CN115857719A - Architecture for differential driving and sensing of touch sensor panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to architectures for differential driving and sensing of touch sensor panels. Differential driving and/or differential sensing can reduce noise in a touch and/or display system of a touch screen. In some examples, a touch sensor panel can include column electrodes and row electrodes that are laid out vertically to a first edge of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the touch sensor panels can be divided into groups. In some examples, for three groups, the routing traces for a row may be implemented using four routing tracks per column. In some examples, the arrangement of routing traces within the routing track may improve optical characteristics and/or reduce routing trace resistance and loading. In some examples, the interconnection between the routing traces and the row electrodes may have a chevron pattern, an S-shaped pattern, or a hybrid pattern. In some examples, differential sensing routing can reduce cross-coupling within the touch sensor panel. In some examples, interleaving the differential drive signals may reduce parasitic signal losses.

Description

Architecture for differential driving and sensing of touch sensor panel

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 63/261,620, filed 24/9/2021, U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/261,624, filed 24/9/2022, U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/364,338, filed 6/5/2022, U.S. patent application No. 17/933,783, filed 20/9/2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to touch sensor panels/screens, and more particularly to touch sensor panels/screens with differential driving and/or sensing.

Background

Many types of input devices are currently available for performing operations in computing systems, such as buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touch sensor panels, touch screens, and the like. In particular, touch screens are enjoyed by their simplicity and flexibility in operation, as well as their declining price. Touch screens can include a touch sensor panel, which can be a transparent panel with a touch-sensitive surface, and a display device, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), light Emitting Diode (LED) display, or Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, which can be positioned partially or completely behind the panel so that the touch-sensitive surface can cover at least a portion of the viewable area of the display device. Touch screens can allow a user to perform various functions by touching the touch sensor panel using a finger, stylus, or other object at a location typically indicated by a User Interface (UI) displayed by the display device. In general, a touch screen can recognize a touch and the location of the touch on the touch sensor panel, and the computing system can then interpret the touch according to what appears when the touch occurred, and can then perform one or more actions based on the touch. With some touch sensing systems, detecting a touch does not require a physical touch on the display. For example, in some capacitive touch sensing systems, the fringe electric fields used to detect touch may extend beyond the surface of the display, and objects near the surface may be detected near the surface without actually contacting the surface.

Capacitive touch sensor panels can be formed from a matrix of partially or fully transparent or non-transparent conductive plates (e.g., touch electrodes) made of a material such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). In some examples, the conductive plate may be formed of other materials, including conductive polymers, metal meshes, graphene, nanowires (e.g., silver nanowires), or nanotubes (e.g., carbon nanotubes). As described above, some capacitive touch sensor panels may be overlaid on a display to form a touch screen, in part because they are substantially transparent. Some touch screens can be formed by partially integrating touch sensing circuitry into the display pixel stackup (i.e., the stacked material layers that form the display pixels).

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure relates to touch sensor panels (or touch screens or touch sensitive surfaces) with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In some examples, a touch sensor panel can include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed by a plurality of touch electrodes. For example, a two-dimensional array of touch nodes can be arranged in rows and columns. Each column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven with multiple drive signals. For example, a first drive signal may be applied to a first column electrode within a column of touch nodes and a second drive signal may be applied to a second column electrode within the column of touch nodes. Each row (or column) of touch nodes may be sensed (e.g., differentially) by a sensing circuit. For example, a first row of electrodes within a row of touch nodes can be coupled to a first input and a second row of electrodes within the row of touch nodes can be coupled to a second input such that the first and second inputs can be sensed differentially. Differential driving (e.g., using complementary drive signals) and/or differential sensing can reduce noise in a touch and/or display system of a touch screen.

The column electrodes can be laid out vertically (e.g., overlapping a two-dimensional array of touch nodes) to a first edge of the touch sensor panel to couple the column electrodes to drive circuitry. In some examples, the row electrodes can be laid out according to a second edge (e.g., perpendicular to the first edge) of the touch sensor panel in a border area surrounding the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. In some examples, the row electrodes can also be laid out vertically (e.g., overlapping the two-dimensional array of touch nodes) to a first edge of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the routing traces may be formed from a metal mesh.

In some examples, the touch sensor panel can be divided into three groups of rows (e.g., more generally, groups of rows). In some examples, for three groups, the routing traces of a row may be implemented using four routing tracks per column (also referred to herein as a group of one or more routing trace segments). In some examples, to improve optical characteristics (e.g., reduce visibility of the metal grid), four routing tracks may extend the vertical length of the touch sensor panel (e.g., the length of the columns of touch nodes).

In some examples, routing traces implemented in four routing traces using electrical connections and/or breaks within the routing tracks may be used to improve the characteristics of the routing. For example, a break in the routing trace after electrical connection to the row electrode may reduce the capacitive load on the routing trace to the electrode. The breaks may also allow other routing trace sections within a routing trace to be used for another routing trace to reduce the resistance of that routing trace. In some examples, utilization of routing tracks for routing traces may be optimized to reduce routing trace line resistance.

In some examples, the interconnections between the routing traces and the row electrodes can have a chevron pattern to reduce the maximum routing trace resistance and/or balance the routing trace resistance across the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the interconnects between the routing traces and the row electrodes can have an S-shaped pattern (also referred to as a diagonal or zigzag) to reduce the row-to-row resistance differences (and reduce breaks in the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel). In some examples, the interconnects between the routing traces and the row electrodes may have a hybrid pattern, where the upper and lower rows may have a diagonal pattern similar to an S-shaped pattern, and the middle row may have border area routing outside the area of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. The hybrid pattern may provide increased use of routing tracks for longer routing traces (e.g., routing traces furthest from the sensing circuit).

In some examples, differential sensing routing can be implemented to reduce cross-coupling within the touch sensor panel. For example, the routing traces for the row electrodes for the differential measurement may be laid out in pairs so that the cross-coupling becomes common mode and cancelled in the differential measurement. In some examples, interleaving the differential drive signals may reduce parasitic signal loss for the differential drive and sense measurements. For example, rather than applying complementary drive signals to different touch nodes within a column, complementary drive signals may be applied in adjacent columns. In some examples, complementary drive signals can be applied to diagonally adjacent touch nodes.

In some examples, routing traces for the touch sensor panel can be implemented (at least partially) in the active area. In some examples, the touch electrodes and routing traces may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using bridges in a second metal layer to interconnect conductive segments of the metal mesh forming the touch electrodes. In some examples, the touch electrode may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using bridges in a second metal layer to interconnect conductive segments of the metal mesh forming the touch electrode, and the routing traces may be implemented using the metal mesh in the first metal layer and using the metal mesh in the second metal layer. In some examples, the touch electrodes and/or routing traces may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using a metal mesh in a second metal layer.

In some examples, portions of the metal mesh for the touch electrodes and/or routing traces overlap and are parallel between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. In some examples, the overlapping, parallel portions may be aligned for improved optical performance. In some examples, to improve optical performance, the width of the metal mesh in the first layer may be greater than the width of the metal mesh in the second layer for the overlapping, parallel portions. In some examples, to improve optical performance, the metal mesh in the first metal layer and the metal mesh in the second metal layer for the touch electrode may be non-parallel (e.g., orthogonal) such that the overlap portion may have a substantially uniform area (e.g., within a threshold value such as 2 square microns or 1.5 square microns) across the touch electrode.

In some examples, to improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, a dielectric layer between a first metal layer and a second metal layer can reduce capacitive coupling therebetween (e.g., parallel plate capacitance). For example, the dielectric layer may have an increased thickness and/or a decreased dielectric constant to reduce capacitive coupling. In some examples, to improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, the metal grid in the first metal layer can be infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with a transparent conductive material electrically coupled to the metal grid (optionally separated from the first metal layer by a dielectric layer).

In some examples, to reduce crosstalk (e.g., stylus or self-capacitance) in a non-differential mode of operation, routing traces may be disposed in a second metal layer below touch electrodes implemented in the first metal layer (and optionally also in the second metal layer). In some examples, to reduce crosstalk in the non-differential mode of operation and improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, the metal mesh in the first metal layer for the touch electrodes can be infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with a transparent conductive material electrically coupled to the metal mesh, without the metal mesh in the first metal layer for routing being infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with the transparent conductive material.

In some examples, the stack-up structure of the display and the touch sensor may include at least one encapsulation layer over which components of the stack-up structure are disposed or otherwise formed. The display member formed on the substrate may be covered by a first encapsulation layer formed using a selective or blanket deposition method (e.g., using an inkjet printing process). A display noise shield or sensor may be formed on the first encapsulation layer using an on-cell process. In some examples, the use of an on-cell process may improve the alignment of the structure of the shield or sensor with the display component (thereby improving the manufacturing yield of the stacked structure).

In some examples, the display noise sensor may detect a signal corresponding to electrical interference from the display component. In such examples, the display noise sensor may include one or more metal layers that may be patterned such that rows and columns of display noise sensor electrodes are substantially aligned with rows and columns of display components. During readout of touch signals at a touch screen formed over a display component, display noise sensor signals of the display noise sensors may be simultaneously read out and subtracted from the touch signals to reduce or remove electrical interference from the display of the touch signals.

In some examples, the display noise shield may attenuate signals corresponding to electrical interference from the display component from reaching the touch sensor through the laminate structure. In such examples, the display noise shield may be a metal mesh layer (e.g., a global mesh structure) formed across all display components. In other examples, the display noise shield may be a solid transparent conductive material infusion (e.g., a global filler or a solid metal layer structure) formed across all display components. In further examples, the display noise shield may be a combination layer of a metal mesh and a solid transparent conductive material formed together across all display components (e.g., a patch of alternating portions of the metal mesh and/or transparent conductive material).

In some examples, the second encapsulation layer may be formed over the display noise shield/sensor. In some examples, a dielectric layer may be formed over the second encapsulation layer to mitigate the effect of any parasitic capacitance between the shield/sensor and the touch screen in the stacked structure. The second encapsulation layer may be formed using an inkjet printing deposition process. According to the on-cell manufacturing process, the touch sensor may be formed over the second encapsulation layer (e.g., to improve alignment and/or avoid laminating discrete touch sensors to the display stack-up).

In some examples, the readout circuitry may be configured to simultaneously readout the touch signal from the touch sensor and the signal from the display noise sensor to produce a noise corrected touch signal (e.g., to reduce or eliminate electrical interference caused by the display). In some examples, the display noise shield may be biased to a fixed voltage level (e.g., a ground voltage level or a non-zero voltage level).

In some examples, a touch electrode architecture for differential driving without differential sensing may be implemented. Differential driving can still reduce touch-to-display noise. Touch electrode architectures for differential driving can simplify touch electrode architecture design because fewer routing traces and fewer bridges are required than some of the differential driving and differential sensing touch electrode architectures described herein.

In some examples, one or more touch nodes in a touch electrode architecture each include a differential pair of row electrodes and a differential pair of column electrodes. For example, a touch node may include a portion of a first row electrode Rx0+ and a portion of a second row electrode Rx0- (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of a first column electrode Tx0+ and a portion of a second column electrode Tx0- (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). The arrangement of the first and second row electrodes and the first and second column electrodes may produce two main mutual capacitances in phase. In addition, because the touch nodes include portions of the first and second row electrodes and the first and second column electrodes, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis rather than across two touch nodes. In addition, non-primary (secondary) parasitic capacitances can be reduced by reducing the length of wiring between electrodes that generate parasitic mutual capacitance and increasing the degree of separation between these electrodes.

In some examples, the touch electrode architecture includes fully differentially interleaved row and column electrodes within the touch node. In some examples, the touch electrode architecture is differential to row (or column) electrodes and pseudo-differential to column (or row) electrodes.

In some examples, spatial separation and spatial filtering may be used to reduce common mode noise. Spatial separation between touch signals and common mode noise signals may be achieved using a touch electrode architecture in which the pitch of the transmitter and receiver electrodes is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1A-1E illustrate an exemplary system that may include a touch screen according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example computing system including a touch screen according to an example of this disclosure.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example touch sensor circuit corresponding to a self capacitance measurement of a touch node electrode and a sensing circuit according to an example of this disclosure.

FIG. 3B illustrates example touch sensor circuitry corresponding to mutual capacitance drive and sense lines and sense circuitry according to examples of this disclosure.

FIG. 4A illustrates a touch screen having touch electrodes arranged in rows and columns according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B illustrates a touch screen having touch node electrodes arranged in a pixelated touch node electrode configuration according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example touch screen stackup structure including a metal mesh layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6A shows a symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6B shows a symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7A illustrates a portion of a touch sensor panel that can be used to implement differential driving and/or differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7B-7C illustrate different configurations of routing traces for touch nodes according to examples of the present disclosure, where two vertical routing traces are used for row electrodes and four vertical routing traces are used for column electrodes.

Fig. 8-10 illustrate different wiring patterns for row electrodes according to examples of the present disclosure.

11A-11B illustrate an exemplary touch sensor with vertical routing traces and corresponding signal levels with and without crosstalk according to examples of the present disclosure.

11C-11D illustrate portions of an example touch sensor panel with non-differential routing traces or with differential routing traces according to examples of the present disclosure.

12A-12B illustrate an example touch node in a row and column architecture using single ended capacitance measurements or differential capacitance measurements according to examples of the present disclosure.

13A-13B illustrate portions of a touch sensor panel and representations of stimuli applied to the touch sensor panel according to examples of the disclosure.

Fig. 14A-14B illustrate a two-layer configuration including touch electrodes and routing traces in a first layer and bridges in a second layer according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14A and 14C illustrate a two-layer configuration including touch electrodes and routing traces in a first layer and bridges and stacked routing traces in a second layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15A-15B illustrate partial views of the bilayer configuration of fig. 14A-14C according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 16 illustrates a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments in first and second layers, routing traces in the first layer, and stacked routing trace segments in the second layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17A-17D illustrate cross-sectional views of a portion of an exemplary bilayer configuration according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 18 illustrates a portion of a two-layer configuration including a touch electrode partially implemented in a first layer and partially implemented in a second layer in accordance with an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19A illustrates a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments in first and second layers and stacked routing traces in the first and second layers according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19B shows a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments in first and second layers and buried routing traces in the second layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19C shows a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments in first and second layers and buried routing traces in the second layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 20A illustrates a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments in first and second layers and stacked routing traces in the first and second layers according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 20B-20C illustrate exemplary cross-sectional views of a portion including a transparent conductive material infusion in a bi-layer configuration according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 21 illustrates a partial view of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode sections in first and second layers and stacked routing traces in the first and second layers according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 22 illustrates an example touch screen stack-up structure including an encapsulation layer and an optional dielectric layer for isolation, according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 23 illustrates exemplary layers of a display noise sensor formed on a printed layer of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 24 illustrates an exemplary display noise shield formed on a printed layer of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 25 illustrates an exemplary touch sensor of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 26 illustrates an exemplary transfer-type touch sensor of a touch screen stackup structure according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 27 illustrates an exemplary readout terminal of a touch sensor and a pixel-aligned display noise sensor of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 28 illustrates an exemplary readout terminal of a touch sensor and display noise shield of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 29 illustrates an exemplary readout circuit for a touch sensor and a display noise sensor of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 30 illustrates exemplary voltage biases for a display noise shield for a touch screen stackup according to examples of the present disclosure.

Fig. 31 illustrates an exemplary process for operating a touch screen stackup having a touch sensor and a display noise sensor located between the touch sensor and a display pixel according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 32 illustrates an exemplary process for forming a touch screen stackup having a display noise shield/sensor formed on a first printed layer and a touch sensor formed on a second printed layer according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 33 illustrates a portion of an exemplary touch sensor panel according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 34 illustrates a portion of an exemplary touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the present disclosure.

Fig. 35A-35B illustrate an exemplary touch electrode architecture according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 36 illustrates an example touch electrode architecture that is fully differential within a touch node according to an example of this disclosure.

FIG. 37 shows a portion of an example touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 38 illustrates a portion of an exemplary touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the disclosure.

FIG. 39 shows a graph of spatial touch signal and noise according to an example of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following description of the examples, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific examples that may be practiced. It is to be understood that other examples may be used and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed examples.

The present disclosure relates to touch sensor panels (or touch screens or touch sensitive surfaces) with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In some examples, a touch sensor panel can include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed by a plurality of touch electrodes. For example, a two-dimensional array of touch nodes can be arranged in rows and columns. Each column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven with multiple drive signals. For example, a first drive signal may be applied to a first column electrode within a column of touch nodes and a second drive signal may be applied to a second column electrode within the column of touch nodes. Each row (or column) of touch nodes may be sensed (e.g., differentially) by a sensing circuit. For example, a first row of electrodes within a row of touch nodes can be coupled to a first input and a second row of electrodes within the row of touch nodes can be coupled to a second input such that the first and second inputs can be sensed differentially. Differential driving (e.g., using complementary drive signals) and/or differential sensing can reduce noise in a touch and/or display system of a touch screen.

The column electrodes can be laid out vertically (e.g., overlapping a two-dimensional array of touch nodes) to a first edge of the touch sensor panel to couple the column electrodes to drive circuitry. In some examples, the row electrodes can be laid out according to a second edge (e.g., perpendicular to the first edge) of the touch sensor panel in a border area surrounding the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. In some examples, the row electrodes can also be laid out vertically (e.g., overlapping the two-dimensional array of touch nodes) to a first edge of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the routing traces may be formed from a metal mesh.

In some examples, the touch sensor panel can be divided into three groups of rows (e.g., more generally, groups of rows). In some examples, for three groups, the routing traces of a row may be implemented using four routing tracks per column (also referred to herein as a group of one or more routing trace segments). In some examples, to improve optical characteristics (e.g., reduce visibility of the metal grid), four routing tracks may extend the vertical length of the touch sensor panel (e.g., the length of the columns of touch nodes). In some examples, using electrical connections and/or interruptions within routing tracks routing traces implemented in four routing traces may be used to improve the characteristics of the routing. For example, a break in the routing trace after electrical connection to the row electrode may reduce the capacitive load on the routing trace to the electrode. The discontinuity may also allow other routing trace sections within a routing trace to be used for another routing trace to reduce the resistance of that routing trace. In some examples, utilization of routing tracks for routing traces may be optimized to reduce routing trace resistance.

In some examples, the interconnections between the routing traces and the row electrodes can have a chevron pattern to reduce the maximum routing trace resistance and/or balance the routing trace resistance across the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the interconnects between the routing traces and the row electrodes can have an S-shaped pattern (also referred to as a diagonal or zigzag) to reduce the row-to-row resistance differences (and reduce breaks in the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel). In some examples, the interconnects between the routing traces and the row electrodes may have a hybrid pattern, where the upper and lower rows may have a diagonal pattern similar to an S-shaped pattern, and the middle row may have border area routing outside the area of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. The hybrid pattern may provide increased use of routing tracks for longer routing traces (e.g., the routing trace furthest from the sensing circuit).

In some examples, differential sensing routing can be implemented to reduce cross-coupling within the touch sensor panel. For example, the routing traces for the row electrodes for the differential measurement may be laid out in pairs so that the cross-coupling becomes common mode and cancelled in the differential measurement. In some examples, interleaving the differential drive signals may reduce parasitic signal loss for the differential drive and sense measurements. For example, rather than applying complementary drive signals to different touch nodes within a column, complementary drive signals may be applied in adjacent columns. In some examples, complementary drive signals can be applied to diagonally adjacent touch nodes.

In some examples, routing traces for the touch sensor panel can be implemented (at least partially) in the active area. In some examples, the touch electrodes and routing traces may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using bridges in a second metal layer to interconnect conductive segments of the metal mesh forming the touch electrodes. In some examples, the touch electrode may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using bridges in a second metal layer to interconnect conductive segments of the metal mesh forming the touch electrode, and the routing traces may be implemented using the metal mesh in the first metal layer and using the metal mesh in the second metal layer. In some examples, the touch electrodes and/or routing traces may be implemented using a metal mesh in a first metal layer and using a metal mesh in a second metal layer.

In some examples, portions of the metal mesh for the touch electrodes and/or routing traces overlap and are parallel between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. In some examples, the overlapping, parallel portions may be aligned in order to improve optical performance. In some examples, to improve optical performance, the width of the metal mesh in the first layer may be greater than the width of the metal mesh in the second layer for the overlapping, parallel portions. In some examples, to improve optical performance, the metal mesh in the first metal layer and the metal mesh in the second metal layer for the touch electrode may be non-parallel (e.g., orthogonal) such that the overlap portion may have a substantially uniform area (e.g., within a threshold value such as 2 square microns or 1.5 square microns) across the touch electrode.

In some examples, to improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, a dielectric layer between a first metal layer and a second metal layer can reduce capacitive coupling therebetween (e.g., parallel plate capacitance). For example, the dielectric layer may have an increased thickness and/or a decreased dielectric constant to reduce capacitive coupling. In some examples, to improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, the metal mesh in the first metal layer can be infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with a transparent conductive material electrically coupled to the metal mesh (optionally separated from the first metal layer by a dielectric layer).

In some examples, to reduce crosstalk (e.g., stylus or self-capacitance) in a non-differential mode of operation, routing traces may be disposed in a second metal layer below touch electrodes implemented in the first metal layer (and optionally also in the second metal layer). In some examples, to reduce crosstalk in the non-differential mode of operation and improve SNR and touch sensor panel bandwidth, the metal mesh in the first metal layer for the touch electrodes can be infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with a transparent conductive material electrically coupled to the metal mesh, without the metal mesh in the first metal layer for routing being infused, filled, or otherwise enhanced with the transparent conductive material. In some examples, the first metal layer may be infused with a transparent conductive material, and the transparent conductive material may be etched away from the routing traces in the first metal layer.

In some examples, a touch electrode architecture for differential driving without differential sensing may be implemented. Differential driving can still reduce touch-to-display noise. Touch electrode architectures for differential driving can simplify touch electrode architecture design because fewer routing traces and fewer bridges are required than some of the differential driving and differential sensing touch electrode architectures described herein.

In some examples, one or more touch nodes in a touch electrode architecture each include a differential pair of row electrodes and a differential pair of column electrodes. For example, a touch node may include a portion of a first row electrode Rx0+ and a portion of a second row electrode Rx0- (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of a first column electrode Tx0+ and a portion of a second column electrode Tx0- (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). The arrangement of the first and second row electrodes and the first and second column electrodes may produce two main mutual capacitances in phase. In addition, because the touch nodes include portions of the first and second row electrodes and the first and second column electrodes, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis rather than across two touch nodes. In addition, non-primary (secondary) parasitic capacitances can be reduced by reducing the length of wiring between electrodes that generate parasitic mutual capacitance and increasing the degree of separation between these electrodes.

In some examples, the touch electrode architecture includes fully differentially interleaved row and column electrodes within the touch node. In some examples, the touch electrode architecture is differential to row (or column) electrodes and pseudo-differential to column (or row) electrodes.

In some examples, spatial separation and spatial filtering may be used to reduce common mode noise. Spatial separation between touch signals and common mode noise signals may be achieved using a touch electrode architecture in which the pitch of the transmitter and receiver electrodes is reduced.

Fig. 1A-1E illustrate an exemplary system that may include a touch screen according to examples of the present disclosure. Fig. 1A illustrates an exemplary mobile phone 136 including a touchscreen 124 according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 1B illustrates an example digital media player 140 including a touch screen 126 according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 1C illustrates an example personal computer 144 including a touch screen 128 in accordance with examples of the present disclosure. FIG. 1D illustrates an example tablet computing device 148 including a touch screen 130 in accordance with examples of the present disclosure. Fig. 1E illustrates an example wearable device 150 that includes a touch screen 132 and that can be attached to a user using a strap 152 according to an example of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the touch screen may be implemented in other devices as well.

In some examples, the touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 may be based on self capacitance. Self-capacitance based touch systems may include a matrix of conductive material or a single set of plates of conductive material forming a larger conductive area, which may be referred to as a touch electrode or touch node electrode (as described below with reference to fig. 4B). For example, a touch screen may include a plurality of individual touch electrodes, each touch electrode identifying or representing a unique location on the touch screen (e.g., a touch node) at which touch or proximity is to be sensed, and each touch node electrode being electrically isolated from other touch node electrodes in the touch screen/panel. Such a touch screen may be referred to as a pixelated self-capacitance touch screen, although it should be understood that in some examples, touch node electrodes on the touch screen may be used to perform scans on the touch screen other than self-capacitance scans (e.g., mutual capacitance scans). During operation, the touch node electrodes may be stimulated with an Alternating Current (AC) waveform, and the self-capacitance to ground of the touch node electrodes may be measured. As an object approaches the touch node electrode, the self-capacitance to ground of the touch node electrode may change (e.g., increase). This change in self-capacitance of the touch node electrodes can be detected and measured by the touch sensing system to determine the location of multiple objects when they touch or are in proximity to the touch screen. In some examples, touch node electrodes of a self-capacitance based touch system may be formed from rows and columns of conductive material, and changes in self-capacitance to ground of the rows and columns may be detected, similar to as described above. In some examples, the touch screen may be multi-touch, single-touch, projection scan, full-imaging multi-touch, capacitive touch, and the like.

In some examples, the touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 may be based on mutual capacitance. Mutual capacitance-based touch systems can include electrodes arranged as drive and sense lines that can cross each other on different layers (in a double-sided configuration), or can be adjacent to each other on the same layer (e.g., as described below with reference to fig. 4A). The intersection or adjacent locations may form a touch node. During operation, a drive line can be stimulated with an AC waveform, and the mutual capacitance of a touch node can be measured. As an object approaches a touch node, the mutual capacitance of the touch node may change (e.g., decrease). This change in the mutual capacitance of the touch nodes can be detected and measured by the touch sensing system to determine the location of multiple objects when they touch or approach the touch screen. As described herein, in some examples, a mutual capacitance based touch system may form touch nodes from a matrix of small single sheets of conductive material.

In some examples, the touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 may be based on mutual and/or self capacitance. The electrodes may be arranged as a matrix of small, individual sheets of conductive material (e.g., as in touch node electrodes 408 in touch screen 402 in FIG. 4B), or as drive and sense lines (e.g., as in row touch electrodes 404 and column touch electrodes 406 in touch screen 400 in FIG. 4A), or in another pattern. The electrodes may be configured for mutual capacitance or self capacitance sensing, or a combination of mutual capacitance sensing and self capacitance sensing. For example, in one mode of operation, the electrodes may be configured to sense mutual capacitance between the electrodes, and in a different mode of operation, the electrodes may be configured to sense self-capacitance of the electrodes. In some examples, some of the electrodes may be configured to sense mutual capacitance between each other, and some of the electrodes may be configured to sense self-capacitance thereof.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example computing system including a touch screen according to an example of this disclosure. Computing system 200 may be included in, for example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a touchpad, a portable or desktop computer, a portable media player, a wearable device, or any mobile or non-mobile computing device that includes a touchscreen or touch sensor panel. Computing system 200 can include a touch sensing system that includes one or more touch processors 202, peripherals 204, touch controller 206, and touch sensing circuitry (described in more detail below). The peripheral devices 204 may include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) or other types of memory or storage, watchdog timers and the like. Touch controller 206 can include, but is not limited to, one or more sense channels 208, channel scan logic 210, and driver logic 214. Channel scan logic 210 may access RAM 212, autonomously read data from the sense channels, and provide control for the sense channels. In addition, channel scan logic 210 can control driver logic 214 to generate stimulation signals 216 at various frequencies and/or phases that can be selectively applied to drive regions of touch sensing circuitry of touch screen 220, as described in more detail below. In some examples, touch controller 206, touch processor 202, and peripherals 204 can be integrated into a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and in some examples can be integrated with touch screen 220 itself.

It should be apparent that the architecture shown in FIG. 2 is only one exemplary architecture for computing system 200, and that a system may have more or fewer components than shown, or a different configuration of components. In some examples, computing system 200 may include a power storage device (e.g., a battery) that provides a power source and/or communication circuitry that provides wired or wireless communication (e.g., cellular, bluetooth, wi-Fi, etc.). The various components shown in fig. 2 may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

Computing system 200 can include a host processor 228 for receiving output from touch processor 202 and performing actions based on the output. For example, host processor 228 may be connected to a program storage device 232 and a display controller/driver 234 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) driver). It should be understood that although some examples of the present disclosure may be described with reference to an LCD display, the scope of the present disclosure is not so limited and may extend to other types of displays, such as Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays, including Organic LED (OLED), active Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED), and Passive Matrix Organic LED (PMOLED) displays. The display driver 234 may provide a voltage on a select (e.g., gate) line to each pixel transistor and may provide data signals along a data line to these same transistors to control the pixels to display an image.

Host processor 228 can use display driver 234 to generate a display image, such as a display image of a User Interface (UI), on touch screen 220, and can use touch processor 202 and touch controller 206 to detect a touch on or near touch screen 220, such as a touch input to the displayed UI. Touch input may be used by a computer program stored in program storage 232 to perform actions that may include, but are not limited to: moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting control settings, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing instructions, operating a peripheral device connected to a host device, answering a telephone call, placing a telephone call, terminating a telephone call, changing volume or audio settings, storing information related to telephone communications (such as addresses, frequently dialed numbers, received calls, missed calls), logging onto a computer or computer network, allowing authorized individuals to access restricted areas of a computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user's preferred arrangement of a computer desktop, allowing access to web page content, launching a particular program, encrypting or decrypting a message, and so forth. Host processor 228 can also perform additional functions that may not be related to touch processing.

It is noted that one or more of the functions described herein can be performed by firmware stored in memory (e.g., one of the peripherals 204 in FIG. 2) and executed by the touch processor 202 or stored in the program storage 232 and executed by the host processor 228. The firmware can also be stored and/or transported within any non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a "non-transitory computer-readable storage medium" can be any medium (excluding signals) that can contain or store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In some examples, RAM 212 or program storage 232 (or both) may be non-transitory computer readable storage media. One or both of RAM 212 and program storage 232 may have instructions stored therein that, when executed by touch processor 202 or host processor 228, or both, may cause a device comprising computing system 200 to perform one or more functions and methods of one or more examples of the present disclosure. A computer readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, a portable computer diskette (magnetic), a Random Access Memory (RAM) (magnetic), a read-only memory (ROM) (magnetic), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) (magnetic), a portable optical disk such as a CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW, or flash memory such as compact flash cards, secured digital cards, USB memory devices, memory sticks, and the like.

The firmware can also be propagated within any transport medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a "transmission medium" can be any medium that can communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The transmission medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or infrared wired or wireless propagation medium.

Touch screen 220 may be used to derive touch information at a plurality of discrete locations of the touch screen, referred to herein as touch nodes. Touch screen 220 can include touch sensing circuitry that can include a capacitive sensing medium having a plurality of drive lines 222 and a plurality of sense lines 223. It should be noted that the term "line" is sometimes used herein to refer to a simple conductive path, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and is not limited to a strictly linear path, but includes paths that change direction, as well as paths having different sizes, shapes, materials, etc. Drive lines 222 can be driven from driver logic 214 by stimulation signals 216 through drive interface 224, and the resulting sense signals 217 generated in sense lines 223 can be passed through sense interface 225 to sense channels 208 in touch controller 206. In this manner, the drive and sense lines can be part of touch sensing circuitry that can interact to form capacitive sensing nodes, which can be considered touch picture elements (touch pixels) and are referred to herein as touch nodes, such as touch nodes 226 and 227. This understanding may be particularly useful when the touch screen 220 is considered to capture an "image" of touch ("touch image"). In other words, after touch controller 206 determines whether a touch has been detected at each touch node in the touch screen, the pattern of touch nodes in the touch screen at which the touch occurred can be considered an "image" of the touch (e.g., a pattern of fingers touching the touch screen). As used herein, an electronic component that is "coupled to" or "connected to" another electronic component includes a direct or indirect connection that provides an electrical path for communication or operation between the coupled components. Thus, for example, drive line 222 may be connected directly to driver logic component 214 or indirectly to drive logic 214 via drive interface 224, and sense line 223 may be connected directly to sense channel 208 or indirectly to sense channel 208 via sense interface 225. In either case, an electrical path for driving and/or sensing the touch node can be provided.

Fig. 3A illustrates an example touch sensor circuit 300 corresponding to a self-capacitance measurement of a touch node electrode 302 and a sense circuit 314 according to an example of this disclosure. Touch node electrode 302 may correspond to touch electrode 404 or 406 of touch screen 400 or touch node electrode 408 of touch screen 402. Touch node electrode 302 may have an inherent self-capacitance to ground associated with it and also have an additional self-capacitance to ground that is formed when an object, such as finger 305, approaches or touches the electrode. The total self-capacitance to ground of the touch node electrode 302 can be shown as capacitance 304. The touch node electrodes 302 may be coupled to a sensing circuit 314. The sensing circuit 314 may include an operational amplifier 308, a feedback resistor 312, and a feedback capacitor 310, although other configurations may be employed. For example, the feedback resistor 312 may be replaced by a switched capacitor resistor to minimize parasitic capacitance effects that may be caused by the variable feedback resistor. The touch node electrode 302 may be coupled to the inverting input (-) of the operational amplifier 308. AC voltage source 306 (V) _ac ) May be coupled to the non-inverting input (+) of the operational amplifier 308. Touch sensor circuit 300 can be configured to sense a touch or proximity of a finger or object to the touch sensor panel A change (e.g., an increase) in the total self-capacitance 304 of the touch node electrode 302. The processor may use the output 320 to determine the presence of a proximity event or touch event, or the output may be input into a discrete logic network to determine the presence of a proximity event or touch event.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example touch sensor circuit 350 corresponding to the mutual capacitance drive lines 322 and sense lines 326 and the sensing circuit 314 according to an example of this disclosure. The drive lines 322 may be stimulated by a stimulation signal 306 (e.g., an AC voltage signal). The stimulation signals 306 can be capacitively coupled to the sense lines 326 through mutual capacitances 324 between the drive lines 322 and the sense lines. When a finger or object 305 approaches a touch node generated by the crossing of drive lines 322 and sense lines 326, mutual capacitance 324 can change (e.g., decrease) (e.g., due to capacitance C) _FD 311 and C _FS 313, which may be formed between drive lines 322, finger 305, and sense lines 326). As described herein, this change in mutual capacitance 324 can be detected to indicate a touch event or proximity event at the touch node. The sense signal coupled onto sense line 326 may be received by sense circuitry 314. The sensing circuit 314 may include an operational amplifier 308 and at least one of a feedback resistor 312 and a feedback capacitor 310. Fig. 3B shows the general case of using both resistive and capacitive feedback elements. The sense signal (referred to as vin) may be input into the inverting input of the operational amplifier 308, and the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier may be coupled to a reference voltage vin _{Reference to} . Operational amplifier 308 may drive its output to a voltage V _{Output of} So that V is _{Input the method} Is substantially equal to V _{Reference to} And can thus maintain V _{Input the method} A constant or virtual ground. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in this context, a deviation of up to 15% may be included. Thus, the gain of the sense circuit 314 may generally be a function of the ratio of the mutual capacitance 324 and the feedback impedance, which is made up of the resistor 312 and/or the capacitor 310. The output Vo of sensing circuit 314 may be filtered and heterodyned or homodyned by feeding it into multiplier 328, where Vo may be multiplied by local oscillator 330 to produce V _{Detection of} 。V _Detection May be input into the filter 332. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the placement of the filter 332 may be varied; thus, a filter may be placed after multiplier 328, as shown, or two filters may be used: one placed before the multiplier and the other placed after the multiplier. In some examples, there may be no filter at all. V _{Detection of} May be used to determine whether a touch event or a proximity event has occurred. It is noted that although fig. 3A-3B indicate that demodulation at multiplier 328 occurs in the analog domain, the output Vo may be digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and blocks 328, 332, and 330 may be implemented digitally (e.g., 328 may be a digital demodulator, 332 may be a digital filter, and 330 may be a digital NCO (numerically controlled oscillator)).

Referring back to FIG. 2, in some examples, touch screen 220 can be an integrated touch screen, wherein touch sensing circuit elements of the touch sensing system can be integrated into a display pixel stackup of the display. The circuit elements in touch screen 220 may include, for example, elements found in an LCD or other display (LED display screen, OLED display screen, etc.), such as one or more pixel transistors (e.g., thin Film Transistors (TFTs)), gate lines, data lines, pixel electrodes, and common electrodes. In a given display pixel, the voltage between the pixel electrode and the common electrode can control the brightness of the display pixel. The voltage on the pixel electrode may be provided by a data line through a pixel transistor, which may be controlled by a gate line. It is noted that the circuit elements are not limited to entire circuit components, such as entire capacitors, entire transistors, etc., but may include portions of a circuit, such as only one of the two plates of a parallel plate capacitor.

FIG. 4A shows a touch screen 400 having touch electrodes 404 and 406 arranged in rows and columns according to an example of the present disclosure. In particular, touch screen 400 can include a plurality of touch electrodes 404 arranged as rows and a plurality of touch electrodes 406 arranged as columns. Touch electrode 404 and touch electrode 406 may be located on the same or different material layers on touch screen 400 and may intersect each other as shown in FIG. 4A. In some examples, the electrodes may be formed on opposite sides of a transparent (partial or full) substrate and formed of a transparent (partial or full) semiconductor material such as ITO, although other materials are also possible. The electrodes shown on the layers on different sides of the substrate may be referred to herein as a two-sided sensor. In some examples, touch screen 400 can sense self-capacitance of touch electrodes 404 and 406 to detect touch and/or proximity activity on touch screen 400, and in some examples, touch screen 400 can sense mutual capacitance between touch electrodes 404 and 406 to detect touch and/or proximity activity on touch screen 400.

Although fig. 4A illustrates touch electrodes 404 and 406 as rectangular electrodes, other shapes and configurations of row and column electrodes are possible in some examples. For example, in some embodiments, some or all of the row and column electrodes may be formed from multiple touch electrodes formed from a (partially or fully) transparent semiconductor material on one side of the substrate. Touch electrodes in a particular row or column may be interconnected by coupling segments and/or bridges. Row and column electrodes formed in layers on the same side of the substrate may be referred to herein as a single-sided sensor. As described in more detail below, the row and column electrodes may have other shapes. Additionally, although primarily described in terms of a row-column configuration, it should be understood that the same principles may be applied to a two-axis array of touch nodes in a non-linear arrangement in some examples.

FIG. 4B shows touch screen 402 with touch node electrodes 408 arranged in a pixelated touch node electrode configuration, according to an example of the present disclosure. In particular, touch screen 402 can include a plurality of individual touch node electrodes 408, each touch node electrode identifying or representing a unique location on the touch screen at which touch or proximity (i.e., a touch event or proximity event) is to be sensed, and each touch node electrode being electrically isolated from other touch node electrodes in the touch screen/panel, as previously described. Touch node electrodes 408 can be located on the same or different layers of material on touch screen 402. In some examples, touch screen 402 can sense self-capacitance of touch node electrodes 408 to detect touch and/or proximity activity on touch screen 402, and in some examples, touch screen 402 can sense mutual capacitance between touch node electrodes 408 to detect touch and/or proximity activity on touch screen 402.

In some examples, some or all of the touch electrodes of the touch screen may be formed from a metal mesh in one or more layers. Fig. 5 illustrates an example touch screen stackup structure including a metal mesh layer according to an example of this disclosure. The touch screen 500 may include a substrate 509 (e.g., a printed circuit board) on which display components 508 (e.g., LEDs or other light emitting components and circuitry) may be mounted. In some examples, the display components 508 may be partially or fully embedded in the substrate 509 (e.g., these components may be placed in recesses in the substrate). The substrate 509 may include routing traces in one or more layers to route display components (e.g., LEDs) to the display driver circuitry (e.g., display driver 234). The stacked structure of touch screen 500 may also include one or more passivation layers deposited over display portion 508. For example, the laminated structure of the touch screen 500 shown in fig. 5 may include an intermediate layer/passivation layer 507 (e.g., transparent epoxy) between the first metal layer 516 and the second metal layer 506, and a passivation layer 517. The passivation layers 507 and 517 may planarize the surface of the corresponding metal mesh layer. In addition, the passivation layer may provide electrical isolation (e.g., between the metal mesh layers and between the LEDs and the metal mesh layers). A metal mesh layer 516 (e.g., copper, silver, etc.) may be deposited on the planarized surface of passivation layer 517 over display member 508, and a metal mesh layer 506 (e.g., copper, silver, etc.) may be deposited on the planarized surface of passivation layer 507. In some examples, the passivation layer 517 may include a material used to encapsulate the display components to protect them from corrosion or other environmental exposure. The metal mesh layer 506 and/or the metal mesh layer 516 may include a pattern of conductor material that is a mesh pattern. In some examples, the metal mesh layer 506 and the metal mesh layer 516 may be coupled by one or more vias (e.g., through the intermediate layer/passivation layer 507). Additionally, although not shown in FIG. 5, the border area around the active area of the display may include metallization (or other conductive material) that may or may not be a metal grid pattern. In some examples, the metal grid is formed of an opaque material, but the metal grid lines are thin and sparse enough to appear transparent to the human eye. The touch electrodes (and some of the wiring) may be formed from portions of the metal mesh in the metal mesh layer. In some examples, polarizer 504 may be disposed over metal mesh layer 506 (optionally, another planarization layer is disposed over metal mesh layer 506). A cover glass (or front crystal) 502 may be disposed over the polarizer 504 and form the outer surface of the touch screen 500. It should be understood that although two metal mesh layers (and two corresponding planarization layers) are shown, in some examples, more or fewer metal mesh layers (and corresponding planarization layers) may be implemented. Additionally, in some examples, it should be understood that in some examples, the display component 508, the substrate 509, and/or the passivation layer 517 may be replaced by a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) LCD display (or other type of display). Additionally, it should be understood that the polarizer 504 may include one or more transparent layers including a polarizer, an adhesive layer (e.g., optionally a transparent adhesive), and a protective layer.

As described herein, in some examples, touch electrodes of a touch screen may be differentially driven and/or differentially sensed. Differential driving and differential sensing can reduce noise in the touch of the touch screen and/or in the display system that may occur due to the proximity of the touch system to the display system. For example, a touch screen can include touch electrodes partially or completely disposed over or otherwise proximate to a display (e.g., a touch sensor panel laminated to or otherwise integrated on or in a display stack-up). For example, a touch electrode (e.g., formed from a metal grid) may capacitively couple with a display electrode (e.g., a cathode electrode), which may cause the display operation to inject noise into the touch electrode (e.g., reducing touch sensing performance). Additionally, touch operations (e.g., actuating touch electrodes) can cause noise to be injected in the display (e.g., introducing image artifacts). Differential driving and differential sensing can cause most of the noise coupled into the sensing circuitry due to the display to be common mode, and common mode noise can be suppressed by the differential sensing circuitry. Also, differential driving can reduce local imbalance on the display electrodes from the touch electrodes. Thus, differential driving may shield the cathode of the display from touch operations, which may reduce noise injected into the display system (and/or allow more margin to increase the amplitude of the drive signal compared to a non-differential driving scheme).

As described herein, differentially driving refers to simultaneously driving a first of two drive electrodes with a first excitation signal (e.g., sine wave, square wave, etc.) and driving a second of the two drive electrodes with a second excitation signal (e.g., counter-sine wave, counter-square wave, etc.) 180 degrees out of phase with the first excitation signal. In some examples, the first fire signal and the second fire signal may be driven by a differential drive circuit. In some examples, the first driving signal and the second driving signal may be driven by two single-ended drive circuits. Differential driving may be extended to more than two drive electrodes, such that for N simultaneously driven drive electrodes, half of the drive electrodes may be simultaneously driven by a first set of excitation signals, and the other half of the drive electrodes may be simultaneously driven by a second set of excitation signals complementary to the first set (e.g., an inverted version of the first set). As described herein, differential sensing refers to sensing two sense electrodes differentially. For example, a first of the two sense electrodes may be input into a first terminal (e.g., an inverting input) of a differential amplifier, and a second of the two sense electrodes may be input into a second terminal (e.g., a non-inverting input) of the differential amplifier. In some examples, differential sensing may be implemented with two single-ended amplifiers (e.g., sense circuit 314) and two ADCs configured to convert the outputs of the two single-ended amplifiers to digital outputs, each sensing one sense electrode. The difference may be calculated between the digital outputs of the two amplifiers (e.g., in the analog or digital domain). In some examples, using a differential amplifier (instead of two single-ended amplifiers) may provide improved input reference noise (removal of common mode noise and reduction of dynamic range) for the differential portion of the signal. In some examples, using a single-ended amplifier (rather than a differential amplifier) may provide an output that represents common mode noise, which may be useful for the system.

FIG. 6A shows a symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure. FIG. 6A shows touch sensor panel 600 that includes row electrodes 602A-602D (also referred to as drive electrodes or lines) and column electrodes 604A-604H (also referred to as sense electrodes or lines). Touch sensor panel 600 can also include drive circuitry (e.g., driver/transmitters 606A-606D, which can correspond to driver logic 214) configured to drive row electrodes 602A-602D and sense circuitry (e.g., differential amplifiers 608A-608D, which can correspond to a portion of sense channels 208) configured to sense column electrodes 604A-604H. It should be understood that although the terms "row" and "column" may be used throughout this disclosure in conjunction with the figures showing the arrangement of rows and columns, these terms are used for ease of illustration and the actual orientations may be interchanged according to examples of the present disclosure.

In particular, touch sensor panel 600 shows a touch sensor panel having four row electrodes 602A-602D and eight column electrodes 604A-604H. Each driver/transmitter 606A-606D may be coupled to a respective one of the row electrodes 602A-602D (e.g., driver/transmitter 606A may be coupled to row electrode 602A, driver/transmitter 606B may be coupled to row electrode 602B, etc.). Each differential amplifier 608A-608D may be coupled to a respective pair of column electrodes 604A-604H (e.g., differential amplifier 608A may be coupled to column electrodes 604A-604B, differential amplifier 608B may be coupled to column electrodes 604C-604D, etc.). The differential amplifiers 608A-608D may each include a common-mode feedback circuit (e.g., including resistive and/or capacitive circuit elements) to maintain the inputs at a virtual ground. A first column electrode of the respective pair of column electrodes may be coupled to an inverting terminal of the corresponding differential amplifier and a second column electrode of the respective pair of column electrodes may be coupled to an inverting terminal of the corresponding differential amplifier.

The touch sensor panel 600 may be driven and sensed to detect sixteen capacitance values. Technically, the intersection (or adjacent point) of each row electrode and each column electrode may be) Forming a mutual capacitance (electrostatic fringing field) therebetween. For example, a first mutual capacitance C 'may be formed between row electrode 602A and column electrode 604A' ₀ And a second mutual capacitance C can be formed between the row electrode 602A and the column electrode 604B ₀ . However, as shown in fig. 6A, the amount of conductive material at some of the intersections (or adjacent dots) of row and column electrodes may be less than the amount of conductive material at the intersections (or adjacent dots) of other row electrodes. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the amount of conductive material at the intersection of row electrode 602A and column electrode 604A may be less than the amount of conductive material at the intersection of row electrode 602A and column electrode 604B. Thus, in some examples, the mutual capacitance (electrostatic fringing field) of the former may be relatively negligible with respect to the latter, such that the mutual capacitance of the former may be substantially negligible. (in some examples, relatively negligible capacitance may be reduced by increasing the distance between and/or electrically isolating portions of the row and column electrodes.) e.g., the mutual capacitance (C) with row electrode 602A and column electrode 604B ₀ ) Or the mutual capacitance (C) between the row electrode 602B and the column electrode 604A ₁ ) In contrast, the mutual capacitance (C ') between row electrode 602A and column electrode 604A' ₀ ) May be relatively small.

For each respective driver and respective differential sense amplifier in fig. 6A, one of the mutual capacitances may be a primary (or primary) mutual capacitance, and one of the mutual capacitances may be a secondary mutual capacitance (where the mutual capacitance/electrostatic fringing field may be a function of the amount of conductive material and the arrangement of the conductive material). In some examples, the primary mutual capacitance may correspond to fringing field coupling above a threshold (e.g., above 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, etc.) of the respective driver/differential amplifier, and the secondary mutual capacitance may correspond to fringing field coupling below a threshold (e.g., below 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, etc.) of the respective driver/differential amplifier. Thus, sixteen values measured for touch sensor panel 600 can represent a primary mutual capacitance with a pattern of conductive material for the row and column electrodes. E.g. C ₀ May represent a main interaction between the row 602A and column 604B electrodesCapacitance, C ₁ May represent the main mutual capacitance, C, between the row electrode 602B and the column electrode 604A ₂ Can represent the main mutual capacitance between the row electrode 602C and the column electrode 604B, and C ₃ May represent the main mutual capacitance between the row electrode 602D and the column electrode 604A. Each of these primary mutual capacitances may represent an active touch node of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, an "active touch node" described herein can alternatively be referred to as a "touch node" because it can represent a primary mutual capacitance of an area of the touch sensor panel.

In some examples, the primary mutual capacitance (relatively high electrostatic fringing field) and the secondary mutual capacitance (relatively low electrostatic fringing field) can alternate spatially. The spatial alternation may occur along one or two dimensions. For example, for driver 606A/row electrode 602A, main capacitor C ₀ 、C ₄ 、C ₈ 、C ₁₂ (formed by column electrodes 604B, 604D, 604F, 604H and inverting terminals of differential amplifiers 608A-608D) may be associated with a secondary capacitance C' ₀ 、C′ ₄ 、C′ ₈ 、C′ ₁₂ Alternating in space. The primary and secondary capacitances may also be spatially alternated for the remaining driver/row electrodes. For the inverting terminal/column electrode 604B of the differential amplifier 608A, the main capacitor C ₀ And C ₂ (formed by row electrodes 602A and 602C and corresponding drivers 606A and 606C) may be associated with a secondary capacitance C' ₁ And C' ₃ Alternating in space. For the non-inverting terminal/column electrode 604A of the differential amplifier 608A, the main capacitor C ₁ And C ₃ (formed by row electrodes 602B and 602D and corresponding drivers 606B and 606D) may be associated with a secondary capacitance C' ₀ And C' ₂ Alternating in space. The primary and secondary capacitances may also be spatially alternated for the remaining differential amplifier/column electrodes.

During operation, the row electrodes 602A-602D may be stimulated with a multi-stimulation pattern of drive signals (H0-H3), and the column electrodes 604A-604D may be differentially sensed using the differential amplifiers 608A-608D. For example, the multi-stimulus pattern can be a hadamard matrix (e.g., a 4 x 4 matrix comprising "1" and "-1" values indexed to drivers and driving steps) applied to a common stimulus signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signals. The multi-stimulus mode can allow for measurement and decoding of the primary mutual capacitance based on the multi-stimulus drive mode. Sensing the column electrodes differentially can remove common mode noise from the touch measurements. It should be understood that although touch sensor panel 600 includes sixteen primary capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes in a 4 x 4 array), the touch sensor panel can be scaled up or down to include fewer or more touch nodes.

In some examples, to reduce noise and thereby improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), touch sensor panel 600 can be modified to implement differential driving. For example, rather than implementing one drive line per row of active touch nodes, two drive lines may be used per row of active touch nodes. FIG. 6B shows a symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure. FIG. 6B shows touch sensor panel 510 including row electrodes 602A-602D and row electrodes 602A '-602D' (eight row electrodes) and column electrodes 604A-604H (eight column electrodes). Touch sensor panel 600 can also include drive circuitry (e.g., drivers/emitters 606A-606D and drivers/emitters 606A '-606D') configured to drive row electrodes 602A-602D and 602A '-602D' and sense circuitry (e.g., differential amplifiers 608A-608D) configured to sense column electrodes 604A-604H.

Each driver/transmitter 606A-606D, 606A '-606D' may be coupled to a respective one of the row electrodes 602A-602D, 602A '-602D', and each differential amplifier 608A-608D may be coupled to a respective pair of the column electrodes 604A-604H. Although the row electrodes are doubled compared to touch sensor panel 600, touch sensor panel 510 can be driven and sensed to detect sixteen primary mutual capacitance values (represented in FIG. 6A by the relatively large amount of conductive material of some row and column electrodes). Sixteen primary mutual capacitance values may represent a 4 x 4 array of touch nodes of the touch sensor panel. During operation, the row electrodes 602A-602D and row electrodes 602A '-602D' may be stimulated with a multi-stimulation pattern of drive signals (H0-H3 and H0 '-H3'), and the column electrodes 604A-604D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 608A-608D. In some examples, the multi-stimulus pattern can be two orthogonal hadamard matrices (e.g., 4 x 4 matrices comprising "1" and "-1" values, each indexed to the driver and driving steps) applied to a common stimulus signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signal. In some examples, the multi-stimulus pattern may be one hadamard matrix and its complement (180 degrees out of phase) applied to a common stimulus signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signal. The multi-stimulus mode may allow for measurement and decoding of the primary mutual capacitance based on the multi-stimulus drive mode. Sensing the column electrodes differentially can remove common mode noise from the touch measurements. It should be understood that although touch sensor panel 510 includes sixteen primary capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be scaled up or down to include fewer or more touch nodes.

As described with respect to fig. 6A, in fig. 6B, the primary mutual capacitance (relatively high electrostatic fringing field) and the secondary mutual capacitance (relatively low electrostatic fringing field) can be spatially patterned. In some examples, the spatial alternation may occur along one or two dimensions. For example, for driver 606A/row electrode 602A, primary capacitances can be formed at the intersections with column electrodes 604B and 604F, while secondary capacitances are formed at the remaining intersections with column electrodes 604A, 604C-604E, 604G, and 604H. In a similar manner, for driver 606B/row electrode 602A', primary capacitances can be formed at the intersections with column electrodes 604D and 604H, while secondary capacitances are formed at the remaining intersections with column electrodes 604A-604C and 604E-604G. The spatial pattern of primary and secondary capacitances may be repeated for the remaining rows. For the inverting terminal/column electrode 604B of the differential amplifier 608A, the main capacitor C ₀ And C ₂ May be formed at the intersection with row electrodes 602A and 602C and corresponding drivers 606A and 606C, while the secondary capacitance is formed at the remaining intersection with column electrode 604B. For the non-inverting terminal/column electrode 604A of the differential amplifier 608A, the main capacitor C ₁ And C ₃ May be formed at the intersection with row electrodes 602B and 602D while the secondary capacitance is formed at the remaining intersection with column electrode 604A. The spatial pattern of the primary and secondary capacitors may be for the remaining columns And (6) repeating. Thus, along the rows and along the columns, the primary capacitances can be spatially separated from each other by the three secondary capacitances in the spatial pattern of FIG. 6B.

FIG. 7A illustrates a portion of a touch sensor panel that can be used to implement differential driving and/or differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure. In a manner similar to that described above with respect to fig. 6B, touch sensor panel 700 can have a spatially patterned mutual capacitance/electrostatic fringe field coupling. FIG. 7A shows touch sensor panel 700 that includes row electrodes 702A-702F and column electrodes 704A-704F. Touch sensor panel 700 can also include drive circuitry configured to drive column electrodes 704A-704F (e.g., a driver/transmitter, which can correspond to driver logic 214, or driver/transmitters 606A-606D') and sense circuitry configured to sense row electrodes 702A-702F (e.g., a differential amplifier, which can correspond to a portion of sense channels 208, or differential amplifiers 608A-608D, including common mode feedback circuitry). In particular, FIG. 7A shows touch sensor panel 700 with six row electrodes 702A-602F and six column electrodes 704A-704F. Each driver/transmitter may be coupled to a respective one of the column electrodes 704A-704F, and each differential amplifier may be coupled to a respective pair of the row electrodes 702A-702F. A first row electrode of a respective pair of row electrodes may be coupled to an inverting terminal of a corresponding differential amplifier and a second row electrode of the respective pair of row electrodes may be coupled to an inverting terminal of the corresponding differential amplifier. For simplicity of illustration, FIG. 7A shows a differential driver 706 configured to output complementary drive signals D0+ and D0-to the routing traces for the column electrodes 704A-704B, but it should be understood that additional drivers may be included to drive additional column electrodes. Also, to simplify the illustration, FIG. 7A shows a differential amplifier 708 (or 708') configured to receive and differentially sense signals from the routing traces for the row electrodes 702A-702B, but it should be understood that additional receivers may be included to sense additional row electrodes.

The column electrodes 704A-704F can include a plurality of conductive segments interconnected by wires. For example, column electrode 704A includes two conductive segments (e.g., each having an "H" shape) that form an active touch node of touch sensor panel 700, which are connected by a wire, such as wire 705A. Likewise, the row electrodes 702A-702F may include multiple conductive segments interconnected by wires. For example, row electrode 702A includes conductive segments 702A 'and 702A "(e.g., having a rectangular shape with an" H "shaped cutout) that form an effective touch node of touch sensor panel 700, which are connected by a wire, such as wire 702A'". In some examples, as shown in fig. 7A, the sense electrode is continuous such that the plurality of segments 702A 'and 702A "and routing trace 702A'" can be considered one row electrode. It should be understood that although similar coloring is used for the row electrode pairs in each row and similar coloring is used for the column electrodes in each row and alternating rows, these coloring is for ease of illustration and does not necessarily indicate that the electrodes are coupled together. For example, each row electrode may be electrically isolated and coupled to a different input of the sensing circuit. The column electrodes in alternating rows may be electrically connected, but each column electrode may be coupled to a different output of the excitation circuit.

Touch sensor panel 700 can be viewed as including a two-dimensional array (three rows and three columns) of active touch nodes. Each active touch node of touch sensor panel 700 can measure a capacitance dominated by the capacitance between the conductive segments of the respective row electrode and the conductive segments (formed by the interlocking conductive segments) of the respective column electrode. For example, for an active touch node corresponding to an area of column 1 and row 1 of touch sensor panel 700, the mutual capacitance between section 702A' of row electrode 702A and the upper section of column electrode 704A may dominate. The capacitive contribution of the wiring portion of a nearby row or column electrode may form a relatively negligible secondary mutual capacitance (e.g., the contribution of wiring portion 705A or 705B of column electrode 704A or 704B to segment 702A' of row electrode 702A). Due to the pattern of row and column electrodes, the primary/secondary mutual capacitance/electrostatic fringe field coupling can be spatially patterned as described herein. For example, column electrode 704A may be primarily coupled with row electrodes 702A and 702E, with secondary couplings for row electrodes 702B, 702C, 702D, and 702F. The row electrode 702A may be primarily coupled to the column electrodes 704A and 704E, with secondary couplings for the column electrodes 704B, 704C, 704D, and 704F. The spatial pattern of primary/secondary mutual capacitance/electrostatic fringe field coupling may continue in a similar manner. It should be noted that the size of the wiring may be enlarged for illustrative purposes, and the wiring size with respect to the conductive segments may be smaller than that shown. In some examples, the conductive sections of the row and column electrodes are formed in a common layer (i.e., the same layer of the touch sensor panel), such as in the second metal layer 506. In some examples, the routing of the row and column electrodes may be at least partially formed in a common layer. In some examples, some or all of the routing may be in a different layer, such as in first metal layer 516 (e.g., to allow electrical separation of the electrodes at the locations where they overlap in the illustration, and to further reduce the contribution of the routing to the capacitance at the active touch node).

As shown in fig. 7A, touch sensor panel 700 can include three rows and three columns of touch nodes (e.g., active touch nodes). For example, a first column of touch nodes may be formed primarily of conductive segments of row electrodes 702A, 702C, 702E and conductive segments of column electrodes 704A, 704B. As another example, the second column touch node may be formed primarily of conductive segments of row electrodes 702B, 702D, 702F and conductive segments of column electrodes 704C, 704D. In a similar manner, a first row of touch nodes can be formed primarily of conductive segments of row electrodes 702A and 702B and conductive segments of column electrodes 704A, 704C, and 704E. As another example, a second row of touch nodes can be formed primarily of conductive segments of row electrodes 702C and 702D and conductive segments of column electrodes 704B, 704D, and 704F.

During operation, a drive circuit coupled to the column electrodes may differentially drive the column electrodes, and a differential amplifier may differentially sense the row electrodes. For example, column electrodes 704A-704F may be activated (e.g., simultaneously) through multiple scanning steps using multiple activation patterns of complementary drive signals (D0 +/-, D1+/-, and D2 +/-). Although a 3 x 3 array of touch nodes is shown for simplicity of illustration, it should be understood that complementary drive signals (e.g., D0+/-, D1+/-, D2 +/-and D3+/- (alternatively denoted D0-D3 and D0 '-D3') can be used to extend the array to a 4 x 4 array (or larger size array). For example, the multi-stimulus pattern may be Hadamard A matrix comprising a common excitation signal (e.g. frequency f) applied to ₁ Sine wave of (d) below) to encode the drive signal with values of 1 (for 0 degree phase) and-1 (for 180 degree phase), allowing the main mutual capacitance to be measured and decoded based on the multi-stimulus drive mode. For example, for a 4 x 4 array, D0-D3 may be represented by the following hadamard matrices:

wherein each row in the matrix represents a step of the scanning and each column represents one of the drive signals D0-D3, such that the value of the matrix represents the phase applied to the common excitation signal for D0, D1, D2 and D3 for each step. For each drive signal in the multi-stimulus pattern of drive signals, complementary signals (e.g., drive signals D0-D3 and D0 '-D3') can be applied simultaneously. For example, the first row corresponding to the first scanning step indicates that the driving signal D0 has a phase of 180 degrees. Drive signal D0 can be differentially applied to column electrodes 704A and 704B such that the signal applied to column electrode 704A is 180 degrees out of phase with the signal applied to column electrode 704B. According to the exemplary hadamard matrix described above, the driver/buffer 706 outputs drive signals having a phase of 0, and outputs complementary drive signals having a phase of 180 degrees. In a similar manner, two complementary drive signals can be applied to the touch sensor panel for each of the drive signals D0-D3 in the 4 x 4 array. For the subsequent three scanning steps, the drive signals for the drive lines may be output according to the remaining rows of the hadamard matrix.

Considering the exemplary receiver of the differential amplifier 708 (or 708'), for the drive signal D0 at the touch node for row 1, column 1, the secondary coupling between the column electrode 704B and the row electrode 702A, which is accomplished via the routing trace 705B, may be relatively small compared to the primary coupling between the column electrode 704A and the row electrode 702A (e.g., via fringing field coupling therebetween). The main coupling may be represented by a capacitance C0 (of row 1, column 1) coupled to the non-inverting (positive) input terminal of the differential amplifier 708. Thus, a current proportional to C0 may appear at the output of the differential amplifier 708. In a similar manner, for drive signal D1, the main coupling between column electrode 704C and row electrode 702B may be represented by a capacitance C1 (of row 1, column 2) coupled to the inverting (negative) input terminal of differential amplifier 708, and a current proportional to C1 may appear at the output of differential amplifier 708. The additional main coupling for the differential amplifier 708 is similar for the remaining columns corresponding to the first row. Thus, for the first scanning step, the measured output of the current by the differential amplifier 708 may be proportional to C0-C1-C2-C3 for an array having four columns. Following the same procedure for the remaining three steps, the outputs of the four scanning steps can be represented as vectors proportional to:

This vector encoding can be decoded or inverted by a matrix to extract individual capacitances, but the entire measurement has an effective accumulation time, as shown by the following equation:

although fig. 7A shows the drive circuit as including three differential drivers 706A-706C outputting signals and their complements, it should be understood that other implementations are possible. For example, six discrete drivers may be used, with each of the differential drivers outputting a signal and its complement. In some examples, complementary drive signals may be applied to adjacent column electrodes such that the net electrical effect caused by the drive signals may be zero (or within a threshold of zero), localized to both column electrodes. For example, adjacent column electrodes 704A and 704B (or 704B and 704C) may be driven with complementary signals and produce a net zero (or near zero) electrical effect (e.g., to reduce noise from a touch system coupled into a display system). Although the application of complementary signals is shown in adjacent electrodes, it should be understood that complementary signals can be applied to non-adjacent column electrodes such that the net electrical effect of the touch sensor panel can be zero (or within a threshold of zero), but can be non-zero at a local area of the touch sensor panel.

For each column of touch nodes in touch sensor panel 700, a first drive signal and a second drive signal can be applied. For example, column 1 of the touch sensor panel can be driven with a first drive signal on column electrode 704A (applied to two touch nodes in a column of touch nodes) and can be driven with a second drive signal on column electrode 704B (e.g., applied to two different touch nodes in a column of touch nodes for a 4 x 4 array). As shown in FIG. 7A, a first drive signal is applied to alternating touch nodes in a column and a second drive signal is applied to alternating touch nodes in a column.

The row electrodes may be sensed differentially using a differential amplifier. Sensing the row electrodes differentially can remove common mode noise from the touch measurements.

Although the application of complementary signals is shown in adjacent electrodes of each column (e.g., complementary signals D0/D0 'applied to column 1, complementary signals D1/D1' applied to column 2, etc.), it should be understood that complementary signals may be applied to different column electrodes such that the net electrical effect may be zero (or within a threshold of zero) over a large local area of the touch sensor panel (e.g., over diagonal touch nodes) but may not be net zero within a column of the touch sensor panel (e.g., for adjacent touch nodes). In some examples, cancellation of complementary signals may occur on diagonal touch nodes, as described in more detail with respect to fig. 13A-13B. For example, the drive circuit can be configured to drive the column electrode 704A with D0+, drive the column electrode 704B with D1+, drive the column electrode 704C with D1+, and drive the column electrode 704D with D0. Thus, cancellation of the transmitted signal may occur at the diagonal. For example, the cancellation of D0+ and D0-may occur between the transmitter electrode for the touch node in row 1, column 1 and the transmitter electrode for the touch node in row 2, column 2 of the array of FIG. 7A. In a similar manner, the cancellation of D1+ and D1-can occur between the transmitter electrode for the touch node in row 1, column 2 and the transmitter electrode for the touch node in row 2, column 1 of the array of FIG. 7A. In some examples, because the distance along the diagonal increases, diagonal cancellation of the complementary drive signals can result in increased sense signals in response to a touch object (because cancellation of the signals is reduced) as compared to sense signals of the touch sensor panel that are canceled by complementary drive signals within the columns of touch nodes.

It should be understood that although touch sensor panel 700 includes a 3 x 3 array of nine main capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to nine active touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be scaled up or down to include fewer or more touch nodes. For example, the touch sensor panel can be scaled to a 4 x 4 array of sixteen main capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to sixteen active touch nodes) or to an 8 x 8 array of touch nodes (e.g., 64 capacitance values for 64 active touch nodes) by adding row electrodes, column electrodes, drivers/transmitters, and differential amplifiers.

Additionally, it should be understood that although differential driving and sensing are described with reference to the touch sensor panel 700 in fig. 7A, in some examples, the touch sensor panel 700 may operate in a non-differential sensing configuration to sense stimulation from an input device (e.g., a stylus providing stimulation) contacting or proximate to the touch sensor panel 700. For example, to detect an input device stimulus, switching circuitry can be used to couple both row electrodes of a row of touch nodes to the same input (e.g., an inverting input) of a differential amplifier and to couple the other input (e.g., a non-inverting input) of the differential amplifier to ground or another reference potential (e.g., corresponding to a row electrode being detected as one sense line using touch circuitry in the configuration shown in FIG. 3B). In contrast, for differential driving and sensing as described herein, the switching circuitry may couple the row electrodes to a differential amplifier (e.g., as represented by differential amplifier 708). For example, switching circuitry (not shown) may optionally be included between the two routing traces for row electrodes 702A and 702B and corresponding differential amplifiers 708. The switching circuit may include one or more switches including multiplexers and/or switches that may be controlled by a mode selection input. In a differential drive/sense mode of operation, the switching circuitry can couple the row electrode 702A to the in-phase terminal (and can decouple the row electrode 702A from the inverting terminal), and the row electrode 702B can be coupled to the inverting terminal of the differential amplifier 708. In a non-differential sensing configuration for sensing a stimulus from an input device (e.g., a stylus), row electrodes 702A and 702B may be coupled to inverting terminals of differential amplifier 708, and the inverting terminals of differential amplifier 708 may be coupled to ground (or virtual ground) using a switching circuit. In some examples, for non-differential operation, the column electrodes in each column may use the same phase excitation signals rather than complementary signals (e.g., D0 may be applied to column electrodes 704A-704B of a first column, D1 may be applied to column electrodes 704C-704D of a second column, and so on).

As shown in FIG. 7A, the column electrodes can be routed to a driver circuit using vertical column routing traces (e.g., column electrodes 704A-704F can be routed to a driver, such as driver 706, using vertical column routing traces 705A-705F). In some examples, the row electrodes may be routed to sensing circuitry using horizontal row routing traces (e.g., row electrodes 702A-702F are routed to sensing circuitry, such as differential amplifier 708', using horizontal column routing traces). In some examples, both column and row electrodes can be routed to driver or sense circuitry using vertical routing traces (e.g., using vertical column routing traces 705A-705F and using vertical row routing traces 703-703F). The use of vertical routing traces for the row and column electrodes (or more generally routing the row and column electrodes to the same edge) can allow the row and column electrodes to be routed to a common location (to connect to drive and sense circuitry) without requiring vertical routing traces in a border area, thereby enabling a device that includes touch sensor panel 700 to have a reduced border.

Fig. 7A shows two vertical routing traces for complementary drive signals per column electrode and two vertical routing traces per row electrode (e.g., two vertical routing traces per pair of row electrodes). In some examples, additional routing traces may be used for row and/or column electrodes. For example, rather than using one routing electrode per drive signal per column (e.g., a total of two routing electrodes for complementary drive signals applied to the columns), multiple routing traces may be used (e.g., four routing traces, two routing traces for each of the complementary drive signals). In some examples, rather than using one routing electrode per column (e.g., a total of two routing electrodes for the differential amplifiers of a row), multiple routing traces may be used. For example, fig. 7B-7C show different configurations of routing traces for touch nodes, with two vertical routing traces for row electrodes and four vertical routing traces for column electrodes, according to examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7B shows a first configuration 720 of routing traces for touch nodes, where two vertical routing traces are used for row electrodes and four vertical routing traces are used for column electrodes. The touch nodes include a section of row electrodes 702 (e.g., having a rectangular shape with an "H" shaped cutout) and a section of column electrodes 704 (e.g., having an "H" shape). Configuration 720 includes two vertical routing traces 726 and 728 for routing complementary drive signals for the column in which the touch electrodes of FIG. 7B are located. One of the vertical routing traces (routing trace 726 or routing trace 728) can be electrically connected to the column electrode segment 704. In some examples, column electrode section 704 can be formed in second metal layer 506, routing traces can be formed in first metal layer 516, and electrical connections between column electrode section 704 and routing traces can be made using vias through interlayer 507. In some examples, routing traces 726 and 728 can extend from one edge of the touch sensor panel to an opposite edge (e.g., from top to bottom). In some such examples, routing traces 726 and 728 are electrically connected with alternating column electrode segments in a column. For example, a column electrode segment in the column can be connected to routing trace 726 for an even row of the touch sensor panel, and a column electrode segment in the column can be connected to routing trace 728 for an odd row of the touch sensor panel.

Configuration 720 also includes four vertical routing traces 730, 732, 734, and 736 for routing row electrodes 702 (including one or more segments). One or more of the vertical routing traces (routing traces 730, 732, 734, and/or 736) can be electrically connected to row electrodes 702. As described in more detail herein, in some examples, different numbers of routing traces may be electrically connected to respective row electrodes 702 depending on the location of the respective rows relative to the sensing circuitry. In some examples, the further a respective row electrode is from the sensing circuitry, the more routing traces that may be coupled to the respective row electrode. In some examples, row electrodes 702 may be formed in second metal layer 506, routing traces may be formed in first metal layer 516, and electrical connections between row electrodes 702 and routing traces may be made using one or more vias through intermediate layer 507. In some examples, routing traces 730, 732, 734, and/or 736 can extend from one edge of the touch sensor panel to an opposite edge (e.g., from top to bottom), optionally with some discontinuities or interconnects present therein, as described in more detail herein.

As shown in fig. 7B, vertical routing traces 726 and 728 for the column electrodes can be disposed overlapping the arms of the H-shaped column electrode segments (e.g., approximately at the middle of the arms), and vertical routing traces 730, 732, 734, and 736 for the row electrodes can be disposed on opposite sides of the vertical routing traces 726 and 728 for the column electrodes. For example, vertical routing trace 726 may be sandwiched between vertical routing traces 730 and 732, and vertical routing trace 728 may be sandwiched between vertical routing traces 734 and 736. In some examples, the vertical routing traces 726, 728, 730, 732, 734, and 736 can be equally spaced apart. In some examples, vertical routing traces 730 and 736 can be disposed so as to not overlap column electrode segment 704, while vertical routing traces 732 and 734 can partially overlap column electrode segment 704, but be located between the arms, so as to minimize overlap of vertical routing traces for row electrodes with column electrodes.

Fig. 7C shows a second configuration 740 of routing traces for touch nodes, where two vertical routing traces are used for row electrodes and four vertical routing traces are used for column electrodes. Configuration 740 may be similar to configuration 720, but with different placements of vertical routing traces 746 and 748 for the column electrodes (e.g., corresponding to vertical routing traces 726 and 728) and vertical routing traces 750, 752, 754, and 756 for the row electrodes (e.g., corresponding to vertical routing traces 730, 732, 734, and 736).

As shown in fig. 7C, vertical routing traces 746 and 748 for the column electrodes can be disposed overlapping the arms of the H-shaped column electrode segment (e.g., approximately at the outer edges of the arms), and vertical routing traces 750, 752, 754, and 756 for the row electrodes can be disposed on opposite sides of the vertical routing traces 746 and 748 for the column electrodes. For example, vertical routing traces 746 may be sandwiched between vertical routing traces 750 and 752, and vertical routing traces 748 may be sandwiched between vertical routing traces 754 and 756. In some examples, the vertical routing traces 746, 748, 750, 752, 754, and 756 can be equally spaced, with a larger pitch than in the configuration of fig. 720. In some examples, vertical routing traces 750 and 756 can be disposed so as not to overlap column electrode segment 704 (e.g., at or within a threshold distance of the outer edges of the segments of row electrodes shown in fig. 7B-7C), while vertical routing traces 752 and 754 can partially overlap column electrode segment 704 but between the arms so as to minimize overlap of the vertical routing traces for the row electrodes with the column electrodes. In some examples, vertical routing traces 752 and 754 may be at or within a threshold distance of the inner edge of the arms of H-shaped column electrode section 704.

Although these vertical routing traces are described with reference to fig. 7B and 7C as vertical routing traces 746, 748, 750, 752, 754, and 756, it should be understood that these vertical routing traces may represent routing tracks (e.g., areas within a metal grid) within which one or more routing traces for a column may be implemented. The routing tracks are sometimes referred to herein as a set of one or more routing trace segments, and the electrical connection portions of one or more sets of the one or more routing trace segments may form respective routing traces for respective row electrodes (or column electrodes). In some examples, the routing tracks are simply referred to as routing traces because conceptually, the various routing segments in the vertical routing tracks extend the full length or substantially the full length of the column, although it is possible that different routing segments may be electrically isolated from each other and may be used to route more than one row electrode (or may be floating).

Fig. 8-10 illustrate different wiring patterns for row electrodes according to examples of the present disclosure. Fig. 8 illustrates a V-shaped wiring pattern according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 8 shows a touch sensor panel 800 that includes a 48 x 32 array of touch nodes, as indicated by indices on the left and top dimensions of the array, where each box in the array represents a touch node formed by a row electrode and a column electrode segment (e.g., corresponding to the touch nodes shown in fig. 7A-7C). Each of these rows may include two row electrodes, for a total of 96 row electrodes to be routed to the sensing circuitry (e.g., to the differential amplifier). Touch sensor panel 800 can be divided into three groups, where each group includes 16 rows. For example, first set 802 may include rows 1-16, second 804 may include rows 17-32, and third set 806 may include rows 33-48. It should be understood that the touch sensor panel may include a different size array or a different number of groups than shown in FIG. 8.

Touch sensor panel 800 includes four vertical routing tracks for the row electrodes in a group 808 of four routing tracks per column. Electrical connections between one or more of the routing traces implemented with the vertical routing tracks are indicated at the touch nodes with a numeric text label ("1", "2", 1 "or" 4). A group 808 of four vertical routing tracks in a column of the touch sensor panel can be used to make electrical connections with one row electrode of each group (e.g., using three routing traces implemented within the four routing tracks). For example, the leftmost group 808 may be used to make electrical connections with row electrodes in rows 2, 18, and 34 of the sets 802, 804, and 806, as indicated by touch nodes with numeric text labels ("1", "2. The locations of the electrical connections for the rows in the different groups may be equally spaced for each column in the V-shaped wiring pattern. For example, the connections in column 1 (at rows 2, 18, and 34) may be separated by 16 rows, and the same spacing between the connections may be repeated for each of the columns in the V-shaped wiring pattern of fig. 8. This spacing can help balance the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel, as a consistent spacing can help equalize the resistance of routing traces for use across the touch sensor panel. Although not shown in FIG. 8 for ease of illustration, each column of the touch sensor panel can include two vertical routing traces (and two vertical routing tracks) for routing the column electrode segments to a driver circuit.

For ease of illustration, fig. 8 shows a group 808 of four vertical routing tracks for odd columns that represents one row electrode of a pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to one terminal of a differential amplifier for the row or otherwise coupled to one terminal of an amplifier for differential measurement), but it should be understood that a similar group of vertical routing tracks can be used for even columns to electrically connect with another row electrode of the pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to another terminal of a differential amplifier for the row). For example, the vertical routing tracks of group 808 in column 1 can be used to make electrical connections with one of the row electrodes in row 2, row 18, and row 34 of the touch sensor panel, and another set of vertical routing traces in an adjacent column 2 can be used to make electrical connections with another of the row electrodes in row 2, row 18, and row 24. Thus, each group may include one electrical connection per column, thus a total of 32 electrical connections per group, with three groups of 96 electrical connections.

Although the second row electrodes described above as rows are electrically connected in adjacent columns, it should be understood that in some examples, the connection of the second row electrodes of a row may be made in different columns. For example, the connection of even columns can occur at a touch node on a diagonal between two odd columns. For example, electrical connection of one row electrode in row 48 can be made in column 15, and electrical connection of a second row electrode in row 48 can be made in column 16; electrical connection of one row electrode in row 47 can be made in column 17, and electrical connection of a second row electrode in row 47 can be made in column 14; electrical connection of one row electrode in row 46 can be made in column 13 and electrical connection of a second row electrode in row 46 can be made in column 18; electrical connection to one row electrode in row 45 can be made in column 19, and electrical connection to the second row electrode in row 45 can be made in column 12, and so on.

As shown in fig. 8, the touch sensor panel 800 may have a V-shaped wiring pattern because the position of the electrical connection of each group generates a V-shaped pattern. For example, the electrical connections between the routing traces and the row electrodes of a group may be positioned with an increasing slope arrangement when moving toward the center of the group and with a decreasing slope arrangement when moving from the center of the group toward the left and right edges. In some examples, the electrical connections on the left half of the group may be for even rows and those on the right half of the group may be for odd rows (or vice versa). For example, for set 806, electrical connection of rows can occur at those touch nodes labeled "4. The chevron pattern may point upward in fig. 8 such that the electrical connection of row 48 at the top of group 806 may be located at the center of the 32 rows (e.g., at columns 15 and 16). The chevron pattern repeats in a similar manner for groups 802 and 804.

In some examples, having an upwardly directed V-shaped pattern may help to reduce the maximum length of the routing trace and thus reduce the maximum resistance. For example, vertical routing traces can be routed to a center region 850 at the bottom of the panel (e.g., in a border region outside of the active area of the touch sensor panel). The central region 850 may be a set of bond pads or other connections to enable connection to touch sensing circuitry including a differential amplifier (or a single-ended amplifier configured for differential measurements). Thus, a group 808 of routing tracks and routing traces implemented within the routing traces at the leftmost edge and the rightmost edge of the touch sensor panel can travel a greater horizontal distance to the center region 850 (e.g., in the bottom border region) than a group of routing traces at the center of the touch sensor panel. To balance these trace lengths, the upwardly directed chevron pattern may allow routing traces in a set of routing tracks at the leftmost edge and the rightmost edge of the touch sensor panel to travel shorter vertical distances than routing traces in a set of routing tracks at the center of the touch sensor panel. Thus, the upward facing chevron pattern can reduce the maximum path length, thereby reducing the maximum routing trace resistance to increase the bandwidth of touch sensor panel 800. However, it should be understood that in some examples, the V-shape may be oriented differently (e.g., pointing downward).

As shown in fig. 8, the vertical routing tracks can extend substantially from one edge (e.g., bottom edge) to an opposite edge (e.g., top edge) of the touch sensor panel to improve optical performance. For example, rather than terminating the vertical routing traces within the vertical routing tracks at points of electrical connection with the row electrodes, the vertical routing tracks may include routing trace segments that may extend beyond the points of electrical connection, such that the vertical routing tracks may provide a more consistent pattern of metallic grid lines that may not be readily visible to a user (to improve optical performance). In some examples, the vertical routing rails can include one or more breaks (e.g., breaks in the metal grid) such that the remainder of the routing trace segments in the vertical routing rails beyond the touch node (where the electrical connection is made) are not electrically connected to the sense amplifier (e.g., are floating or fixed to a voltage potential). For example, fig. 8 shows a discontinuity 813 in the metal grid of the vertical routing tracks after the vertical routing trace 810D makes electrical connection with the row electrode 814A, a discontinuity 823 in the metal grid of the two vertical routing tracks after the vertical routing trace 810C makes electrical connection with the row electrode 814B, and a discontinuity 833 in the metal grid of the four vertical routing tracks after the vertical routing traces 810A and 810B make electrical connection with the row electrode 814C. Discontinuities in the metal mesh beyond the electrical connection may reduce the loading of the traces.

Additionally or alternatively, as explained in more detail below, in some examples, the effective resistance of the routing can be different for different groups of touch sensor panel 800. For example, after a portion of the routing traces are electrically connected to the row electrodes (and after a discontinuity in the routing trace), some or all of the remaining portions of the routing trace segments within the routing trace may be used otherwise and interconnected to one or more of the remaining routing trace segments within one or more other routing traces to increase the effective width of the routing trace, thereby reducing the effective resistance of the routing trace so that the routing trace connects to a touch node in a downstream group. In this way, the breaks (breaks) and interconnections of a set of vertical routing tracks can be used to balance the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, routing trace utilization (breaks and interconnections of vertical routing tracks) can be optimized on a per-touch node basis to reduce maximum routing trace resistance or to reduce variations in total routing trace resistance.

For example, a first routing trace may comprise a portion of a first vertical routing track (e.g., vertical routing trace 810D) and may be used to route row electrode 814A in row 1, column 31 to the bottom of touch sensor panel 800. An electrical connection can be made through one or more vias 812 between the row electrode and a first routing trace (e.g., vertical routing trace 810D) at the location of the row electrode 814A in the touch node of row 1, column 31. After the discontinuity 813, some or all of the remaining portions of the vertical routing track (represented by routing trace segments 810D ', 810D ", and 810D'") can be used to reduce the routing trace resistance of the upstream set. For example, the second routing trace may include a second portion of the first vertical routing track (e.g., routing trace segment 810D') and a portion of the second vertical routing track (e.g., routing trace 810C). For example, the segments of the first and second routing tracks can couple one or more points between the electrical connections of row 1, column 31 (in group 802) and the electrical connections of row 17, column 31 (in group 804) such that the effective width of the second routing trace between row 2 and row 17 is doubled (thereby reducing resistance) compared to the width of the second routing trace between row 1 and row 2. Electrical connections can be made through one or more vias 822 between the row electrode and the second routing trace at the location of the row electrode 814B in the touch node of row 17, column 31 (e.g., with vertical routing trace 810C and/or interconnected trace segment 810D').

After discontinuity 823, some or all of the remaining portions of the first and second vertical routing tracks (represented by routing trace segments 810C ', 810D ", and 810D'") may be used to reduce the routing trace resistance of the upstream group. For example, the third routing trace may include a portion of the third and fourth vertical routing tracks (e.g., vertical routing traces 810A and 810B), a third portion of the first vertical routing track, and a second portion of the second routing track. For example, sections of the third and fourth routing tracks can be interconnected at one or more points between the electrical connections to the row electrodes 814C and the differential amplifier circuit (e.g., in or outside of the active area of the touch sensor panel). Additionally, wire trace sections 810C' and 810D "in the first and second wire traces can be coupled to the vertical wire traces 810A and 810B at one or more points between the electrical connections in row 17, column 31 (in group 804) and the electrical connections in row 33, column 31 (in group 806) to double the effective width of the third wire trace between row 18 and row 33 (thereby reducing resistance) as compared to the width of the third wire trace between row 1 and row 18 for wire traces between row 17 and row 33 (and double the effective bandwidth as compared to a single vertical wire trace). Electrical connections may be made through one or more vias 832 between the row electrodes and the third routing trace (e.g., with vertical routing traces 810A-810B and/or interconnected routing trace segments 810C' and 810D ") at the location of row electrode 814C in the 33 rd row, 31 st column touch node. After the break 833, the remaining routing segments 810A ', 810B ', 810C ", and 810D '" can be decoupled for the routing traces and from the differential amplifier.

The numeric text labels with electrically connected touch nodes provide an indication of the number of vertical routing tracks for each routing trace and the effective width of the routing traces for row electrodes placed into each group. For example, the numeric text label "1" with electrically connected touch nodes indicates that a portion of one of the four vertical routing tracks in group 808 (with an effective width of one routing track) is available for routing traces (e.g., similar to the first routing trace comprising routing trace segment 810D). The numeric text label "1" with electrically connected touch nodes indicates that a portion of two of the four vertical routing tracks in the group 808 can be used to double the effective width of a portion of the routing length (e.g., a second routing trace comprising routing trace segment 810C and interconnected routing trace segment 810D'). The numeric text label "4" with electrically connected touch nodes indicates that the portion of the four vertical routing traces in group 808 can be used to double the effective width of a portion of the routing length (e.g., the third routing trace comprising routing trace segments 810A-810B and interconnected routing trace segments 810C' and 810D ").

Alternatively, the numeric text label "1" may provide an indication of a transition point of the effective width of two wiring tracks to the effective width of one wiring track, and the numeric text label "4.

It should be understood that the size of the touch sensor panel, the number of sets, and the number of vertical routing tracks per group are exemplary. In some examples, the touch sensor panel may double in size by having 48 rows and 64 columns, and the chevron pattern shown in fig. 8 may repeat for columns 33 through 64. In some such examples, each row may have two row electrodes, and additional columns may be used to double the number of routing traces used to make the electrical connections. In some such examples, each row may have four row electrodes. For example, two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 1 through 32, and an additional two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 33 through 64. In some examples, more or fewer vertical routing tracks or groups than shown in fig. 8 may be used.

The V-shaped wiring pattern can be used to maximize the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel by reducing the maximum total wiring trace length. However, in some examples, because the routing for adjacent rows may be separated by a large number of columns. For example, the electrical connections of row 36 (column 3) and row 35 (column 29) may be separated by 26 columns, and the electrical connections of row 32 (column 15) and row 33 (column 31) may be separated by 16 columns. In contrast, the electrical connections of row 48 (column 15) and row 47 (column 17) may be separated by 2 columns. Accordingly, the touch nodes of the touch sensor panel 800 may have resistance differences between adjacent touch nodes, which may cause a reduction in accuracy in measuring the position of an object moving across the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the reduced accuracy may manifest as increased swing of the active or passive stylus input device due to resistance differences between adjacent touch nodes in the columns (and/or rows).

Fig. 9 illustrates an S-shaped or zigzag wiring pattern according to an example of the present disclosure. The S-shaped wiring pattern can reduce the difference in resistance between adjacent touch nodes in a column (and/or in a row) compared to the V-shaped wiring pattern shown in fig. 8, but the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel is reduced (e.g., the bandwidth is reduced in a range between 5% and 25%) due to the longer maximum wiring trace resistance. Fig. 9 shows a touch sensor panel 900 that includes a 48 x 32 array of touch nodes similar to the array of touch nodes of touch sensor panel 800, which can include groups 902, 904, and 906 (e.g., corresponding to groups 802, 804, and 806), but includes different electrical connection patterns between groups 908 of vertical routing tracks (e.g., corresponding to groups 808 of four vertical routing tracks).

Electrical connections between one or more of the row electrodes and routing traces using sections in the vertical routing tracks are indicated at touch nodes with a numeric text label ("1", "2", or "4"). A group 908 of four vertical routing tracks in a column of the touch sensor panel can be used to make electrical connections with one row electrode of each group. For example, the leftmost group 908 may be used to make electrical connections with row electrodes in rows 1, 32, and 33 of groups 902, 904, and 906, respectively, as indicated by touch nodes with numeric text labels ("1", "2. Unlike the V-shaped wiring pattern, the positions of electrical connections of rows in different groups may not be equally spaced. For example, connections in column 1 (at rows 1, 32, and 33), some of which may be separated by 31 rows, and other connections may be at adjacent rows, and the different spacing between connections may result in a reduction in bandwidth of the touch sensor panel due to the non-uniform spacing and increased trace resistance of some of the routing traces of the touch sensor panel. Although not shown in FIG. 9 for ease of illustration, each column of the touch sensor panel can include two vertical routing tracks for routing the column electrode segments to a drive circuit.

For ease of illustration, fig. 9 shows a group 908 of four vertical routing tracks for odd columns that represents one row electrode of a pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to one terminal of a differential amplifier for that row), but it should be understood that similar groups of vertical routing tracks can be used for even columns to electrically connect with another row electrode of the pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to another terminal of a differential amplifier for that row). For example, the vertical routing tracks of group 908 in column 1 can be used to make electrical connection with one of the row electrodes in row 1, row 32, and row 33 of the touch sensor panel, and another set of vertical routing tracks in an adjacent column 2 can be used to make electrical connection with another of the row electrodes in row 1, row 32, and row 33. Thus, each group may include one electrical connection per column, thus a total of 32 electrical connections per group, with three groups of 96 electrical connections. Although the second row electrodes described above as rows are electrically connected in adjacent columns, it should be understood that in some examples, the connection of the second row electrodes of a row may be made in different columns.

As shown in fig. 9, the touch sensor panel 900 may be referred to as having an S-shaped wiring pattern because the position of the electrical connection of each group generates an S-shaped pattern. For example, the electrical connections between the routing traces and the row electrodes of the group may be positioned in a single slope arrangement between the left and right edges of the group. In some examples, adjacent (e.g., vertically adjacent) groups may have their electrical connections arranged with opposite slopes (alternating from left to right or from right to left). In addition, the electrical connections of two adjacent rows at the boundary between the two adjacent groups (e.g., the electrical connection between a first row in a first group and the electrical connection between a second row in a second group different from the first group, the first and second rows being adjacent) can be adjacent to each other (near a common edge of the touch sensor panel). For example, each sequential electrical connection between a bottom row of a first group and between a top row of an adjacent second group can be located along a common edge of the touch sensor panel (e.g., along a right or left side edge). For example, for group 906, electrical connection of the rows can occur at those touch nodes labeled "4. The S-shaped pattern repeats in a similar manner for groups 902 and 904, with electrical connections along a second diagonal descending from row 32, column 1 to row 17, column 32 and along a third diagonal descending from row 16, column 32 to row 1, column 1. The 33 st row, 1 st column and 32 nd row, 1 st column electrical connections can be along a left side edge of the touch sensor panel, and the 17 th row, 32 nd column and 16 th row, 32 nd column electrical connections can be along a right side edge of the touch sensor panel.

In some examples, having an S-shaped pattern can help reduce the resistance variation between adjacent rows, and thus reduce the row-to-row bandwidth variation. For example, the routing trace length, and thus the resistance change of any two adjacent rows, may be relatively small (e.g., less than 100 Ω), while the V-shaped configuration of fig. 8 may have some interruptions, in which case the routing trace length, and thus the resistance change, may be relatively large (e.g., greater than 500 Ω) between some adjacent rows. For example, in the chevron configuration of fig. 8, the connections of rows 32 and 33 may occur in columns 15 and 1, respectively, which may result in relatively large differences in trace length and resistance. In some examples, reducing the row-to-row resistance variation may improve the accuracy of touch sensing, which may be manifested as a reduced swing of the active or passive stylus input device due to smaller differences in resistance between adjacent touch nodes in the columns (and/or rows).

As shown in fig. 9, the vertical routing tracks (and trace sections therein) can extend substantially from one edge (e.g., bottom edge) to an opposite edge (e.g., top edge) of the touch sensor panel to improve optical performance. For example, rather than terminating the vertical routing traces at points of electrical connection with the row electrodes, the sections in the vertical routing tracks may extend beyond the points of electrical connection so that the vertical routing tracks may provide a more consistent pattern of metal grid lines that may not be readily visible to a user (to improve optical performance). In some examples, the vertical routing rails may include discontinuities such that the remainder of the vertical routing rails beyond the touch node (where the electrical connection is made) are not electrically connected to the sense amplifier (e.g., are floating or fixed to a voltage potential), as described above with reference to fig. 8, and for the sake of brevity, are not repeated here.

Additionally or alternatively, as explained above with respect to fig. 8, in some examples, the effective resistance of the routing can be different for different groups of touch sensor panel 900. For example, after a routing trace that includes a portion of a routing track is electrically connected to a row electrode (and after a break in the routing track), some or all of the remaining portion of the routing track may be used otherwise and interconnected to one or more of the remaining routing traces to increase the effective width of the routing trace, thereby reducing the effective resistance of the routing trace so that the routing trace connects to a touch node in a downstream group. In this way, breaks and interconnections of a set of vertical routing tracks can be used to better balance the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, routing trace utilization (breaks and interconnections of vertical routing traces) may be optimized on a per-touch node basis to reduce maximum routing trace resistance or to reduce variation in total routing trace resistance.

It should be understood that the size of the touch sensor panel, the number of sets, and the number of vertical routing tracks per group are exemplary. In some examples, the touch sensor panel may double in size by having 48 rows and 64 columns, and the S-shaped pattern shown in fig. 9 may repeat for columns 33 through 64 (e.g., mirror over the entire boundary between column 32 and column 33). In some such examples, each row may have two row electrodes, and additional columns may be used to double the number of routing traces used to make the electrical connections. In some such examples, each row may have four row electrodes. For example, two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 1 through 32, and an additional two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 33 through 64. In some examples, more or fewer vertical routing tracks or groups than shown in fig. 9 may be used.

In some examples, a hybrid wiring pattern may be used. In the hybrid wiring pattern, some wiring traces are disposed in the active area (e.g., overlapping with the row electrodes and/or the column electrodes), and some wiring traces are disposed outside the active area (e.g., in the border area). Fig. 10 illustrates a hybrid wiring pattern according to an example of the present disclosure. The hybrid wiring pattern may include the features of the S-shaped or saw-tooth wiring pattern shown in fig. 9 (e.g., row connections along a diagonal), but also include some boundary region wiring traces. The hybrid wiring pattern may reduce the resistance difference between adjacent touch nodes in a column (and/or row) in a similar manner as described above with respect to fig. 9. However, using border region routing traces may reduce the number of routing tracks required for the active area and/or reduce the maximum routing trace resistance by using more routing tracks of longer routing traces for other purposes.

FIG. 10 shows a touch sensor panel 1000 that includes a 48 x 32 array of touch nodes similar to the array of touch nodes of touch sensor panel 900, which can include groups 1002, 1004, and 1006 (e.g., corresponding to groups 902, 904, and 906), but includes different electrical connection patterns between groups of vertical routing tracks 1008 (e.g., corresponding to groups of two vertical routing tracks). Although two vertical routing tracks are shown per column, these routing tracks may be thicker (and thus have improved resistance characteristics (e.g., reduced resistance per unit length of routing track)). Alternatively, the vertical routing tracks can include four vertical routing tracks (e.g., corresponding to the group 908 of four vertical routing tracks), where two of the four vertical routing tracks can be routed to have the same connections as one of the two illustrated vertical routing tracks in fig. 10 (or alternatively, some or all of the columns can use one of the four vertical routing tracks for interconnection in the first group 1002 and three of the four vertical routing tracks for interconnection with the third group 1006).

Electrical connections between one or more of the row electrodes and routing traces using segments in the vertical routing tracks are indicated at touch nodes with a numeric text label ("1" or "2". A group 1008 of two vertical routing tracks in one column of the touch sensor panel can be used to make electrical connections with one row electrode in the upper set and one row electrode in the lower set. For example, the leftmost group 1008 can be used to make electrical connections with row electrodes in the 16 th and 33 th rows in groups 1002 and 1006, respectively, as indicated by touch nodes with numeric text labels ("1" or "2. In a similar manner, vertical routing rails in column 3 can be used to make electrical connections with row electrodes in rows 15 and 34 in banks 1002 and 1006. Electrical connections to each of the row electrodes in the middle set 1004 may be made using routing traces (e.g., routing traces 1010) in the border areas (e.g., outside the active area). The routing traces in the border area may also be referred to herein as border area routing traces or border routing traces. As with the S-shaped wiring pattern of the wiring of fig. 9, the locations of the electrical connections of the rows in different groups may not be equally spaced. For example, the connections in column 1 (16 th and 33 th rows) may be separated by 17 rows, and the connections in column 31 may be separated by 47 rows. The different spacing between connections can result in a reduction in bandwidth of the touch sensor panel due to the non-uniform spacing and increased trace resistance of some of the routing traces of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, a hybrid wiring configuration may be used to reduce increased trace resistance, as described herein. Although not shown in FIG. 10 for ease of illustration, each column of the touch sensor panel can include two vertical routing tracks for routing the column electrode segments to the drive circuitry.

For ease of illustration, fig. 10 shows a group 1008 of two vertical routing tracks for odd columns that represents one row electrode of a pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to one terminal of a differential amplifier for that row), but it should be understood that a similar group of vertical routing tracks can be used for even columns to electrically connect with the other row electrode of the pair of row electrodes in a row of the touch sensor panel (e.g., that is to be coupled to the other terminal of a differential amplifier for that row). For example, the vertical routing rails of group 1008 in column 1 may be used to make electrical connections with one of the row electrodes in row 1 and row 33 of the touch sensor panel, and another set of vertical routing rails in an adjacent column 2 may be used to make electrical connections with the other of the row electrodes in row 1 and row 33. Electrical connections to a pair of row electrodes can be made in a border area (e.g., on the same or opposite side of the touch sensor panel). Thus, each of the upper and lower sets may include one electrical connection per column and the middle set may include two electrical connections per row (one for each row electrode in a pair of row electrodes in a row), thus totaling 32 electrical connections per set, with 96 electrical connections for the three sets. Although the second row electrodes described above as rows are electrically connected in adjacent columns in the upper and lower sets, it should be understood that in some examples, the connection of the second row electrodes of a row may be made in different columns.

As shown in fig. 10, the touch sensor panel 1000 may have a wiring pattern similar to an S-shaped wiring pattern. For example, the electrical connections between the routing traces and the row electrodes of a group may be positioned in a single slope arrangement between the left and right edges of the group. For example, for group 1006, electrical connection of rows can occur at those touch nodes labeled "1" along a first diagonal descending from row 48, column 32 to row 33, column 1. The electrical connections for group 1002 follow a similar fashion, with the electrical connections along a second diagonal from row 16, column 1 to row 1, column 32. The middle groups 1004 may be connected using border region routing, as described herein. In some examples, the first and third groups separated by the intermediate group may have their electrical connections arranged with opposite slopes (alternating left-to-right or right-to-left). In addition, electrical connections between first rows in a first group adjacent to rows connected using border area routing and electrical connections between second rows in a second group different from the first group may be located at or near a common edge of the touch sensor panel. For example, the electrical connections for row 33, column 1 and row 16, column 1 can be along the left edge of the touch sensor panel.

In some examples, having a diagonal pattern similar to an S-shaped pattern in the hybrid device may help reduce resistance variations between adjacent rows within the upper and lower groups, and thus reduce row-to-row bandwidth variations. In some examples, the border area routing traces may also be designed to reduce the variation in resistance from row to row and provide relative continuity of resistance for the middle group (e.g., between the resistances in the top row of the lower group and the bottom row of the upper group).

As shown in fig. 10, the vertical routing tracks (and trace sections therein) can extend substantially from one edge (e.g., bottom edge) to an opposite edge (e.g., top edge) of the touch sensor panel to improve optical performance. For example, rather than terminating the vertical routing traces at points of electrical connection with the row electrodes, the vertical routing traces can extend beyond the points of electrical connection so that the vertical routing traces can provide a more consistent pattern of metal grid lines that may not be readily visible to a user (to improve optical performance). In some examples, the vertical routing rails may include discontinuities such that the remaining portion of the vertical routing rails beyond (where electrical connection is made to) the touch node is not electrically connected to the sense amplifier (e.g., is floating or fixed to a voltage potential), as described above with reference to fig. 8, and is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

Additionally or alternatively, as explained above with respect to fig. 8, in some examples, the effective resistance of the routing can be different for different groups of touch sensor panel 1000. For example, after a routing trace that includes a portion of a routing track is electrically connected to a row electrode (and after a discontinuity in the routing track), some or all of the remaining portion of the routing track may be used elsewhere and interconnected to one or more of the remaining routing traces to increase the effective width of the routing trace, thereby decreasing the effective resistance of the routing trace so that the routing trace connects to a touch node in a downstream group. In this way, breaks and interconnections of a set of vertical routing tracks can be used to better balance the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, routing trace utilization (breaks and interconnections of vertical routing traces) may be optimized on a per-touch node basis to reduce maximum routing trace resistance or to reduce variation in total routing trace resistance.

It should be understood that the size of the touch sensor panel, the number of sets, and the number of vertical routing tracks per group are exemplary. In some examples, the touch sensor panel may double in size by having 48 rows and 64 columns, and the hybrid pattern shown in fig. 10 may repeat for columns 33 through 64 (e.g., mirror over the entire boundary between column 32 and column 33). In some such examples, each row may have two row electrodes, and additional columns may be used to double the number of routing traces used to make the electrical connections. In some such examples, each row may have four row electrodes. For example, two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 1 through 32, and an additional two row electrodes per row may be used for columns 33 through 64. In some examples, more or fewer vertical wire traces or groups than shown in fig. 10 may be used.

Although fig. 10 shows the upper and lower sets 1002, 1006 having routing traces in the active area and the middle set 1004 having routing traces in the border area, it should be understood that the trace distribution in the active area and the border area may be different than that shown in fig. 10. For example, more or fewer electrical connections may vary between the sigmoid pattern and the hybrid pattern (e.g., adding a local third diagonal in the second group by including some active area routing traces/tracks for rows in the middle group, or reducing the length of the diagonals in the upper and/or lower groups by using more border routing traces for the electrical connections).

As described herein, in some examples, electrical connection of a row to a differential sense amplifier can affect crosstalk between adjacent rows within a column. 11A-11B illustrate an exemplary touch sensor with vertical routing traces and corresponding signal levels with and without crosstalk according to examples of the present disclosure. FIG. 11A shows touch sensor panel 1100, which can correspond to row and column electrodes of touch sensor panel 700 (but with different routing shown). Row electrodes 1104 corresponding to the touch nodes of row 1, column 2 can be coupled to sense amplifiers using routing traces implemented with sections in three routing tracks 1106 (with three routing trace connection points, such as vias, shown for row electrodes 1104). The routing track 1106 can be a vertical routing track that overlaps with other touch nodes in a column (e.g., row 2, column 2 and row 3, column 2). FIG. 11B shows a comparison of a signal measurement with crosstalk due to the presence of a finger 1102 (touching or near the touch node of row 2, column 2) at a touch electrode in the second column and a signal measurement without the crosstalk (e.g., an actual or ideal signal). As shown in fig. 11B, the presence of a finger 1102 proximate to routing trace 1106 at row 2, column 2 may cause modulation of the measurement signal at row 1, column 2. In some examples, the modulation may be approximately 5% to 30%, depending on the size, number, and/or orientation of the fingers. This modulation can cause distortion of the touch signal waveform, which leads to position detection inaccuracies and poor touch performance. In some examples, as described with respect to fig. 11D, differential routing traces may be used to mitigate the effects of crosstalk.

Fig. 11C and 11D illustrate portions of an example touch sensor panel with non-differential routing traces or with differential routing traces according to examples of the present disclosure. The respective portions of touch sensor panels 1120 and 1140 each include a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes comprising four column electrodes 1124A-1124D (H-shaped electrodes) and four row electrodes labeled 1122A-1122D. The row electrodes 1122A-1122D may be routed to sensing circuitry (e.g., single-ended or differential amplifiers) using routing traces 1126A-1126H. Electrical connections between routing traces implemented in the routing tracks 1126A-1126H and the row electrodes 1122A-1122D may be made using vias 1128A-1128 l. For simplification, the column wiring is not shown in fig. 11C to 11D. The four row electrodes can be coupled to four inputs of the sensing circuit, labeled with labels S0+, S0, S1+, and S1- (e.g., which can be used for two differential measurements). Two row electrodes 1122A and 1122B (also labeled S0+ and S0-) may be placed to two inputs of a sensing circuit (e.g., two terminals of a differential sense amplifier S0) for differential measurement, and two row electrodes 1122C and 1122D (also labeled S1+ and S1-) may be placed to two inputs of a sensing circuit (e.g., two terminals of a differential sense amplifier S1) for differential measurement.

In some examples, as shown in the non-differential configuration of fig. 11C, the routing traces for the first inputs of the differential measurement may be disposed in one column and the routing traces for the second inputs of the differential measurement may be disposed in a second column. For example, the first routing trace may be implemented using routing trace sections in the routing tracks 1126A and 1126B and using portions of the routing trace sections in the routing tracks 1126C and 1126D. The first routing trace may be electrically connected to the row electrode 1122A using vias 1128A-1128D, and may run vertically in the left column. The routing tracks 1126A and 1126B also overlap the row electrodes 1122C, but do not have electrical connections. In a similar manner, the second routing trace may be implemented using routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126E and 1126F and using portions of the routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126G and 1126H. A second routing trace may be electrically connected to row electrode 1122B using vias 1128E-1128H, and may run vertically in the right column. The routing tracks 1126E and 1126F also overlap the row electrode 1122D, but do not have an electrical connection. It should be appreciated that the routing for row electrodes 1122A and 1122B may correspond to two routing traces with a "4. For example, the routing trace segment of routing traces 1126A and 1126B that corresponds to one input of the sensing circuit is shown connected and divided into routing trace segments in four traces above row electrode 1122A (e.g., with some horizontal interconnections between the traces near the boundary between row electrode 1122A and row electrode 1122C). Likewise, the routing trace segment in routing tracks 1126E and 1126F that corresponds to another input of the sensing circuit are shown connected and divided into routing trace segments in four tracks above row electrode 1122B (e.g., with some horizontal interconnections between tracks near the boundary between row electrode 1122B and row electrode 1122D). FIG. 11C also shows wire trace segments in the wire traces 1126C and 1126D that are electrically connected to the row electrode 1122C using vias 1128I and 1128J, and wire trace segments in the wire traces 1126G and 1126H are electrically connected to the row electrode 1122D using vias 1128K and 1128L. 11A-11B, a finger touching or approaching the lower right touch node comprising column electrodes 1124C and row electrodes 1122C may cause some crosstalk (e.g., a modulation that distorts the touch signal) to be introduced into the measurement of the upper right touch node comprising column electrodes 1124A and row electrodes 1122A due to the overlapping of routing tracks 1126A and 1126B with the lower right touch node.

In some examples, differential routing traces may be used to reduce crosstalk, as shown in fig. 11D. In a differential routing configuration, the routing traces of the first input for differential measurements and the routing traces of the second input for differential measurements may be disposed in the same column. For example, a first routing trace may be implemented using routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126A and 1126B and using portions of routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126C and 1126D, and a second routing trace may be implemented using routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126E and 1126F and using portions of routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126G and 1126H. The first routing trace is electrically connected to row electrode 1122A using vias 1128A-1128D, and the second electrode is electrically connected to row electrode 1122B using vias 1128E-1128H. The segments of the first routing trace and the segments of the second routing trace may be laid out vertically in pairs of routing tracks (e.g., in the left-side column, and also in the upper-half of the right-side column). The first and second routing traces of the routing tracks 1126A, 1126B, 1126E, and 1126F also overlap, but do not have an electrical connection, the row electrode 1122C. FIG. 11D also shows the routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126C and 1126D that are electrically connected to the row electrode 1122C using vias 1128I and 1128J, and the routing trace segments in the routing tracks 1126G and 1126H are electrically connected to the row electrode 1122D using vias 1128K and 1128L. These segments may be laid out vertically in pairs of routing tracks (e.g., in the bottom right column), and these connections of row electrodes 1122C and 1122D may be made within the same column (e.g., rather than in different columns as in fig. 11C).

Touching or proximity of a finger to a lower left touch node comprising column electrode 1124C and row electrode 1122C can result in modulation being introduced into the measurement of the upper left touch node comprising column electrode 1124A and row electrode 1122A due to the overlapping of wiring tracks 1126A and 1126B with the lower left touch node. However, the same (or similar) modulation may be introduced due to overlapping routing tracks 1126E and 1126F overlapping the lower left touch node. Thus, differential measurement of inputs received from the first and second wires (e.g., which include at least sections of the wire tracks 1126A, 1126B, 1126E, and 1126F) may cancel or reduce crosstalk modulation (e.g., crosstalk modulation going to common mode). Although fig. 11D shows crosstalk reduction for a 2 x 2 array at connected 4.

As described herein, the differential drive and differential sensing architecture can reduce noise in the touch and/or display system of the touch screen that may occur due to the proximity of the touch system to the display system. However, the use of differential drive and differential sense architectures can result in a reduced signal-to-noise ratio of the sensed touch signal due to parasitic non-idealities of the implementation of the differential drive and differential sense architectures. In some examples, as described in more detail herein, the interleaved connections between the drive circuitry and the column electrodes and/or between the sense circuitry and the row electrodes can reduce parasitic effects and/or increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the differential drive and differential sense architectures.

12A-12B illustrate an example touch node in a row and column architecture using single ended capacitance measurements or differential capacitance measurements according to examples of the present disclosure. FIG. 12A shows row electrode 1202 and column electrode 1204 of a touch sensor panel, where touch node 1200 corresponds to a adjacency between a portion of row electrode 1202 and column electrode 1204. As shown in FIG. 12A, the column electrode 1204 can include a plurality of coupled electrode segments 1204A-1204C, and the row electrode 1202 can include a plurality of coupled electrode segments 1202A-1202C (coupling of segments is not shown for simplicity).

Drive circuitry 1206 can stimulate row electrodes 1202 and sense circuitry 1208 coupled to column electrodes 1204 can measure the capacitance of touch node 1200. The capacitance measured by the sensing circuit can primarily measure the capacitive coupling between row electrode segment 1202B and column electrode segment 1204B, which is represented by capacitance C in FIG. 12A _M (main capacitor) is shown. However, except for measuring C _M In addition, the capacitance measurements may also include parasitic capacitances from couplings between other row and column electrode segments of adjacent touch nodes. For example, parasitic coupling can include coupling (C) between row electrode segment 1202A and column electrode segment 1204B _PR Or parasitic row coupling), coupling between row electrode segment 1202C and column electrode segment 1204B (C) _PR ) Coupling between row electrode segment 1202B and column electrode segment 1204A (C) _PC Or parasitic column coupling) that has been coupled between row electrode segment 1202B and column electrode segment 1204C (C _PC )。

FIG. 12A shows a circuit diagram representing a drive circuit 1206 for a column electrode 1204 and a sense circuit 1208 for a row electrode 1202, where the capacitances measured for the touch nodes 1200 include a main capacitance C _M And a combined parasitic capacitance of the two parasitic column couplings and the two parasitic row couplings. Since the measurement is single ended, the sum of these capacitances is the total measured capacitance C _M +2C _PC +2C _PR 。

FIG. 12B shows a touch sensor panel including two touch sensor panelsA column of column electrodes and a portion of a row having two row electrodes, including a first column electrode 1214A (comprising two electrode segments shown in fig. 12B) and a second column electrode 1214B, including a first row electrode 1212A (comprising two electrode segments shown in fig. 12B) and a second column electrode 1212B. Touch node 1210 corresponds to an adjacency between column electrode 1214B and row electrode 1212B. Drive circuitry 1216 can stimulate row electrode 1212B with a drive signal and row electrode 1212B with a complementary drive signal (as indicated by the D + and D-labels), and sense circuitry 1218, coupled to column electrode 1214B and column electrode 1214A, can differentially measure the capacitance of touch node 1210 (as indicated by the S + and S-labels). The capacitance measured by the sensing circuitry may primarily measure the capacitive coupling between row electrode 1212B and column electrode 1214B, which is measured by capacitance C, and also measure the parasitic capacitance _M (main capacitor) is shown. Parasitic capacitance can include coupling (C) between row electrode 1212A and column electrode segment 1214B _PR Doubled for two adjacent segments shown in FIG. 12B), and coupling between row electrode 1202B and column electrode 1214A (C) _PC Doubled for two adjacent segments as shown in fig. 12B).

FIG. 12B shows a circuit diagram representing drive circuitry 1216 for row electrodes 1212A-1212B and sense circuitry 1218 for column electrodes 1214A-1214B in which the capacitance measured for the touch node 1210 includes a primary capacitance C _M But is attenuated by the combined parasitic capacitance. Due to the differential drive and the different sensing configurations, these parasitic capacitances are out of phase and sum to the total measured capacitance C _M -2C _PC -2C _PR . The parasitic effects reduce the total measurement signal, which reduces the SNR. In some examples, the parasitic effects may attenuate the total measurement signal by approximately 75% to 80%, thereby reducing the SNR of the touch sensor panel. In addition, the parasitic effects may reduce the effectiveness of the differential cancellation of noise described herein, which may also increase noise (e.g., by a factor of approximately 3 to 5) and further reduce SNR.

In some examples, the SNR can be permitted by changing the excitation pattern applied to the touch sensor panel. The pattern may be changed by coupling between the routing traces and the driver circuit (e.g., optionally using switches, or alternatively by changing the code used to generate the drive signals in the driver circuit). 13A-13B illustrate portions of a touch sensor panel and representations of stimuli applied to the touch sensor panel according to examples of the present disclosure. The touch sensor panel 1300 may correspond to the touch sensor panel 700. Touch sensor panel 1300 can include row electrodes 1302A-1302F (e.g., corresponding to row electrodes 702A-702F) and column electrodes 1304A-1304F (e.g., corresponding to row electrodes 704A-704F). The touch sensor panel can be viewed as comprising a two-dimensional array (three rows and three columns) of active touch nodes, wherein each of the touch nodes comprises one row electrode segment and one column electrode segment. The row electrodes may be coupled to sensing circuitry and the column electrodes may be coupled to driving circuitry (e.g., a driver/transmitter). For example, fig. 13A shows a differential drive circuit 1305A (or two single-output drive circuits) coupled to column electrodes 1304A and 1304B, a differential drive circuit 1305B coupled to column electrodes 1304C and 1304D, and a differential drive circuit 1305C coupled to column electrodes 1304E and 1304F (e.g., generating encoded complementary drive signals). Differential amplifiers 1308A-1308C (or multiple single-ended amplifiers) may be coupled to a respective pair of row electrodes 1302A-1302F.

Touch sensor panel 1300 can be viewed as an extension of the view of a portion of the touch sensor panel presented in FIG. 12B (although the row/column convention for driving and sensing differs between FIG. 12B and FIG. 13A). For example, touch node 1210 can correspond to a touch node in the center of touch sensor panel 1300, which corresponds to column electrode 1304D and row electrode 1302D. The polarity of the drive signal applied to the adjacent column electrode 1304C is complementary in a similar manner as shown by the complementary phase of the adjacent row electrode 1212A, and likewise, the polarity of the differential amplifier terminal coupled to the adjacent row electrode 1302C is opposite that of the row electrode 1302D, as shown by the opposite polarity of the adjacent column electrode 1214A.

FIG. 13A also shows a representation 1310 of the stimulus applied to the touch sensor panel. Representation 1310 shows the stimulation of a 4 x 4 array of touch nodes, although the portion of touch sensor panel 1300 shown in fig. 13A shows only a 3 x3 array. Representation 1310 shows the use of a set of complementary drive signals within each column (e.g., with drive signals labeled TX0, TX1, etc., using indices corresponding to drive circuits with labels D0, D1, etc.). For example, the left-most column uses the opposite phase of TX0 (alternating + and-), and each column on the right uses the opposite phase of TX1, TX2, and TX3, respectively (where TX0, TX1, TX2, and TX3 may be quadrature drive signals). In a similar manner, the row electrodes of each row are coupled to the differential inputs of a corresponding differential amplifier. As described with respect to fig. 12B, such a configuration may be susceptible to SNR degradation due to parasitic capacitance.

FIG. 13B shows touch sensor panel 1320 corresponding to touch sensor panel 1300, but with different coupling between the drive circuitry and the column electrodes. For example, as shown in fig. 13B, the complementary drive signals may be applied in different columns such that the complementary drive signals are diagonally adjacent (staggered). For example, as shown in representation 1330 of the stimulus applied to the touch sensor panel, each drive signal may have a complementary term applied (using column electrodes) to touch nodes offset by one row and one column. For example, TX0+ is applied to column 1, row 1 touch node and its complement is applied to row 2, column 2 touch node. A similar relationship of complementary touch signals can be applied across the entire touch sensor panel. Interleaving complementary drive signals can reduce parasitic capacitance (e.g., C as shown in FIG. 12B _PC ) Because the diagonal distance between electrodes is greater than the diagonal distance between non-diagonally adjacent electrodes, the signal is enhanced (SNR enhancement). In some examples, the signal enhancement may range between 80% and 100% (or more) compared to the non-staggered excitation pattern of fig. 13A. It will be appreciated that the staggering increases the differential cancellation pitch (e.g., distance between complementary signals), which increases the area of differential signal cancellation. Thus, increasing the differential cancellation pitch may result in less cancellation of co-existing noise (e.g., touch-to-display noise increase). However, the increased signal level may outperform the reduction in the cancellation of the coexistence noise to improve the SNR. Although diagonally adjacent in pairs of columns are shown The touch nodes of (a) are staggered, but other staggered patterns are possible, where there is a tradeoff between the level of rejection of co-existing noise (which is improved with a smaller differential cancellation pitch) and the signal level (which is improved by increasing the distance between drive electrodes having opposite phases). It should also be appreciated that since display-to-touch noise is primarily attenuated by differential sensing, the staggered actuation pattern should not affect (or minimally affect) the level of display-to-touch noise.

As shown in fig. 13B, interleaving is implemented by changing the wiring between the column electrodes and the drive circuits. For example, the routing traces output by drive circuit 1306A may include one output to column electrode 1304A and a complementary output to column electrode 1304D (instead of 1304B as in FIG. 13A). Likewise, the routing traces output by drive circuit 1306B may include one output to column electrode 1304C and a complementary output to column electrode 1304B (rather than 1304D as in FIG. 13A). In some examples, interleaving may be implemented using the drive circuit without changing the wiring between the drive circuit and the electrodes of the touch sensor panel. For example, a switching circuit may be implemented between the output of the drive circuit and the routing traces to achieve an interleaved pattern of drive signals. Alternatively, the driver circuit may be configured to generate the interleaved pattern using different control signals (e.g., output TX0 from the output of driver circuit 1305B coupled to column electrode 1304D and output TX1 from the output of driver circuit 1305A coupled to column electrode 1304B in FIG. 13A). Implementing the staggered pattern without changing the routing can increase the flexibility of implementing differential and non-differential scanning. For example, although touch sensing may be implemented using a differential configuration, in some examples, stylus sensing may be implemented without using different drives or different sensing. For example, the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes may be configured as receiver electrodes in an active stylus sensing operation. The first and second row electrodes for each row of the dual-axis array of touch nodes can be coupled together and to an input of a sensing circuit. Thus, implementing the interleaved mode without changing the wiring allows for implementing a differential or single ended scan mode.

In some examples, differential driving and sensing may operate in different modes for touch sensing based on noise conditions. For example, a touch system may perform touch sensing operations using the interleaving described herein under relatively noisy conditions (e.g., above a threshold amount of noise, when a charger is inserted, etc.) so that the sensed signal may be enhanced (but less cancellation of co-existing noise), but the touch system may perform touch sensing operations without interleaving under relatively noisy conditions (e.g., less than the threshold amount of noise, while no charger is inserted, etc.) so that improved cancellation may occur, but the signal level may be relatively small (e.g., attenuated compared to interleaving).

Although interleaving is described primarily in the context of the excitation applied to the column electrodes of FIG. 13B, it should be understood that similar principles may additionally or alternatively be applied to the connections between the interleaved row electrodes and the sensing circuitry. For example, rather than using one differential amplifier to sense two of the row electrodes differentially, in some examples one row electrode may be coupled to a first input of a first differential amplifier and a second row electrode may be coupled to a first input of a second differential amplifier. It should be appreciated that if interleaving is implemented for both the excitation and sensing sides of the touch sensor panel, care should be taken so that the interleaving applied to the excitation side and the interleaving applied to the sensing side do not interfere with the ability to measure differential touch signals.

As described herein, in some examples, routing for including row and column electrodes of a touch sensor panel can be implemented at least partially in an active area. Active area routing may allow for devices with reduced border areas (e.g., around the active area). Fig. 14A-14B illustrate a two-layer configuration (e.g., corresponding to touch sensor panel 700) including touch electrodes and routing traces in a first layer and bridges in a second layer according to an example of the present disclosure. In particular, fig. 14A shows a first layer 1400A (also referred to herein as "metal 2" or "TM 2") of a bi-layer configuration, and fig. 14B shows a second layer 1400B (also referred to herein as "metal 1" or "TM 1") of a bi-layer configuration. Both the first layer 1400A and the second layer 1400B may be metal mesh layers corresponding to the metal layers 506 and 516. In some examples, the first layer including the touch electrode may be positioned relatively closer to the cover glass than the second layer. To illustrate the overlapping content of the layers, fig. 14A-14B each show touch electrodes, routing traces, and bridges, but in fig. 14A, the touch electrodes and routing traces in layer 1400A are emphasized and the bridges in layer 1400B are not emphasized, while in fig. 14B, the bridges in layer 1400B are emphasized and the touch electrodes and routing traces in layer 1400A are not emphasized. Emphasis is provided by using deeper/thicker lines than lighter/thinner lines for the un-emphasized content.

FIG. 14A shows row electrodes 1402A-1402F and column electrodes 1404A-1404F (e.g., corresponding to row electrodes 702A-702F and column electrodes 704A-704F). In addition, FIG. 14A shows row routing traces 1403A-1403F and column routing traces 1405A-1405F (e.g., corresponding to row routing traces 703A-703F and column routing traces 705A-705F). Fig. 14B shows a bridge 1410 that can connect to a first layer using a pair of vias at opposite ends (e.g., horizontal ends) of the bridge. Unlike fig. 7A, which shows the routing traces in a different layer than the touch electrodes, in fig. 14A-14B, the routing traces are implemented in the same layer. Thus, routing traces that may be used to interconnect sections of the touch electrodes together (and to drive/sense circuitry) may also result in further partitioning of the metal mesh of the touch electrodes. In some examples, the sections of the touch electrode may be electrically interconnected using a bridge. For example, the column electrodes 1404A-1404F can include a plurality of conductive segments interconnected by wires and/or bridges. Likewise, row electrodes 1402A-1402F may include multiple conductive segments connected together and to sensing circuitry by wires and/or bridges.

As an illustrative example, column electrode 1404A may include conductive segments 1404a _1-1405a _3connected together and to the drive circuit by routing trace 1405A (including routing trace segment 1405a _1-1405a _3) and bridge 1410 (including bridge 1410a _1-1410a _3bridging the conductive segments over routing traces 1403C and 1405B) (instead of the two segments shown in fig. 7A due to routing traces 1403C and 1405B). As another illustrative example, row electrode 1402A may include conductive segments 1402a _1-1402a _13connected together by wiring 1403A and a bridge 1410 (including bridges 1410b _1-1410b _10that bridge the conductive segments over the wiring traces that include 1405A-1405F) and connected to sensing circuitry (rather than two segments 702A 'and 702A "connected by wiring 702A'" as shown in fig. 7 due to the wiring traces that include 1405A-1405F, additional row wiring traces, etc.).

It should be understood that fig. 14A-14B show exemplary representations of electrodes, wires, and bridges, but other arrangements of electrodes, wires, and bridges may be implemented. It should also be understood that some bridges between conductive segments may not be shown for simplicity of illustration (e.g., conductive segments 1402a _1, conductive segments 1402a _3, and/or conductive segments 1402a _11may extend beyond and connect at the bottom edge of conductive segments 1404a _1, the connection method including passing one or more bridges over the routing traces (such as over routing trace 1405a _2)). Although fig. 14A-14B show two vertical routing traces for complementary drive signals per column electrode and two vertical routing traces per row electrode (e.g., two vertical routing traces per pair of row electrodes), it should be understood that different numbers of vertical routing traces for rows and/or columns are possible. It should be understood that although the touch sensor panel of fig. 14A-14B includes a 3 x 3 array of nine main capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to nine effective touch nodes), the touch sensor panel may be scaled up or down to include fewer or more touch nodes.

Fig. 14A-14C illustrate a two-layer configuration (e.g., corresponding to touch sensor panel 700) including touch electrodes and routing traces in a first layer and bridges and stacked routing traces in a second layer according to an example of the present disclosure. Stacking routing traces can reduce the resistance of the routing traces and increase the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel as compared to the dual layer configuration of fig. 14A-14B without stacked routing traces. In particular, fig. 14A shows a first layer 1400A (also referred to herein as "metal 2" or "TM 2") of a bi-layer configuration, and fig. 14B shows a second layer 1400C (also referred to herein as "metal 1" or "TM 1") of a bi-layer configuration. Both the first layer 1400A and the second layer 1400C may be metal mesh layers corresponding to the metal layers 506 and 516. In some examples, the first layer including the touch electrode may be positioned relatively closer to the cover glass than the second layer. To illustrate the overlapping content of the layers, fig. 14A-14C each show touch electrodes, routing traces, and bridges, but in fig. 14A, the touch electrodes and routing traces in layer 1400A are emphasized and the bridges in layer 1400C are not emphasized, while in fig. 14C, the bridges and routing in layer 1400C are emphasized and the touch electrodes and routing traces in layer 1400A are not emphasized. Emphasis is provided by using deeper/thicker lines than lighter/thinner lines for the un-emphasized content.

As described herein, FIG. 14A shows row electrodes 1402A-1402F, column electrodes 1404A-1404F, row routing traces 1403A-1403F, and column routing traces 1405A-1405F. FIG. 14C shows a bridge 1410, row routing traces 1413A-1413F, and column routing traces 1415A-14145F. The bridge 1410 may be connected to the first layer using a pair of vias at opposite ends (e.g., horizontal ends) of the bridge to connect segments that are otherwise electrically disconnected due to routing traces. Unlike fig. 14B, which shows bridges in the second layer without routing traces, in fig. 14C, the second layer may also include additional routing traces (stacked routing traces) corresponding to the routing traces in the first layer. The routing traces in layers 1400A and 1400C may be coupled together outside the active area or using vias within the active area.

For example, in addition to coupling the sections of column electrodes 1404A together and to the drive circuitry using routing traces 1405A (including routing trace sections 1405a _1-1405a _3) in layer 1400A, additional routing trace sections 1415a _1-1415a _5in second layer 1400C can be used to reduce the effective resistance of the routing traces (e.g., by about half). For example, routing trace segment 1415a _1may extend parallel to routing trace segment 1405a _1, and routing trace segments 1415a _3and 1415a _4may extend parallel to routing trace segment 1405a _2, and so on. Additionally, routing trace segments 1415a _2and 1415a _5may also extend parallel to routing trace segments 1404a _5and 1404a _1, respectively.

In a similar manner, stacked routing may be used for row routing traces. For example, in addition to coupling sections of row electrodes 1402A together using bridges 1410 (in layer 1400C) and coupling them to sensing circuitry using routing traces 1403A in layer 1400A, additional routing trace sections 1413A _1-1413A _5in second layer 1400C can be used to reduce the effective resistance of the routing traces (e.g., by about one-half). For example, routing trace segments 1415a _1-1415a _5may extend parallel to row routing trace lines 1403. The routing trace segments in layer 1400C may be blocked by bridges in layer 1400C.

It should be understood that fig. 14A-14C show exemplary representations of electrodes, wires, and bridges, but other arrangements of electrodes, wires, and bridges may be implemented. It should also be understood that some bridges between conductive segments may not be shown for simplicity of illustration (e.g., conductive segments 1402a _1, conductive segments 1402a _3, and/or conductive segments 1402a _11may extend beyond and connect at the bottom edge of conductive segments 1404a _1, the connection method including passing one or more bridges over the routing traces (such as over routing trace 1405a _2)). Although fig. 14A and 14C show two vertical routing traces for complementary drive signals per column electrode and two vertical routing traces per row electrode (e.g., two vertical routing traces per pair of row electrodes), it should be understood that different numbers of vertical routing traces for rows and/or columns are possible. It should be understood that although the touch sensor panel of fig. 14A and 14C includes a 3 x 3 array of nine main capacitance values (e.g., corresponding to nine effective touch nodes), the touch sensor panel may be scaled up or down to include fewer or more touch nodes.

Fig. 15A-15B show partial views 1500 and 1550 of the area 1450 of the dual layer configuration of fig. 14A-14C including two touch electrode segments 1552A-1552B and routing traces 1158 in a first layer (e.g., metal 2 layer) and a bridge 1554 and optionally stacked routing trace segments 1556A-1556B in a second layer (metal 1 layer) according to an example of the present disclosure. Partial view 1500 corresponds to the two-layer configuration of fig. 14A and 14B, while partial view 1550 corresponds to the two-layer configuration of fig. 14A and 14C. Although not shown, the first layer and the second layer may be separated by an insulating layer (e.g., a dielectric layer). The electrodes, wires and bridges in fig. 15A-15B are shown as a mesh representing a metal mesh implementation of the electrodes. As described herein, one end of bridge 1554 can be coupled to touch electrode section 1552A (e.g., using a via through an intermediate dielectric layer separating the first and second layers), and a second end of bridge 1554 can be coupled to touch electrode section 1552B (e.g., using a via through an intermediate dielectric layer separating the first and second layers). Stacked routing trace segments 1556A-1556B in partial view 1550 (but not shown in partial view 1500 or corresponding fig. 14B) may each be coupled to routing traces 1558 (e.g., using vias through intermediate dielectric layers).

FIG. 16 illustrates a partial view 1650 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments 1652A-1652D (including bridge portion 1654) in first and second layers, routing trace 1658 in the first layer, and stacked routing trace segments 1656A-1656B in the second layer, according to an example of the disclosure. Stacking routing traces and stacking touch electrodes can increase the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel compared to the dual layer configuration of fig. 14A-14B without stacked routing traces and without stacked electrodes, and compared to the dual layer configuration of fig. 14A and 15A without stacked touch electrodes. For example, stacking touch electrodes can increase capacitive signal coupling in addition to reducing the resistance of routing traces. For ease of illustration, FIG. 16 includes a partial view, but it should be understood that stacked touch electrodes and stacked routing traces can be implemented in an entire touch sensor panel as described herein. In addition, the stacked touch electrode of fig. 16 provides flexibility for placing vias between touch electrode segments of two layers, as compared to the configuration of fig. 14A-15B. For example, in fig. 14B and 15B, the opposite ends of each bridge may be connected using two vias (e.g., one via at each end) to interconnect two segments using the bridge. However, as shown in FIG. 16, stacked touch electrodes including touch electrode segments 1652C-1652D and bridge portion 1654 are interconnected in a second layer and may be interconnected with touch electrode segments 1652A-1652B at any overlap region between touch electrode segments between the two layers.

Stacking routing and/or touch electrodes as described herein can result in reduced optical performance (e.g., visibility of the metal grid) of the device. In particular, misalignment between the metal mesh between the first layer and the second layer may increase visibility of the metal mesh to a user. Fig. 17A-17D illustrate cross-sectional views 1700, 1710, 1720 and 1730 of a portion of an exemplary bilayer configuration according to examples of the present disclosure. Fig. 17A-17B show cross-sectional views of a portion of a bi-layer configuration, where a metal mesh 1702/1702' in a first layer is disposed on an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) 1704, which may be disposed on a metal mesh 1706 in a second layer. The metal mesh may correspond to routing trace segments in the first and second layers that correspond to the stacked routing. The metal mesh in the first and second layers may have equal widths (e.g., the trapezoids representing the metal mesh traces may have the same base width). In fig. 17A, the metal mesh 1702 in the first layer and the metal mesh 1706 in the second layer may be aligned such that the metal mesh 1706 in the second layer may not be visible to a user looking down on top of the first layer. However, as shown in fig. 17B, when the metal mesh 1702' in the first layer is misaligned with the metal mesh 1706 in the second layer (e.g., due to manufacturing limitations), the metal mesh 1706 in the second layer may be visible to a user looking down on top of the first layer.

In some examples, increasing the width of the metal mesh in the first layer and/or decreasing the width of the metal mesh in the second layer may improve optical performance by ensuring that the metal mesh in the first layer overlaps the metal mesh in the second layer. Fig. 17C-17D show cross-sectional views of a portion of a bi-layer configuration, where metal grids 1712/1712' in a first layer are disposed on an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 1704, which may be disposed on metal grids 1706 in a second layer. The metal mesh may correspond to routing trace segments in the first and second layers that correspond to the stacked routing. The metal meshes in the first and second layers may have unequal widths. In particular, the metal grids 1712/1712' in the first layer ("TM 2") may be wider than the metal grids in the second layer ("TM 1") to improve the optical performance of the touch sensor panel. As shown in fig. 17C-17D, regardless of whether the metal grid 1712 in the first layer is aligned with (e.g., centered on) the metal grid 1706 in the second layer, or whether the metal grid 1712' is offset (off-center) from the metal grid 1706 in the second layer, the metal grid 1706 may not be visible to a user looking down on top of the first layer, thereby reducing the visibility of the metal grid as a whole.

In some examples, the visibility improvement may be achieved by increasing the width of the metal grid 1712/1712 'compared to the width of the metal grid 1702/1702'. In some examples, the visibility improvement may be achieved by reducing the width of the metal mesh 1706 shown in fig. 17C-17D as compared to the width of the metal mesh 1706 shown in fig. 17A-17B. In some examples, the visibility improvement may be achieved by increasing the width of metal mesh 1712/1712 'compared to the width of metal mesh 1702/1702' and by decreasing the width of metal mesh 1706 shown in fig. 17C-17D compared to the width of metal mesh 1706 shown in fig. 17A-17B. For example, in fig. 17A, metal grid 1702 and metal grid 1706 may each be 4 microns wide, but metal grid 1712 and metal grid 1706 may be 5 microns wide and 3 microns wide, respectively.

In some examples, the optical performance of the touch sensor panel can be improved by implementing the touch electrodes partially in two layers rather than fully stacking the touch electrodes (e.g., as shown in fig. 16). Fig. 18 shows a portion of a configuration 1800 including touch electrodes partially implemented in a first layer and partially implemented in a second layer of a two-layer configuration according to an example of the disclosure. For example, metal mesh 1802A may be implemented in a first layer and metal mesh 1802B may be implemented in a second layer. Referring back to fig. 16, touch electrode segments 1652A and 1652C overlap and touch electrode segments 1652B and 1652D overlap. Thus, to reduce optical artifacts, the alignment of the metal mesh traces (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 17A) must be maximized over a relatively large area of the touch electrode. For example, fig. 16 shows horizontal and/or vertical portions of a metal grid that are parallel between two layers. In contrast, in the configuration 1800 of fig. 18, the metal mesh 1802A may be implemented in a first layer and the metal mesh 1802B may be implemented in a second layer such that the overlap between the two layers is reduced. Further, as shown in fig. 18, when the metal mesh 1802A in the first layer and the metal mesh 1802B in the second layer overlap, the overlapping point is a non-parallel intersection point (e.g., orthogonal intersection). For example, intersection points 1804 may represent square or rectangular overlapping areas where metal grid 1802A and metal grid 1802B overlap. Such identical square or rectangular overlap regions may occur at each intersection shown in fig. 18. Thus, the appearance of the metal mesh between the first and second layers may have a relatively uniform appearance across the touch sensor panel (e.g., a uniform area at the intersection and a uniform width outside of the intersection).

As with fig. 16, the configuration 1800 of fig. 18 also provides flexibility in placement of vias (e.g., without limitation, bridges in the configurations of fig. 14A-15B). However, it should be understood that the bandwidth improvement from the configuration of fig. 18 is relatively less (e.g., because there are fewer metal grids for implementing the touch electrode across the two layers) than the bandwidth improvement from the configuration of fig. 16, while the optical performance of the configuration of fig. 18 may be greater than that of the configuration of fig. 16.

As described herein (e.g., with respect to fig. 11A-11D), in some examples, routing traces of a row to a (differential) sense amplifier can affect crosstalk between adjacent rows within a column. In some examples, when performing differential measurements, crosstalk may be mitigated using differential routing wires as described with reference to fig. 11D, for example. However, some touch sensor panel operations may not include differential measurements. For example, a self-capacitance scan (where touch electrodes may be simultaneously stimulated with the same phase drive signal) or a stylus scan may not be performed differentially. In some examples, crosstalk may be reduced by burying the routing traces (e.g., rather than stacking the routing traces as described with reference to fig. 15A or 16).

FIG. 19A shows a partial view 1900 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments 1952A-1952D in first and second layers and stacked routing traces 1956-1958 in the first and second layers, according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 19A may correspond to fig. 16 at the area without the bridge portion 1654. Fig. 19A also shows a corresponding cross-sectional view of a portion of a bi-layer configuration, where a metal grid 1902 in a first layer is disposed on an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 1904, which may be disposed on a metal grid 1906 in a second layer. Fig. 19B shows a partial view 1910 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments 1962A-1962C in first and second layers and buried routing lines 1966 in the second layer according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 19A also shows a corresponding cross-sectional view of a portion of a bi-layer configuration, where a metal grid 1902 in a first layer is disposed on an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 1904, which may be disposed on a metal grid 1906 in a second layer. Unlike fig. 19A, in fig. 19B, the buried routing traces 1966 can be at least partially shielded from crosstalk due to an object (e.g., a finger or stylus) coming into proximity with the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the cross-coupling can be reduced from about 10% of the full scale touch signal to about 2% of the full scale touch signal.

While buried routing traces can reduce crosstalk, the addition of metal grids can also increase the parallel plate capacitance between the first and second layers, which can reduce the bandwidth of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the increase in parallel plate capacitance can be reduced by changing the properties of the ILD. Fig. 19C shows a partial view 1920 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode sections 1972A-1972C in the first and second layers and buried routing traces 1976 in the second layer, according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 19C also shows a corresponding cross-sectional view of a portion of a bi-layer configuration, where a metal grid 1902 in a first layer is disposed on an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 1904, which may be disposed on a metal grid 1906 in a second layer. The metal mesh touch electrodes and routing traces of fig. 19C can be the same as or similar to the touch electrodes and routing traces of fig. 19B. However, the ILD can be modified to have a thickness T2 in fig. 19C that is greater than the thickness T1 in fig. 19B (and as shown, the first and second layers in view 1920 are separated more relative to each other than the first and second layers in view 1910). In some examples, the increase in thickness may range between 25% and 500%. In some examples, the increase in thickness may range between 100% and 250%. In some examples, the increase in thickness may range between 150% to 200%. It should be appreciated that the above ranges are examples, and that the thickness can be increased to achieve a desired bandwidth of the touch sensor panel.

Additionally or alternatively, the ILD may be modified to have a different dielectric constant in fig. 19C that is less than the dielectric constant of the ILD in fig. 19B. In some examples, the dielectric constant of the ILD in fig. 19C may be between 25% and 75% of the dielectric constant of the ILD in fig. 19B. In some examples, the dielectric constant of the ILD in fig. 19C may be between 25% and 50% of the dielectric constant of the ILD in fig. 19B. It should be understood that the above ranges are examples, and that the dielectric can be increased to achieve the desired bandwidth of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the dielectric constant may be reduced by using an organic material such as a photo-patternable uv curable acrylic or other suitable material.

Because the parallel plate capacitance is proportional to the dielectric constant and inversely proportional to the separation distance between the plates, increasing the ILD thickness or decreasing the dielectric constant of the ILD can reduce the parallel plate capacitance and improve the touch sensor panel bandwidth.

As described herein, the SNR of a touch sensor panel using metal mesh touch electrodes can be relatively low compared to a touch sensor panel using a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide. Conceptually, the source of signal loss can be a non-solid structure of the metal mesh (e.g., a gap) allowing some exposure of the device ground (e.g., the display cathode) so that only a portion of the signal couples to the metal mesh. In some examples, the signal loss may be between 30% and 70%, depending on the size of the object in proximity to the touch sensor panel. In some examples, to enhance SNR (e.g., enhance touch signals), the metal mesh in the first layer may be infused or otherwise filled with a transparent conductive material (e.g., ITO).

FIG. 20A shows a partial view 2000 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments 2052A-2052D in first and second layers and stacked routing traces 2056-2058 in first and second layers, according to an example of the disclosure. Fig. 20B-20C show examples of corresponding exemplary cross-sectional views of a portion including an ITO perfusate of a bi-layer configuration according to examples of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 20A (and unlike fig. 19A), the metal grids and routing traces 2058 of the touch electrode segments 2052A-2052B in the first layer can be partially or completely filled (e.g., poured) with a transparent conductive material such as ITO or any other suitable transparent or translucent conductive material. The conductive material may fill gaps in the metal mesh and enhance signals received at the touch electrode (e.g., signals received by the ITO rather than passing through to a ground electrode within the device). In some examples, the metal mesh of the touch electrode may have low resistance characteristics relative to the transparent conductor so that the metal mesh may handle the conduction required for touch sensing. Thus, the requirements for sheet resistance of the transparent conductor can be reduced. In some examples, the relaxed sheet resistance of the transparent conductor may allow for the use of low temperature deposition techniques (e.g., low temperature ITO deposition).

In some examples, as shown in fig. 20B, the transparent conductor may be deposited on the metal mesh and directly on the metal mesh layer. For example, fig. 20B shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of a bi-layer configuration in which a metal grid 2002 in a first metal grid layer is disposed on an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 2004, which may be disposed on a metal grid 2006 in a second metal grid layer. ITO 2001 (or another suitable transparent conductor) may be deposited on the metal grid 2002. As described herein, the connection between the first layer of metal mesh and the second layer of metal mesh may be accomplished using vias in the ILD. In some examples, as shown in fig. 20C, the transparent conductor may be separated from the metal mesh layer by another ILD. For example, fig. 20C shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of a bi-layer configuration in which a metal grid 2002 in a first metal grid layer is disposed on a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) 2004B, which may be disposed on a metal grid 2006 in a second metal grid layer. A second ILD 2004A may be deposited on the metal grid 2002 and ITO 2001 (or another suitable transparent conductor) may be deposited on the second ILD 2004A. As described herein, the connection between the first layer of metal mesh and the second layer of metal mesh may be accomplished using vias in the ILD. Additionally, the connection between the ITO 2001 and the metal grid 2002 may be achieved using vias through the second ILD 2004A.

Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, rather than burying the wiring traces as described with reference to fig. 19B-19C, crosstalk may be reduced by using a fill of conductive material (e.g., a selective ITO fill) for selected portions of the metal mesh. FIG. 21 shows a partial view 2100 of a two-layer configuration including stacked touch electrode segments 2152A-2152D in first and second layers and stacked routing traces 2156-2158 in the first and second layers, according to an example of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 21 (and unlike fig. 20A), the metal grid of touch electrode segments 2152A-2152B in the first layer can be partially or completely filled (e.g., poured) with a transparent conductive material, such as ITO or any other suitable transparent or translucent conductive material, without filling routing traces 2158 with a conductive material (e.g., using a mask to prevent filling). In some examples, the routing traces 2058 may also be filled, but the filling of the conductive material may be etched away. The conductive material can fill gaps in the metal mesh touch electrode and enhance the signal received at the touch electrode (e.g., the signal is received by the ITO rather than passing through to a ground electrode within the device). However, in the absence of filling of routing trace 2158, crosstalk coupled through routing trace 2158 may not be enhanced (e.g., reduced to 4% to 6% of a full-scale touch signal at touch electrodes 2152A-2152B). Thus, selective ITO infusion may be used to reduce crosstalk without the need to bury wiring traces as described with reference to fig. 19B-19C.

It should be understood that although described separately, various features described herein may be used in combination. For example, the buried wiring traces described with reference to fig. 19B may be combined with the improved ILD characteristics described with reference to fig. 19C, and/or with the improved signal characteristics of the ITO infusion described with reference to fig. 20A-20C. As another example, the wiring technique described with reference to fig. 14A to 21 may be applied to the touch sensor panel described with reference to fig. 7A to 13B.

As described herein, in some examples, noise from the display can be coupled to the touch electrodes of the touch sensor panel due, at least in part, to the proximity of the display to the touch electrodes. In some examples, a shielding layer or display noise sensor may be disposed on a printed layer (e.g., an encapsulation layer) to reduce noise from the display. Fig. 22 illustrates an example touch screen stackup 2200 including an encapsulation layer 2208 for isolation and an optional dielectric layer 2214, according to examples of the disclosure. In some examples, the various layers of the stacked structure 2200 may be formed using a shared manufacturing process. In such examples, the components are manufactured and placed in a serial fashion to their respective locations within the laminated structure 2200 (e.g., without relying on discrete components that were manufactured at a previous time and then transferred to locations within the laminated structure 2200). In some examples, components that are manufactured and provided to their respective locations within the laminated structure 2200 and that are not separately manufactured as discrete or semi-discrete components may be referred to as on-chip fabricated/manufactured components, or as components that are fabricated using on-chip techniques for manufacturing. As discussed below, the laminate structure 2200 includes a plurality of such components fabricated using on-chip techniques for manufacturing, which provides several advantages over alternative "discrete" components that need to be transferred to the laminate structure 2200.

In some examples, the stacked structure 2200 may be built or fabricated on the substrate 2202. The substrate 2202 may be a printed circuit board substrate, a silicon substrate, or any other suitable base substrate material for the stacked structure 2200. In some examples, display components 2204 (e.g., corresponding to display components 508) may be formed over substrate 2202 and may include a plurality of display elements arranged in an array (e.g., arranged in rows and columns). In some examples, each display element may include a display pixel. In some examples, the display pixels may correspond to light emitting components capable of generating colored light. Examples of display pixels may include backlit Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) or Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays, including Organic LED (OLED) displays, active Matrix Organic LED (AMOLED) displays, and Passive Matrix Organic LED (PMOLED) displays. In some examples, a display pixel may include multiple sub-pixels (e.g., one, two, three, or more sub-pixels). As an example, a display pixel may include a red subpixel, a green subpixel, and a blue subpixel, where these various subpixels have respective sizes relative to each other and relative to the size of the entire display pixel. In some examples, the red, green, and blue subpixels may have about or substantially similar dimensions to one another (e.g., the subpixels are all within 5% of the target size or area of the subpixels). In other examples, the blue subpixel may occupy approximately 50% of the area of the display pixel, with the red and green subpixels occupying the remaining 50% of the area (e.g., each occupying 25% of the display pixel area). In some examples, the display component 2204 is formed over the entire substrate 2202. In other examples, the display component 2204 is formed over portions of the substrate 2202 (e.g., some portions of the substrate 2202 do not have the display component 2204 formed thereover).

In some examples, the passivation layer 2206 may be formed over the display member 2204. In some such examples, the passivation layer 2206 may be in direct contact with the display member 2204. Similar to the layers 507 and 517 described in connection with fig. 5, the passivation layer 2206 may planarize the surface of the display member 2204 and may provide electrical isolation to the display member 2204 (e.g., isolation from components in other layers formed over the passivation layer 2206). In some examples, the passivation layer 2206 is formed after all display sub-pixels and pixels (e.g., of the display component 2204) have been fabricated or formed over the substrate 2202. In some examples, the passivation layer 2206 is formed over the entire display member 2204. In some examples, an additional passivation layer similar to passivation layer 2206 can be formed over any of the layers of the stacked structure 2200, which fabrication can result in a non-planar surface (e.g., a surface over which it is difficult to form additional layers). In some examples, an additional passivation layer similar to passivation layer 2206 may be disposed over first encapsulation layer 2208 such that it directly contacts the first encapsulation layer, and/or over second encapsulation layer 2212 such that it directly contacts the second encapsulation layer. In some such examples, forming a passivation layer over the first encapsulation layer and/or the second encapsulation layer may improve the accuracy and manufacturability of the components/layers formed over these layers in the stacked structure 2200.

In some examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 may be formed over the passivation layer 2206. In some such examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 may be in direct contact with the passivation layer 2206. In some examples, when the first encapsulation layer 2208 is deposited over/on the passivation layer 2206 using a printing or deposition technique, the first encapsulation layer may be referred to as a "print layer. In some examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 can be deposited onto the passivation layer 2206 using inkjet printing techniques. In some examples, the inkjet printing technique may cause the layer to be selectively deposited (e.g., deposited over a portion of the underlying layer) or globally/blanket deposited (e.g., deposited over the entire underlying layer). In some examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 may be selectively inkjet printed over regions of the passivation layer 2206 under which the display components 2204 are formed. In other examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 can be inkjet printed over the entire passivation layer 2206 (e.g., blanket deposited). The first encapsulation layer 2208 may be an optically transmissive or transparent layer through which light emitted from the display member 2204 may pass. In some examples, the thickness of the first encapsulation layer 2208 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 10 microns or less, 12 microns or less, 14 microns or less, etc.).

In some examples, the display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208. In some such examples, the layers of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be in direct contact with the first encapsulation layer 2208. During the manufacturing process of the laminate structure 2200, the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is fabricated over the first encapsulation layer 2208 after the layer 2208 has been inkjet printed on the passivation layer 2206. As discussed with respect to later figures related to the display noise shield/sensor 2210, the shield/sensor may be formed from one or more metal layers, which may be formed and/or deposited directly over the first encapsulation layer 2208. Providing the display noise shield/sensor 2210 in this manner may sometimes be referred to herein as "fabricated by an on-cell process" or an in-situ fabrication technique. The process of manufacturing the display noise shield/sensor using an on-cell process provides a number of advantages over alternative techniques in which discrete or semi-discrete components are manufactured using a different process (e.g., at a different time, location, using different manufacturing equipment, etc.) than the process used to manufacture the previous layers (e.g., the substrate 2202, the display component 2204, the passivation layer 2206, and the first package layer 2208). In some examples, these advantages include the elimination of alignment and lamination steps associated with: aligning (semi-) discrete components associated with the display noise shield/sensor with the already-fabricated layers 2202-2208, and attaching the components associated with the display noise shield/sensor to the already-fabricated layers 2202-2208 using a laminate or adhesive. These advantages of using an on-cell process to manufacture the display noise shield/sensor contribute to a reduction in yield loss for the overall laminate structure 2200 relative to alternative processes. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, using an on-cell process may reduce the thickness of the touch sensor panel, thereby reducing the overall thickness of the touch screen, as compared to discrete touch sensors laminated to the display.

The display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be a shield and/or a sensor, depending on the implementation. Regardless of whether the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is a shield or a sensor, the shield/sensor 2210 may be fabricated over the first packaging layer 2208. As described above, in some examples, the layer 2208 may sometimes be selectively inkjet printed onto portions of the passivation layer 2206 under which the display component 2204 is formed. In such examples, the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is formed only on the selective inkjet printed portion of the first encapsulation layer 2208. In some examples, where the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is a shield, the shield may include a single conductive layer (e.g., an ITO layer, a metal layer), or a metal mesh layer. In some examples, the shielding layer may be infused with a conductive material (e.g., ITO, metal). In some examples, the shielding layer may include a global grid pattern such that the footprint of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be occupied by an electrically connected conductive metal grid. In some examples, the shielding layer may include a combination of metal grids infused with a conductive material. The conductive material may help attenuate noise signals generated by the display component 2204 from interfering with components of the laminate structure 2200 formed over the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In some examples, a shielding layer including a metal mesh in combination with a conductive material infusion may provide improved isolation compared to a metal mesh alone, and may reduce electrical resistivity compared to a conductive material infusion alone. In such examples, patches of conductive material infusion may be disposed between the metal grids, creating a layer associated with shield/sensor 2210, sometimes referred to as a layer having alternating metal grids and portions of conductive material (e.g., where the portions of conductive material are formed or positioned between gaps in the metal grids). In such examples, the combination may be formed by: the method may include first forming a metal mesh layer (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a first conductive material according to a mesh pattern), and then forming a conductive material implant between the mesh patterns of the metal mesh layer (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a second conductive material according to a patch pattern aligned with the mesh pattern, wherein material paths of the mesh pattern are aligned with open paths of the patch pattern). An alternative process of forming the combination may be: the conductive material infusion is first formed in the patches (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a second conductive material according to a patch pattern), and then a metal grid pattern is formed in the spaces between the patches (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a first conductive material according to a grid pattern aligned with the patch pattern, with the patches of material of the patch pattern aligned with open portions of the grid pattern). Another alternative process of forming the combination may be: first (e.g., directly over the first package layer 2208) a conductive material infusion is formed as a solid layer, and then a metal mesh pattern is subsequently formed over the solid layer of conductive material.

When two conductive materials (e.g., a first material for the mesh pattern and a second material for the patch pattern) are used to form the shielding layer in this manner, the first conductive material for the mesh pattern may be different from the second conductive material for the patch pattern. As an example, the first conductive material for the mesh pattern may be aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), or any other suitable conductive material for forming a metal mesh in the shield layer 2210. As another example, the material for the grid pattern may be a combination of conductive materials deposited as multiple layers, such as a titanium (Ti) layer on which an aluminum (Al) layer is deposited and a titanium (Ti) layer on which the Al layer is deposited. In some such examples, the grid pattern formed by the titanium layer, aluminum, etc., and the titanium layer may be above the second conductive material, or below the second conductive material. By way of example, the second conductive material used for the optional patch pattern may be ITO, silver (Ag) nanowires, or any other suitable transparent (or effectively transparent) conductive material used to form a patch that may be formed above, below, or between the metal grids in the shield/sensor 2210 layer. Thus, in some examples, the layers associated with shield/sensor 2210 may be referred to as metal mesh layers with patches of ITO, silver, or any other suitable conductive material used to form patches.

In some examples, multiple conductive segments may be electrically coupled (e.g., using the same metal or different metals) to form a shielding layer, rather than a continuous conductive layer (or a metal grid pattern, or a combination of both) that spans the entire footprint of the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In such examples, the segments may be aligned with sub-pixel elements of the display component 2204.

In examples where the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is a sensor, the sensor may include multiple metal layers or metal mesh layers. Conductive segments having some correspondence with row and column touch electrodes (e.g., touch sensor 2216) can be formed in one of the metal (mesh) layers of display noise shield/sensor 2210 to form a sensor (e.g., an electrode of a sensor). In some examples, the continuous column electrodes may be formed in a first metal (mesh) layer of the display noise shield/sensor 2210, where the non-continuous row electrodes may also be formed in the first metal (mesh) layer. In some examples, the second metal (mesh) layer may include bridges connecting non-continuous row electrodes in the first metal (mesh) layer. In some examples, conductive segments within the metal (mesh) layer of display noise shield/sensor 2210 may have a one-to-one correspondence with the row and column touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 (e.g., each conductive patch of display noise sensor 2210 has a single corresponding touch electrode of touch sensor 2216, such that the patterning of the electrodes of the display noise sensor and the touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 is the same). In some examples, conductive sections within the metal (mesh) layer of display noise shield/sensor 2210 may have dimensions that are based on the respective dimensions of the row and column touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 (e.g., each conductive patch of display noise sensor 2210 has the same or proportional dimensions as the corresponding touch electrode of touch sensor 2216). In examples where the conductive segments within the metal (grid) layer of display noise shield/sensor 2210 are smaller than the corresponding row and column touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216, the conductive segments within the layer of sensor 2210 may be centered at a center point of the corresponding touch electrode of touch sensor 2216. In some examples, conductive segments within the metal (mesh) layer of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 are aligned with the sub-pixel elements of the display component 2204 and/or the touch electrodes of the touch sensor 2216.

In some examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be formed over the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In some such examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be in direct contact with the layers of the display noise shield/sensor 2210. Similar to the first encapsulation layer 2208, the second encapsulation layer 2212 can be printed using selective printing or blanket printing. In some examples, when the second encapsulation layer 2212 is deposited over/on the display noise shield/sensor 2210 using a printing or deposition technique, the second encapsulation layer may be referred to as a "printed layer. In some examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be deposited over/on the display noise shield/sensor 2210 using inkjet printing techniques. In some examples, the inkjet printing technique may cause the layer to be selectively deposited (e.g., deposited over a portion of the underlying layer) or globally/blanket deposited (e.g., deposited over the entire underlying layer). In some examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be selectively inkjet printed over an area of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 under which the display components 2204 are formed. In other examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be inkjet printed over the entire display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., blanket deposition). The second encapsulation layer 2212 may be an optically transmissive or transparent layer through which light emitted from the display part 2204 may pass. In some examples, the thickness of the second encapsulation layer 2212 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 10 microns or less, 12 microns or less, 14 microns or less, etc.).

A dielectric layer 2214 may optionally be formed over the second encapsulation layer 2212 as an isolation layer to isolate the display noise shield/sensor 2210 from the touch sensor 2216. In some examples, if one or more metal layers of display noise shield/sensor 2210 are infused or provided with a global metal grid, a high parasitic capacitance may be created between the row/column electrodes of touch sensor 2216 and display noise shield/sensor 2210. In such an example, the high capacitance (referred to as C in the context of fig. 29) _{M2_M4} ) A reduction in bandwidth of a touch signal sensed by the touch sensor 2216 may result. In some examples, the thickness of dielectric layer 2214 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 3 microns or less, 5 microns or less, 7 microns or less, etc.).

The touch sensor 2216 may be formed over the second encapsulation layer 2212 and/or the dielectric layer 2214 (e.g., when the dielectric layer 2214 is included in the stacked structure 2200). The touch sensor 2216 may have a metal pattern aligned with the display component 2204 (and the display noise shield/sensor 2210) such that the metal pattern of the touch sensor 2216 does not interfere with or obstruct light emitted by the display component 2204. In some examples, touch sensor 2216 can be fabricated over second encapsulation layer 2212 and/or dielectric layer 2214 using an on-cell process. In other examples, touch sensor 2216 may be manufactured separately (e.g., at a time prior to manufacturing laminated structure 2200) as a discrete or semi-discrete component, and may then be transferred to its location within laminated structure 2200 after manufacturing of the preceding layers (e.g., layers 2202-2214). In some examples of the method of the present invention,

The polarizing layer 2218 can be formed over the touch sensor 2216 and can include a material that selectively filters light such that only certain polarizations of light can be transmitted through the material. The thickness of the polarizing layer 2218 may be between 10 and 150 microns in some examples, or between 30 and 80 microns in other examples. In some examples, the thickness of the polarizing layer 2218 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 50 microns or less, 100 microns or less, etc.).

The adhesive layer 2220 may be formed over the polarizing layer, and may include an optically transmissive/transparent material that allows light to be transmitted therethrough. In some examples, the thickness of the adhesive layer 2220 may be between 10 microns and 80 microns, or in other examples, between 35 microns and 55 microns. In some examples, the thickness of the adhesive layer 2220 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 30 microns or less, 50 microns or less, 70 microns or less, etc.).

The capping layer 2222 may be formed over the adhesive layer 2220, and may include a glass or crystal layer. In some examples, the thickness of the overlay layer 2222 may be between 60 microns and 120 microns, or in other examples, between 75 microns and 105 microns. In some examples, the thickness of the overlay layer 2222 is less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 75 microns or less, 95 microns or less, 115 microns or less, etc.).

Fig. 23 illustrates exemplary layers of a display noise sensor 2210A formed on printed layers of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure. As described in connection with the universal display noise sensor 2210 of fig. 22, the display noise sensor 2210A may be formed on the first packaging layer 2208. In some examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 is deposited using inkjet printing and forms a substantially planar surface on which a metal layer may be formed (e.g., points on the surface of the first encapsulation layer 2208 are all within 5% of a target level of the first encapsulation layer within the laminate structure 2200).

The first metal layer 2302 may be formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208. In some examples, the display noise sensor 2210A may be formed using on-cell manufacturing techniques (e.g., by forming the sensor 2210A directly on the first packaging layer 2208 as part of the same manufacturing process). In some examples, forming a display noise sensor may require forming multiple metal layers (e.g., metal layers 2302 and 2306 separated by interlayer dielectric layer 2304 of fig. 23) separated by interlayer dielectric layers therebetween and connected by vias through the interlayer dielectric layers.

In some examples, the on-cell manufactured display noise sensor 2210A may be formed by: first metal layer 2302 is formed over first encapsulation layer 2208, then interlayer dielectric layer 2304, and finally second metal layer 2306. The thickness of the first metal layer 2302 may be between 0.4 microns and 1 micron, in some examples, or between 0.5 microns and 0.9 microns, in other examples. In some examples, the thickness of the first metal layer 2302 may be less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 0.4 microns or less, 0.6 microns or less, 0.8 microns or less, etc.). In some examples, interlayer dielectric layer 2304 may be between 1 micron and 2.2 microns thick, or between 1.3 microns and 1.9 microns thick. In some examples, the thickness of the interlayer dielectric layer 2304 may be less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 1.4 microns or less, 1.6 microns or less, 1.8 microns or less, etc.). In some examples, the thickness of the second metal layer 2306 may be between 0.4 microns and 1 micron, or between 0.5 microns and 0.9 microns in other examples. In some examples, the thickness of second metal layer 2306 may be less than a threshold thickness (0.4 microns or less, 0.6 microns or less, 0.8 microns or less, etc.).

In some examples, the first and second metal layers 2302, 2306 may be used to form row and column noise sensor electrodes of the display noise sensor 2210A corresponding to the row and column touch electrodes of the touch sensor 2216. As an example, the row and column noise sensor electrodes in the first and second metal layers 2302 and 2306 may form a mutual capacitance type touch sensor or a self capacitance type touch sensor. In such examples, the interlayer dielectric layer 2304 between the two metal layers 2302/2306 may be patterned with vias to allow for interconnection between at least a portion of one metal layer and at least a portion of the other metal layer. As an example, row noise sensor electrodes may be formed in the first metal layer 2302, and column noise sensor electrodes may be formed in the second metal layer 2306. Alternatively, the column noise sensor electrodes may be formed in the first metal layer 2302, and the row noise sensor electrodes may be formed in the second metal layer 2306. As another example, both row and column noise sensor electrodes may be formed in the first metal layer 2302, and the second metal layer 2306 may be used to form a conductive bridge to connect any discontinous noise sensor electrodes in the first metal layer. Alternatively, both row and column noise sensor electrodes can be formed in the second metal layer 2506, and the first metal layer 2502 can be used to form a conductive bridge to connect any discontinuous noise sensor electrodes in the second metal layer. In examples where both row and column noise sensor electrodes are formed in a single metal layer of the first/second metal layers, the column noise sensor electrodes may have a continuous shape, such as a solid bar (e.g., a continuous metal grid pattern), and the row noise sensor electrodes may have a non-continuous shape, such as a plurality of segments (e.g., a striped pattern of non-continuous metal grid segments adjacent to one or more column electrodes). In such examples, dielectric layer 2304 may be patterned with vias that allow metal interconnections between non-contiguous sections of row noise sensor electrodes in one of the metal layers (e.g., first metal layer 2302) and conductive structures in the other metal layer (e.g., second metal layer 2306). In such examples, the conductive structures in the other (e.g., second) metal layer may include conductive bridging structures that extend at least the separation length between the discontinuous row noise sensor electrode segments and the discontinuous row noise sensor electrode segments (e.g., first metal layer) in the metal layer containing the continuous column noise sensor electrodes. Bridging structures in other metal layers may electrically couple non-continuous row noise sensor electrode segments via vias formed by patterning interlayer dielectric layer 2304 and allow these segments to function similarly to continuous row electrodes along their length.

Fig. 24 illustrates an exemplary display noise shield formed on a printed layer of a touchscreen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure. As described in connection with the universal display noise sensor 2210 of fig. 22, a display noise shield 2210B may be formed on the first packaging layer 2208. In some examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 is deposited using inkjet printing and forms a substantially planar surface on which a metal layer may be formed.

A metal layer 2402 may be formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208. In some examples, the display noise shield 2210B may be formed using on-cell manufacturing techniques (e.g., by forming the shield 2210B directly on the first encapsulation layer 2208 as part of the same manufacturing process). Forming a display noise shield may require forming metal layer 2402 and including a dielectric shield within laminate structure 2200 (e.g., dielectric layer 2214) to reduce parasitic capacitance with metal layer 2402.

In some examples, an on-cell manufactured display noise shield 2210B may be formed by: a metal layer 2402 is first formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208, and then a second encapsulation layer 2212 is formed over the metal layer 2402. In examples where the metal layer 2402 is primed or provided with a global metal grid, high parasitic capacitances may be created between the row/column electrodes of the touch sensor 2216 and the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In such an example, the high capacitance (sometimes referred to as C in the context of fig. 29) _{M2_M4} ) Can result in very low bandwidth of the touch signal sensed by touch sensor 2216. An optional dielectric layer 2214 may be disposed over the second encapsulation layer 2212 to isolate the touch sensor 2216 from parasitic capacitances with the metal layer 2402. The thickness of the metal layer 2402 may be between 0.4 microns and 1 micron in some examples, or between 0.5 microns and 0.9 microns in other examples. In some examples, the thickness of the metal layer 2402 may be less than a threshold thickness (0.4 microns or less, 0.6 microns or less, 0.8 microns or less, etc.).

The metal layer 2402 may be poured with metal or filled with a global metal grid pattern so that the entire footprint of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be occupied by conductive metal (grid) which may help attenuate the noise signal generated by the display component 2204 so that it does not interfere with components of the laminate structure 2200 formed above the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In some examples, the metal layer 2402 may be filled with a combination of a conductive material infusion and a metal mesh to provide improved insulation (e.g., as compared to the mesh alone) and reduced resistivity (as compared to the conductive material infusion alone). In some such examples, patches of conductive material potting may be disposed between the metal grids. At times, the metal layer 2402 may be referred to as having alternating metal grids and portions of conductive material (e.g., where the portions of conductive material are formed or positioned between gaps in the metal grids). In some such examples, the combination may be formed by: the method may include first forming a metal mesh layer (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a first conductive material according to a mesh pattern), and then forming a conductive material infusion between the mesh patterns of the metal mesh layer (e.g., by depositing and/or patterning a second conductive material according to a patch pattern aligned with the mesh pattern, wherein material paths of the mesh pattern are aligned with open paths of the patch pattern). Alternatively, the order of material formation may be reversed (e.g., as described above in connection with the display noise shield/sensor 2210 of fig. 22). An alternative process of forming the combination may be: an infusion of conductive material is first formed in the patches and then a metal grid pattern is formed in the spaces between the patches. Another alternative process of forming the combination may be: the conductive material infusion is first formed as a solid layer and then a metal grid pattern is subsequently formed over the solid layer of conductive material.

Fig. 25 illustrates an exemplary touch sensor of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure. In some examples, fig. 25 may illustrate a sub-stack 2500 of the laminated structure 2200 shown/described in fig. 22. In particular, fig. 25 may illustrate a sub-stack 2500 corresponding to the touch sensor 2216 of fig. 22 when the touch sensor 2216 is fabricated/formed according to an on-cell process or fabricated in situ, according to some examples. As described above in connection with the fabrication of the display noise shield/sensor 2210, fabricating the touch sensor 2216 using an on-cell process provides similar advantages to alternative arrangements (e.g., arrangements in which discrete or semi-discrete touch sensors fabricated using different processes are transferred to the fabrication process used to form the layers 2202-2214 of fig. 22). In some examples, these advantages include the elimination of alignment and lamination/adhesion steps associated with: aligning the (semi) discrete touch sensor with the already fabricated layers 2202-2214, and attaching the (semi) discrete touch sensor to the already fabricated layers 2202-2214 using a laminate or adhesive. These advantages of using an on-cell process to manufacture the touch sensor help reduce yield loss of the overall laminate structure 2200 relative to alternative processes. Moreover, by eliminating the alignment steps required (e.g., when transferring a semi-discrete touch sensor to on-cell fabricated layers 2202-2214) by incorporating different fabrication processes, touch accuracy associated with sensing signals of touch sensor 2216 can be improved. Because touch sensor 2216 is aligned by being fabricated using an on-cell process (sometimes referred to as being "process aligned"), row and column touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 may be substantially aligned with corresponding row and column noise sense electrodes of display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., the row and column touch electrodes may overlie the corresponding row and column noise sense electrodes within 5% deviation from a target centered/aligned position within laminate 2200). In addition, the process-aligned touch sensor 2216 can improve or optimize the alignment of the row and column touch electrodes of the touch sensor to the pixels and/or subpixels of the display component 2204.

As shown in fig. 25, touch sensor 2216 can be formed over dielectric layer 2214 and/or second encapsulation layer 2212. As described in connection with the stacked structure 2200 of fig. 22, the second encapsulation layer 2212 can be deposited according to a blanket deposition process or according to a selective deposition process (e.g., inkjet printing). In some examples, depositing the second encapsulation layer 2212 according to a blanket deposition process may result in the surface of the second encapsulation layer being planar (e.g., horizontal or planar). In some examples, the layers of touch sensor 2216 can be formed directly on the planar surface of second encapsulation layer 2212. In some examples, dielectric layer 2214 may be formed over second encapsulation layer 2212. In terms of the dielectric layer 2214 separating the touch sensor 2216 from the display noise shield/sensor 2210 and the display components 2204 (e.g., components formed below the touch sensor 2216), the dielectric layer may sometimes be referred to as an "isolating dielectric layer" or even a "thick dielectric layer". In some examples, dielectric layer 2214 may be referred to as "thick" because its thickness is relatively greater than the thickness of other dielectric layers in stacked structure 2200 of fig. 22 (such as those of display noise sensor 2210A). The thickness of dielectric layer 2214 may be between 1 and 6 microns in some examples, or between 2 and 5 microns in other examples. In some examples, the thickness of dielectric layer 2214 can be less than a threshold thickness (e.g., 2 microns or less, 5 microns or less, 8 microns or less, etc.). In some examples, separating touch sensor 2216 from the components formed therebelow (e.g., by including dielectric layer 2214) reduces the effects of noise and/or interference from the components and, in addition, reduces parasitic capacitance between the touch sensor and the components.

The touch sensor 2216 manufactured by on-cell can be formed by the following steps: first metal layer 2502 is formed over second encapsulation layer and/or dielectric layer 2214, then interlayer dielectric layer 2504 is formed, and finally second metal layer 2506 is formed. In some examples, first metal layer 2502 and second metal layer 2506 can be used to form row touch electrodes and column touch electrodes of a touch sensor. As an example, the row and column touch electrodes in the first and second metal layers 2502 and 2506 may form a mutual capacitance type touch sensor or a self capacitance type touch sensor. In such examples, the interlayer dielectric layer 2504 between the two metal layers 2502/2506 may be patterned with vias to allow interconnection between at least a portion of one metal layer and at least a portion of the other metal layer. As an example, row touch electrodes can be formed in first metal layer 2502 and column touch electrodes can be formed in second metal layer 2506. Alternatively, the column touch electrodes can be formed in the first metal layer 2502 and the row touch electrodes can be formed in the second metal layer 2506. As another example, both row and column touch electrodes can be formed in the first metal layer 2502, and the second metal layer 2506 can be used to form a conductive bridge to connect any discontinuous touch electrodes in the first metal layer. Alternatively, both row and column touch electrodes can be formed in the second metal layer 2506, and the first metal layer 2502 can be used to form a conductive bridge to connect any discontinuous touch electrodes in the second metal layer. In examples where both row and column touch electrodes are formed in a single metal layer of the first/second metal layers, the column electrodes may have a continuous shape, such as a solid bar (e.g., a continuous metal grid pattern), and the row electrodes may have a discontinuous shape, such as a plurality of sections (e.g., a striped pattern of discontinuous metal grid sections adjacent to one or more column electrodes). In such examples, the dielectric layer 2504 may be patterned with vias that allow for metal interconnections between non-contiguous segments of row electrodes in one of the metal layers (e.g., first metal layer 2502) and conductive structures in the other metal layer (e.g., second metal layer 2506). In such examples, the conductive structures in the other (e.g., second) metal layer can include conductive bridge structures that extend at least the separation length between non-contiguous row touch electrode segments in the metal layer containing contiguous columns of touch electrodes and non-contiguous row touch electrode segments (e.g., first metal layer). Bridging structures in other metal layers may electrically couple non-consecutive row touch electrode segments via vias formed by patterning the interlevel dielectric layer 2504 and allow these segments to function similarly to consecutive row electrodes along their length. In some examples, the touch sensor may be implemented according to the touch electrode (and wiring) patterns described with respect to fig. 5-21.

Fig. 26 illustrates an exemplary transfer-type touch sensor of a touch screen stackup structure according to an example of the present disclosure. In some examples, fig. 26 may illustrate a sub-stack 2600 of the stacked structure 2200 shown/described in fig. 22. In contrast to the arrangement described above in connection with FIG. 25, touch sensor 2216 as shown in FIG. 26 is not fabricated using an on-cell process. In contrast, touch sensor 2216 of FIG. 26 represents discrete or semi-discrete components that are fabricated using a different process than the fabrication process used to form layers 2202-2214 of FIG. 22. In other words, touch sensor 2216 represents components that are manufactured at different times, at different locations, and/or using different manufacturing processes relative to layers 2202-2214 of fig. 22 (e.g., the front layers of laminate structure 2200).

Similar to the arrangement of fig. 25, the touch sensor 2216 of fig. 26 includes a first metal layer 2602, an interlayer dielectric layer 2604, and a second metal layer 2606. These layers may be identical to the corresponding layers 2502, 2504, and 2506 of fig. 25, except that the alignment resulting from lamination may be reduced as compared to the process alignment of the layers 2202-2214 of fig. 22 resulting from an on-cell process. Because the touch sensor 2216 of fig. 26 is fabricated using a different process than the front layers of the laminate structure, the touch sensor may sometimes be referred to as a "transfer-type" touch sensor. With a transfer-type touch sensor, as shown in FIG. 26, some of the advantages of the on-cell process are not available, requiring careful alignment and lamination/adhesion steps to integrate the touch sensor 2216 with the layers 2202-2214 of the laminate structure 2200 of FIG. 22. In some examples, these additional alignment and lamination/adhesion steps complicate the manufacture of the laminate structure 2200 and are prone to error. Examples of alignment errors may include misalignment of the touch sensor 2216 relative to the display noise shield/sensor 2210 and/or the display component 2204 such that the rows and columns formed in the metal layer of the touch sensor 2216 are substantially misaligned with corresponding structures in the shield/sensor 2210 and/or the display component 2204. Such errors may reduce touch sensor accuracy and/or result in additional yield loss. Examples of lamination/adhesion errors may include partial/incomplete or insufficient adhesion of the touch sensor 2216 to the rest of the laminate structure 2200 (e.g., the front layers 2202-2214). In particular, transfer-type touch sensor 2216 of fig. 26 can be laminated/adhered to the remainder of laminate structure 2200 by adhesive layer 2610. However, partial and/or incomplete adhesion between the adhesive layer 2610 and the dielectric layer 2214 or the second encapsulation layer 2212 may result in insufficient anchoring of the touch sensor 2216 to the laminate structure 2200. Insufficient anchoring of the touch sensor 2216 to the laminated structure 2200 can result in future misalignment of the touch sensor 2216 relative to the laminated structure 2200 (e.g., by movement of the touch sensor 2216), or a discrepancy in the performance of the touch sensor 2216 during operation of a device that includes the laminated structure 2200 (e.g., due to strain/force on the touch sensor 2216 that causes the touch sensor to move when the device is in use). In addition, because the touch sensor 2216 of fig. 26 is not formed using an on-cell process, but is fabricated using a different process, the touch sensor substrate 2608 can be included within the stacked structure 2200 of fig. 22 and can correspond to a base substrate on which the layers 2602-2606 are formed (e.g., during separate fabrication of the transfer-type touch sensor 2216).

Fig. 27 illustrates an exemplary readout terminal of a touch sensor and pixel aligned display noise sensor of a touch screen stackup according to examples of the disclosure. Fig. 27 shows a simplified stacked structure relative to 2200 of fig. 22, which shows only the display components 2204 (here represented as pixels in an array, each pixel having a plurality of subpixels), the metal layer of the display noise sensor 2210A (e.g., the second metal layer 2306 of fig. 23), and the metal layer of the touch sensor 2216 (e.g., the second metal layer 2506 of fig. 25 or 2606 of fig. 26). Starting from the bottom of the simplified layered structure, the display component 2204 may be used to display text, images, video, or other information to a user, and may do so by modifying the signals input to the display to cause corresponding/desired changes in the output of the display component 2204 itself. When the output values of pixels in the display component 2204 change during normal operation of the electronic device, the changed pixel output values may generate associated noise signals that are generally positioned near the changed display component 2204.

The display noise sensor 2210A is shown over the display component 2204, and may be formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208, as described above in connection with fig. 22 and 23. Fig. 27 shows the display noise sensor 2210A as a single metal layer, which corresponds to an embodiment in which both row and column noise sensor electrodes are formed in a single metal layer (e.g., the second metal layer 2306 of fig. 23). In such examples, another metal layer (e.g., first metal layer 2302) may be used to form interconnections between discontinuous row and/or column noise sensor electrode segments (e.g., in second metal layer 2306). However, this is merely illustrative, and display noise sensor 2210A may also have row and column noise sensor electrodes formed in different respective metal layers. The row noise sensor electrodes extending in the first direction over the corresponding section of the display member 2204 may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes to the output values of the underlying display member 2204 along the first direction. The connection points of the row noise sensor electrodes of display noise sensor 2210A may be labeled by terminal B1 and read out at a readout circuit (e.g., 2900 of fig. 29). Similarly, column noise sensor electrodes extending in a second direction different from the first direction over corresponding sections of the display member 2204 may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes to output values of the underlying display member 2204 along the second direction. The connection point of the column noise sensor electrode of display noise sensor 2210A may be labeled by terminal B2 and read out at a readout circuit. The metal used to form the row and column noise sensor electrodes in the display noise sensor 2210A may be patterned to be substantially aligned with the sub-pixel components of the display component 2204 such that the metal in the display noise sensor 2210A does not optically interfere with light transmitted from the display component 2204 (e.g., the pattern features of the row and column noise sensor electrodes may overlie the corresponding sub-pixel display components within 5% deviation of the target centering/alignment position within the laminate structure 2200).

The touch sensor 2216 is shown above the display noise sensor 2210A (on the side of the display noise sensor opposite the display), and may be formed over the dielectric layer 2214 and/or the second encapsulation layer 2212, as described above in connection with fig. 22 and 25. Touch sensor 2216 is shown as a single metal layer, which corresponds to an embodiment in which both row and column touch electrodes are formed in a single metal layer (e.g., second metal layer 2506 of fig. 25). In such examples, another metal layer (e.g., first metal layer 2502) can be used to form interconnects between discontinuous row and/or column touch electrode segments (e.g., in second metal layer 2506). However, this is merely illustrative, and touch sensor 2216 may also have row and column noise sensor electrodes formed in different respective metal layers. The row of touch electrodes extending in the first direction over corresponding sections of the display member 2204 may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes to the output values of the underlying display member 2204 along the first direction. These row touch electrodes may also extend over corresponding row noise sensor electrodes of display noise sensor 2210A. The connection points of the row touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 may be labeled by terminal A1 and read out at the readout circuitry in parallel with the corresponding signals from the row noise sensor electrodes labeled by terminal B1. Similarly, column touch electrodes extending in a second direction different from the first direction over corresponding sections of the display member 2204 may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes to output values of the underlying display member 2204 along the second direction. These column touch electrodes may also extend over corresponding column noise sensor electrodes of display noise sensor 2210A. The connection point of the column touch electrode of touch sensor 2216 may be labeled by terminal A2 and read out at the read out circuit in parallel with the corresponding signal from the column noise sensor electrode labeled by terminal B2. The metal used to form the row/column touch electrodes in touch sensor 2216 can be patterned to be substantially aligned with the sub-pixel features of display feature 2204 such that the metal in touch sensor 2216 does not optically interfere with light transmitted from display feature 2204 (e.g., the pattern features of the row and column touch electrodes can overlie the corresponding sub-pixel light emitting display feature within 5% of the target centered/aligned position within laminate structure 2200).

In some examples, each row of touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 may overlie a corresponding row of noise sensor electrodes of display noise sensor 2210A. In some examples, each corresponding pair of row touch electrodes and row noise sensor electrodes may overlie a corresponding row of display pixels of the display component 2204 and may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes to the output values of the underlying display component 2204. In some examples, to attenuate the effects of electrical noise from the display component 2204, display noise signals from rows/columns of the display noise sensor 2210A (e.g., signals read from terminals B1/B2) can be read out in parallel by readout circuitry with corresponding touch detection signals from rows/columns of the touch sensor 2216 (e.g., signals read out from terminals A1/A2). In some examples, signals B1/B2 read out from display noise sensor 2210A and signals A1/A2 read out from touch sensor 2216 may correspond to rows and/or columns of display noise sensor 2210A aligned with and overlapping rows and/or columns of touch sensor 2216. Reading out the display noise signal from B1/B2 in parallel with the touch detection signal from A1/A2 allows the readout circuitry to subtract the display noise signal from the touch detection signal, thereby generating a touch detection signal with noise corrected, wherein the display noise signal has a reduced contribution to the touch detection signal. In some examples, such an arrangement may result in improved accuracy and repeatability in measuring touch input from a user based on noise-corrected touch detection signals.

In some examples, particular rows and columns of display noise sensors 2210A may be combined into a larger area that is separated into an area above display component 2204 (or an area below touch sensor 2216). In such examples, particular rows and columns may be combined by "mechanically connecting" or electrically connecting their outputs so that a larger area formed by the combined particular rows and columns may be read out at a single time (or at a single terminal). Alternatively, certain rows and columns may be read out sequentially (or at their respective terminals) and then combined to produce an output corresponding to the noise signal at a larger area formed by these combined certain rows and columns. When the particular row and column noise sensor electrodes of the display noise sensor 2210A are combined into a larger area in this manner, each area of the display noise sensor 2210A may be sensitive to electrical noise generated by changes in output values of the corresponding area of the underlying display component 2204. Further, an area formed by the combined row and column noise sensor electrodes may be formed below the corresponding area of the touch sensor 2216. In such examples, signals read out of a particular area of display noise sensor 2210A may be read out in parallel with corresponding touch detection signals from rows/columns of touch sensor 2216 that correspond to signals within the corresponding area (e.g., row or column touch electrodes over the particular area of display noise sensor 2210A). In some examples, these signals (e.g., from an area of display noise sensor 2210A and a corresponding area of touch sensor 2216) may be read out by a common readout circuit (described below in connection with fig. 29). When the single row noise sensor electrode/single column noise sensor electrode and the single row touch electrode/single column touch electrode are read out by the common readout circuit, when a first signal from an area of the noise sensor electrode of the display noise sensor 2210A and a second signal from a corresponding area of the touch sensor 2216 are read out, similar to this method, the first signal may be subtracted from the second signal to generate a readout value corresponding to a touch signal that does not have a noise contribution/influence (e.g., does not have display noise) on the display component 2204.

This approach of separating display noise sensor 2210A into a larger area extending beyond a single row or a single column may be extended to combine all row and column noise sensor electrodes of display noise sensor 2210A to generate a global readout corresponding to the noise signal at the entire display noise sensor 2210A. When the areas of the plurality of row noise sensor electrodes/the plurality of column noise sensor electrodes and the corresponding areas of the row touch electrodes/the column touch electrodes are read out by the common readout circuit, when a first signal corresponding to the entire display noise sensor 2210A and a second signal from any area of the touch sensor 2216 are read out, similar to this method, the first signal may be subtracted from the second signal to generate a readout value corresponding to a touch signal that does not have a noise contribution/influence (e.g., does not have display noise) on the display section 2204.

Fig. 28 illustrates an exemplary readout terminal of a touch sensor and display noise shield of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure. Fig. 28 illustrates a simplified stacked structure relative to 2200 of fig. 22, which only shows the display components 2204 (here represented as pixels in an array, each pixel having a plurality of subpixels), the metal layer of the display noise shield 2210B (e.g., metal layer 2402 of fig. 24), and the metal layer of the touch sensor 2216 (e.g., second metal layer 2506 of fig. 25 or 2606 of fig. 26). Similar to the description above in connection with fig. 27, when the output values of pixels in the display component 2204 change during normal operation of the electronic device, the changed pixel output values may generate associated noise signals that are generally positioned near the changed display component 2204.

The display noise shield 2210B is shown over the display component 2204, and may be formed over the first encapsulation layer 2208, as described above in connection with fig. 22 and 23. Fig. 28 shows the display noise shield 2210B as a single metal layer, which corresponds to an embodiment in which a global grid is formed over the entire metal layer 2402 (of fig. 24), thereby covering the entire display component 2204. In some examples, the global grid associated with display noise shield 2210B may be partitioned into non-continuous shield sections. In such examples, a plurality of connection points corresponding to a plurality of shield segments may be provided. However, in the example shown in fig. 28, the connection point of the entire display noise shield 2210B may be labeled by terminal C, and as shown in fig. 30, terminal C may be coupled to a ground voltage, thereby biasing the entire shield 2210B at a fixed voltage level. The metal used to form the display noise shielding electrode of display noise shield 2210B may be patterned to be substantially aligned with the sub-pixel components of display component 2204 such that the metal in display noise shield 2210B does not optically interfere with light transmitted from display component 2204 (e.g., the pattern features of the display noise shield may overlie the corresponding sub-pixel display component within 5% deviation of the target centering/alignment position within laminate structure 2200).

The touch sensor 2216 is shown above the display noise shield 2210B and may be formed above the dielectric layer 2214 and/or the second encapsulation layer 2212, as described above in connection with fig. 22 and 25. In some examples, due to the high capacitance between the global grid of metal layers 2402 and touch sensor 2216, an optional dielectric layer 2214 is sometimes disposed between display noise shield 2210B and touch sensor 2216. As mentioned above in connection with fig. 22, the inclusion of the dielectric layer 2214 between the display noise shield 2210B and the touch sensor 2216 may improve isolation between those layers of the laminate structure 2200, thereby improving touch sensing performance, accuracy and repeatability. Touch sensor 2216 is shown as a single metal layer, which corresponds to an embodiment in which both row and column touch electrodes are formed in a single metal layer (e.g., second metal layer 2506 of fig. 25). Similar to FIG. 27, touch sensor 2216 is shown with row touch electrodes and column touch electrodes. The connection point of the row touch electrode of touch sensor 2216 can be labeled by terminal A1 and read out at the readout circuitry. The connection points of the column touch electrodes of touch sensor 2216 may be labeled by terminal A2 and read out at the readout circuitry. The metal used to form the row/column touch electrodes in touch sensor 2216 can be patterned to be substantially aligned with the sub-pixel components of display component 2204 such that the metal in touch sensor 2216 does not optically interfere with light transmitted from display component 2204 (e.g., the pattern features of the row and column touch electrodes can overlie corresponding sub-pixel display components within 5% deviation of the target centered/aligned position within laminate structure 2200).

In some examples, each row of touch electrodes of the touch sensor 2216 may overlie the display noise shield 2210B. In some examples, when signals are read out of rows/columns of the touch sensor 2216, the display noise shield 2210B may be actively biased to a particular voltage level during touch sensing operations of the touch sensor 2216. In such examples, terminal C of display noise shield 2210B may receive one or more stimulation signals (e.g., a time-varying voltage) during a touch sensing operation of touch sensor 2216, or may be biased to a ground voltage (or any other suitable fixed voltage level). In some examples, such an arrangement can result in improved accuracy and repeatability in measuring touch inputs from a user based on noise-corrected touch detection signals by applying one or more bias voltages to display noise shield 2210B at least during touch sensing operations of touch sensor 2216, thereby shielding row/column touch electrodes of the touch sensor from electrical interference (e.g., display noise) generated by display component 2204.

Fig. 29 illustrates an exemplary readout circuit for a touch sensor and a display noise sensor of a touch screen stackup according to an example of the present disclosure. Readout circuitry 2900 (also referred to herein as sensing circuitry) can represent an exemplary circuit schematic that models parasitic/undesired capacitance between components of the stacked structure 2200 of fig. 22 and terminal outputs corresponding to connection points (e.g., A1/A2) of the row/column of touch sensor 2216 and connection points (e.g., B1/B2) of the row/column of display noise sensor 2210A. The overall function of the readout circuit 2900 may be to output a voltage V proportional to the difference between the voltages at the positive input 2904 and the negative input 2902 _{Output of} . Thus, V _{Output of} The sum of signals from connection points B1/B2 corresponding to rows/columns of display noise sensor 2210A and the sum of signals from connection points B1/B2The difference between the signals of connection points A1/A2 corresponding to rows/columns of touch sensor 2216 is proportional. Thus, V _{Output of} Represents a signal based on the positive input 2904 and the negative input 2902 that may be used to determine a value of the touch signal detected by the touch sensor 2216 at the connection point A1/A2 minus the noise signal detected by the display noise sensor 2210A at the connection point B1/B2.

In some examples, as described above in connection with fig. 27, display noise sensor 2210A may sometimes be partitioned into regions by combining output values from particular row noise sensor electrodes and/or column noise sensor electrodes. In other examples, display noise sensor 2210A may be used to generate a global readout that combines output values from all row noise sensor electrodes and all column noise sensor electrodes. Although not shown in fig. 29, these signals may also be provided at the positive input 2904.

In some examples, readout circuitry 2900 can perform similar functions to touch sensor circuits 300 and 350 of fig. 3A and 3B. As described above, in some examples, touch sensor circuit 300/350 can generate an output Vo corresponding to a single-ended readout (e.g., a touch electrode signal readout) of a row/column of touch sensor 2216. Similarly, in some examples, touch sensor circuit 300/350 may be coupled to a row/column of display noise sensor 2210A to produce a single-ended readout of the row/column of display noise sensor 2210A. In such examples, the output from the touch sensor circuit 300/350 coupled to the row/column of display noise sensor 2210A may be subtracted from the output of the touch sensor circuit 300/350 coupled to the row/column of touch sensor 2216 to obtain the output voltage V of AND readout circuit 2900 _{Output of} A comparable or proportional difference.

In some examples, labeled V _Noise(s) The voltage source of the (cathode) represents the noise contribution of the display component 2204 to the other components of the laminate structure 2200 of fig. 22. Capacitor C _{M2_C} Indicating parasitics or misfires between the cathode (e.g., display component 2204) and a metal layer called M2 (e.g., a metal layer corresponding to display noise shield/sensor 2210)The capacitance is observed. In an example where the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is a display noise sensor 2210A, the metal layer M2 may correspond to the second metal layer 2306 of fig. 23. In an example where the display noise shield/sensor 2210 is a display noise shield 2210B, the metal layer M2 may correspond to the metal layer 2402 of fig. 24. The positive input 2904 is connected to the display noise shield/sensor 2210, and thus may be subject to C _{M2_C} Capacitance (as shown by its connection in fig. 29). Capacitor C _{M4_C} Representing a parasitic or undesired capacitance between the cathode (e.g., display element 2204) and a metal layer referred to as M4 (e.g., a metal layer corresponding to the row/column electrodes of touch sensor 2216). In examples where row and column electrodes are formed in a single layer closest to the user (e.g., closest to overlay layer 2222 of fig. 22), metal layer M4 may correspond to second metal layer 2506. Negative input 2902 is connected to touch sensor 2216, and thus can be subject to a capacitance C _{M4_C} (as shown by its connection in fig. 29). In some examples, the capacitance C _{M4_M2} Represents parasitic or undesired capacitance between metal layers M2 and M4 and is shown connected between positive input 2904 and negative input 2902 as it may be subject to the two layers to which these inputs may be connected.

The positive input 2904 is shown as being via a resistor R _M2 Connected to the differential amplifier 2906, this resistor may represent the inherent resistance associated with the metal layer referred to as M2, described above. Alternatively, R _M2 May represent an input resistor to the positive terminal of differential amplifier 2906 and may have a particular predefined value. Negative input 2902 is shown via resistor R _M4 Connected to the differential amplifier 2906, this resistor may represent the inherent resistance associated with the metal layer referred to as M4, described above. Alternatively, R _M4 Represents the input resistor to the negative terminal of differential amplifier 2906, and may have a particular predefined value. In some examples, R _Biasing Can indicate the bias voltage V _Biasing A resistor connected to the positive terminal of the differential amplifier 2906, and R _FB Can express the output voltage V _{Output of} A feedback resistor connected to the negative terminal of the differential amplifier 2906.

FIG. 30 illustrates exemplary voltage biases for a display noise shield for a touch screen stackup according to examples of the present disclosure. In some examples, connection point C, which represents a connection to the global grid of display noise shields 2210B, is grounded. In some examples, grounding display noise shield 2210B may attenuate noise. Alternatively, in some examples, display noise shield 2210B may be biased to any fixed non-zero voltage (e.g., again to attenuate noise). In some examples, during touch sensing operations of the touch sensor 2216, the display noise shield 2210B is biased only to ground or other fixed voltage. In some examples (not shown in fig. 30), during a touch sensing operation corresponding to or based on the stimulation signals 216 of fig. 2 provided to drive lines 222 through drive interface 224, stimulation signals may be provided to display noise shield 2210B.

Fig. 31 shows an example process 3100 for operating a touch screen stackup having a touch sensor and a display noise sensor located between the touch sensor and a display pixel according to an example of the disclosure. In some examples, process 3100 also describes operations for operating a touch screen stackup having a touch sensor and a display noise shield between the touch sensor and a display pixel. In some examples, process 3100 may describe operations for operating readout circuitry 2900 of fig. 29, regardless of whether positive input 2904 is connected to a display noise sensor electrode (e.g., input B1/B2) or to a display noise shield electrode (e.g., input C).

Process 3100 begins with a readout circuit (e.g., 2900 of fig. 29) sampling a signal from a touch sensor 2216 at a particular location (e.g., row and/or column) at 3102. By way of example, 3102 can describe sampling signals from touch sensor 2216, in particular sampling particular locations of the touch sensor (e.g., by touch controller 206) where touch events can be detected. In such an example, a touch event may be detected at a particular row (e.g., the second row) and a particular column (e.g., the third column) of the display and may correspond to a user interacting with or selecting a user interface element displayed by the display component 2204 at the particular row and the particular column. At 3102 of process 3100, signals read out via terminals A1/A2 of fig. 27 can be sampled and/or read out at negative input 2902 of readout circuitry 2900 of fig. 29.

At 3104, process 3100 continues by the readout circuitry sampling a signal from the display noise sensor at a location corresponding to the particular location. As an example, 3104 may describe sampling a signal from display noise sensor 2210A at the same particular location on the touch sensor where the touch event was detected. In such an example, display noise sensor 2210A may be sampled at a particular row (e.g., a second row) and a particular column (e.g., a third column) corresponding to a position within display noise sensor 2210A below the position of the touch event detected on touch sensor 2216. At 3104 of process 3100, signals read out via terminals B1/B2 of fig. 27 may be sampled and/or read out at positive input 2904 of readout circuitry 2900 of fig. 29. In some examples, at 3104 of process 3100, signals read out via terminal C of fig. 28 may be sampled and/or read out at the positive input 2904 of the readout circuit 2900 of fig. 29. In some examples, the signal read out at the positive input 2904 of the readout circuit corresponds to a change based on an electrical noise signal of the display component 2204 or an output value of the display component 2204.

Process 3100 ends with the readout circuitry generating a noise adjusted touch readout signal by subtracting the display noise sensor signal from the touch sensor panel signal at 3106. 3106 may describe, as an example, the differential amplifier 2906 generating an output voltage V corresponding to the difference of the signal at the positive input 2904 and the signal at the negative input 2902 _{Output the output} . As an example, V _{Output of} May be proportional to the signal at the positive input 2904 minus the signal at the negative input 2902 (or the signal at the negative input minus the signal at the positive input), which in turn is proportional to the signal at the negative input 2902 minus the signal at the positive input 2904 (or the signal at the positive input minus the signal at the negative input). By determining that the signal at the negative input 2902 subtracts the signal at the positive input 2904, a noise corrected signal may be generatedA positive touch reads out a signal at least because the signal at the positive input 2904 read out of display noise sensor 2210A may correspond to an electrical noise contribution at a particular location (e.g., where a touch event was detected).

Fig. 32 illustrates an example process 3200 for forming a touch screen stackup having a display noise shield/sensor formed on a first printed layer and a touch sensor formed on a second printed layer according to an example of the present disclosure. In some examples, process 3200 describes operations for fabricating first encapsulation layer 2208, display noise shield/sensor 2210, second encapsulation layer 2212, and touch sensor 2216 of laminate structure 2200 of fig. 22 using an on-cell fabrication process. In some examples, the on-cell fabrication described in process 3200 may alternatively be described as fabricating the first packaging layer 2208, the display noise shield/sensor 2210, the second packaging layer 2212, and the touch sensor 2216, as well as the display component 2204 in-situ (e.g., in-situ). As described above in connection with fig. 22, the on-cell manufacturing process may provide advantages over alternative techniques that use discrete and semi-discrete components to form the display noise shield/sensor 2210 and/or the touch sensor 2216. In some examples, these advantages include the elimination of alignment and lamination steps associated with: aligning (semi-) discrete components associated with the display noise shield/sensor with the already fabricated layers 2202-2208, and attaching the components associated with the display noise shield/sensor to the already fabricated layers 2202-2208 using a laminate or adhesive. These advantages of using an on-cell process to manufacture the display noise shield/sensor contribute to a reduction in yield loss for the overall laminate structure 2200 relative to alternative processes.

Process 3200 begins by printing a first encapsulation layer (e.g., layer 2208) over a display component (e.g., display component 2204) at 3202. As mentioned above in connection with the stacked structure 2200 of fig. 22, the first encapsulation layer 2208 may be formed on top of a passivation layer 2206 covering the entire light emitting display pixels/elements of the display component 2204, and sometimes covering portions of the layers of the display component 2204 where the light emitting display pixels/elements are not formed. In some examples, printing the first encapsulation layer 2208 involves selectively depositing (e.g., by an inkjet printing method) encapsulation layer material only over portions of the passivation layer 2206 formed over light emitting display pixels/elements of the display member 2204. In such examples, the first encapsulation layer 2208 can be an optically transparent material that can be suitably deposited using a selective deposition technique (e.g., an inkjet printing process).

The process 3200 continues by forming a display noise shield/sensor over the printed first encapsulation layer at 3204. As described above in connection with fig. 22, in some examples, the display noise shield/sensor 2210 may be a shield or a sensor. In some examples, forming a display noise shield may require forming a metal layer (e.g., metal layer 2402 of fig. 24) over the first package printed at 3202. In some examples, forming a display noise sensor may require forming multiple metal layers separated by interlayer dielectric layers therebetween (e.g., metal layers 2302 and 2306 separated by interlayer dielectric layer 2304 of fig. 23).

The process 3200 continues by printing a second encapsulation layer over the display noise shield/sensor at 3206. As described above in connection with fig. 22, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be selectively or blanket deposited over the display noise shield/sensor 2210. In some examples, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be deposited over the entire display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., blanket deposition), or only over a portion of the display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., selective deposition). As an example, using blanket deposition, the second encapsulation layer 2212 may be deposited over the entire display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., blanket deposition) such that the surface of the second encapsulation layer is substantially flat (e.g., points on the surface of the second encapsulation layer 2212 are all within 5% of a target horizontal height of the second encapsulation layer within the stacked structure 2200). As another example, using selective deposition, the second package layer 2212 may be deposited over only a portion of the display noise shield/sensor 2210, such that the surfaces of the second package (e.g., at the height of the deposition area, and at different heights in the non-deposition area) are not flush.

Process 3200 may end with forming a touch sensor over the printed second encapsulation layer at 3208. As detailed in the description in connection with the touch sensor 2216 of fig. 22, a thick dielectric layer 2214 can be formed over the second encapsulation layer 2212 to improve isolation of the touch sensor 2216 from the display noise shield/sensor 2210 (e.g., by reducing stray/parasitic capacitance between the two). In some examples, touch sensor 2216 can be formed over thick dielectric layer 2214. In other examples, the touch sensor 2216 can be formed directly over the second encapsulation layer 2212. The touch sensor 2216 of fig. 22, when formed in this manner over the printed second encapsulation layer 2212 (and/or over the dielectric layer 2214 for additional isolation) has the layers shown in fig. 25.

At 3208, a first metal layer (e.g., layer 2502 of fig. 25) may be formed over the second encapsulation layer, followed by formation of an interlayer dielectric layer (e.g., layer 2504 of fig. 25) and a second metal layer (e.g., layer 2506 of fig. 25). In some examples, the first and second metal layers may be used to form row and column touch electrodes of the touch sensor. In such examples, the interlevel dielectric layer between two metal layers may be patterned with vias to allow for interconnection between at least a portion of one metal layer and at least a portion of another metal layer. As an example, row touch electrodes can be formed in a first metal layer and column touch electrodes can be formed in a second metal layer. As another example, both row and column touch electrodes can be formed in a first metal layer, and a second metal layer can be used to form a conductive bridge to connect any discontinuous touch electrodes in the first metal layer.

Fig. 33 illustrates a portion of an exemplary touch sensor panel according to an example of the present disclosure. The portion of touch sensor panel 3300 (e.g., corresponding to touch sensor panels 700, 1100, 1300, etc.) includes a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes that includes four column electrodes 3304A-3304D (H-shaped electrodes) and four row electrodes labeled 3302A-3302D. Some row routing traces 3306A-3306D and column routing traces 3308A-3308D are also shown. The row electrodes 3302A-3302D may be routed to sensing circuitry (e.g., single-ended amplifiers or differential amplifiers for single-ended or differential measurements) using routing traces 3306A-3306D. The column electrodes 3304A-3304D may be routed to a driver circuit using routing traces 3308A-3308D. The row and column routing traces can additionally or alternatively be connected to other portions of the row and column electrodes for other portions of the touch sensor panel outside of the 2 x 2 array. Four row electrodes may be coupled to four inputs of the sensing circuit, which are labeled with labels Rx0+, rx0-, rx1+ and Rx1- (e.g., which may be used for two differential measurements). The four column electrodes may be coupled to four outputs of the drive circuitry, which are labeled with labels Tx0+, tx0-, tx1+, and Tx 1-.

As described herein, differential sensing can be used to suppress common mode noise from the display (e.g., display-to-touch noise is common mode), and differential driving can reduce local imbalance on the display electrodes from the touch electrodes (e.g., the net touch drive signal is about zero, thereby reducing touch-to-display noise). However, the noise reduction benefits of differential drive and sense techniques apply to a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes (e.g., a pitch across two touch nodes), with each touch node primarily corresponding to a single-ended measured touch signal for a corresponding row and column. For example, a first touch node (touch node A, in the top left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3304A and row electrode 3302A, a second touch node (touch node B, in the top right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3304B and row electrode 3302B, a third touch node (touch node C, in the bottom left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3304C and row electrode 3302C, and a fourth touch node (touch node D, in the bottom right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3304D and row electrode 3302D. However, non-primary (secondary) mutual capacitances can degrade the differential touch signal of each of the touch nodes.

In some examples, a touch electrode architecture for differential driving without differential sensing may be implemented. Differential driving can still reduce touch-to-display noise (without differential sensing to reduce display-to-touch noise). Touch electrode architectures for differential driving can simplify touch electrode architecture design because fewer routing traces and fewer bridges are required as compared to some of the differential driving and differential sensing touch electrode architectures described herein (e.g., the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33).

FIG. 34 illustrates a portion of an exemplary touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the present disclosure. The portions of touch sensor panel 3400 each include a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes including four column electrodes 3404A-3404D and four row electrodes labeled 3402A-3402B. The row touch electrodes can be formed from a two-dimensional array of touch electrode segments that are interconnected horizontally using bridges 3410, and can be interconnected vertically in a border area (e.g., outside of the touch sensor panel area) and/or by additional bridges (not shown). As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the row electrode is rectangular, but other shapes are possible. Six touch electrode segments and four bridges (e.g., two sets of three touch electrode segments and two bridges) are shown for each row electrode of a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used. Although not shown, the row electrodes can be routed to the sensing circuits at either the left or right edge of the touch sensor panel (or optionally, vertically as described with reference to fig. 7A-14C). In addition, as shown in FIG. 34, the row electrodes are nearly completely continuous across the touch sensor panel (if there are no column routing traces and bridges over a relatively small portion of the column electrodes), which improves the consistency of touch signal sensing as objects move horizontally across the touch sensor panel (e.g., relative to the interleaved row electrodes of FIG. 33).

Each column electrode includes multiple touch electrode sections connected by bridges 3412 and/or column routing traces 3408A-3408D. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of a column electrode is E-shaped (e.g., a union of five rectangles, three of which are parallel and the other two of which are orthogonal and interconnected with those three rectangles), although other shapes are possible. A pair of E-shaped touch electrode sections of a first column electrode of a first touch node in a column is connected to the first column routing section by a first three-way bridge 3412 (or by a three-way routing trace in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). A pair of E-shaped touch electrode sections of the second column electrodes of the second touch nodes in a column are connected to the first column routing section by a second three-way bridge 3412 (or by three-way routing traces in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). The first column routing trace 3408A for the first column electrode may bisect a pair of E-shaped column electrode sections of the second column electrode that are interleaved with the first column electrode. Similarly, a second column routing trace for a second column electrode can even out a pair of E-shaped column electrode segments of a first column electrode that are interleaved with the second column electrode. It should be understood that at the transition from the column routing trace 3408A to the column routing trace 3408B, one of the column routing traces may be coupled (e.g., using a three-way routing trace) to a corresponding column touch electrode section in the same layer as the column touch electrode section and the other of the column routing traces may be coupled to the corresponding column touch electrode section using a three-way bridge 3412. However, in some examples, as shown, the connections between each column routing trace and the corresponding touch electrode segment may each be made using a bridge (but this increases the number of bridges and requires some adjustment to avoid bridges crossing each other). This pattern described for two touch nodes in one column may be repeated for the second column shown in fig. 34 (and extend over a larger portion of a 2 x 2 array of touch sensor panels).

As shown, pairs of E-shaped touch electrode segments are connected from each E-shaped touch electrode segment to column routing traces by three-way bridges 3412. While the three-way bridge 3412 is shown as providing a three-way connection between the column routing traces and a pair of E-shaped touch electrode sections, it should be understood that different bridge connections are possible. For example, a pair of bridges may be used instead of a three-way bridge, or the pair of E-shaped touch electrode segments may be connected by one or more horizontal bridges, and one or more additional bridges may connect from one or more of the pair of E-shaped touch electrode segments to corresponding column routing traces.

As shown, the E-shaped electrode may include a central strip that is thicker than the upper and lower strips. The size of the E-shaped electrodes can be optimized to improve the total touch signal measured at the touch node.

Each touch node includes a differential column electrode pair and a single ended row electrode. For example, a first touch node (touch node a, in the upper left corner) includes a portion of row electrodes 3402A (e.g., corresponding to a single-ended input for touch sensing), a portion of column electrodes 3404A, and a portion of column routing traces 3408C (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). Similarly, a second touch node (touch node B, top right corner) includes a portion of row electrodes 3402A (e.g., corresponding to a single-ended input for touch sensing), a portion of column electrodes 3404B, and a portion of column routing traces 3408F (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving); a third touch node (touch node C, at the bottom left corner) includes a portion of row electrodes 3402B (e.g., corresponding to a single-ended input for touch sensing), a portion of column electrodes 3404C, and a portion of column routing traces 3408A (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving); and a fourth touch node (touch node D, bottom right corner) includes a portion of row electrodes 3402B (e.g., corresponding to a single-ended input for touch sensing), a portion of column electrodes 3404D, and a portion of column routing traces 3408B (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). Differential cancellation of the drive signals occurs at two touch nodes in each column.

The touch electrode architecture of fig. 34 may provide a simplified design in the form of fewer traces and bridges. For example, the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 34 includes four column electrodes, but only two row electrodes, thereby reducing the number of routing traces from eight to six as compared to the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 33. The simplified architecture may also reduce the number of bridges required.

While fig. 34 provides some simplification of the touch electrode architecture (e.g., fewer routing traces and bridges), it may be desirable to have improved cancellation resolution (e.g., cancellation that occurs in smaller areas for better cancellation performance). In some examples, a touch electrode architecture for differential driving and differential sensing may be implemented in which row electrodes are interleaved and column electrodes are not interleaved, or in which column electrodes are interleaved and row electrodes are not interleaved. Although a set of touch electrodes are not interleaved, the touch signal processing algorithm can be adjusted to achieve pseudo-differential results (e.g., results that simulate physical interleaving).

Fig. 35A-35B illustrate an exemplary touch electrode architecture according to an example of the present disclosure. The touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A-35B includes the same number of electrodes (and corresponding routing traces to the drive and sense circuitry) as the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33. However, unlike the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33, the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A to 35B reduces the distance over which the differential effect is achieved. For example, assuming that the dimensions of the 2 × 2 array of touch nodes in fig. 33 and 35A or 35B are the same, differential cancellation occurs within half the distance of the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A-35B (e.g., within half the touch electrode pitch) as compared to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33.

The portion of touch sensor panel 3500 shown in FIG. 35A includes a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, which array includes four column electrodes 3504A-3504D and four row electrodes labeled 3502A-3502D. Each row electrode includes a plurality of touch electrode segments connected over column routing traces by bridges 3510. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the row electrode is rectangular, but other shapes are possible. Three touch electrode segments and two bridges are shown for each row electrode in a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used. Although not shown, the row electrodes may be routed to the sensing circuits at the left or right edge of the touch sensor panel (or optionally, vertically as described with reference to fig. 7A-14C). In addition, as shown in FIG. 35A, the row electrodes are almost completely continuous across the touch sensor panel (if there are no column routing traces and bridges over a relatively small portion of the column electrodes), which improves the consistency of touch signal sensing as objects move horizontally across the touch sensor panel (e.g., relative to the staggered row electrodes of FIG. 33).

Each column electrode includes a plurality of touch electrode segments connected by a three-way bridge 3512 and column routing traces 3508A-3508D. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the column electrode is U-shaped (e.g., a union of three rectangles, two of which are parallel and the third of which is orthogonal and interconnected with those two rectangles), although other shapes are possible. The pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the first column electrode of the first touch node in a column and the pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the first column electrode of the second touch node in a column are connected by a first column routing section and a first three-way bridge 3512 (or three-way routing connection in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). A first column routing trace for a first column electrode may bisect a pair of U-shaped column electrode segments of a second column electrode that are interleaved with the first column electrode. Similarly, a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of a second column electrode of a first touch node in a column and a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of a second column electrode of a second touch node in a column are connected by a second column routing section and a second three-way bridge 3512 (or a three-way routing connection in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). A second column routing trace for a second column electrode may even out a pair of U-shaped column electrode segments of the first column electrode interleaved with the second column electrode. This pattern can be repeated for the second column shown in fig. 35A (and extends over a larger portion of a 2 x 2 array of touch sensor panels). Each pair of U-shaped touch electrode segments may be considered to form a split H-shape (e.g., the U-shaped touch electrode segments mirror over the bisecting column routing traces for the interleaved column electrodes).

As shown, pairs of U-shaped touch electrode segments are connected from each U-shaped touch electrode segment to column routing traces by a three-way bridge 3512 (or three-way routing connections in the same layer as the touch electrode segments). Although a pair of three-way bridges 3512 are shown as providing a three-way connection between the column routing traces and a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections, it should be understood that different bridge connections are also possible. For example, a pair of bridges may be used instead of a three-way bridge, or the pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections may be connected by one or more horizontal bridges, and one or more bridges may connect from one or more U-shaped touch electrode sections in the pair to corresponding column routing traces. Four touch electrode segments and four bridges are shown for each column electrode in FIG. 35A, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used.

Each touch node includes a differential pair of row electrodes and a differential pair of column electrodes. For example, a first touch node (touch node a, in the upper left corner) includes a portion of row electrode 3502A and a portion of second row electrode 3502B (e.g., corresponding to differential inputs for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3504A and a portion of column electrode 3504B (e.g., corresponding to differential, complementary outputs for touch driving). Thus, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis rather than across two touch nodes. Similarly, a second touch node (touch node B, top right corner) comprises a portion of row electrode 3502A and a portion of second row electrode 3502B (e.g., corresponding to differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3504C and a portion of column electrode 3504D (e.g., corresponding to differential, complementary output for touch driving); a third touch node (touch node C, in the lower left corner) comprises a portion of row electrode 3502C and a portion of second row electrode 3502D (e.g., corresponding to a differential input of touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3504A and a portion of column electrode 3504B (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output of touch driving); and a fourth touch node (touch node D, bottom right corner) comprises a portion of row electrode 3502C and a portion of second row electrode 3502D (e.g., corresponding to differential inputs for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3504C and a portion of column electrode 3504D (e.g., corresponding to differential, complementary outputs for touch driving). Thus, for each touch node in the 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis.

The touch signal level of the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A may be increased and its parasitic losses reduced relative to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33. For example, unlike the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 33, one main mutual capacitance and one complementary mutual capacitance are shown at each touch node in FIG. 35A. For example, the first touch node (touch node a, in the upper left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504A (Tx 0 +) and row electrode 3502A (Rx 0 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504B (Tx 0-) and row electrode 3502B (Rx 0-); the second touch node (touch node B, at the top right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504C (Tx 1 +) and row electrode 3502A (Rx 0 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504D (Tx 1-) and row electrode 3502B (Rx 0-); a third touch node (touch node C, in the bottom left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504A (Tx 0 +) and row electrode 3502C (Rx 1 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504B (Tx 0-) and row electrode 3502D (Rx 1-); and the fourth touch node (touch node D, in the bottom right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504C (Tx 1 +) and row electrode 3502C (Rx 1 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3504D (Tx 1-) and row electrode 3502D (Rx 1-). The two main mutual capacitances in each node are summed due to the fact that they are in phase with each other.

In addition, non-primary (secondary) parasitic capacitances may be reduced in the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A as compared to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33. For example, for the first touch node (touch node a), some parasitic capacitance still exists due to the mutual capacitance between the column wiring trace 3508B (Tx 0-) and the row electrode 3502A (Rx 0 +) (and some parasitic capacitance still exists due to the mutual capacitance between the column wiring trace 3508A (Tx 0 +) and the row electrode 3502B (Rx 0-)), but the degree of separation between the column electrode 3504B (Tx 0-) and the row electrode 3502A (Rx 0 +) and between the column electrode 3504A (Tx 0 +) and the row electrode 3502B (Rx 0-) is increased, and the row wiring is reduced (e.g., the length and proximity of the column wiring trace 3308C to the row electrode 3302A is eliminated) compared to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33, thereby reducing parasitic signal loss due to mutual capacitance therebetween.

In some examples, the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A can be used for single-ended sensing. For example, switching circuitry (not shown) can be implemented to enable a pair of row electrodes to be sensed differentially (e.g., row electrode 3502A is coupled to one differential input and row electrode 3502B is coupled to a second differential input of the sensing circuitry), or to enable a pair of row electrodes to be sensed in a single-ended manner (e.g., row electrodes 3502A and 3502B are coupled together and to one single-ended input of the sensing circuitry). In some examples, the switch circuit can enable single-ended sensing at a smaller pitch (e.g., row electrode 3502A is coupled to one single-ended input and row electrode 3502B is coupled to another single-ended input of the sense circuit). As described herein, the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33 may also be used for single ended sensing, but due to the staggering of the row electrodes, the measurement may shift between adjacent rows.

FIG. 35B shows a variation of FIG. 35A, but with the row electrodes staggered and the column electrodes not staggered (e.g., pseudo-staggered due to modifications to the touch sensing algorithm). For example, the portion of the touch sensor panel 3520 shown in FIG. 35B includes a 2X 2 array of touch nodes that includes four column electrodes 3524A-3524D and four row electrodes labeled 3522A-3522D. Each column electrode includes a plurality of touch electrode segments connected over the row trace lines by a bridge 3530. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the column electrodes is rectangular, but other shapes are possible. Three touch electrode segments and two bridges are shown for each column electrode in a 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used. Although not shown, the column electrodes can be routed to the driver circuit at the top or bottom edge of the touch sensor panel (or optionally horizontally in a manner similar to that described herein for row electrodes for sensing).

Each row electrode includes multiple touch electrode segments connected by a three-way bridge 3532 and row routing traces 3526A-3526D. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the row electrode is U-shaped (e.g., a union of three rectangles, where two rectangles are parallel and the third rectangle is orthogonal and interconnects those two rectangles), but other shapes are possible. The pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the row electrode of the first touch node in the row and the pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the first row electrode of the second touch node in the row are connected by a first column routing section and a first three-way bridge 3532 (or a three-way routing connection in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). A first row routing trace for a first row electrode may bisect a pair of U-shaped row electrode segments of a second row electrode interleaved with the first row electrode. Similarly, a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the second row electrode of the first touch node in a row and a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections of the second row electrode of the second touch node in a row are connected by a second row routing section and a second three-way bridge 3532 (or three-way routing connection in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). A second row routing trace for the second row electrode may bisect a pair of U-shaped row electrode segments of the first row electrode that are interleaved with the second row electrode. This pattern may be repeated for the second row of touch nodes shown in FIG. 35B (and extend over a larger portion of a 2X 2 array of touch sensor panels). Each pair of U-shaped touch electrode segments can be viewed as forming a split H-shape (e.g., the U-shaped touch electrode segments mirror over the bisecting row routing traces for the interleaved row electrodes).

As shown, pairs of U-shaped touch electrode sections are connected from each touch electrode section to row routing traces by a three-way bridge 3532 (or three-way routing connections in the same layer as the touch electrode sections). Although a pair of three-way bridges 3532 are shown as providing a three-way connection between the row routing traces and a pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections, it should be understood that different bridge connections are also possible. For example, a pair of bridges can be used instead of a three-way bridge, or the pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections can be connected by a vertical bridge, and one or more bridges can connect from one or more of the pair of U-shaped touch electrode sections to corresponding row routing traces. Four touch electrode segments and four bridges are shown for each row electrode in FIG. 35B, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used.

Each touch node includes a differential pair of row electrodes and a differential pair of column electrodes. For example, a first touch node (touch node a, in the upper left corner) includes a portion of row electrode 3522A and a portion of second row electrode 3522B (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3524A and a portion of column electrode 3524B (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). Thus, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis rather than across two touch nodes. Similarly, a second touch node (touch node B, top right) includes a portion of row electrode 3522A and a portion of second row electrode 3522B (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3524C and a portion of column electrode 3524D (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving); a third touch node (touch node C, at the bottom left corner) includes a portion of row electrode 3522C and a portion of second row electrode 3522D (e.g., corresponding to a differential input of touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3524A and a portion of column electrode 3524B (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output of touch driving); and a fourth touch node (touch node D, bottom right corner) includes a portion of row electrode 3522C and a portion of second row electrode 3522D (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of column electrode 3524C and a portion of column electrode 3524D (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). Thus, for each touch node in the 2 x 2 array of touch nodes, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis.

The touch signal level of the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35B may be increased and its parasitic losses reduced relative to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33. For example, unlike the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 33, one main mutual capacitance and one complementary mutual capacitance are shown at each touch node in FIG. 35B. For example, the first touch node (touch node a, in the upper left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3524A (Tx 0 +) and row electrode 3522A (Rx 0 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3524B (Tx 0-) and row electrode 3522B (Rx 0-); the second touch node (touch node B, upper right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3524C (Tx 1 +) and the row electrode 3522A (Rx 0 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3524D (Tx 1-) and the row electrode 3522B (Rx 0-); the third touch node (touch node C, at the bottom left corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3524A (Tx 0 +) and row electrode 3522C (Rx 1 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between column electrode 3524B (Tx 0-) and row electrode 3522D (Rx 1-); and the fourth touch node (touch node D, at the bottom right corner) measures the main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3524C (Tx 1 +) and the row electrode 3522C (Rx 1 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3524D (Tx 1-) and the row electrode 3522D (Rx 1-). The two main mutual capacitances in each node are summed due to the fact that they are in phase with each other.

In addition, since the degree of separation between the column electrode 3524B (Tx 0-) and the row electrode 3522A (Rx 0 +) and between the column electrode 3524A (Tx 0 +) and the row electrode 3522B (Rx 0-) is increased and since column wiring is reduced, non-primary (secondary) parasitic capacitance can be reduced.

FIG. 36 illustrates an example touch electrode architecture that is fully differential within a touch node according to an example of this disclosure. In the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 36, the row and column electrodes can be differentially interleaved within the touch node. The portion of touch sensor panel 3600 shown in fig. 36 corresponds to a single touch node and can be applied as a modification to each of the touch nodes in the touch electrode architecture of fig. 35A or 35B (or across an entire larger touch sensor panel). The touch electrodes shown include two column electrodes 3604A-3604B and two row electrodes 3602A-3602B (extending to four column electrodes and four row electrodes for a 2X 2 array of touch nodes). Each row electrode includes multiple touch electrode segments connected by bridges 3606A-3606B. As shown, each of the touch electrode sections of the row electrode is rectangular (with a rectangular routing extension to reduce bridge length), although other shapes are possible. Two touch electrode sections and one bridge are shown for each row electrode, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode sections and bridges may be used.

Each column electrode includes multiple touch electrode segments connected by bridges (e.g., bridges 3608A-3608B) or routing traces. As shown, each of the touch electrode segments of the column electrodes is complementary in shape to the touch electrode segments of the row electrodes. The shape of the touch electrode sections of the column electrodes is generally U-shaped (except modified to allow for routing extensions for the row touch electrode sections), but other shapes are possible. Two touch electrode segments and one bridge (or trace routing) are shown for each column electrode, but it should be understood that a different number of touch electrode segments and bridges may be used.

As shown, the touch nodes include differential pairs of row electrodes and differential column electrodes. For example, the touch node of FIG. 36 includes a portion of a first row electrode 3602A and a portion of a second row electrode 3602B (e.g., corresponding to a differential input for touch sensing) and a portion of a column electrode 3604A and a portion of a column electrode 3604B (e.g., corresponding to a differential, complementary output for touch driving). Thus, differential cancellation occurs on a per touch node basis. The improved touch signals from the two (or four if each quadrant of the touch node is viewed separately) main capacitances can be applied in a similar manner to the other touch nodes.

The touch signal level of the touch electrode architecture of fig. 36 may be increased and its parasitic loss reduced relative to the touch electrode architecture of fig. 33. For example, unlike the touch electrode architecture of FIG. 33, one main mutual capacitance and one complementary mutual capacitance are shown at each touch node in FIG. 36 (or two main mutual capacitances and two complementary mutual capacitances if each quadrant of the touch node is viewed separately). For example, the touch node measures the main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3604A (Tx 0 +) and the row electrode 3602A (Rx 0 +) and the complementary main mutual capacitance between the column electrode 3604B (Tx 0-) and the row electrode 3602B (Rx 0-). The two (four) main mutual capacitances in each node are summed due to the fact that they are in phase with each other.

In addition, non-primary (secondary) parasitic capacitances can be reduced. For example, due to mutual capacitance between column electrode 3604B (Tx 0-) and row electrode 3602A (Rx 0 +) and between column electrode 3604A (Tx 0 +) and row electrode 3602B (Rx 0-), there is still some parasitic capacitance, but the degree of separation is generally increased (beyond the small row extension) and limited by short wiring, thereby reducing parasitic signal loss due to mutual capacitance therebetween. The reduced parasitic losses from the two non-primary capacitors can be applied in a similar manner to other touch nodes.

Referring back to the discussion of FIG. 34, in some examples, a touch electrode architecture for differential driving without differential sensing may be implemented. Differential driving can still reduce touch-to-display noise (without differential sensing to reduce display-to-touch noise). In addition, spatial separation and spatial filtering may be used to reduce common mode noise. Spatial separation between touch signals and common mode noise signals may be achieved using a touch electrode architecture in which the pitch of the transmitter and receiver electrodes is reduced.

FIG. 37 shows a portion of an example touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the present disclosure. The portion of touch sensor panel 3700 includes a 4 x 4 array of touch nodes that includes eight transmitter electrodes interleaved in four rows of touch nodes and eight receiver electrodes in four columns of touch nodes. To simplify the illustration, the bridges are not shown in fig. 37, but it should be understood that most of the touch electrodes in fig. 37 are implemented in the first metal mesh layer with bridges and in the second metal mesh layer.

As shown in touch sensor panel 3700, the first row includes a first pair of interleaved transmitter electrodes labeled D0+ and D0-, D0+ and D0-representing complementary drive signals applied to the row during touch sensing operations; the second row includes a second pair of interleaved transmitter electrodes labeled D1+ and D1-, D1+ and D1-representing complementary drive signals applied to the row during a touch sensing operation; a third row includes a third pair of interleaved transmitter electrodes labeled D2+ and D2-, D2+ and D2-representing complementary drive signals applied to the row during a touch sensing operation; and the fourth row comprises A fourth pair of interleaved transmitter electrodes labeled D3+ and D3-, D3+ and D3-representing complementary drive signals applied to the row during the touch sensing operation. In addition, the touch sensor panel 3700 shows: the first column includes a column labeled S0 _A And S0 _B A first pair of non-interleaved receiver electrodes, S0 _A And S0 _B Representing two single-ended sense lines for the column during a touch sensing operation; the second column includes a column labeled S1 _A And S1 _B Of a second pair of non-interleaved receiver electrodes, S1 _A And S1 _B Representing two single-ended sense lines for the column during a touch sensing operation; the third column includes the column labeled S2 _A And S2 _B Of a third pair of non-interleaved receiver electrodes, S2 _A And S2 _B Representing two single-ended sense lines for the column during a touch sensing operation; and the fourth column includes a column labeled S3 _A And S3 _B Of a third pair of non-interleaved receiver electrodes, S3 _A And S3 _B Representing two single-ended sense lines for the column during a touch sensing operation.

Fig. 37 shows a touch node 3710 corresponding to a unit cell of the touch electrode architecture, which is repeated for a 4 x 4 array of touch nodes (or beyond for larger touch sensor panels). During touch sensing operations, a first pair of interleaved transmitter electrodes, labeled D0+ and D0-, may be stimulated, and may pass through a second pair of transmitter electrodes, labeled S0- _A And S0 _B The resulting mutual capacitance is measured by the corresponding first pair of receiver electrodes. The touch signal of touch node 3710 can be represented as the sum of the touch signals measured from the pair of receiver electrodes.

Fig. 37 also indicates the data line orientation of the touch sensor panel 3700. As shown in fig. 37, the data lines are oriented orthogonal to the receiver electrodes (e.g., such that the receiver electrodes receive an average of the display data line noise) and parallel to the transmitter electrodes. As described herein, the data lines of the display represent a source of noise for the touch sensing system, which is also referred to herein as "cathode noise. Fig. 37 shows a representative spatial shape 3720 of cathode noise along the direction of touching the transmitter electrode and a representative spatial shape 3740 of cathode noise along the direction of touching the receiver electrode (e.g., orthogonal). The spatial shape of the cathode noise may be similar in the direction of touching the transmitter electrode (e.g., similar RC characteristics), where the magnitude of the shape is typically scaled with the gray level of the different displayed images (e.g., nearly constant noise spatial spectrum). In contrast, the spatial shape of the cathode noise may vary along the direction of touching the receiver electrode and is image dependent. In addition, the spatial shape of the cathode noise along the direction of touching the transmitter electrode may be measured in a manner correlated with the analog front end (sensing circuit) of the receiver electrode, while the spatial shape of the cathode noise along the direction of touching the receiver electrode may be measured in a temporally uncorrelated manner.

Thus, the touch electrode architecture may achieve spatial noise removal by encoding the excitation of transmitter electrodes along the relevant direction and create consistent cathode noise along the direction of the interleaved transmitter electrodes. In addition, as described herein with respect to fig. 38-39, spatial separation and spatial noise removal may be improved by reducing the pitch of the touch electrodes.

FIG. 39 shows three graphs of spatial touch signals and noise according to an example of the present disclosure. Graph 3900 illustrates spatial data corresponding to different touches and noise along an axis of a touch sensor panel (e.g., corresponding to touch sensor panel 3700 or 3800). Touch sensor panel having axis defined by receiver electrode pitch P _RX Is shown in array 3902. The bars above the array 3902 of receiver electrodes represent touch signals and/or noise signals at the corresponding receiver electrodes. As shown, the first curve 3904 corresponds to a first touch object (e.g., a small finger) and the second curve 3906 corresponds to a second touch object (e.g., a larger finger or a plurality of small fingers). Curve 3908 represents cathodic noise. The data represented in graph 3900 is spatial data, and as shown, the curve of the cathode noise has a spatial shape corresponding to the spatial shape 3720 of the cathode noise along the direction of the touch transmitter electrode. As shown, the shape of the cathode noise is relative to the shape of the first The spatial width of a touch object or second touch object is spatially wide (e.g., extending across the panel) and has low frequency (e.g., relative to noise along orthogonal axes).

Graph 3920 shows a spatial spectrum corresponding to the spatial data in graph 3900. Curve 3922 represents the spatial spectral domain corresponding to the cathodal noise of curve 3908 in the spatial data. A relatively wide noise signal has low frequencies and therefore appears near the center of the spatial spectrum in the spatial spectral domain (e.g., centered around zero at low spatial frequencies). In contrast, curve 3924 represents the spatial spectral domain corresponding to curves 3904 and/or 3906 of the touch signal in the spatial data. The relatively narrow touch signal in the spatial data appears wider in the spatial spectral domain than the noise. However, plot 3920 corresponds to a non-differential transmit electrode configuration (e.g., without interleaving and excitation with complementary drive signals).

Graph 3940 shows a spatial spectrum corresponding to the spatial data in graph 3900, but with a differential transmit electrode configuration. In graph 3940, the cathode noise from the display is not encoded, and thus the curve 3942 of the spectrum of the cathode noise remains the same as the curve 3922 in graph 3920. However, encoding the spectrum for the touch signal using a differential transmitter configuration results in an up-conversion of the touch signal in the spatial spectral domain that produces two half- wave lobes 3944A and 3944B. In some examples, the two half lobes 3944A and 3944B produced by the up-conversion may at least partially overlap. For example, graph 3940 shows some overlap between curve 3942 and a half- wave lobe 3944A or 3944B. In some examples, with sufficient up-conversion, separation between curves in the spatial spectral domain may be improved or eliminated by reducing the transmitter and/or receiver pitch. A spatial high pass filter may be used to filter the spatially separated signals to remove noise (and possibly some of the touch signals when some overlap still exists).

In some examples, a no overlap condition between the cathode noise and the touch signal spatial spectrum may be tabulatedShown as Ts + Ns<1/P _RX Where Ts represents the touch signal spatial spectral width, ns represents the noise signal spatial spectral width, and P _RX Representing the receiver electrode pitch.

In some examples, the encoding may be viewed as causing the touch signal to have a saw tooth shape or other relatively high frequency shape (e.g., due to encoded differential excitation) that is more easily resolved from a flatter common mode shape of the cathode noise. In particular, as described herein, the flatter common mode shape of the cathode noise (having a relatively lower frequency and associated shape) of the transmitter electrode is parallel to the data lines.

FIG. 38 illustrates a portion of an example touch sensor panel configured for differential driving according to an example of the present disclosure. Touch sensor panel 3800 this portion includes a 1 × 4 array of touch nodes that includes eight transmitter electrodes (labeled D0+, D0-, D1+, D1, D2+, D2-, D3+, and D3-) staggered in four rows of touch nodes and two receiver electrodes (labeled S0) in one column of touch nodes _A And S0 _B ). For simplicity of illustration, the bridge is not shown in fig. 38, but includes a touch node 3810 (corresponding to the overall size of the touch node 3710) for reference. Additionally, the size of the portion of touch sensor panel 3800 is enlarged (e.g., width is enlarged relative to length to show details of the features) for ease of illustration, but it should be understood that touch nodes 3810 and 3710 can have the same overall size.

Unlike FIG. 37, which includes two interleaved transmitter electrodes each having one primary rectangular section (e.g., primary rectangular sections 3712A and 3712B of transmitter electrodes D0+ and D0-in touch node 3710) and one interleaved transition between transmitter electrodes within the touch node, in FIG. 38, two interleaved transmitter electrodes each include a plurality of primary rectangular sections (e.g., four primary rectangular sections 3812A and four primary rectangular sections 3812B of transmitter electrodes D0+ and D0-in touch node 3810) and seven interleaved transitions between transmitter electrodes within the touch node.

Encoding touch signals to and from a touch screen as described hereinThe higher spatial frequency of the polar noise compared to the noise enables separation of the touch and noise spatial spectra for noise removal. Separation can be improved by reducing the receiver electrode pitch. Comparing FIGS. 37 and 38, receiver electrode pitch P _RX Can be reduced by a factor of four (e.g., where touch nodes 3710 and 3810 have the same size). It should be understood that although fig. 37 shows one primary rectangular section per transmitter electrode, and fig. 38 shows four primary rectangular sections per transmitter electrode, different numbers of primary rectangular sections per transmitter electrode are possible (e.g., two, three, five, etc.).

While reducing the receiver electrode pitch may provide better separation, it should be appreciated that there is a tradeoff. For example, comparing fig. 37 and 38, the two receiver electrodes of fig. 37 are replaced with the eight narrower receiver electrodes of fig. 38. Thus, the touch sensing circuit may need to increase the number of receiver channels by a factor of four (or reduce the integration time if channels are multiplexed between receiver electrodes), which increases the size, cost, and power consumption of the touch sensing circuit. In some examples, the adverse effects of the sensing circuitry (or integration time) described above can be mitigated by interconnecting (e.g., clustering/mechanically connecting) a greater number of narrower receiver electrodes. For example, as shown in FIG. 38, four receiver electrodes are interconnected and connectable to one single ended sense channel of the touch sensing circuitry, and another four receiver electrodes are interconnected and connectable to another single ended sense channel of the touch sensing circuitry. The interconnection avoids the need for additional sensing circuitry and the touch node resolution of the touch sensor panel is unchanged between touch sensor panels 3700 and 3800. In some examples, interconnections between multiple receiver electrodes occur at touch sensor panel boundaries (e.g., in the boundary regions) to reduce the number of jumpers and/or vias within the panel. However, it should be understood that in some examples, the interconnection may additionally or alternatively be performed within the touch sensor panel area.

The clustering of receiver electrodes may avoid the adverse effects of touch sensing circuitry, but reducing the receiver electrodes may require other tradeoffs. For example, narrower receiver electrodes can result in an increase in resistance, thereby reducing the touch sensor panel bandwidth (although the effect on bandwidth can be somewhat mitigated by reducing the loading of the narrower receiver electrodes). Additionally or alternatively, a corresponding reduction in narrower receiver and transmitter electrode pitches may reduce the reach of mutual capacitance fringing fields. If the fringing fields are reduced too much, they may not extend far enough beyond the touch sensor panel surface (e.g., cover glass or other material) to interact with an object (e.g., a finger).

It should be understood that the spatial noise removal techniques described herein with respect to fig. 37-39 may be applied to other touch electrode architectures. For example, the pitch of the receiver electrodes and the corresponding pitch of the interleaved transmitter electrodes may be applied to interleaved transmitter electrodes (e.g., column electrodes) and non-interleaved receiver electrodes (e.g., row electrodes) in the touch electrode architectures of fig. 34 and 35A.

Thus, in light of the above, some examples of the present disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include: a plurality of touch electrodes in the first layer, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-axis array of touch nodes; a plurality of first routing traces in a second layer, the second layer different from the first layer, the plurality of first routing traces coupled to the first electrode using a plurality of first electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer; and a plurality of second routing traces in the second layer, the plurality of second routing traces coupled to the second electrodes using a plurality of second electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first plurality of routing traces may lie along a first axis of the dual-axis array and may at least partially overlap the dual-axis array of touch nodes. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the second plurality of traces may be disposed along a first axis of the two-axis array and may at least partially overlap the two-axis array of touch nodes.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first electrode may comprise a column electrode, the second electrode may comprise a row electrode, and the dual axis array of touch nodes may comprise a row-column arrangement of touch nodes. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a first column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, the second layer may include a plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments including a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a third set of one or more routing trace segments, and a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a first column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, the second layer may include a plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments including a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a third set of one or more routing trace segments, a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments, a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, and a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first column may include a first column electrode and a second column electrode, the first set of one or more routing trace sections may include a first routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces, the second set of one or more routing trace sections may include a second routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces disposed in the first column, the first routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces may be coupled to the first column electrode, and the second routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces may be coupled to the second column electrode.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be disposed in the first column in some examples. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a first portion of a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a third set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments. A second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a second portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments. A third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a third portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be coupled to the first row electrode, a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be coupled to the second row electrode, and a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be coupled to the third row electrode in the first column.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first set of one or more routing trace segments may include a first electrical discontinuity along the first axis and a second electrical discontinuity along the first axis. The second set of one or more routing trace segments may include a third electrical discontinuity along the first axis. The first electrical discontinuity may be within a threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between a third routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces and a third row of electrodes; the second electrical discontinuity may be within a threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces and the second row electrode; and the third electrical discontinuity may be within a threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces and the second row electrode.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first set of one or more routing trace segments may include a fourth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, the second set of one or more routing trace segments may include a fifth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, the third set of one or more routing trace segments may include a sixth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, and the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments may include a seventh electrical discontinuity along the first axis. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh electrical discontinuities may be within a threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between a first routing trace line of the plurality of second routing traces and the first row electrode. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the threshold distance may be a length of one row of the row-by-row arrangement of touch nodes along the first axis.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a fourth portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments may include a first floating segment, the fourth portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from a third portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments by a fourth electrical discontinuity; the third portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments may comprise a second floating segment, the third portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the second portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments by a fifth electrical discontinuity; the second portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments may comprise a third floating segment, the second portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the first portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments by a sixth electrical discontinuity; and the second portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments may comprise a fourth floating segment, the second portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the first portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments by a seventh electrical break. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first set of one or more routing trace segments and the second set of one or more routing trace segments may overlap one or more column electrodes within the first column. The third set of one or more routing trace segments and the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments may not overlap with one or more column electrodes within the first column.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first, second, third, and fourth sets of one or more routing trace segments may be coupled to row electrodes; the fifth set of one or more routing trace segments and the sixth set of one or more routing trace segments may be coupled to column electrodes that overlap one or more column electrodes within the first column; a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments may be disposed adjacent to and between the first set of one or more routing trace segments and the second set of one or more routing trace segments; the sixth set of one or more routing trace segments may be disposed adjacent to and between the third set of one or more routing trace segments and the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments; the second set of one or more routing trace segments may be disposed adjacent to and between the fifth set of one or more routing trace segments and the third set of one or more routing trace segments; and the third set of one or more routing trace segments may be disposed adjacent to and between the second set of one or more routing trace segments and the sixth set of one or more routing trace segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the arrangement of rows and columns of touch nodes may be divided into a plurality of groups of rows; the first row electrodes may be disposed in a first group of the plurality of groups of rows; the second row electrode may be disposed in a second group of the plurality of groups of rows; and the third row of electrodes may be disposed in a third group of the plurality of groups of rows.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first and second row electrodes may be separated by a first number of rows along the first axis in the row and column arrangement of touch nodes, and the second and third row electrodes may be separated by the first number of rows along the first axis in the row and column arrangement of touch nodes.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, each row of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes may include a pair of row electrodes. For a second column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes adjacent to the first column, the second layer may include a second plurality of one or more routing trace segments that form a fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces; a fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a fourth row electrode, a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a fifth row electrode, and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a sixth row electrode in a second column; and the first and fourth row electrodes may be a first respective pair of row electrodes disposed in a first respective row, the second and fifth row electrodes may be a second respective pair of row electrodes disposed in a second respective row, and the third and sixth row electrodes may be a third respective pair of row electrodes disposed in a third respective row.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the arrangement of rows and columns of touch nodes may be divided into groups of rows. The second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to the second electrode using a second plurality of electrical connections in a chevron pattern. In addition to or in lieu of one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for each of the plurality of sets of rows in the chevron pattern: an even number of rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes may be interconnected within a first set of consecutive columns of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; odd rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes may be interconnected within a second set of consecutive columns of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; and for ascending rows within a group, a respective distance along a second axis different from the first axis may decrease between the respective interconnecting portion of the respective row and a line along the first axis separating the first group of consecutive columns from the second group of consecutive columns.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the arrangement of rows and columns of touch nodes may be divided into groups of rows; the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to the second electrode using a second plurality of electrical connections in an S-shaped pattern. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for each of a plurality of sets of rows in the S-shaped pattern, adjacent rows of the columnar arrangement of touch nodes may be interconnected within adjacent columnar pairs of the columnar arrangement of touch nodes; and adjacent rows between adjacent groups may be interconnected within a common column pair.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the arrangement of rows and columns of touch nodes may be divided into a plurality of groups of rows including a first group, a second group, and a third group, the third group being between the first group and the second group. Adjacent rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes of the first set may be interconnected within adjacent column pairs of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; adjacent rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes of the second group may be interconnected within adjacent pairs of rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; and a third plurality of routing traces in the border area outside the dual-axis array may be coupled to the row electrodes in the rows of the third group.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a second column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, the second layer may include a second plurality of one or more routing trace segments including a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments, a seventh set of one or more routing trace segments, and an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces and a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be disposed in a first column and a second column; a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be disposed in a second column. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a first portion of a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a third set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of a seventh set of one or more routing trace segments; a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a first portion of a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments; a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a second portion of a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of a seventh set of one or more routing trace segments; a fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a second portion of a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments; a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may comprise a third portion of a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments; and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a third portion of an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments. A first routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces can be coupled to a first row electrode in a first row, a first column, and/or a second column; a second routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces can be coupled to a second row electrode in the first row, the first column, and/or the second column; a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a third row electrode in a second row and a second column; a fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a fourth row electrode in a second row and a second column; a fifth routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces can be coupled to a fifth row electrode in a third row, a second column; and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be coupled to a sixth row electrode of a third row in the second column.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a second column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, the second layer may include a second plurality of one or more routing trace segments including a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments, a seventh set of one or more routing trace segments, and an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be disposed in a first column; the fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, the fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and the sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may be disposed in a second column. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a first portion of a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a third set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments; a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a second portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments; a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a third portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments. A first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a first row electrode of a first row, a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a second row electrode of a second row, and a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a third row electrode of a third row in the first column. A fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a first portion of a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of a seventh set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of an eighth set of one or more routing trace segments; a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces may include a second portion of a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments; a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can include a third portion of a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments. A fourth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a fourth row electrode of the first row, a fifth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a fifth row electrode of the second row, and a sixth routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces can be coupled to a sixth row electrode of a third row in the second column.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first electrode may be configured as a transmitter electrode and the second electrode may be configured as a receiver electrode in differentially driven and differentially sensed mutual capacitance sensing operations. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may be coupled to the first electrode and may be configured to drive the plurality of transmitter electrodes with a plurality of drive signals. For a first column in the dual-axis array of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals can include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes. For a second column in the dual-axis array of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals can include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column. The first, second, third and fourth drive signals may be applied at least partially simultaneously. The first and third drive signals may be complementary drive signals, and the second and fourth drive signals may be complementary drive signals. The one or more first touch nodes of the first column and the one or more first touch nodes of the second column may be diagonally adjacent touch nodes; and the one or more second touch nodes of the first column and the one or more second touch nodes of the second column may be diagonally adjacent touch nodes.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments may extend from a first touch node at one end of the first column to a second touch node at a second end of the first column opposite the first end. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a length of each routing trace segment of the plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments along the first axis may be within a threshold percentage of a length of the first column along the first axis. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the threshold percentage of the length of the first column along the first axis is 1%. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the threshold percentage of the length of the first column along the first axis is 5%. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the threshold percentage of the length of the first column along the first axis is 10%.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments may be equally spaced along a second axis of the dual-axis array that is different from the first axis of the dual-axis array. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of touch electrodes may be formed from a metal mesh, and the first and second plurality of routing traces are formed from a metal mesh.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to an electronic device. The electronic device may include an energy storage device; a communication circuit; and a touch screen. The touch screen may include: a display having an active area; and a touch screen as described herein.

Some examples of the present disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include: a plurality of touch electrodes in the first layer, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of column electrodes and a plurality of row electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a row-column arrangement of touch nodes; a plurality of first routing traces in a second layer, the second layer different from the first layer, the plurality of first routing traces coupled to the column electrodes using a plurality of first electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer; and a second plurality of routing traces in the second layer, the second plurality of routing traces coupled to the row electrodes using a second plurality of electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer. The first plurality of routing traces can be disposed along a column of the row-column arrangement and can at least partially overlap the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; and the second plurality of traces may be arranged along columns of the row-column arrangement and may at least partially overlap the row-column arrangement of touch nodes. A pair of columns may include six routing traces of the second plurality of routing traces, the six routing traces including: first and second routing traces disposed in first and second columns of the pair of columns; and a third routing trace, a fourth routing trace, a fifth routing trace, and a sixth routing trace disposed in a second column of the pair of columns.

Some examples of the present disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include: a plurality of touch electrodes in the first layer, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of column electrodes and a plurality of row electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a row-column arrangement of touch nodes; a plurality of first routing traces in a second layer, the second layer different from the first layer, the plurality of first routing traces coupled to the column electrodes using a plurality of first electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer; and a second plurality of routing traces in the second layer, the second plurality of routing traces coupled to the row electrodes using a second plurality of electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer. The first plurality of routing traces may be arranged along columns of the row-column arrangement and may at least partially overlap the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; and the second plurality of traces may be arranged along columns of the row-column arrangement and may at least partially overlap the row-column arrangement of touch nodes. A pair of columns may include six routing traces of the second plurality of routing traces, the six routing traces including: a first routing trace, a second routing trace, and a third routing trace disposed in a first column of the pair of columns; and a fourth routing trace, a fifth routing trace, and a sixth routing trace disposed in a second column of the pair of columns.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to touch screens. The touch screen may include: a display having an active area; a first metal layer and a second metal layer disposed over the display; and an intermediate dielectric layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. A plurality of touch electrodes of the touch screen may be formed in the active area of the display, and the plurality of touch electrodes may include touch electrodes formed of a first metal mesh in the first metal layer and a first metal mesh in the second metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first metal mesh of the first metal layer may be aligned with the first metal mesh of the second metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a width of the first metal mesh of the second metal layer is less than a width of the first metal mesh of the first metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may include a plurality of routing traces formed in the active area of the display and coupled to the plurality of touch electrodes. The plurality of routing traces may include routing traces formed from a second metal mesh in the second metal layer and a second metal mesh in the first metal layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the second metal mesh of the first metal layer may be aligned with the second metal mesh of the second metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a width of the second metal mesh of the second metal layer is less than a width of the second metal mesh of the first metal layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of touch electrodes may be formed using bridges formed from the first mesh metal in the second layer in an active area of the display. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a plurality of routing traces formed in the active area of the display and coupled to the plurality of touch electrodes. The plurality of routing traces may include routing traces formed from a second metal mesh in a second metal layer. Routing traces may be disposed under touch electrodes formed by the first metal mesh in the first metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of wires of the touchscreen may be formed from a second metal mesh in a second metal layer without a metal mesh in a first metal layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples each of the plurality of touch electrodes of the touch screen may be formed from a first metal mesh in a first metal layer and a first metal mesh in a second metal layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch electrode formed by the first metal mesh in the first metal layer and the first metal mesh in the second metal layer may include a non-overlapping region and an overlapping region. The first metal mesh in the first metal layer and the first metal mesh in the second metal layer may be non-parallel in the overlap region. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first metal mesh in the first metal layer and the first metal mesh in the second metal layer may be orthogonal in an overlap region of the touch electrode. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of each of the overlapping regions of the touch electrode may be uniform.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a transparent conductive material filled gap in the first metal mesh in the first metal layer and/or a filled gap in the second metal mesh in the first metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a transparent conductive material in the first metal mesh in the first metal layer filling the gaps without having filled gaps in the second metal mesh in the first metal layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a second intermediate dielectric layer disposed between the first transparent conductive material and the first metal layer and/or between the second transparent conductive material and the first metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the intermediate dielectric layer may have a thickness greater than 0.5 microns. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the intermediate dielectric layer may have a thickness of 1 micron to 2.5 microns. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the intermediate dielectric layer may include an organic material. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the intermediate dielectric layer may have a dielectric constant of less than 5. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the intermediate dielectric layer may have a dielectric constant between 2.5 and 4.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to touch screens. The touch screen may include: a display having an active area; a first metal layer and a second metal layer disposed over the display; and an intermediate dielectric layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. The plurality of touch electrodes of the touch screen may be formed in the active area of the display by a first metal mesh in a first metal layer. The plurality of touch electrodes may include a touch electrode including a first section formed by the first metal mesh in the first layer and a second section formed by the first metal mesh in the first layer. The first and second sections may be interconnected by a bridging electrode formed by a first metal mesh in a second metal layer. In addition or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a plurality of routing traces of the touch screen coupled to the plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of routing traces formed in the active area of the display by the second metal mesh in the first metal layer and the second metal mesh in the second metal layer.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to an electronic device. The touch screen may include: an energy storage device; a communication circuit; and a touch screen. The touch screen may include: a display having an active area; a first metal layer and a second metal layer disposed over the display; and an intermediate dielectric layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. A plurality of touch electrodes of the touch screen may be formed in the active area of the display, including touch electrodes formed of a first metal mesh in a first metal layer and a first metal mesh in a second metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a plurality of routing traces of the touch screen coupled to the plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of routing traces formed by the second metal mesh in the first metal layer or the second metal mesh in the second metal layer in an active area of the display.

Some examples relate to touch screens. The touch screen may include: a first substrate; a plurality of display pixels disposed on the first substrate; a first encapsulation layer formed over the plurality of display pixels, the plurality of display pixels being between the first encapsulation layer and the first substrate; one or more first electrodes formed in one or more metal layers disposed on the first encapsulation layer; a touch sensor panel including one or more second electrodes formed in one or more layers; and a dielectric layer disposed between the one or more first electrodes and the touch sensor panel.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the one or more first electrodes of the touch screen may include a display noise shield between the plurality of display pixels and the touch sensor panel. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples above, in some examples, the one or more metal layers on the first encapsulation layer may include a metal mesh layer including a metal mesh, and the display noise shield may extend over the plurality of display pixels. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the display noise shield may include Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) deposited in openings of a metal mesh in the metal mesh layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the display noise shield may include a conductive material deposited in openings of a metal mesh in the metal mesh layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the one or more first electrodes of the touch screen may include a display noise sensor between the plurality of display pixels and the touch sensor panel, wherein the one or more metal layers on the first encapsulation layer may include a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and an interlayer dielectric layer between the first metal layer and the second metal layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples each of the one or more first electrodes of the display noise sensor may correspond to a respective second electrode of the one or more second electrodes of the touch sensor panel. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a plurality of vias between the first metal layer and the second metal layer through the interlayer dielectric layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the touch screen further includes a sensing circuit coupled to the display noise sensor and to the touch sensor panel, wherein the sensing circuit can remove noise from the touch signal measurements of the one or more second electrodes based on the measurements of the one or more first electrodes.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first encapsulation layer of the touch screen may include an inkjet printed layer of transparent material. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the ink jet printed layer may include a first ink jet printed layer and the dielectric layer may include a second ink jet printed layer. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first ink jet printed layer may have a thickness of less than 25 microns, wherein the second ink jet printed layer has a thickness of less than 25 microns, and wherein the one or more first electrodes have a thickness of less than 1 micron. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the one or more metal layers on the first encapsulation layer may each have a thickness of less than 1 micron, and the dielectric layer may have a thickness of less than 10 microns. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the one or more layers of the touch sensor panel can include a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and an interlayer dielectric layer between the first metal layer and the second metal layer, wherein both the first metal layer and the second metal layer are Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) layers.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include a polarizing layer formed over the touch sensor panel, a cover layer, and an adhesive layer between the cover layer and the touch sensor panel. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include one or more sensing circuits, each sensing circuit including a first input coupled to the one or more first electrodes, a second input coupled to the one or more second electrodes, and a differential amplifier that generates an output proportional to the subtraction of the first input from the second input.

Some examples of the present disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch nodes including a first touch node. The first touch node may correspond to: a first differential sensing touch electrode pair comprising a first touch electrode formed from a first plurality of segments in the first layer and a second touch electrode formed from a second plurality of segments in the first layer; and a first differentially driven touch electrode pair including a third touch electrode formed from a third plurality of segments having first routing traces in the first layer and a fourth touch electrode formed from a fourth plurality of segments having second routing traces in the first layer. The first routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the fourth plurality of segments and between a first pair of the second plurality of segments; and the second routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the third plurality of segments and between a first pair of the first plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch sensor panel may further include a plurality of bridges including the first bridge and the second bridge. A first bridge over the second routing trace may connect a first pair of segments in the first plurality of segments, and a second bridge over the second routing trace may connect a first pair of segments in the second plurality of segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first and second routing traces may be parallel and may be staggered (e.g., aligned horizontally, and alternatively aligned vertically). Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the first plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the second plurality of segments of the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the third plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the fourth plurality of segments of the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples one of the pair of sections of the third plurality of sections is disposed on three sides of one of the first pair of sections of the first plurality of sections and the other of the pair of sections of the third plurality of sections is disposed on three sides of the other of the first pair of sections of the first plurality of sections. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, one of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of one of the first pair of segments of the second plurality of segments and the other of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the other of the first pair of segments of the second plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first plurality of segments and the second plurality of segments are rectangular. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the third and fourth pluralities of segments are rectangular.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of touch nodes includes a second touch node (e.g., horizontally adjacent to the first touch node) corresponding to a first differential sensing touch electrode pair including a first touch electrode and a second differential driving touch electrode pair including a fifth touch electrode formed from a fifth plurality of segments in the first layer having a third routing trace and a sixth touch electrode formed from a sixth plurality of segments in the first layer having a fourth routing trace. In addition or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, in addition or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, the third routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the sixth plurality of segments and between a second pair of the second plurality of segments; and the fourth routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the fifth plurality of segments and between a second pair of the first plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of bridges includes a third bridge and a fourth bridge. A third bridge over the fourth routing trace may connect a second pair of segments in the first plurality of segments; and a fourth bridge over the third routing trace may connect a second pair of segments in the second plurality of segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of touch nodes includes a second touch node (e.g., vertically adjacent to the first touch node) corresponding to a second differential sensing touch electrode pair and a first differential driving touch electrode pair, the second differential sensing touch electrode pair including a fifth touch electrode formed from a fifth plurality of segments and a sixth touch electrode formed from a sixth plurality of segments in the first layer, the first differential driving touch electrode pair including a third touch electrode formed from a third plurality of segments in the first layer having a third routing trace and a fourth touch electrode formed from a fourth plurality of segments in the first layer having a fourth routing trace. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the third routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the sixth plurality of segments and between a second pair of the fourth plurality of segments; and the fourth routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the segments in the fifth plurality of segments and between a second pair of the segments in the third plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of bridges includes a third bridge and a fourth bridge. A third bridge over the fourth routing trace may connect the pair of segments in the fifth plurality of segments; and a fourth bridge over the third routing trace may connect the pair of segments in the sixth plurality of segments.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch nodes including a first touch node. The first touch node may correspond to: a differential sensing touch electrode pair including a first touch electrode formed of a first plurality of segments in the first layer and a second touch electrode formed of a second plurality of segments in the first layer; and a differentially driven pair of touch electrodes including a third touch electrode formed from a third plurality of segments having first routing traces in the first layer and a fourth touch electrode formed from a fourth plurality of segments having second routing traces in the first layer. A pair of the first plurality of segments may be connected by a first bridge in the second layer, a pair of the second plurality of segments may be connected by a second bridge in the second layer, a pair of the third plurality of segments may be connected by a third bridge in the second layer, and a pair of the fourth plurality of segments may be connected by a fourth bridge in the second layer or by a routing trace in the first layer.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first touch electrode and the second touch electrode are interleaved in the first touch node, and the third touch electrode and the fourth touch electrode are interleaved in the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the first plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the second plurality of segments of the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the third plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the fourth plurality of segments of the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, one of the pair of segments of the third plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of one of the pair of segments of the first plurality of segments and the other of the pair of segments of the third plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the other of the pair of segments of the first plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, one of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the one of the pair of segments of the second plurality of segments and the other of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the other of the pair of segments of the second plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first plurality of segments and the second plurality of segments are rectangular. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the third and fourth pluralities of segments are rectangular. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first plurality of segments includes a first extension and a second extension, and the second plurality of segments includes a third extension and a fourth extension. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a first bridge connects the first extension to the second extension, and a second bridge connects the third extension to the fourth extension. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a third touch electrode is disposed between the first touch electrode and the fourth touch electrode, and a fourth touch electrode is disposed between the second touch electrode and the third touch electrode. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first touch node is sensed to measure a sum of a mutual capacitance between the first touch electrode and the third touch electrode and a mutual capacitance between the second touch electrode and the fourth touch electrode.

Some examples of the present disclosure relate to touch sensor panels. The touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch nodes including a first touch node and a second touch node. The first touch node may correspond to a first touch electrode including a first plurality of segments in the first layer and a second touch electrode including a second plurality of segments in the first layer and a first routing trace. The second touch node may correspond to a third touch electrode including a third plurality of segments in the first layer and a fourth touch electrode including a fourth plurality of segments in the first layer and a second routing trace. The first routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the fourth plurality of segments and may separate the pair of the third plurality of segments. The second routing trace may be disposed between a pair of the second plurality of segments and may separate a pair of the first plurality of segments.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a first bridge over the second routing trace connects a pair of the segments in the first plurality of segments and a second bridge over the first routing trace connects the pair of the segments in the third plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the second touch electrode and the fourth touch electrode are a differential drive touch electrode pair and the first touch electrode and the third touch electrode are non-differential (e.g., single-ended sensing). Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the second touch electrode and the fourth touch electrode are interleaved, and the first touch electrode and the third touch electrode are non-interleaved. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the first plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the third plurality of segments of the second touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples an area of the second plurality of segments of the first touch node is equal to an area of the fourth plurality of segments of the second touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples one of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the one of the pair of segments of the first plurality of segments and the other of the pair of segments of the fourth plurality of segments is disposed on three sides of the other of the pair of segments of the first plurality of segments. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, one of the pair of sections of the second plurality of sections is disposed on three sides of one of the pair of sections of the third plurality of sections and the other of the pair of sections of the second plurality of sections is disposed on three sides of the other of the pair of sections of the third plurality of sections. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first plurality of segments and the third plurality of segments are rectangular. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the second plurality of segments and the fourth plurality of segments are rectangular.

Some examples of the disclosure relate to touch screens. The touch screen may include a plurality of display data lines along a first axis, a plurality of differentially driven touch electrode pairs along the first axis, and a plurality of sense touch electrodes along a second axis, the second axis being different from the first axis. The respective differential drive pairs (or in some examples, each of the differential drive pairs) include a first touch electrode formed from a first plurality of segments in the first layer and a second touch electrode formed from a second plurality of segments in the first layer. The first and second plurality of segments are interleaved along a first axis. The plurality of sensing touch electrodes includes a third touch electrode formed from a third plurality of segments in the first layer and a fourth touch electrode formed from a fourth plurality of segments in the first layer. The first touch node may include: a plurality of segments of the first plurality of segments interleaved with a plurality of segments of the second plurality of segments; and a plurality of segments of the third plurality of segments interleaved with a plurality of segments of the fourth plurality of segments along the first axis.

Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a portion of each of a plurality of sections of the first touch node is disposed around a portion of each of a plurality of sections of the third plurality of sections of the first touch node; and a portion of each of a plurality of sections of the second plurality of sections of the first touch node is disposed around a portion of each of a plurality of sections of the fourth plurality of sections of the first touch node. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first axis and the second axis are orthogonal. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples a pitch of the first one of the third plurality of sections and the first one of the fourth plurality of sections that is closest to the first one of the third plurality of sections is less than one-fourth of a pitch of the first touch nodes. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the third plurality is interconnected at a border area outside an edge or active area of the touch screen. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the plurality of sense electrodes are coupled to a sense circuit in a sense single-ended configuration. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first plurality of sections are interconnected in an active area of the touch screen and the second plurality of sections are interconnected in the active area of the touch screen. Additionally or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples the first touch node includes at least one pair of sections of the first plurality of sections interleaved with a pair of sections of the second plurality of sections, and at least one pair of sections of the third plurality of sections interleaved with a pair of sections of the fourth plurality of sections.

Some examples of the present disclosure relate to an electronic device including a power storage device, communication circuitry, and a touch screen, as described in some of the examples presented above. Although examples of the present disclosure have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is to be understood that such changes and modifications are to be considered as included within the scope of the examples of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (20)

1. A touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of touch electrodes in a first layer, the plurality of touch electrodes comprising a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-axis array of touch nodes;

a plurality of first routing traces in a second layer, the second layer different from the first layer, the plurality of first routing traces coupled to the first electrode using a plurality of first electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer; and

a plurality of second routing traces in a second layer, the plurality of second routing traces coupled to the second electrode using a plurality of second electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer;

Wherein the first plurality of routing traces run along a first axis of the dual-axis array and at least partially overlap the dual-axis array of touch nodes; and is

Wherein the second plurality of traces run along the first axis of the dual-axis array and at least partially overlap the dual-axis array of touch nodes.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein:

the first electrode comprises a column electrode, the second electrode comprises a row electrode, and the two-axis array of touch nodes comprises a row-column arrangement of touch nodes.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 2, the second layer comprising, for a first column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, a plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments including a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a third set of one or more routing trace segments, and a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 2, the second layer comprising, for a first column of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes, a plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments comprising a first set of one or more routing trace segments, a second set of one or more routing trace segments, a third set of one or more routing trace segments, a fourth set of one or more routing trace segments, a fifth set of one or more routing trace segments, and a sixth set of one or more routing trace segments.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein:

the first column comprises a first column electrode and a second column electrode;

the first set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a first routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces and the second set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a second routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces disposed in the first column; and is

The first routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces is coupled to the first column electrode and the second routing trace of the first plurality of routing traces is coupled to the second column electrode.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein:

a first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, a second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces, and a third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces are disposed in the first column;

the first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces comprises a first portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments, a first portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments, and a first portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments;

A second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces comprises a second portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments and a second portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments;

the third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces comprises a third portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments; and is

The first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces is coupled to a first row electrode, the second routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces is coupled to a second row electrode, and the third routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces is coupled to a third row electrode in the first column.

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 6, wherein:

the row-column arrangement of touch nodes is divided into a plurality of groups of rows;

the first row electrodes are disposed in a first group of the plurality of groups of rows;

the second row electrode is disposed in a second group of the plurality of groups of rows; and is provided with

The third row of electrodes is disposed in a third set of the plurality of sets of rows.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 6, wherein:

the first set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a first electrical break along the first axis and a second electrical break along the first axis;

The second set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a third electrical discontinuity along the first axis;

the first electrical discontinuity is within a threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between the third routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces and the third row of electrodes;

the second electrical discontinuity is within the threshold distance along the first axis from an electrical interconnection between the second routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces and the second row electrode; and is

The third electrical discontinuity is within the threshold distance along the first axis from the electrical interconnection between the second routing trace of the plurality of second routing traces and the second row electrode.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 8, wherein:

the first set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a fourth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, the second set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a fifth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, the third set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a sixth electrical discontinuity along the first axis, and the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a seventh electrical discontinuity along the first axis; and is

The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh electrical discontinuities are within the threshold distance along the first axis from electrical interconnections between the first routing trace of the second plurality of routing traces and the first row of electrodes.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, wherein:

a fourth portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments comprising a first floating segment, the fourth portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments separated from the third portion of the first set of one or more routing trace segments by the fourth electrical break;

a third portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a second floating segment, the third portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the second portion of the second set of one or more routing trace segments by the fifth electrical break;

a second portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a third floating segment, the second portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the first portion of the third set of one or more routing trace segments by the sixth electrical discontinuity; and is

A second portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments comprises a fourth floating segment, the second portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments being separated from the first portion of the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments by the seventh electrical break.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein:

the first set of one or more routing trace segments and the second set of one or more routing trace segments overlap one or more column electrodes within the first column; and is

The third set of one or more routing trace segments and the fourth set of one or more routing trace segments are non-overlapping with the one or more column electrodes within the first column.

12. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein the plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments extend from a first touch node at one end of the first column to a second touch node at a second end of the first column opposite the first end.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein a length of each routing trace segment of the plurality of sets of one or more routing trace segments along the first axis is within 5% of a length of the first column along the first axis.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein the sets of one or more routing trace segments are equally spaced along a second axis of the dual-axis array that is different from the first axis of the dual-axis array.

15. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, the plurality of touch electrodes being formed from a metal mesh, and the plurality of first routing traces and the plurality of second routing traces being formed from a metal mesh.

16. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the first electrode is configured as a transmitter electrode and the second electrode is configured as a receiver electrode in differential drive and differential sense mutual capacitance sensing operations.

17. An electronic device, comprising:

an energy storage device;

a communication circuit; and

a touch screen, the touch screen comprising:

a display having an active area; and

a touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of touch electrodes in a first layer, the plurality of touch electrodes comprising a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-axis array of touch nodes;

A plurality of first routing traces in a second layer, the second layer different from the first layer, the plurality of first routing traces coupled to the first electrode using a plurality of first electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer; and

a plurality of second routing traces in a second layer, the plurality of second routing traces coupled to the second electrode using a plurality of second electrical interconnects between the first layer and the second layer;

wherein the first plurality of routing traces run along a first axis of the dual-axis array and at least partially overlap the dual-axis array of touch nodes; and is

Wherein the second plurality of traces run along the first axis of the dual-axis array and at least partially overlap the dual-axis array of touch nodes.

18. The touch sensor panel of claim 17, wherein the dual-axis array of touch nodes comprises a row-column arrangement of touch electrodes divided into groups of rows, and the second plurality of routing traces are coupled to the second electrodes using the second plurality of electrical interconnects in a chevron pattern.

19. The touch sensor panel of claim 17, wherein the dual-axis array of touch nodes comprises a row-column arrangement of touch electrodes divided into a plurality of groups of rows, and the plurality of second routing traces are coupled to the second electrodes using the plurality of second electrical interconnects in an S-shaped pattern.

20. The touch sensor panel of claim 17, wherein:

the dual-axis array of touch nodes comprises a row-column arrangement of touch electrodes divided into a plurality of groups of rows, including a first group, a second group, and a third group, the third group being between the first group and the second group;

adjacent rows of the first set of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes are interconnected within adjacent column pairs of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes;

adjacent rows of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes of the second group are interconnected within adjacent column pairs of the row-column arrangement of touch nodes; and is

A plurality of third routing traces in a border area outside of the dual-axis array are coupled to row electrodes in the rows of the third set.

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