JP2013018185A - Conductive multilayer structure and touch panel including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conductive multilayer structure and its touch panel, having a small thickness of the conductive multilayer structure and high hardness and wear resistance or the like, and having high sensitivity relative to a contact pressure applied by a user.SOLUTION: This conductive multilayer structure comprises: a substrate 10 which has facing first and second surfaces 101 and 102, into which inorganic powder is mixed, and which has a thickness of 100 to 125 μm; a transparent conductive film 11 formed on the first surface 101; a hard coat layer 12 formed on the second surface 102; and a protective film 13 formed on the hard coat layer 12. The transparent conductive film 11 is transparent conductive oxide. The transparent conductive film 11 is indium tin oxide. The transparent conductive film 11 is amorphous indium tin oxide. The thickness of the hard coat layer 12 is 6 to 10 μm. The protective film 13 is a silicon dioxide film. The touch panel includes the conductive multilayer structure.

Description

  The present invention relates to a multilayer structure (also referred to as a thin film multilayer structure) and a touch panel having the multilayer structure, and more particularly to a conductive multilayer structure (also referred to as a conductive multilayer structure) and a touch panel having the same.

  In recent years, touch-type man-machine interfaces (e.g., touch panels) have been used in various electronic products (e.g., global positioning system (GPS), personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular phones, tablet computers ( Table PC)). In portable electronic products, a conventional input device has been changed to a touch-type man-machine interface. By using this man-machine interface, the electronic device can be operated in a user-friendly (ie, human-like) manner and intuitively, and the space occupied by the conventional input device is reduced, so that the weight of the portable electronic product is reduced. And thinning can be achieved.

  The touch panel is classified into a resistance type, a capacitance type, an electromagnetic type, an infrared type, an ultrasonic type and the like according to a difference in sensing method. For example, in a resistive touch panel, two conductive thin films are used as upper and lower electrodes (ie, an upper electrode and a lower electrode), and a user applies pressure (ie, touch force or contact force) to make the upper and lower electrodes conductive. Thus, the position of the contact point can be calculated simply by measuring the voltage change of the panel. On the other hand, in a capacitive touch panel, a conductive substrate is formed by disposing a conductive material on a substrate. When the four corners of the conductive substrate are discharged, a uniform electric field is formed on the surface, and when the conductive object (for example, a user's finger) touches, the conductive object absorbs a small amount of current and controls this slight change. By transmitting to the apparatus and analyzing it, the position where the conductive object is touched is detected.

  For example, when the conventional substrate is a PET substrate, the glass substrate or the plastic substrate used for the substrate of the prior art needs to have a certain thickness in order to improve the structural strength and wear resistance. The increase in the thickness of the touch panel structure is disadvantageous for weight reduction and thickness reduction. On the other hand, when the substrate is a PET substrate having a large thickness, the user must apply a large pressure to the touch panel so that the touch panel is operated by touch, which is inconvenient to use. Therefore, a touch panel having a small thickness and easy for the user to operate is desired.

JP 2011-016264 A

  The object of the present invention is to reduce the thickness of the conductive multi-layer structure and to meet the application specifications such as hardness and wear resistance, and to improve the sensitivity of the touch required by the user. An object is to provide a conductive multilayer structure capable of reducing pressure and a touch panel having the same.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the conductive multilayer structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention has a first surface and a second surface facing each other, mixed with an inorganic powder, and has a thickness of 100 μm to A substrate having a thickness of 125 μm, a transparent conductive film formed on the first surface, a hard coating layer (also referred to as a hard coating layer) formed on the second surface, and formed on the hard coating layer And a protective film.

  In order to solve the above problem, a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention includes the conductive multilayer structure according to the first embodiment.

  The conductive multilayer structure and the touch panel having the same according to the present invention still have good physical properties even when the thickness is reduced due to the addition of inorganic fine particles. In other words, the conductive multilayer structure and the touch panel having the conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention can reduce the thickness of the conductive multilayer structure and satisfy the requirements for wear resistance and hardness required when applied to a touch panel. It can also be made.

It is sectional drawing which shows the electroconductive multilayer structure which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  In order to further understand the features and technical contents of the present invention, a detailed and detailed understanding of the present invention will be obtained by referring to the following detailed description of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. It is needless to say that the scope of the present invention is not strictly limited.

  The conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention can achieve a reduction in thickness and weight, and can reduce the pressure of the touch necessary for the user's touch operation.

  Please refer to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, a conductive multilayer structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least a substrate 10, a transparent conductive film 11, a hard coating layer (also referred to as a hard coat layer) 12, and a protective film 13. Prepare.

  The substrate 10 according to the present embodiment is a transparent plate. The translucent plate 10 is made of, for example, polycarbonate (polycarbonate: PC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) having flexibility, light weight, impact resistance, and spall resistance. However, the present invention is not limited to these materials, and examples thereof include polyester resins, menthyl acetate resins, polyether ether sulfones (PES) resins, and polycarbonate resins. Resin, Polyamide (PA) resin, Polyimide (PI) resin, Polyolefin resin, Methacrylic acid resin, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin, Polyvinylidene chloride resin (Polyvinylidene chloride resin), police Ren (POLYSTYRENE) resins, polyvinyl alcohol (polyvinyl alcohol) resins, polyallyl sulfone resins may be composed of such polyphenylene sulfide-based resin.

  An inorganic powder is mixed in the substrate 10 made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) according to the present embodiment. This inorganic powder may be conductive inorganic fine particles such as silicon dioxide, calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, tin oxide, indium oxide, cadmium oxide, and antimony oxide having an average particle size of 0.5 μm to 20 μm. Further, it may be made of a substance such as a crosslinked or non-crosslinked organic fine particle made of an appropriate polymer including polymethyl methacrylate and polyurethane.

  The conductive multilayer structure according to this embodiment can improve the wear resistance by setting the content of the inorganic powder mixed in the substrate 10 to 50% or more. Thus, by adding inorganic powder, thickness D1 of the board | substrate 10 which concerns on this embodiment can be reduced to about 100 micrometers-125 micrometers. Therefore, the conductive multilayer structure according to this embodiment can achieve a reduction in thickness and weight as compared with a conventional PET film having a thickness of about 188 μm.

  The transparent conductive film 11 of the present embodiment is formed on the first surface 101 (for example, the bottom surface) of the substrate 10. The transparent conductive film 11 may be a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). Examples of the transparent conductive oxide include amorphous or crystalline indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), chrome oxide, and zinc oxide ( A conductive film such as ZnO) or titanium oxide (TiO) or an organic transparent conductive material may be used, but is not limited thereto. The transparent conductive film 11 may be manufactured by a process such as a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, an ion beam deposition method, or a sol-gel method, for example.

  The hard coating layer 12 according to the present embodiment is formed on the second surface 102 (for example, the upper surface) facing the first surface 101. Specifically, the hard coating layer 12 is preferably made of a curable resin such as a melamine resin, a urethane resin, an alkyd resin, an acrylic acid resin, or a silicone resin. The thickness ranges from 6 μm to 10 μm and has functions such as wear resistance, chemical resistance, and UV resistance. For example, the hard coating layer 12 is used to prevent the PET substrate 10 described above from being deteriorated by the influence of light irradiation (particularly, ultraviolet (UV)).

The protective film 13 according to the present embodiment is formed on the hard coating layer 12. In the present embodiment, the protective film 13 is a silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) film formed by a vacuum sputtering method, an electron beam evaporation method, or a chemical vapor deposition method, and has a thickness of about 1 μm to 4 μm. As a modification, the protective film 13 may be made of silicon nitride, photoresist or the like.

  Although the conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention is very thin due to the structure and composition described above, there is no problem in its characteristics due to the thin thickness. For example, according to the actual verification results, it was found that when inorganic fine particles were mixed in the substrate 10, the wear resistance of the entire conductive multilayer structure was 200,000 times or more, and the overall hardness exceeded 3H or more. That is, the conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention can satisfy the requirements required by the standards.

  The conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention is applied to various display devices such as a touch panel, a liquid crystal display device, and an electroluminescence display device, and is particularly suitable for use as a transparent electrode plate of a touch panel.

  For example, a resistive touch panel includes a touch-side electrode plate having a conductive multilayer structure and a display-side electrode plate having a transparent conductive film so as to be disposed to face each other with a spacer interposed therebetween. The conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention may be used for any electrode plate on the touch side or the display side. When the user applies pressure to the touch-side electrode plate with a stylus pen or the like, the touch-side electrode plate and the display-side electrode plate are brought into contact with each other to turn on the touch panel, while the stylus pen is released. Return the original off state.

(1) When the conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention is applied to a touch panel, the entire film thickness can be reduced, so that the sensitivity to the pressure applied by the user is increased, and only a light (small) touch force is applied. Can be operated with. According to actual tests, the touch panel applied to the present invention was able to perform touch control of the touch panel with a pressure of only 5 to 15 g.
(2) Since the conductive multilayer structure according to the present invention maintains at least 3H hardness and passes the cross hatch test, various image display devices having a touch panel (for example, TFT- LCD, LCD-TV, etc.).

  The above description is merely illustrative of the detailed description of the preferred specific embodiment of the present invention and the drawings, and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present invention. Needless to say, various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and the contents of those modifications should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

10 substrate 11 transparent conductive film 12 hard coating layer 13 protective film 101 first surface 102 second surface

Claims (10)

A substrate having opposing first and second surfaces, mixed with inorganic powder and having a thickness of 100 μm to 125 μm;
A transparent conductive film formed on the first surface;
A hard coating layer formed on the second surface;
A protective film formed on the hard coating layer;
A conductive multilayer structure comprising:   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 1, wherein the transparent conductive film is a transparent conductive oxide.   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 2, wherein the transparent conductive film is indium tin oxide.   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 3, wherein the transparent conductive film is an amorphous indium tin oxide.   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 1, wherein the hard coating layer has a thickness of 6 μm to 10 μm.   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 1, wherein the protective film is a silicon dioxide film.   The conductive multilayer structure according to claim 6, wherein the protective film has a thickness of 1 μm to 4 μm.   A touch panel comprising the conductive multilayer structure according to claim 1.   The touch panel according to claim 8, wherein a thickness of the hard coating layer of the conductive multilayer structure is 6 μm to 10 μm.   The touch panel as set forth in claim 8, wherein the protective film is a silicon dioxide film having a thickness of 1 μm to 4 μm.

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