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (CGN-BRA or BRA) of the exemplary coating of fig. 4(b) according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance more closely matches that of the glass substrate alone than CE. Fig. 8(a) also shows the visible light transmittance (Glass-TR) and visible light reflectance (Glass-BRA) of only the Glass substrate without the coating.

Fig. 8(b) is a graph of visible light transmission/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light transmission (CGN-TR or TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (CGN-BRA or BRA) of the exemplary coating of fig. 4(c) according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance more closely matches the reflectance of the substrate than CE.

Fig. 9 shows a top or bottom plan layout of a low resolution capacitive touch panel that may include one or more of the coatings of fig. 4, 6, 7,8 as one or more conductive electrodes and/or one or more conductive traces according to another exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a low resolution capacitive touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment, wherein a substrate supporting the inventive coating of fig. 9 can be laminated to another substrate (e.g., glass) via a polymer-containing interlayer (such as PVB or EVA).

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a process for manufacturing a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a process for manufacturing a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart of a process for manufacturing a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14(a) is a flowchart of a process for manufacturing a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14(b) is a wavelength (nm) versus absorbance (%) showing different absorption characteristics of different silver-based layers in a multilayer coating, based on wavelength.

Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a capacitive touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 on a surface #2, and an additional functional film disposed on the surface suitable for being touched by a user.

Fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a capacitive touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 on a surface #3, and an additional functional film disposed on the surface suitable for being touched by a user.

Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view of an integrated capacitive touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 on a surface #2, and an additional functional film disposed on the surface suitable for being touched by a user.

Detailed Description

A detailed description of exemplary embodiments is provided with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the drawings.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a multilayer conductive coating 41 that is substantially transparent to visible light, comprising at least one conductive layer 46 comprising silver sandwiched between at least one pair of layers (such as dielectric layers), and that can be used as an electrode and/or conductive trace in a capacitive touch panel exemplary multilayer transparent conductive coatings 41 are shown in fig. 4(a) -4 (h) the multilayer conductive coatings 41 can be used in applications such as capacitive touch panels for controlling bathrooms (e.g., water on/off control, water temperature control, and/or steam control), appliances, vending machines, music control, thermostat control, electronics, and the like the zirconium oxide and/or D L C layers discussed herein provide scratch resistance and scratch resistance to cleaning chemicals in applications such as room door/wall touch panel applications and the like, and in certain exemplary embodiments, the coatings comprise one or more silver layers 46 and can be used as one or more electrodes in a capacitive touch panel and/or one or more electrodes and/or cleaning chemicals, and preferably have a much lower visible light reflectance or less visible light than other conductive coatings (e.g., such as a transparent conductive coating 41) and/or conductive coating of the type that can be used in a touch panel, such as a transparent conductive coating that has a less visible light transmittance or touch panel, but that is preferably less visible light transmittance and/or touch panel, and/or as a touch panel that is used in a touch panel, such as a touch panel, and/or as a touch panel, such as a touch panel, and a touch panel, preferably, and a touch panel.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the coating 41 for at least one electrode in a touch panel may have an increased resistivity and thus a reduced conductivity as compared to the pure silver layer of certain coatings in order to make the silver-based coating more suitable for certain touch panel electrode applications. The increased sheet resistance and reduced conductivity of the one or more silver layers 46 in the coating 41 can be achieved by any of several techniques. For example, increased sheet resistance and reduced conductivity of the one or more silver layers 46 in the coating may be achieved by doping the silver with impurities (such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, etc.). For example, the silver layer 46 of any of fig. 4(a) -4 (h) may be doped with about 0.05 to 3.0%, more preferably about 0.1 to 2.0%, and most preferably about 0.1 to 0.5% (wt%) of one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, or a combination thereof. The increased sheet resistance and reduced conductivity of the one or more silver layers 46 may also or alternatively be achieved by: replacing the crystalline zinc oxide 44 directly underneath, and contacting the silver with another material, such as a suitable amorphous dielectric, amorphous semiconductor, or metal alloy (e.g., NiCr, NiCrMo, etc.), in order to increase the resistance of the silver (see, e.g., the NiCr base layer underneath the silver in fig. 4 (f)). The increased sheet resistance and reduced conductivity of the one or more silver based layers 46 may be achieved by, for example, one or both of: (a) doped with silver, and/or (b) replacing crystalline zinc oxide 44 directly beneath silver with a suitable amorphous dielectric, amorphous semiconductor, or metal alloy. The silver with increased sheet resistance may be used for all of the electrodes and/or traces in the touch panel, or alternatively may be used for only a portion of the electrodes and/or traces in the touch panel.

In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes 41 of the touch panel may be designed to have different sheet resistances, with the respective silver-based structures of the various electrodes being different from one another to provide different sheet resistances for the different electrodes. For example, in certain exemplary embodiments, the transmitting electrode (T) may have a higher sheet resistance than the receiving electrode (R). Thus, for example, in any of the embodiments herein, one, some or all of the emitter electrodes (T) may be comprised of a multilayer coating 41 comprising a silver layer 46 having a higher sheet resistance (and thus lower conductivity) than pure silver in certain types of coatings, wherein the higher sheet resistance of the silver based layer 46 is achieved by: doping silver with impurities, such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, etc., and/or replacing crystalline zinc oxide directly below, and contacting the silver with another material, such as a suitable amorphous dielectric, amorphous semiconductor, or metal alloy (e.g., NiCr), in order to increase the sheet resistance of the silver-based layer. The receive electrodes may be designed to have a lower sheet resistance than the transmit electrodes, such as by not doping the silver-based receive electrodes, and/or by disposing them on and contacting a crystalline or substantially crystalline layer having or including zinc oxide 44, which may optionally be doped with about 1-10%, more preferably about 1-5% aluminum.

In certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a capacitive touch panel is provided, which includes a glass substrate 40; a multi-layer transparent conductive coating 41 supported by a glass substrate 40. The multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 can include at least one conductive layer 46 having silver, a layer 44 below the conductive layer 46 having silver, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of silicon nitride 50, tin oxide 49, titanium oxide 48, NiCrOx 47, and/or zirconium oxide 75, a plurality of electrodes, and a plurality of conductive traces above the conductive layer 46 having silver, wherein the electrodes and/or conductive traces of the touch panel are made of the multilayer transparent conductive coating 41. A processor (including processing circuitry) may be provided for detecting a touch location on the touch panel; wherein the electrodes and the conductive traces may be formed substantially in a common plane substantially parallel to the glass substrate 40, and the plurality of electrodes are electrically connected to the processor through the conductive traces. The glass substrate may be heat treated (e.g., thermally tempered). The increased resistance and reduced conductivity of the silver in coating 41 compared to pure silver in certain coatings may be achieved by, for example, one or both of the following for one or more electrodes and/or one or more traces: (a) doping the conductive silver layer 46 with impurities, such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, or combinations thereof, and/or (b) doping with a suitable amorphous dielectric [ e.g., silicon oxide (e.g., SiO), etc. ]₂) Silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄) Titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂) Or zinc stannate]Amorphous semiconductors (e.g., a-Si), or metal alloys (e.g., NiCr, NiCrMo, etc.) replace the crystalline zinc oxide directly beneath the conductive silver 46.

The multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 (and thus the silver-based layer 46 in certain exemplary embodiments) may have a sheet resistance (Rs) of less than or equal to about 40 ohms/□, more preferably less than or equal to about 20 ohms/□, more preferably less than or equal to about 15 ohms/□, and most preferably less than or equal to about 10 ohms/□^-7To 90 × 10^-7W-cm, more preferably 40 × 10^-7To 80 × 10^-7Resistivity of W-cm (ohmcm).

Fig. 2(a) shows a top or bottom plan layout of a projected capacitive touch panel that may include the multilayer conductive transparent coating 41 of fig. 4, 6, 7, and/or 8 as one or more conductive electrodes x, y and/or one or more conductive traces 22 according to an example embodiment. Referring to fig. 2(a), a touch panel 20 is provided. The touch panel 20 comprises a matrix of electrodes x, y arranged on a substrate 40, such as a glass substrate, the matrix comprising n columns and m rows. In certain exemplary embodiments, the glass substrate may further include an anti-reflection (AR) layer. A matrix of row electrodes x/column electrodes y may be provided on the opposite side of the substrate (e.g., glass substrate 40) to the side touched by the person or persons using the touch panel in order to prevent corrosion of the silver-based coating 41 by a human finger touch. In other words, when the touch panel is touched by a finger, stylus, or the like, the glass substrate 40 is typically positioned between (a) the finger and (b) the matrix of row electrodes x/column electrodes y and the conductive traces 22. However, in certain embodiments, the matrix and traces of row electrodes x/column electrodes y may be disposed on the side of the substrate (e.g., glass substrate 40) that is touched by one or more persons using the touch panel, such as in a shower door application, a glass wall application, or the like, e.g., where only one glass substrate is provided. Changes in capacitance between adjacent row and column electrodes in the matrix due to the proximity of a finger or the like are sensed by the electronic circuitry, and the connected circuitry can thus detect the location on the panel where the finger or the like touches. For example, referring to FIG. 2(a), Row 0 includes a row electrode x_0，0、x_1，0、x_2，0Is equal to x_n，0And

columns

0, 1 and 2 each comprise a column electrode y₀、y₁、y₂Equal to y_n. Optionally, the x electrodes in the column direction may also be grouped for column sensing. The number of row and column electrodes is determined by the size and resolution of the touch panel. In this example, the right upstream electrode is x_n，m. Each row electrode x of the touch panel 20_0，0，-x_n，mBy means of conductive tracks 22Electrically connected to the interconnect region 21 and corresponding processing circuitry/software. Each column electrode y₀-y_nAnd also electrically connected to the interconnect region 21 and corresponding processing circuitry/software, either directly or through conductive traces. The conductive traces 22 are preferably formed of the same transparent conductive material (multilayer conductive transparent coating 41) as the row and column electrodes (e.g., with at least row electrode x)_0，0、x_1，0、x_2，0Etc. of the same material). Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, a matrix of row electrodes x and column electrodes y and corresponding traces 22 may be formed on a substrate (e.g., a glass substrate) 40 by: forming a coating 41 on the substrate 40 (e.g. depositing the coating 41 by sputtering), and performing only one (or at most two) lithographic and/or other patterning processes in order to pattern the coating 41 into the conductive electrodes x, y and/or conductive tracks 22. In certain exemplary embodiments, a silver-containing coating (see, e.g., exemplary coating 41 in fig. 4(a) -4 (h)) is sputter deposited on a glass substrate 40 and then subjected to photolithography and/or laser patterning to pattern the silver-containing coating 41 into traces 22, row electrodes x_0，0、x_1，0、x_2，0、x_0，1、x_0，2、x_0，3Is equal to x_n，mnAnd a column electrode y₀-y_n. Because the row electrodes x are seen from above/below_0，0，-x_n，mAnd a column electrode y₀-y_nAnd trace 22 do not overlap, so row electrode x_0，0，-x_n，mAnd a column electrode y₀-y_nAnd the traces 22 may be formed on the same plane parallel (or substantially parallel) to the glass substrate 40 on which the electrodes and traces are formed. And in certain exemplary embodiments, no insulating layer is required between electrodes x and y. A significant portion of the traces 22 may also be parallel (or substantially parallel) to the column electrodes in a plane parallel (or substantially parallel) to the substrate 40. Thus, touch panel 20 can be manufactured via a smaller number of lithographic or laser patterning steps while obtaining traces that achieve sufficient transparency and conductivity, thereby reducing production costs and resulting in a more efficient touch panel for use in display assemblies and the like.

Fig. 2(b) shows a schematic diagram of a circuit of the touch panel 20 shown in fig. 2(a) according to an exemplary embodiment. In the touch panel 20, between each row electrode and an adjacent column electrode (e.g., at row electrode x)_0，0And the column electrode y₀In between) there is a capacitance. By means of nematic electrodes (e.g. column electrode y)₀) Applying voltages and measuring adjacent row electrodes (e.g. row electrode x)_0，0) The capacitance is measured. When a user brings a finger or conductive stylus close to the touch panel 20, the change in the local electrostatic field reduces the mutual capacitance. Thus, one can be considered to be the transmitting electrode y₀And the other is considered to be the receiving electrode x_0，0. The change in capacitance at various points on the surface can be measured by measuring each pair of row and column electrodes in turn. Trace 22 for each row electrode in the same row (e.g., row electrode x for row 0)_0，0、x_1，0、x_2，0Is equal to x_n，0Traces 22) may be electrically connected together (as shown in fig. 2 (b). The interconnection of the first row sections to each other, the second row sections to each other, etc. may be done on one or more flexible circuits attached at the periphery of the touch panel in the interconnection area, so that no crossovers are needed on the glass substrate 40. In this case, a voltage is applied to the column electrodes and the voltage for each row is measured in turn, after which the process is repeated with a voltage applied to another column. Alternatively, each trace 22 may be connected to a signal processor 25, and the voltage of each trace 22 may be measured individually. The same capacitance can be measured by applying a voltage to a row electrode and measuring the voltage on an adjacent column electrode rather than applying a voltage to a column electrode and measuring the voltage of an adjacent row electrode. The signal processor 25 may perform signal processing (e.g., applying and measuring voltages, measuring capacitance between adjacent electrodes, measuring changes in capacitance over time, outputting signals in response to user input, etc.). The signal processor 25 may be one or more hardware processors, may include volatile or non-volatile memory, and may include computer-readable instructions for performing signal processing. The signal processor 25 is electrically connected to the column electrode y by a trace 22₀-y_nAnd electricityConnected to the row electrode x_0，0，-x_n，m. The signal processor 25 may or may not be located at the row electrode x_0，0，-x_n，mAnd a column electrode y₀-y_nOn the same plane as the traces 22 (e.g., in the interconnect region 21 of fig. 2 (a)).

Fig. 3(a) shows a top or bottom plan layout of a projected capacitive touch panel comprising the coating 41 of any of fig. 4(a) -4 (h), 6, 7 and/or 8 patterned to form one or more conductive electrodes x, y and/or one or more conductive traces 22 according to another exemplary embodiment. Referring to fig. 3(a), the touch panel 30 is similar to the touch panel 20 of fig. 2(a), except that the touch panel 30 is divided into an upper portion 31 and a lower portion 32, each of which includes a matrix of electrodes x, y, the matrix including n columns and m rows. For example, row 0 of the upper section 31 includes row electrode x_0，0、x_1，0、x_2，0Is equal to x_n，m. The upper part 31 further comprises column electrodes y₀、y₁、y₂Equal to y_n. Likewise, the lower portion 32 will also include row electrodes and column electrodes y that may be in contact with the upper portion 31₀-y_nElectrically separated column electrodes y₀-y_n. Thus, the lower part 32 also comprises a matrix of row electrodes and n column electrodes, which matrix comprises n columns and m rows. In various exemplary embodiments, the lower portion 32 may have more or fewer rows than the upper portion 31. The number of row and column electrodes of touch panel 30 is determined by the size and resolution of the touch panel. Each column electrode of the upper portion 31 is electrically connected to an interconnect area 21 and each row electrode of the upper portion 31 is electrically connected to an interconnect area 21 by a trace 22. As with the embodiment of fig. 2, traces may or may not be used to connect the column electrodes of the upper portion 31 to the interconnect areas. Each column electrode of lower portion 32 is electrically connected to interconnect area 21 'and each row electrode of lower portion 32 is electrically connected to interconnect area 21' by trace 22. Likewise, traces may or may not be used to connect the column electrodes of lower portion 32 to interconnect region 2. Still referring to FIG. 3(a), touch panel 30 is similar to touch panel 20 in that it is at each occurrenceThere is a capacitance between each row electrode and an adjacent column electrode that can be measured by applying a voltage to the column electrode and measuring the voltage of the adjacent row electrode (or, alternatively, by applying a voltage to the row electrode and measuring the voltage of the adjacent column electrode). When a user brings a finger or conductive stylus close to the touch panel 30, the change in the local electrostatic field reduces the mutual capacitance. The change in capacitance at various points on the surface can be measured by measuring the mutual capacitance of each pair of row and column electrodes in turn.

Fig. 3(b) and 3(c) show top or bottom plan layouts of a portion of a projected capacitive touch panel comprising the coating 41 of any of fig. 4(a) -4 (h), 6, 7 and/or 8 patterned to form one or more conductive electrodes x, y and/or one or more conductive traces 22 according to further exemplary embodiments. An exemplary electrode configuration of a front-facing capacitive sensor may utilize a single transparent conductive coating 41 patterned into the form of parallel electrode strips as shown in fig. 3(b) or fig. 3 (c). In fig. 3(b), the electrode strips are fairly straight, while in fig. 3(c), one or more of the electrode strips may have a zigzag shape. These electrode strips correspond to alternating receive (R) and transmit (T) electrodes connected to a driver. The driver charges the transmit/transmit electrode (T) with alternating current. The position of the receive/receive electrodes (R) allows the detection of the X coordinate when a finger touches, while the output voltage from the transmit electrode (T) allows the detection of the Y coordinate, thereby enabling single-touch or multi-touch position identification. It is desirable to have a set of receiving electrodes (R) made of a material with low sheet resistance (Rs), such as silver (e.g., Rs lower than a similar thickness of ITO), so that the voltage drop along each electrode is minimized/reduced. At the same time, it is desirable that the emitter electrodes (T) have a higher sheet resistance (reduced conductivity) than pure silver in certain coatings, so that there is a large voltage gradient along each emitter electrode to increase the noise to signal ratio. Therefore, there is a competing interest with respect to the sheet resistance of the two sets of electrodes, namely the receiving electrode (R) and the transmitting electrode (T). For the receiving and transmitting electrodes, for the more conductiveIt is desirable to use the silver-based layer 46 in the coating 41 as a substitute for the commonly used Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). A silver layer 46 may be sandwiched between at least two dielectric layers and an underlayer (e.g., crystalline zinc oxide 44, which may be doped, for example, with Al) may be used to achieve higher silver conductivity due to better crystallographic orientation. In this case, the low sheet resistance of silver allows for large format touch screens, but may sometimes be too low for effective use of the emitter electrode. To address this conflict, one of the one or more emitter electrode architectures may use a zig-zag pattern as shown in fig. 3(c) to reduce the width of each electrode while increasing its effective length and thus its sheet resistance. However, such a reduction in width makes the emitter electrode prone to defects (such as scratches, particles, large inclusions, etc.). Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, embodiments are provided that reduce the conductivity of the silver layer 46 to make it sufficiently conductive for a receiving electrode, and at the same time sufficiently resistive for effective use of a transmitting electrode. Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, the same silver structure may be used for one or more conductive layers 46 of the transmit and receive electrodes. The increase in sheet resistance of the silver layer 46 may be accomplished by one or a combination of the following methods: (a) doping the conductive silver layer 46 with impurities, such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, or combinations thereof, and/or (b) doping with a suitable amorphous dielectric [ e.g., silicon oxide (e.g., SiO), etc. ]₂) Silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄) Titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂) Or zinc stannate]Amorphous semiconductors (e.g., a-Si), or metal alloys (e.g., NiCr, NiCrMo, etc.) replace the crystalline zinc oxide directly beneath the conductive silver 46. Doping with some impurities may help make silver layer 46 more resistant to oxidation and/or environmental degradation.

Because the row and column electrodes x and y shown in fig. 3(a) -3 (c) do not overlap in certain exemplary embodiments, the row and column electrodes may (or may not) be formed on the same plane by the patterned transparent conductive coating 41 in the manner explained above in connection with fig. 2. Accordingly, the electrode structures x, y for the touch panel 30 of any one of fig. 3(a) -3 (c) can be substantially thinner and can be patterned by a process (e.g., a photolithographic process or a laser patterning process) that reduces the production cost of the projected capacitive touch panel.

However, in certain exemplary embodiments, a different silver structure may be used for the receiving electrode compared to the silver structure used for the transmitting electrode of the touch panel. This applies to any embodiment herein. As explained herein, with reference to fig. 3(b) -3 (g), for example, it may be desirable to have a set of receive electrodes (R) made of a material with low sheet resistance (Rs) and low resistivity, such as silver (e.g., lower Rs and lower resistivity than ITO of similar thickness), so that the voltage drop along each electrode is minimized/reduced, while it is desirable for the transmit electrodes (T) to have higher sheet resistance and higher resistivity (reduced conductivity) than pure silver in certain coatings, so there is a large voltage gradient along each transmit electrode (T) to increase the noise to signal ratio. Therefore, there is a competing interest with respect to the sheet resistance of the two sets of electrodes, namely the receiving electrode (R) and the transmitting electrode (T). Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes 41 of the touch panel may be designed to have different sheet resistances.

For example, referring to any of fig. 3(b) -3 (g), in certain exemplary embodiments, the transmitting electrode (T) may have a higher sheet resistance than the receiving electrode (R), for example. For example, the emitter electrode (T) may have a sheet resistance of about 15-50 ohms/□, more preferably about 20-50 ohms/□, and most preferably about 20-40 ohms/□. And the receiving electrode (R) may have a sheet resistance of about 1-14 ohms/□, more preferably about 2-12 ohms/□, and most preferably about 2-10 ohms/□. In certain exemplary embodiments, the sheet resistance of the transmitting electrode (T) may be at least 1 ohm/□, more preferably at least 5 ohm/□ (more preferably at least 10, 15 or 20 ohm/□) higher than the sheet resistance of the receiving electrode (R). This may also apply to any other embodiment herein, and may apply to some or all of the transmit and receive electrodes. For example, in any of the embodiments herein, one, some or all of the emitter electrodes (T) may be comprised of a multilayer coating 41 comprising a silver layer 46 having a higher sheet resistance (and thus lower conductivity) than pure silver in certain types of coatings, wherein the higher sheet resistance of the silver-based layer 46 for the emitter electrode (T) is achieved by: doping the silver with impurities, such as one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, Al, etc., and/or replacing the crystalline zinc oxide directly below, and contacting the silver with another material, such as a suitable amorphous dielectric, amorphous semiconductor, or metal alloy (e.g., NiCr), in order to increase the resistance of the silver, as discussed above. The receiver electrode (R) may be designed to have a lower sheet resistance than the transmitter electrode (T), such as by not doping the silver-based layer 46 in the coating 41 of the receiver electrode, and/or by disposing them on and contacting a crystalline or substantially crystalline layer having or comprising zinc oxide 44, which may optionally be doped with about 1-10%, more preferably about 1-5% aluminum.

In other exemplary embodiments, different resistances of the transmit (T) and receive (R) electrodes may be achieved, such that the silver-based conductive layers 46 of these respective electrodes are at different thicknesses (of the same or different structure/material) in order to adjust the respective sheet resistance of each electrode based on the thickness. The different thicknesses of the silver-based layers 46 of the different electrodes (T) and (R) may be, but are not required to be, used in conjunction with other techniques, such as doping and tuning the layers directly below silver as discussed herein.

Fig. 3(d) shows an exemplary embodiment in which the transmit (T) and receive (R) electrodes with their different respective sheet resistances are parallel and overlap each other. Thus, in the embodiment of fig. 3(d), the (T) electrode and the (R) electrode are on different planes. In the embodiment of fig. 3(d), different multilayer coatings 41 may be used to form the (T) and (R) electrodes, or alternatively, a single multilayer coating 41 with two different silver based layers 46 having different resistances may be used to form overlapping (T) and (R) electrodes. In embodiments where a single multilayer coating 41 having two different silver-based layers 46 is used to form the (T) electrode and the (R) electrode, a double silver multilayer coating may be formed, for example, by repeating the layer stack of any one of fig. 4(a) -4 (h) on top of the coating shown to provide a coating comprising two silver-based layers 46. For example, referring to fig. 4(a), the double silver coating 41 may be composed of the following layers moving outward from the glass substrate 40: 40/43/44/46/47/48/49/50/43/44/46/47/48/49/50. Referring to fig. 4(f), as another example, the double silver coating 41 may be formed of the following layers moving away from the glass substrate 40: 40/61/101/46/47/50/61/101/46/47/50. In each of these exemplary double silver coatings, the bottom conductive silver based layer 46 may be used for one of the electrodes (transmitting or receiving) and the top silver based layer 46 may be used for the other of the electrodes-this is particularly useful in embodiments such as fig. 3(d) where the T and R electrodes are parallel, overlapping and directly above each other.

Fig. 3(e) shows an exemplary embodiment in which the transmit (T) and receive (R) electrodes with their different respective sheet resistances are parallel to each other and do not overlap each other. Thus, in the embodiment of fig. 3(d), the (T) electrode and the (R) electrode may be in the same plane or on different planes. In the embodiment of fig. 3(e), since the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode do not overlap, different multilayer coatings 41 may be used to form the (T) electrode and the (R) electrode. In fig. 3(d) -3 (e), for example, the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode may generally have the same shape in certain exemplary embodiments, and may be formed via the same or different patterning steps. Although the transmission electrode and the reception electrode are parallel or substantially parallel to each other in fig. 3(d) -3 (e), in other exemplary embodiments, the transmission electrode and the reception electrode of the touch panel may be perpendicular to each other and overlap each other.

Fig. 3(f) is a top view of a portion of a capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, where the transmit electrode (T) and the receive electrode (R) overlap and are substantially orthogonal to each other on different planes. And FIG. 3(g) is a cross-sectional view of the capacitive touch panel electrode arrangement of FIG. 3(f) along section line a-a', where the transmit and receive electrodes overlap and are substantially orthogonal to each other on different planes. For the sake of simplicity, the supporting glass substrate 40 supporting the electrodes is not shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g).

Referring to fig. 3(f) -3 (g), for example, in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, the transmit electrode (T) and the receive electrode (R) may be formed from different silver based layers 46 in the same multilayer coating 41 (e.g., see fig. 4(h) or the dual silver coating stack discussed herein with respect to any of fig. 4(a) -4 (g)). For example, the emitter electrode (T) in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be formed between the supporting glass substrate 40 and the overlying receiver electrode (R), and the conductor of the emitter electrode (T) may be formed using the lower silver-based layer 46 in the double silver coating of fig. 4(h), while the conductor of the overlying receiver electrode (R) may be formed using the upper silver-based layer 46 in the double silver coating of fig. 4 (h). The dual silver coating of fig. 4(h) is used for exemplary purposes, and other dual silver coatings may be used for this purpose, whether disclosed herein or not. Thus, in such embodiments, the emitter electrode (T) and the receiver electrode (R) may be formed from different silver based layers 46 of the same multilayer coating 41. In such exemplary embodiments, the transmit electrodes (T) and receive electrodes (R) are patterned in different steps so as to be patterned into different forms-for example in fig. 3(f) the transmit electrodes (T) are patterned into column electrodes extending along the y-direction and the receive electrodes (R) are patterned into row electrodes extending along the x-direction. For example, the emitter electrodes (T) may be patterned by laser scribing/ablation in a first patterning step into column electrodes extending in the y-direction, and the receiver electrodes (R) may be patterned by laser scribing/ablation in a second patterning step into row electrodes extending in the x-direction. For example, laser scribing is used to cut through at least one or more desired silver based layers during patterning.

Mutual capacitance sensors, such as those discussed herein, use the principle of charging at least some electrodes with alternating current and interpreting changes in their capacitance as a touch. Herein, the use of thin silver (Ag) as a substitute for ITO is discussed, at least because silver has superior electrical conductivity and high visible light transmittance compared to ITO. However, silver is more susceptible to damage than ITO when exposed to certain chemicals. Therefore, it is sometimes desirable to pattern silver using laser patterning techniques as compared to conventional photolithography. In certain exemplary embodiments, such as shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g), it is desirable to arrange the respective sets of transmit (T) and receive (R) electrodes of the silver-based mutual capacitance touch sensor in an X-Y configuration using a patterning process on a completed layer stack (e.g., see the multilayer coating of fig. 4(h)), preferably by laser scribing. The problems are that: the challenge of defining two sets of X-Y electrodes (transmit and receive) arranged in two parallel planes as an orthogonal matrix is to scribe the electrodes in the X direction without damaging the underlying electrodes oriented in the Y direction, and vice versa. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, various wavelengths are used to independently pattern both sets of electrodes (T and R). In another exemplary embodiment, both sets of electrodes are patterned from different sides of the supporting glass substrate 40 using the same wavelength or using at least two different wavelengths.

In certain exemplary embodiments, different electrodes of the touch panel may be formed from different silver based layers 46 of the same or different multilayer coatings. In certain exemplary embodiments, different laser scribing wavelengths may be used to pattern different corresponding silver based layers 46 of one or more of the same or different multilayer coatings 41 when patterning electrodes (T) and (R). For example, when a first (e.g., transmit) electrode and a second (e.g., receive) electrode of a touch panel overlap each other (e.g., see fig. 3(f) -3 (g)), a first laser scribing wavelength can be used when patterning the first silver based layer 46 into one or more first electrodes and a second laser scribing wavelength can be used when patterning the second silver based layer 46 into one or more second electrodes. For example, the transmitting electrode (T) in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be laser patterned using one or more first wavelengths, and the receiving electrode (R) in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be laser patterned using one or more different second wavelengths. Advantageously, the use of different wavelengths reduces damage to one or more electrodes that are not intended to be patterned in a given process.

In certain exemplary embodiments, when different electrodes of the touch panel can be formed from different silver-based layers 46 of the same or different multilayer coatings 41, a first set of electrodes (e.g., T) can be patterned from a first side of the supporting glass substrate 40 by laser scribing, while a second set of electrodes (e.g., R) can be patterned from an opposite second side of the supporting glass substrate 40 by laser scribing. Accordingly, since the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode are on the same side of the glass substrate 40, one of the two laser patterning processes is performed by supporting the glass substrate 40. For example, referring to fig. 3(f) -3 (g) and 4(h), the emitter electrode (T) may be laser-patterned from a first side of the support glass substrate 40, and the receiver electrode (R) may be laser-patterned from an opposite second side of the support glass substrate 40, such that a laser beam for patterning the receiver electrode (R) passes through the glass substrate 40. Advantageously, this technique reduces damage to electrodes that are not intended to be patterned in a given laser patterning process. Embodiments involving laser patterning of different electrodes from opposite sides of a supporting glass substrate may or may not be used in combination with embodiments that use different wavelengths to pattern different electrodes.

As explained in connection with fig. 14(a) -14 (b), it has been found that the upper Ag layer 46 in a dual silver coating such as that shown in fig. 4(h) is more optically absorptive in the 800-. Optimizing the double silver layer stack allows better discrimination of the absorption maxima of the two silver layers 46. Fig. 14(b) shows a much larger difference in light absorption at about 770nm and a much smaller difference at about 580nm between the top and bottom silver layers of the coating stack of fig. 4 (h). This distinction allows selective laser scribing of the two conductive silver based layers 46 from one side (e.g., the top of the stack) or from both sides (e.g., the stack side of the top silver and the glass side of the bottom silver layer).

A capacitive touch sensor includes two layers of Ag separated by at least one non-Ag layer and sandwiched between at least two dielectric layers supported by a substrate, and patterned to form two separate sets of transmit and receive electrodes substantially parallel to each other and to the substrate, wherein the receive and transmit electrodes are formed in different layers of Ag and the two sets of electrodes are orthogonal to each other; the two sets of electrodes are formed by scribing using one or more lasers having at least two different wavelengths selected to be preferentially absorbed by each of the Ag layers. For example, a laser wavelength of about 400-620nm (more preferably about 500-600nm) may be used to laser scribe the bottom silver-based layer 46 in the coating of FIG. 4(h) in order to pattern this layer 46 into the emitter electrode (T) shown in FIGS. 3(f) -3 (g) or any other embodiment herein. Laser patterning of the bottom silver-based layer 46 in fig. 4(h) to form the emitter electrode (T) shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be accomplished by directing a laser beam through the glass substrate 40. On the other hand, a laser wavelength of about 630-. Laser patterning the upper silver-based layer 46 in fig. 4(h) to form the overlying receiving electrode (R) shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be accomplished by directing a laser beam from above the coating 41 so that the laser beam reaches the silver layer 46 before reaching the glass substrate 40. The use of different wavelengths may be advantageous to reduce damage to silver layers that are not intended to be patterned in a given patterning process, as may be done using a laser from the opposite side of the glass substrate. In certain exemplary embodiments, each of the two resulting electrodes may have a sheet resistance of about 2-40 ohms/□, more preferably about 2-20 ohms/□.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, the described

touch panels

20 and 30 are not limited to the orientations described above and shown in fig. 2-3. In other words, the terms "row," "column," "x-axis," and "y-axis" as used in this application are not meant to imply a particular orientation. For example, the touch panel 20 of fig. 2(a) may be modified or rotated such that the interconnection area 21 is located in any portion of the touch panel 20.

In the embodiments of fig. 2-3, narrow transparent conductive traces (e.g., 22) may be routed to electrically connect the electrodes to interconnect region 21 (and interconnect region 21'). Narrow ITO traces can only be used for small touch panels (such as for smartphones) because of their large resistance. To use one of the layouts shown in fig. 2(a) and 3 on larger touch panels (e.g., greater than 10 inches measured diagonally) or otherwise, a transparent conductive coating 41 is used that has a lower sheet resistance (compared to the same thickness of ITO). The silver-containing coating 41 shown in fig. 4 (any of fig. 4(a) -4 (h)) used to form the electrodes and traces of fig. 2-3 is advantageous in this regard because it has a much lower sheet resistance (and thus higher conductivity) than typical conventional ITO traces/electrodes.

An example of a multilayer silver-containing Transparent Conductive Coating (TCC)41 with low sheet resistance for forming any and/or all of the conductive electrodes and/or conductive traces of fig. 2-3 is shown in fig. 4(a) -4 (h)) according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The low sheet resistance and high transparency of the TCC 41 allow the TCC to form, for example, long and narrow traces 22 as well as row and column electrodes x and y and/or transmit/receive electrodes.

Referring to fig. 4(a), in an exemplary embodiment, a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 is disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40. The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass. In alternative embodiments discussed below, an anti-reflective (AR) coating may be disposed between the substrate 40 and the coating 41. For example, the coating 41 may include a dielectric high index layer 43 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiCh or other suitable stoichiometry); a dielectric layer 44 in contact with the silver base layer having or comprising zinc oxide, optionally doped with aluminum; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and in direct contact with the zinc oxide-based layer 44; an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, comprising nickel and/or chromium or other suitable material that can be oxidized and/or nitrided; a dielectric high index layer 48 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiCh or other suitable stoichiometry); dielectric layer 49 with or including tin oxide (e.g., SnCh); and a dielectric layer 50 of or comprising silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride, which may be doped with, for example, 1-8% Al. Coating layer41 are designed to be substantially transparent to visible light (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent). In various exemplary embodiments, the dielectric high index layer 43 may be fully oxidized or sub-stoichiometric. As discussed herein, in certain exemplary embodiments, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped with other materials (e.g., Pd, Pt, Zn, Ti, and/or Al). Instead of zinc oxide, the layer 44 may have or comprise an upper contact layer 47, which may have or comprise for example NiCr, NiCrO_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_x、NiCrMo、MiCrMoO_x、TiO_xAnd the like. Amorphous or substantially amorphous dielectrics [ e.g., silicon oxide (e.g., SiO)₂) Silicon oxynitride, silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄) Titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂) Or zinc stannate]An amorphous semiconductor (e.g., a-Si), or a metal alloy (e.g., NiCr, NiCrMo, etc.) as layer 44 replaces the zinc oxide of layer 44 directly below conductive silver 46 in order to adjust the conductivity of silver-based layer 46 as discussed herein.

The coating 41 is designed to achieve good electrical conductivity via the electrically conductive silver-based layer 46, while optionally reducing visibility by more closely matching the visible light reflectance (glass-side and/or film-side visible light reflectance) with that of the support substrate 40. It should be noted that the glass side visible light reflectance was measured from the side of the coated glass substrate opposite the coating, while the film side visible light reflectance was measured from the side of the coated glass substrate having the coating. The substantial matching of the visible light reflectivity of the coating 41 to that of the supporting glass substrate 40 reduces the visibility of the electrodes and traces formed by the coating material 41. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, it has been found that adjusting certain dielectric thicknesses of the coating of fig. 4(a) can surprisingly improve (reduce) the visibility of the coating 41 and thereby make the patterned electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and thus more aesthetically pleasing.

Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(a) are as follows, including from the glass substrate outward:

table 1: transparent conductive coating of FIG. 4(a)

It should be noted that in the embodiment of fig. 4(a), the above-described materials for coating 41 are exemplary, such that in certain exemplary embodiments, one or more other materials may be used instead and certain layers may be omitted. This coating has both a low sheet resistance and a layer designed to reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the supporting glass substrate 40. In certain exemplary embodiments, the glass substrate 40 having the coating 41 thereon may be heat treated (e.g., thermally tempered), for example, after coating, or chemically strengthened prior to coating.

In fig. 4(a) -4 (h), silver-containing coating 41 is inexpensive, has a low sheet resistance (preferably less than 40 ohms/□, more preferably less than 20 ohms/□, even more preferably less than about 15 or 10 ohms/□), and maintains a high visible light transmittance (preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, and most preferably at least 84%). coating 41 is preferably deposited on substantially the entire major surface of glass substrate 40 and then patterned to form electrodes and/or traces for example, the exemplary display assembly shown in fig. 7 includes a touch panel (20 or 30 or 50) mounted on a liquid crystal display panel (100-300). in the embodiment of fig. 7, one or more of row electrodes, column electrodes, and traces may be formed from coating 41 on the surface of glass substrate 40 opposite the surface, and the touch panel (20, 30, or 50) may be formed via a matching adhesive layer 85 to a CD 54. in the embodiment of fig. 7, the touch panel (20, 30, or 50) may be formed via a matching adhesive layer 85 to CD 54. the adhesive between the touch panel 40 and a second substrate 40-a substrate, thus, the adhesive may be provided to match the adhesive layer 20, a sealing material, such that the adhesive layer is suitable for bonding between the touch panel (100-368) to display panel, the touch panel, or adhesive bonding a display panel, whereby the display panel (100-368) is provided for example, the display panel is provided for purposes.

The pixel pitch of the projected capacitive touch panel may be, for example, in the range of about 6 to 7 mm. The touch location can be determined more accurately (e.g., to about 1mm) by signal processing and interpolation. If the line width/spacing of the traces 22 is about 10pm to 20pm, it can be calculated that a projected capacitive touch panel of at least 20 inches (measured diagonally) is possible for a TCC sheet resistance of about 4 ohms/□. Further optimization of wiring, signal processing, and/or noise suppression allows larger touch panels (e.g., up to 40 or 50 inches diagonally) to be produced. In certain exemplary embodiments, the present invention is also applicable to smaller touch panels.

Example 1 and Comparative Example (CE)

Surprisingly and unexpectedly, it has been found that adjusting certain dielectric thicknesses of the coating of fig. 4(a) can surprisingly reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the support substrate 40 and thereby make the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore the entire panel more aesthetically pleasing. This is demonstrated, for example, by the following comparison between Comparative Example (CE) of the invention and example 1, in which the coating comprises, from the glass substrate outwards:

table 2: comparative Example (CE) and example 1

As can be seen from table 2 above, the only difference between example 1 according to the present invention and Comparative Example (CE) is the thickness of the

dielectric layers

43 and 50. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, it has been found that adjusting the thickness of the

layers

43 and 50 of the coating can surprisingly reduce the visibility of the area supporting the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 by more closely matching the visible light reflectance (e.g., glass side visible light reflectance) of the coating 41 on the glass substrate to the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 alone, and thereby make the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing. This is shown in fig. 5-6 and electrically in the table below.

FIG. 5 is a graph of percent transmittance/reflectance versus wavelength (nm) showing the percent visible light Transmittance (TR) and percent Glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) of a Comparative Example (CE) coating on a Glass substrate compared to those values for Glass substrates only (Glass-TR, Glass-BRA). It should be noted that fig. 5 includes the visible spectrum as well as some wavelength outside the visible spectrum. The line graph in fig. 5 with an "x" passing therethrough is the glass side visible reflectance (i.e., reflectance taken from the finger side in fig. 7) of the CE coating on the glass substrate 40, and the line graph in fig. 5 with the triangular marks passing therethrough is the visible reflectance of the glass substrate 40 only in the area where the coating 41 is not present. The difference between these two lines is relevant because it shows the difference in glass side visible reflectance between the following areas: (a) areas of the glass substrate 40 where CE coating is not present (i.e., in the non-electrode and non-trace areas), and (b) areas of the glass substrate 40 where CE coating is present (i.e., in the electrode and trace areas). Thus, the greater the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 5), the greater the visibility of the electrodes and traces to the viewer from the finger side perspective in fig. 7. As can be seen in fig. 5, there is a significant gap (a percent difference in reflectivity of greater than 2.0) between the two lines near (including on both sides of) the visible wavelength of 600nm, which means that the electrodes and traces on a touch panel made of CE material will be clearly visible, which can make the touch panel and the like aesthetically unpleasant.

In contrast, fig. 6 is a graph of visible light transmittance/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light transmittance (CGN-TR or TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (CGN-BRA or BRA) of the example 1 coating of fig. 4(a) according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention on a glass substrate, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance more closely matches the reflectance of the glass substrate than the CE in fig. 5. Similar to fig. 5, fig. 6 also shows the visible light transmittance (Glass-TR) and visible light reflectance (Glass-BRA) of the individual Glass substrates in the areas where no coating is present thereon. The line graph in fig. 6 with an "x" passing therethrough is the glass side visible light reflectance of the example 1 coating 41 on the glass substrate 40, and the line graph in fig. 6 with the triangular marks passing therethrough is the visible light reflectance of only the glass substrate 40 with no coating 41 thereon. The difference between these two lines is relevant because it shows the difference in visible light reflectance (from the perspective of the finger in fig. 7) between the following regions: (a) areas of the glass substrate and touch panel where the coating 41 is not present (i.e., in the non-electrode and non-trace areas), and (b) areas of the glass substrate and touch panel where the coating 41 is present (i.e., in the electrode and trace areas). Thus, the greater the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 6), the greater the visibility of the electrodes and traces to the viewer. Moreover, the smaller the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 6), the less visible the electrodes and traces are to the viewer. Comparing fig. 5 and 6 with each other, it can be seen that in fig. 6, there is a much smaller gap, if any, between the two lines for visible wavelengths from about 550nm to about 650nm as compared to the larger gap of the CE in fig. 5, which means that the electrodes and traces on a touch panel made of the material of example 1 (fig. 6) will not be readily visible (as compared to the CE material of fig. 5), which makes the touch panel more aesthetically pleasing. In other words, compared to CE, example 1 more closely matches the glass side visible light reflectance of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 to the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 in areas where no coating is present, and thereby makes the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing.

The following table shows the optical differences between Comparative Example (CE) and example 1, where TR is the visible light transmission, RA is the film side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the coating side, and BRA is the glass side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the glass side at 550 nm. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a and b are color values measured with respect to transmitted colors [ a (TR) and b (TR) ] and glass side reflected colors [ a (BRA) and B (BRA) ].

Table 3: comparative Example (CE) and example 1 (optical parameters) [ Ill. C2 degree]

The glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 of example 1 more closely matched the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 alone (8.20% and 8.11%) compared to CE (5.8% and 8.11%). Therefore, the patterned coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 was less visible for example 1 than for CE.

In certain exemplary embodiments of the invention (e.g., fig. 2-7), the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 (as opposed to CE) has a film side visible light Reflectance (RA) of 7-10%, more preferably 7.5 to 8.5%, for 550-600 nm. And in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 (as opposed to CE) has a glass side visible reflectance (BRA) of 7-13%, more preferably 7-9%, and even more preferably 7.25 to 8.75% for 550-600nm (as indicated above, the BRA for CE is only 5.8%). In certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, unlike CE, at 550nm and/or 600nm or in the 550-600nm range, there is a difference of no greater than 2.0 (more preferably no greater than 1.5 or 1.0) between: (a) the percent film-side and/or glass-side visible light reflectance of the coated article on the glass substrate 40 including the coating 41 (in the areas where the coating 41 is present), and (b) the percent visible light reflectance of only the glass substrate in the areas where the coating 41 is not present. This can be seen, for example, in fig. 6 (see also fig. 8(a) -8 (b)). In contrast, for CE, for example, as can be seen from above, there is a difference of 2.31 between (8.11% -5.8% ═ 2.31): (a) the percentage of glass side visible reflectance of the coated article including the CE coating on the glass substrate 40 in the area where the coating 41 is present, and (b) the percentage of visible reflectance of the glass substrate alone, is too great and makes the electrodes and traces readily visible to an observer viewing the device from the finger side as shown in fig. 7. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have reduced this difference to no more than 2.0, more preferably no more than 1.5, and most preferably no more than 1.0.

Although Comparative Example (CE) is discussed above in connection with a comparison to example 1, it should be noted that the coatings of both CE and example 1 may be used as electrodes and/or traces in a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

In certain exemplary embodiments, an anti-reflective (AR) coating may be disposed between the glass substrate 40 and the coating 41 of any of fig. 4(a) -4 (h) to further more closely match the visible light reflectance (glass side and/or film side) of the coating to the visible light reflectance of the support substrate (glass plus AR coating). The AR coating may be applied over the entire or substantially the entire major surface of the glass substrate 40 and, unlike the transparent conductive coating 41, in certain exemplary embodiments, does not require patterning of the AR coating. As another option, an AR coating may be effectively provided as a bottom portion of the coating 41 to add AR effects to the coating 41.

Fig. 4(b) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass or AR coated glass. For example, the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(b) may include or include silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a base dielectric layer 61, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen; having or comprising silicon oxide (e.g. SiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a low index dielectric layer 62, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or nitrogen; a dielectric high refractive index layer 43 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂Or other suitable chemical metersAmount); a dielectric layer 44 having or comprising zinc oxide (optionally doped with Al) or any other material discussed herein in connection with layer 44, which is to be in contact with the silver base layer; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and in direct contact with the zinc oxide-based layer 44; an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, comprising nickel and/or chromium, which may be oxidized and/or nitrided; a dielectric high refractive index layer 48 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry); with or including tin oxide (e.g., SnO₂) The dielectric layer 49 of (a); and an outermost protective dielectric layer 50 having or comprising silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride. Each of the layers in coating 41 is designed to be substantially transparent to visible light (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent). As discussed herein, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped with other materials.

The coatings 41 of fig. 4(a) -4 (c) are designed to achieve good electrical conductivity while reducing visibility by more closely matching the visible light reflectance (glass-side and/or film-side visible light reflectance) to that of the support substrate 40. The substantial matching of the visible light reflectivity of the coating 41 to that of the supporting glass substrate 40 reduces the visibility of the electrodes and traces formed by the coating material 41. Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(b) are as follows, including from the glass substrate outward:

table 4: transparent conductive coating of FIG. 4(b)

It should be noted that the above-described materials for coating 41 of fig. 4(b) are exemplary, such that in certain exemplary embodiments, one or more other materials may be used instead and certain layers may be omitted. This coating has both a low sheet resistance and a layer designed to reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the supporting glass substrate 40. In certain exemplary embodiments, the glass substrate 40 having the coating 41 thereon may be heat treated (e.g., thermally tempered), for example, after coating, or chemically strengthened prior to coating. As with the embodiment of fig. 4(a), the silver-based coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(b) is inexpensive, has a low sheet resistance (preferably less than 15 ohms/□, more preferably less than about 10 or 5 ohms/□, with examples being about 4 ohms/□), and maintains high visible light transmission (preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, and most preferably at least 84%). Coating 41 is preferably deposited on substantially the entire major surface of glass substrate 40 and then patterned to form the electrodes and/or traces discussed herein.

Example 2 and Comparative Example (CE)

Example 2 utilizes a coating according to the embodiment of fig. 4 (b). Surprisingly and unexpectedly, it has been found that the coating of fig. 4(b) can surprisingly reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the support substrate 40 and thereby make the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing to the overall panel than the CEs discussed above. This is demonstrated, for example, by the following comparison between Comparative Example (CE) of the invention and example 2, in which the coating comprises, from the glass substrate outwards:

table 5: comparative Example (CE) and example 2

FIG. 5 is discussed above and illustrates characteristics of a CE.

In contrast, fig. 8(a) is a graph of visible light transmittance/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing the visible light transmittance (CGN-TR or TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (CGN-BRA or BRA) of example 2 of the present invention, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance more closely matches that of the glass substrate alone than the CE of fig. 5. Fig. 8(a) also shows the visible light transmittance (Glass-TR) and visible light reflectance (Glass-BRA) of only the Glass substrate without the coating. The line graph in fig. 8(a) with an "x" passing through it is the glass side visible light reflectance of the example 2 coating 41 on the glass substrate 40, and the line graph in fig. 8(a) with a triangular mark passing through it is the visible light reflectance of only the glass substrate 40 with no coating 41 present thereon. The difference between these two lines is significant because it shows the difference in visible light reflectance between the following regions (from the perspective of the finger in fig. 7): (a) areas of the glass substrate and touch panel where the coating 41 is not present (i.e., in the non-electrode and non-trace areas), and (b) areas of the glass substrate and touch panel where the coating 41 is present (i.e., in the electrode and trace areas). Therefore, the greater the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 8 (a)), the greater the visibility of the electrodes and traces to the viewer. Also, the smaller the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 8 (a)), the less visible the electrodes and traces are to the viewer. Comparing fig. 5 and 8(a) with each other, it can be seen that in fig. 8(a), there is a much smaller gap, if any, between the two lines for visible wavelengths from about 550nm to about 650nm as compared to the larger gap of the CE in fig. 5, which means that the electrodes and traces on a touch panel made of the material of example 2 will not be readily visible (as compared to the CE material of fig. 5), which makes the touch panel more aesthetically pleasing. In other words, compared to CE, example 2 more closely matches the glass side visible light reflectance of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 to the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 in areas where no coating is present, and thereby makes the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing.

The following table shows the optical differences between Comparative Example (CE) and example 2, where TR is the visible light transmission, RA is the film side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the coating side, and BRA is the glass side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the glass side at 550 nm. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a and b are color values measured with respect to transmitted colors [ a (TR) and b (TR) ] and glass side reflected colors [ a (BRA) and B (BRA) ].

Table 6: comparative Example (CE) and example 2 (optical parameters) [ Ill. C2 degree]

Here it is relevant that the glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 of example 2 matches more closely (7.86% and 8.11%) to the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 alone than CE (5.8% and 8.11%). Therefore, the patterned coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 was less visible for example 2 than for CE. As discussed above, in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention (e.g., fig. 2-7), the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 (unlike CE) has a film side visible light Reflectance (RA) of 7-10%, more preferably 7.5 to 8.5%, for 550-600 nm. And in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 (as opposed to CE) has a glass side visible reflectance (BRA) of 7-13%, more preferably 7-9%, and even more preferably 7.25 to 8.75% for 550-600nm (as indicated above, the BRA for CE is only 5.8%). Also as described above, in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, at 550nm and/or 600nm or within the 550-600nm range, there is a difference of no greater than 2.0 (more preferably no greater than 1.5 or 1.0) between: (a) the percent film-side and/or glass-side visible light reflectance of the coated article on the glass substrate 40 including the coating 41 (in the areas where the coating 41 is present), and (b) the percent visible light reflectance of only the glass substrate in the areas where the coating 41 is not present. This can be seen, for example, in fig. 8(a) (see also fig. 6 and 8 (b)). In contrast, for CE, for example, as can be seen from above, there is a difference of 2.31 between (8.11% -5.8% ═ 2.31): (a) the percentage of glass side visible reflectance of the coated article including the CE coating on the glass substrate 40 in the area where the coating 41 is present, and (b) the percentage of visible reflectance of the glass substrate alone, is too great and makes the electrodes and traces readily visible to an observer viewing the device from the finger side as shown in fig. 7. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have reduced this difference to no more than 2.0, more preferably no more than 1.5, and most preferably no more than 1.0.

Fig. 4(c) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating (41' or 41 ", both of which may also be referred to as 41) according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass. For example, the coating 41' of the embodiment of fig. 4(c) may include an Antireflective (AR) portion 70 that includes a dielectric high refractive index layer 71 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry); having or comprising silicon oxide (e.g. SiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a low index dielectric layer 72, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or nitrogen; a dielectric high refractive index layer 73 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide; having or comprising silicon oxide (e.g. SiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry) of another low index dielectric layer 74, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or nitrogen; and with or including zirconia (e.g. ZrO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry). The "substrate" in the embodiment of fig. 4(c) may be considered to be the glass 40 plus the AR portion 70 of the coating, since the AR portion 70 of the coating 41 'need not be patterned with the remainder of the coating 41', and in this case, the transparent conductive coating of the embodiment of fig. 4(c) may be considered to consist of only layers 61, 44, 46, 47 and 50. In other words, in the embodiment of fig. 4(c), the multilayer transparent conductive coating can be considered 41 "consisting of

layers

61, 44, 46, 47 and 50, and the" substrate "can be considered the combination of glass 40 and AR coating 70.

The coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(c) may also include as portions 41 ": having or comprising silicon nitride (e.g. Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry) of dielectric layers 61, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen; with or including oxygenA dielectric layer 44 of zinc (optionally doped with Al) or any other material discussed herein in connection with layer 44, which is to be in contact with the silver base layer; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and in direct contact with the zinc oxide-based layer 44; an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, comprising nickel and/or chromium, which may be oxidized and/or nitrided; optionally, a dielectric high refractive index layer 48 of or including a material such as titanium oxide or niobium oxide, which may include titanium oxide (e.g., TiO)₂Or other suitable stoichiometry); and an outermost protective dielectric layer 50 having or comprising silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride. Each of the layers in the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(a) -4 (c) is designed to be substantially transparent (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent) to visible light. As discussed herein, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped.

The coating 41 of fig. 4(c) is designed to achieve good electrical conductivity while reducing visibility by more closely matching the visible light reflectance (glass-side and/or film-side visible light reflectance) to that of the support substrate. The substantial matching of the visible light reflectivity of the coating 41 to that of the supporting substrate reduces the visibility of the electrodes and traces formed from the coating material 41. Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of coating 41 on glass 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(c) are as follows, including from the glass outward:

table 7: FIG. 4(c) coating

It should be noted that the above-described materials for coating 41 of fig. 4(c) are exemplary, such that in certain exemplary embodiments, one or more other materials may be used instead and certain layers may be omitted. The coating has both a low sheet resistance and a layer designed to reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the support substrate. In certain exemplary embodiments, the glass substrate 40 having the coating 41 thereon may be heat treated (e.g., thermally tempered), for example, after coating, or chemically strengthened prior to coating. As with the embodiment of fig. 4(a) -4 (b), the silver-based coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(c) is inexpensive, has a low sheet resistance (preferably less than 15 ohms/□, more preferably less than about 10 or 5 ohms/□, with examples being about 4 ohms/□), and maintains high visible light transmission (preferably at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, and most preferably at least 84%). Coating 41 is preferably deposited on substantially the entire major surface of glass substrate 40 and then patterned to form the electrodes and traces discussed herein.

Example 3 and Comparative Example (CE)

Example 3 utilizes a coating according to the embodiment of fig. 4 (c). Surprisingly and unexpectedly, it has been found that the coating of fig. 4(c) can surprisingly reduce the visibility of the coating 41 on the support substrate and thereby make the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing to the overall panel than the CEs discussed above. This is demonstrated, for example, by the following comparison between Comparative Example (CE) of the invention and example 3, in which the coating comprises, from the glass outwards:

table 8: comparative Example (CE) and example 3

FIG. 5 is discussed above and illustrates characteristics of a CE.

In contrast, fig. 8(b) is a graph of visible light transmittance/reflectance percentage versus wavelength (nm) showing visible light transmittance (CGN-TR or TR) and glass side visible light reflectance (CGN-BRA or BRA) of example 3 according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, indicating that it is transparent to visible light and its glass side visible light reflectance is more closely matched to the reflectance of the substrate than CE. Fig. 8(b) also shows the visible light transmittance (Glass-TR) and visible light reflectance (Glass-BRA) of only the Glass substrate and AR portions 71-75 of the other layers (61, 44, 46, 47, and 50) where no coating is present. The line graph in fig. 8(b) with "x" passing through it is the glass side visible light reflectance of the example 3 coating 41 on the glass substrate 40, and the line graph in fig. 8(b) with the triangular markings passing through it is the visible light reflectance of the glass substrate 40 with only AR portions 70-75 thereon. The difference between these two lines is relevant because it shows the difference in visible light reflectance (from the perspective of the finger in fig. 7) between the following regions: (a) the area of the glass substrate and touch panel where only the AR portion of the coating is present (i.e., in the non-electrode and non-trace areas), and (b) the area of the glass substrate and touch panel where the entire coating 41 is present (i.e., in the electrode and trace areas). Therefore, the greater the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 8(b)), the greater the visibility of the electrodes and traces to the viewer. Also, the smaller the difference between the two lines (the bottom two lines in the graph of fig. 8(b)), the less visible the electrodes and traces are to the viewer. Comparing fig. 5 and 8(b) with each other, it can be seen that in fig. 8(b), there is a much smaller gap, if any, between the two lines for visible wavelengths from about 550nm to about 650nm as compared to the larger gap of the CE in fig. 5, which means that the electrodes and traces on a touch panel made of the material of example 3 will not be readily visible (as compared to the CE material of fig. 5), which makes the touch panel more aesthetically pleasing. In other words, example 3 more closely matches the glass side visible light reflectance of the coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 to the visible light reflectance of the support substrate (glass plus AR layer) than CE and thereby makes the electrodes and traces of the touch panel less visible to the user and therefore more aesthetically pleasing.

The following table shows the optical properties of example 3, where at 550nm, TR is the visible light transmission, RA is the film side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the coating side, and BRA is the glass side visible light reflectance measured when the glass/coating combination is viewed from the glass side. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a and b are color values measured with respect to transmitted colors [ a (TR) and b (TR) ] and glass side reflected colors [ a (BRA) and B (BRA) ]. In the table below for example 3, the glass substrate parameters are for a glass substrate having only AR layers 71-75 thereon across the entire substrate 40, and the parameters of example 3 are for the entire coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 (i.e., AR layers 71-75 may be disposed across substantially the entire substrate, however layers 61, 44, 46, 47, and 50 may be patterned to form electrodes and traces).

Table 9: example 3 (optical parameters) [ Ill. C2 degree]

The glass side visible light reflectance (BRA) of the entire coating 41 on the glass substrate 40 of example 3 closely matches the visible light reflectance (4.99% and 4.51%) of the glass substrate 40 having only AR layers 71-75 thereon. Thus, the patterned coating portions (61, 44, 46, 47, and 50) on the substrate were less visible for example 3 than for the CE. In certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, the coating 41 of the present embodiment (unlike CE) on the glass substrate 40 has a glass side visible reflectance (BRA) of 4-13%, more preferably 4.5-9%, and still more preferably 4.5-8.75% for 550-600 nm. Also as described above, in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention (fig. 2-14), at 550nm and/or 600nm or within the 550-600nm range, there is a difference of no greater than 2.0 (more preferably no greater than 1.5 or 1.0) between: (a) the percent film-side and/or glass-side visible reflectance of the coated article on the glass substrate 40, including the entire coating 41 (in the areas where the coating 41 is completely present), and (b) the percent visible reflectance of the areas of the glass substrate where only the glass layer 40 and AR layers 71-75 are present. This can be seen, for example, in fig. 8 (b). In contrast, for CE, for example, as can be seen from above, there is a difference of 2.31 between (8.11% -5.8% ═ 2.31): (a) the percentage of glass side visible reflectance of the coated article including the CE coating on the glass substrate 40 in the area where the coating 41 is present, and (b) the percentage of visible reflectance of the glass substrate alone, is too great and makes the electrodes and traces readily visible to an observer viewing the device from the finger side as shown in fig. 7. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have reduced this difference to no more than 2.0, more preferably no more than 1.5, and most preferably no more than 1.0.

Fig. 4(d) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass or AR coated glass. For example, the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(d) may include or include silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry), a lower contact layer 44 with or including zinc oxide, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen, silicon oxynitride or other suitable dielectric material, which may or may not be doped with about 1-8% Al, or may have or include any of the other materials discussed herein in connection with layer 44, and is in contact with a silver-based layer, a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and directly contacting the lower contact layer 44, an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, which includes nickel and/or chromium that may be oxidized and/or nitrided, a dielectric layer 50 with or including silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride or other suitable material, a dielectric layer 75 with or including zirconium oxide (e.g., ZrCh), and optionally, a capping layer 120 with or including diamond-like carbon (D L C, D56C of layer 120 may be, for example, doped with silver 6,261,693, us patent No. 38 6,303,225, ZrCh 32, NiCr 3, NiCr 70, or any of the other suitable materials discussed herein may be doped with at least one of the materials such as transparent materials, such as NiCr 18, doped with at least one of the materials discussed herein, or other materials, such as NiCr 70, which may be doped with at least one of the materials discussed herein in the following patent nos. doped with or other materials, such as a transparent material, such as a transparent_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_x、NiCrMo、MiCrMoO_x、TiO_xAnd the like.

Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of coating 41 on glass 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(d) are as follows, including from the glass outward:

FIG. 4(d) coating

Fig. 4(e) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The coating of fig. 4(e) is the same as the coating of fig. 4(d), except that layer 120 is not present in the coating of fig. 4 (e).

Fig. 4(f) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass or AR coated glass. For example, the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(f) may include or include silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a base dielectric layer 61, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen; a lower contact layer 101 in contact with the silver base layer, and which may include nickel and/or chromium which may be oxidized and/or nitrided; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and directly contacting the lower contact layer 101; an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, comprising nickel and/or chromium, which may be oxidized and/or nitrided; and a protective dielectric layer 50 having or comprising silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride. Each of the layers in coating 41 is designed to be substantially transparent to visible light (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent). As discussed herein, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped. The upper contact layer 47 and the lower contact layer 101 may have or include a material such as NiCr, NiCrO_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_x、NiCrMo、MiCrMoO_x、TiO_xOptionally, in the embodiment of fig. 4(f), with or including diamond-like carbon (D L C) or oxygenZirconium (e.g. ZrO)₂) The zirconia and/or D L C layers discussed herein provide scratch resistance and resistance to staining and cleaning chemicals in applications such as shower door/wall touch panel applications_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_xThe use of one or more of NiCrMo and/or MiCrMoO for the underlying contact layer 101, rather than using a crystalline zinc oxide layer 44, allows the conductivity of the silver layer 46 to be reduced in a manner sometimes desirable, as discussed herein.

Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of coating 41 on glass 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(f) are as follows, including from the glass outward:

FIG. 4(f) coating

Fig. 4(g) illustrates a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on a substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass or AR coated glass. For example, the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(g) may include or include silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a base dielectric layer 61, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen; the lower contact layer 44 as discussed above in connection with the other figures; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and in direct contact with the lower contact layer 44; an upper contact layer 47 over and contacting the silver-based conductive layer 46, comprising nickel and/or chromium, which may be oxidized and/or nitrided; a dielectric layer 50 of or including silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride, which may be doped with about 1-8% (atomic%) Al; and with or including zirconia (e.g. ZrO)₂) Protective overcoat 75. Each of the coatings 41 is designed to be substantially visible to lightTransparent (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent). As discussed herein, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped with other materials. The upper contact layer 47 may have or include a material such as NiCr, NiCrO_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_x、NiCrMo、MiCrMoO_x、TiO_xEtc. optionally, in the embodiment of fig. 4(g), a layer having or including diamond-like carbon (D L C) may be provided as a protective overcoat in coating 41 over layer 75 it should be noted that in certain exemplary embodiments of the invention, layer 47 may optionally be omitted from the embodiment of fig. 4 (g).

Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of coating 41 on glass 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(g) are as follows, including from the glass outward:

FIG. 4(g) coating

Fig. 4(h) illustrates another dual-silver multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 according to another exemplary embodiment, which may be disposed directly or indirectly on the substrate 40 in any of the devices or products discussed herein (see, e.g., fig. 2-3, 7, and 9-17). The substrate 40 may be, for example, glass or AR coated glass. For example, the coating 41 of the embodiment of fig. 4(h) may include or include silicon nitride (e.g., Si)₃N₄Or other suitable stoichiometry) of a base dielectric layer 61, which may or may not be doped with Al and/or oxygen; the lower contact layer 44 as discussed above in connection with the other figures; a silver-based conductive layer 46 on and in direct contact with the lower contact layer 44; an upper contact layer 47, which is over and contacts the respective silver-based conductive layers 46, and which includes nickel and/or chromium that may be oxidized and/or nitrided; a dielectric layer 50 of or including silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride, which may be doped with about 1-8% (atomic%) Al; and a dielectric layer 49 with or comprising, for example, tin oxide or zinc stannate. Each of the layers in coating 41 is designed to be substantially transparent to visible light (e.g., at least 70% or at least 80% transparent). As discussed herein, the silver layer 46 may or may not be doped with other materials. The upper contact layer 47 may have or include a material such as NiCr, NiCrO_x、NiCrN_x、NiCrON_x、NiCrMo、MiCrMoO_x、TiO_xEtc. optionally, in the embodiment of fig. 4(h), a layer having or including diamond-like carbon (D L C) may be provided as a protective overcoat in coating 41 over top layer 50, or alternatively, top layer 50 may be replaced with an overcoat having or including zirconia.

Although various thicknesses and materials may be used in the layers in different embodiments of the present invention, exemplary thicknesses and materials of the respective sputter-deposited layers of coating 41 on glass 40 in the embodiment of fig. 4(h) are as follows, including from the glass outward:

FIG. 4(h) coating

In the coating of fig. 4(h), as with the other double silver coatings discussed herein, the lower silver layer 46 may serve as a conductor for one set of electrodes of the touch panel, and the upper silver layer 46 may serve as a conductor for another set of electrodes. For example, in any of the embodiments herein, the lower silver layer 46 can serve as a conductor for the transmit electrode (T) of the touch panel, and the upper silver layer 46 can serve as a conductor for the receive electrode (R) of the touch panel, or vice versa. In this case, the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode may be on different respective planes.

In any of the various embodiments discussed herein, the coatings shown in any of fig. 4-6 of parent case 13/685,871 (now U.S. patent No.9,354,755, and incorporated herein by reference), and/or described elsewhere in parent case 13/685,871, can also be used as a multilayer transparent conductive coating 41 for electrodes and/or traces in a touch panel.

The patterned low sheet resistance coating 41 herein (e.g., any of the embodiments of fig. 2-8) may also be used in low resolution touch panel applications (e.g., see fig. 9). an exemplary application of the touch panel discussed herein is an interactive storefront, preferably a standalone storefront, but may also be combined with a projected image on a glass assembly or with direct viewing of a display, a bathroom door on a glass-based or glass-based bathroom wall, a light control on a glass wall of an office building, a control of a household appliance such as an oven, a stove, a refrigerator, etc. in various embodiments of the present invention, the glass substrate 40 may be flat or curved (e.g., thermally curved). the silver-based coating 41 discussed herein is advantageous over a curved substrate because conventional ITO coatings for touch panels are typically highly crystalline and relatively thick and brittle when bent, which may easily cause failure of ITO in curved glass applications, e.g., glass or plastic substrates 40 may be, e.g., via thermal bending, cold, or any other suitable technology, and may be easily connected to a touch panel with a touch panel with a high resolution of about 0 mm, such as may be easily detectable by high resolution, or more easily be produced by high resolution touch panel touch screen technology, and touch screen touch.

Referring to the laminated embodiment of fig. 10 (the coating of any of fig. 2-8 can be used in the embodiment of fig. 10 as well as in the laminated embodiment of fig. 7), to further protect the patterned silver-based coating 41 from corrosion in a stand-alone application, the touch panel substrate 40 (with or without an AR coating between 40 and 41) is laminated to another glass substrate 45 by PVB, EVA, or other polymer-containing laminate 52. A laminate layer based on PVB52 will for example encapsulate the patterned coating 41 such that corrosion is further inhibited. Of course, as explained herein, in some cases, the touch panel need not include a second substrate or laminate layer, and may be comprised of the glass substrate 40 and the electrodes/traces/circuits discussed herein.

Fig. 15-17 are cross-sectional views of capacitive touch panels including additional functional films 300 according to various embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a capacitive touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern 41 according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4 (any one of fig. 4(a) -4 (h)), 7,8, 9, or 10 on a surface #2, and an additional functional film 300 disposed on the surface suitable for being touched by a user. Attention should be paid to the user's finger shown in fig. 15. Meanwhile, fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a capacitive touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern 41 according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 on a surface #3, and an additional functional film 300 disposed on the surface suitable for being touched by a user. In the laminated embodiment of fig. 15-16, to further protect the patterned silver-based coating 41 from corrosion, the touch panel substrate 40 (glass or plastic with or without an AR coating between 40 and 41) is laminated to another glass substrate 45 (or 200) by PVB or other polymer-containing laminate 52. A laminate (e.g., EVA or PVB)52 will encapsulate the patterned coating 41 so as to further inhibit corrosion. And fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view of an integrated capacitive touch panel according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, including a transparent conductive coating pattern 41 according to any one of fig. 2, 3, 4,7, 8,9 or 10 on a surface #2, and additional

functional films

300 and 301. The overall embodiment of fig. 17 can be designed for a user to touch either major surface of the touch panel. An interconnect 400, such as a flex circuit, is provided to allow the electrodes 41 of the touch panel to communicate with processing circuitry, such as the processor discussed above.

The functional films 300 and/or 301 in fig. 15-17 may be composed of one or more layers, and may be one or more of the following: index matching films, antiglare films, anti-fingerprint and antibacterial films, scratch resistant films, and/or anti-reflection (AR) films. Unlike electrode/trace coating 41,

functional films

300 and 301 need not be patterned and may be applied over substantially the entire substrate 40 (or 45).

When functional film 300 and/or 301 is an index matching film (see also index matching film 85 in fig. 7), it is positioned to reduce the index difference between regions/surfaces adjacent both sides of the index matching film in order to reduce visible light reflection and make the touch panel more aesthetically pleasing. The laminate layer 52 in fig. 15-16 may also be an index matching film. In various embodiments of the present invention, the index matching film may or may not be of the adhesive type. Thus, the index matching film has refractive index values that take on values between the respective refractive index values of the regions/surfaces on both sides of the index matching film. For example, in FIG. 7, index matching film 85 has a refractive index value between that of coating 41 and substrate 200. In a similar manner, in FIG. 15, index matching film 300 will have a refractive index value between that of substrate 40 and air. In a similar manner, in FIG. 17, index matching film 301 will have a refractive index value between that of coating 41 and air. Exemplary index matching films include optically clear adhesives and index matching laminates.

When the functional film 300 in fig. 15 to 17 is an antiglare film, it is provided to reduce glare from the front of the touch panel in order to make the touch panel more aesthetic. Exemplary antiglare films that can be used are described in U.S. patent nos. 8,114,472 and 8,974,066, which are incorporated herein by reference. Further, an antiglare surface at surface #1 of the touch panel may be obtained by a shorter or weak acid etch of surface #1 (shown as the touched surface in fig. 15-17).

When the functional film 300 in fig. 15 to 17 is an anti-fingerprint film, it is provided to reduce the visibility of fingerprints on the touch panel so as to make the touch panel more aesthetic. Exemplary anti-fingerprint films that can be used are described in U.S. patent No.8,968,831, which is incorporated herein by reference. An anti-fingerprint or anti-soiling film may be obtained, for example, by an oleophobic coating and/or a roughened surface. A spray anti-fingerprint coating (such as a fluorocarbon) with limited durability may also be used. Such films may increase the initial contact angle (for a sessile water drop) of the surface #1 of the touch panel to a value of at least 90 degrees, more preferably at least 100 degrees, and most preferably at least 110 degrees.

When the functional film 300 in fig. 15-17 is a bacterial-resistant film, it is configured to kill bacteria at the front of the touch panel in order to make the touch panel healthier attractive. Exemplary antimicrobial films that can be used include silver colloids, coarse titanium oxide, porous titanium oxide, doped titanium oxide, and can be described in U.S. patent documents nos. 8,647,652, 8,545,899, 7,846,866, 8,802,589, 2010/0062032, 7,892,662, 8,092,912, and 8,221,833, which are all incorporated herein by reference.

15-17 are provided to reduce scratching and improve durability of the touch panel.A exemplary scratch resistant film may be made of ZrCh or D L C when the functional film 300 has or includes D L C, D L C may be, for example, any of the D L C materials discussed in any of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,261,693, 6,303,225, 6,447,891, 7,622,161, and/or 8,277,946, which are incorporated herein by reference.

When the functional film 300 in fig. 15-17 is an Antireflection (AR) film, it is provided to reduce reflection of visible light from the front of the touch panel in order to make the touch panel more aesthetically pleasing. Exemplary AR films that can be used are described in U.S. patent nos. 9,556,066, 9,109,121, 8,693,097, 7,767,253, 6,337,124, and 5,891,556, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In certain exemplary embodiments, the AR film may be part of a multilayer transparent conductive coating (see, e.g., AR film 70, which is part of coating 41' in fig. 4 (c)).

It should be noted that electrode patterns other than rectangular arrays of buttons are contemplated in various embodiments of the present invention, including patterns that allow for sliding, circular patterns for dials, and the like. Potential applications include storefronts, commercial refrigerators, appliances, glass walls in offices or other environments, transportation, dynamic glazing, vending machines, etc., where a transparent low resolution touch panel is beneficial as a user interface.

The sputter deposited coating 41 discussed above in connection with fig. 2-10 may be formed and patterned in any of a variety of ways. For example, the sputter deposited coating 41 may be formed by inkjet printing and lift-off (see fig. 11), metal shadow mask patterning (see fig. 12), photolithography (see fig. 13), or laser patterning (see fig. 14 (a)).

As explained above, in contrast to conventional photolithography (see, e.g., fig. 14(a)), it is sometimes desirable to pattern the silver-containing coating into an electrode using laser patterning techniques. In certain exemplary embodiments, such as shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g), it is desirable to arrange the respective sets of transmit (T) and receive (R) electrodes of the silver-based mutual capacitance touch sensor in an X-Y configuration using a patterning process on a completed layer stack (e.g., see the multilayer coating of fig. 4(h)), preferably by laser scribing. The problems are that: the challenge of defining two sets of X-Y electrodes (transmit and receive) arranged in two parallel planes as an orthogonal matrix is to scribe the electrodes in the X direction without damaging the underlying electrodes oriented in the Y direction, and vice versa. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, various wavelengths are used to independently pattern both sets of electrodes (T and R). In another exemplary embodiment, both sets of electrodes are patterned from different sides of the supporting glass substrate 40 using the same wavelength or using at least two different wavelengths.

In certain exemplary embodiments, when different electrodes of the touch panel can be formed from different silver-based layers 46 of the same or different multilayer coatings 41, a first set of electrodes (e.g., T) can be patterned from a first side of the supporting glass substrate 40 by laser scribing, whereas a second set of electrodes (e.g., R) can be patterned from an opposite second side of the supporting glass substrate 40 by laser scribing. Accordingly, since the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode are on the same side of the glass substrate 40, one of the two laser patterning processes is performed by supporting the glass substrate 40. For example, referring to fig. 3(f) -3 (g) and 4(h), the emitter electrode (T) may be laser-patterned from a first side of the support glass substrate 40, and the receiver electrode (R) may be laser-patterned from an opposite second side of the support glass substrate 40, such that a laser beam for patterning the receiver electrode (R) passes through the glass substrate 40. Advantageously, this technique reduces damage to electrodes that are not intended to be patterned in a given laser patterning process. Embodiments involving laser patterning of different electrodes from opposite sides of a supporting glass substrate may or may not be used in combination with embodiments that use different wavelengths to pattern the different electrodes.

Referring to fig. 14(a) -14 (b), it has been found that the upper silver base layer 46 (shown in solid lines in fig. 14 (b)) in a dual silver coating such as that shown in fig. 4(h) is more optically absorptive in the 800-. This distinction allows selective laser scribing of the two conductive silver based layers 46 from one side (e.g., the top of the stack) or from both sides (e.g., the stack side of the top silver and the glass side of the bottom silver layer). In certain exemplary embodiments, the two sets of electrodes may be formed by scribing using one or more lasers having at least two different wavelengths selected to be preferentially absorbed by each of the silver layers. For example, a laser wavelength of about 400-620nm (more preferably about 500-600nm) may be used to laser scribe/pattern the bottom silver-based layer 46 in the coating of fig. 4(h) in order to pattern this layer 46 into the emitter electrode (T) shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) or any other embodiment herein. Laser patterning of the bottom silver-based layer 46 in fig. 4(h) to form the emitter electrode (T) shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be accomplished by directing a laser beam through the glass substrate 40. Meanwhile, a laser wavelength of about 630-. Laser patterning the upper silver-based layer 46 in fig. 4(h) to form the overlying receiving electrode (R) shown in fig. 3(f) -3 (g) may be accomplished by directing a laser beam from above the coating 41 so that the laser beam reaches the silver layer 46 before reaching the glass substrate 40. Using different wavelengths to pattern different silver based layers may be advantageous to reduce damage to silver layers that are not intended to be patterned in a given patterning process, as may be done using a laser from the opposite side of the glass substrate.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a capacitive touch panel including a glass substrate; a patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating supported by the substrate, the multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising a first conductive layer (e.g., comprising silver and/or NiCr), a dielectric layer located between at least the substrate and the first conductive layer, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride, and tin oxide located over at least the first conductive layer, each of the layers in the multilayer transparent conductive coating patterned in the same shape; a first set of electrodes; a second set of electrodes; wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes are configured to allow determination of a touch location, wherein at least some of the electrodes comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating; the method comprises the following steps: laser patterning a first conductive layer comprising silver with a first wavelength while forming a first set of electrodes; and forming the second set of electrodes by (i) laser patterning with a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and/or (ii) with a laser beam from an opposite side of the substrate different from a laser beam used in laser patterning the first conductive layer.

In the method of the previous paragraph, the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating may further comprise a second conductive layer comprising silver, and another dielectric layer (e.g., silicon nitride or tin oxide) located between at least the first conductive layer comprising silver and the second conductive layer, wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes may each comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating, and wherein the forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning the second conductive layer comprising silver with a second wavelength different from the first wavelength may comprise laser patterning the second conductive layer comprising silver with the second wavelength. The first conductive layer of the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising silver can be a conductor of the first set of electrodes and the second conductive layer of the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising silver can be a conductor of the second set of electrodes.

In the method of any of the preceding two paragraphs, the electrodes of the first set of electrodes may be oriented substantially perpendicular (plus or minus ten degrees perpendicular) to the electrodes of the second set of electrodes when viewed from above.

In the method of any of the preceding three paragraphs, the electrodes in the first group may be receiving electrodes and the electrodes in the second group may be transmitting electrodes.

In the method of any of the first four paragraphs, the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode may be higher than the sheet resistance (Rs) of the receiving electrode, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode may be at least 1 ohm/□ higher than the sheet resistance (Rs) of the receiving electrode. The sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode may be at least 5 ohms/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receiving electrode.

The method of any one of the preceding five paragraphs, further comprising doping the one or more conductive layers comprising silver. Doping may include doping one or more conductive layers including silver with about 0.05 to 3.0% (wt%) of one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, and Al.

In the method of any one of the first six paragraphs, the coating may further comprise a layer comprising Ni and/or Cr positioned over and contacting the conductive layer comprising silver.

In the method of any one of the preceding seven paragraphs, the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride, and tin oxide may comprise silicon nitride, which may optionally be doped with oxygen and/or aluminum.

In the method of any of the preceding eight paragraphs, the dielectric layer located between at least the glass substrate and the conductive layer comprising silver may comprise an oxide of titanium or silicon nitride, which may optionally be doped with aluminum and/or oxygen.

In the method of any of the first nine paragraphs, the glass substrate may further support a functional film, wherein the functional film may be one or more of an antiglare film, an antibacterial film, and an anti-fingerprint film, and may be located on an opposite side of the glass substrate from the transparent conductive coating.

In the method of any of the preceding ten paragraphs, the touch panel including the electrodes may have a visible light transmittance of at least 70%.

In the method of any of the first ten paragraphs, the first wavelength may be 400-620nm (more preferably 500-600nm), and the second wavelength may be 630-1200nm (more preferably 650-1100 nm).

The foregoing exemplary embodiments are intended to provide an understanding to those of ordinary skill in the art of the present disclosure. The foregoing description is not intended to limit the inventive concepts described in this application, whose scope is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A capacitive touch panel comprising:

a substrate;

a patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating supported by the substrate, the multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer located between at least the substrate and the first conductive layer, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride, and tin oxide located over at least the first conductive layer, each of the layers of the multilayer transparent conductive coating patterned in the same shape;

a first set of electrodes;

a second set of electrodes;

wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes are configured to allow determination of a touch location, wherein at least some of the electrodes comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating; and

a processor configured to determine a touch location on the touch panel;

wherein the processor is in electrical communication with at least some of the electrodes for determining a touch location on the touch panel; and is

Wherein the plurality of electrodes are supported by the substrate.

2. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating further comprises a second conductive layer, and another dielectric layer located between at least the first and second conductive layers, and wherein the first and second sets of electrodes each comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating.

3. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 2, wherein the first conductive layer comprises silver and/or NiCr and is a conductor of the first set of electrodes, and the second conductive layer comprises silver and/or NiCr and is a conductor of the second set of electrodes.

4. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the electrodes of the first set of electrodes are oriented substantially perpendicular to the electrodes of the second set of electrodes when viewed from above.

5. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the electrodes of the first set are receive electrodes and the electrodes of the second set are transmit electrodes.

6. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 5, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmit electrode is higher than the sheet resistance of the receive electrode, and wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmit electrode is at least 1 ohm/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receive electrode.

7. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 6, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmit electrode is at least 5 ohms/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receive electrode.

8. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 6, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmit electrode is at least 10 ohms/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receive electrode.

9. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the conductive layer comprises silver and is doped.

10. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 9, wherein the conductive layer comprising silver is doped with about 0.05-3.0% (wt%) of one or more of: zn, Pt, Pd, Ti and Al.

11. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 9, wherein the conductive layer comprising silver is doped with about 0.1-2.0% (wt%) of one or more of: zn, Pt, Pd, Ti and Al.

12. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the conductive layer comprises Ni and/or Cr.

13. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the transparent conductive coating has a sheet resistance of less than or equal to about 40 ohms/□.

14. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride and tin oxide comprises ZrO₂。

15. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride and tin oxide comprises silicon nitride.

16. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride and tin oxide comprises silicon nitride and further comprises oxygen.

17. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dielectric layer located between at least the substrate and the conductive layer comprises an oxide of titanium.

18. The capacitive touch panel according to any one of claims 1-17, wherein the dielectric layer between at least the substrate and the conductive layer comprises silicon nitride.

19. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel is provided on a glass door.

20. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 19, wherein the glass door is a shower door.

21. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel is configured to control a bathroom function.

22. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the substrate is a thermally tempered glass substrate.

23. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the glass substrate further supports a functional film.

24. The capacitive touch panel according to claim 23, wherein the functional film is one or more of an anti-glare film, an anti-microbial film, and an anti-fingerprint film, and is located on a side of the glass substrate opposite the transparent conductive coating.

25. The capacitive touch panel according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the touch panel, including the electrodes, has a visible light transmittance of at least 70%.

26. A method of manufacturing a capacitive touch panel, the capacitive touch panel comprising: a glass substrate; a patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating supported by the substrate, the multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer between at least the substrate and the first conductive layer, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconium oxide, silicon nitride, and tin oxide over at least the first conductive layer; each of the layers of the multilayer transparent conductive coating is patterned in the same shape; a first set of electrodes; a second set of electrodes; wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes are configured to allow determination of a touch location, wherein at least some of the electrodes comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating; the method comprises the following steps:

laser patterning the first conductive layer with a first laser beam having a first wavelength while forming the first set of electrodes; and

forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning with a second laser beam having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating further comprises a second conductive layer, and another dielectric layer located between at least the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes each comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating, and wherein the forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning with the second wavelength different from the first wavelength comprises laser patterning the second conductive layer with the second wavelength.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the first conductive layer comprises silver and/or NiCr and is a conductor of the first set of electrodes, and the second conductive layer comprises silver and/or NiCr and is a conductor of the second set of electrodes.

29. The method of any one of claims 26-28, wherein the electrodes of the first set of electrodes are oriented substantially perpendicular to the electrodes of the second set of electrodes when viewed from above.

30. The method of any one of claims 26-29, wherein the electrodes in the first set are receive electrodes and the electrodes in the second set are transmit electrodes.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode is higher than the sheet resistance of the receiving electrode, and wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode is at least 1 ohm/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receiving electrode.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the sheet resistance (Rs) of the transmitting electrode is at least 5 ohms/□ higher than the sheet resistance of the receiving electrode.

33. The method of any of claims 26-32, wherein the first conductive layer comprises NiCr.

34. The method of any one of claims 26-32, wherein the first electrically conductive layer comprises silver doped with about 0.05-3.0% (wt%) of one or more of Zn, Pt, Pd, Ti, and Al.

35. The method of any one of claims 26-32, wherein the first conductive layer comprises doped silver.

36. The method of any of claims 26-35, wherein the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconium oxide, silicon nitride, and tin oxide comprises silicon nitride.

37. The method of any of claims 26-36, wherein the dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconia, silicon nitride, and tin oxide comprises silicon nitride and further comprises oxygen.

38. The method of any of claims 26-37, wherein the dielectric layer between at least the glass substrate and the conductive layer comprises an oxide of titanium.

39. The method of any of claims 26-37, wherein the dielectric layer between at least the glass substrate and the conductive layer comprises silicon nitride.

40. The method of any of claims 26-39, wherein the glass substrate further supports a functional film, wherein the functional film is one or more of an anti-glare film, an anti-microbial film, and an anti-fingerprint film, and is located on an opposite side of the glass substrate from the transparent conductive coating.

41. The method of any of claims 26-40, wherein the touch panel, including the electrodes, has a visible light transmittance of at least 70%.

42. The method as claimed in any one of claims 26-41, wherein the first wavelength is 400-620nm and the second wavelength is 630-1200 nm.

43. The method of any one of claims 26-42, wherein the first wavelength is 500-600nm and/or the second wavelength is 650-1100 nm.

44. A method of manufacturing a capacitive touch panel, the capacitive touch panel comprising: a glass substrate; a patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating supported by the substrate, the multilayer transparent conductive coating comprising a first conductive layer, a dielectric layer between at least the substrate and the first conductive layer, and a dielectric layer comprising one or more of zirconium oxide, silicon nitride, and tin oxide over at least the first conductive layer; each of the layers of the multilayer transparent conductive coating is patterned in the same shape; a first set of electrodes; a second set of electrodes; wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes are configured to allow determination of a touch location, wherein at least some of the electrodes comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating; the method comprises the following steps:

laser patterning the first conductive layer with a first laser beam directed from a first side of the substrate; and

forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning with a second laser beam from a second side of the substrate, wherein the first and second sides of the substrate are opposite to each other.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the first laser beam and the second laser beam have different wavelengths.

46. The method of any one of claims 43-44, wherein the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating further comprises a second conductive layer, and another dielectric layer located between at least the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, wherein the first set of electrodes and the second set of electrodes each comprise the multilayer transparent conductive coating, and wherein the forming the second set of electrodes by laser patterning comprises laser patterning the second conductive layer.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the first conductive layer of the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating is a conductor of the first set of electrodes and the second conductive layer of the patterned multilayer transparent conductive coating is a conductor of the second set of electrodes.

48. The method of any one of claims 44-47, wherein the electrodes of the first set of electrodes are oriented substantially perpendicular to the electrodes of the second set of electrodes when viewed from above.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the electrodes in the first set are receive electrodes and the electrodes in the second set are transmit electrodes.