JP2015168611A - Strengthened glass, touch panel electronic display, organic el panel and method for producing the strengthened glass - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a strengthened glass having suitable surface friction resistance and also having excellent mechanical strength.SOLUTION: Provided is a strengthened glass 1 made of a plate glass 10 having a surface part 10S in which ruggedness is formed on the first surface 10a, where, in the surface part 10S, a chemically strengthened layer 13a as a layer in which the plate glass 10 is chemically strengthened by the ion exchange of atoms forming the plate glass 10 is formed at a prescribed depth thickness, and the thickness of the chemically strengthened layer 13a is higher than the height of the projecting parts 11 in the ruggedness of the first surface 10a.

Description

  The present invention relates to tempered glass, a touch panel provided with tempered glass, an electronic display device provided with a touch panel, an organic EL (electroluminescence) panel provided with tempered glass, and a method for producing tempered glass. In particular, the present invention relates to a cover glass in a touch panel used in an electronic display device such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, or a notebook PC.

  In recent years, demand for portable electronic display devices having features such as thinness, light weight, and low power consumption has been rapidly increased. As an input device for an electronic display device, a touch panel has become the mainstream. Therefore, thin and high-strength tempered glass is mainly used for the glass substrate on the outermost surface of the display called a cover glass.

  Furthermore, OGS (One Glass Solution) technology that integrates this tempered glass and a touch sensor, or an on-cell panel or in-cell panel technology in which a touch sensor is incorporated inside a display has already begun to be put into practical use.

  Recently, not only touch input (finger input) using a finger or the like, but also an electronic display device capable of touch input (pen input) using a pen called a stylus has been put on the market. A cover glass used for an electronic display device capable of touch input with a finger or a pen is required to have high mechanical strength.

  The tempered glass can be produced by increasing the mechanical strength of the plate glass. As a method for producing such a tempered glass, an air cooling strengthening method, a crystallization strengthening method, a chemical strengthening method, or the like is known.

  The air-cooling strengthening method requires heating the plate glass at a high temperature near the glass softening point temperature. For this reason, when it is difficult to control the shape of the plate glass, the cost increases for applications with strict dimensional accuracy. In the case where the plate glass is composed of a glass composition having a high softening point temperature, the heating temperature needs to be considerably high, and the production equipment is high, or the glass plate is thin (for example, 2 mm or less). However, there is a problem that it is difficult to strengthen the plate glass.

  In the crystallization strengthening method, the entire glass is strengthened by forming crystal particles having a particle diameter of 100 nm or more inside amorphous glass, and the progress of cracks due to microcracks on the glass surface is observed with crystal particles. It is a method of suppressing.

  The chemical strengthening method is a method of chemically strengthening the glass by ion exchange ion exchange of atoms constituting the glass. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a tempered glass using a chemical tempering method.

JP 2006-83045 A

  However, it is difficult to generate an appropriate surface friction resistance on the glass surface while maintaining the mechanical strength of the glass.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a tempered glass having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent mechanical strength, a method for producing the same, and the like. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the tempered glass according to the present invention is a tempered glass composed of a plate glass having a surface portion with irregularities formed on the surface, and the surface glass constitutes the plate glass. A chemical strengthening layer, which is a layer in which the plate glass is chemically strengthened by ion exchange of atoms, is formed with a thickness of a predetermined depth from the surface, and the thickness of the chemical strengthening layer is a convex portion of the unevenness. It is more than the height.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a tempered glass having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent mechanical strength. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve both higher resistance to surface friction and higher mechanical strength in glass.

It is a fragmentary sectional view of tempered glass concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the process of the manufacturing method of the tempered glass which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view of tempered glass concerning Embodiment 2 of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the touchscreen and electronic display apparatus which concern on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the organic electroluminescent panel which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the conventional electronic display apparatus.

(Knowledge that became the basis of the present invention)
Prior to the description of the embodiment of the present invention, the knowledge forming the basis of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional electronic display device.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the conventional electronic display device 5 is a display device using a touch panel, and has a configuration in which an organic EL panel 200 and a touch panel 400 are bonded together by an adhesive material 300. The organic EL panel 200 includes a TFT substrate 220, an organic EL layer 230 (light emitting element layer) disposed on the TFT substrate 220, and a sealing substrate 210 (sealing glass) disposed on the organic EL layer 230. Is provided.

  The TFT substrate 220 includes a substrate 221 and a drive circuit layer stacked on the substrate 221. In the drive circuit layer, a drive transistor DrTr and a switching transistor SwTr are provided.

  The drive transistor DrTr includes a gate electrode G1, a semiconductor layer SC1 (channel layer) formed to face the gate electrode G1 via the gate insulating film 222, and a pair formed to face the semiconductor layer SC1. Source electrode S1 and drain electrode D1.

  Similarly, the switching transistor SwTr is formed to face the gate electrode G2, the semiconductor layer SC2 (channel layer) formed to face the gate electrode G2 via the gate insulating film 222, and the semiconductor layer SC2. And a pair of source electrode S2 and drain electrode D2.

  The drive transistor DrTr and the switching transistor SwTr configured as described above are covered with an interlayer insulating film (planarization film) 223.

  An organic EL layer 230 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 223. The organic EL layer 230 is configured by sequentially laminating an anode (anode) 231 that is a reflective electrode, an organic layer 232 that includes a light emitting layer, and a cathode (cathode) 233 that is a transparent electrode.

  A thin film sealing film 240 and a resin sealing layer 250 are formed on the organic EL layer 230. A sealing substrate 210 is disposed on the resin sealing layer 250.

  The touch panel 400 includes a cover glass (glass substrate) and the touch sensor 2 formed on the cover glass 401. The touch sensor 2 includes a first conductive layer 2a, a second conductive layer 2b, and an insulating layer 2c.

  In the electronic display device having such a configuration, parallax, responsiveness, surface frictional resistance, and the like at the time of touch input are problems. The parallax is caused by a difference in distance between a touch input surface (touch surface) and a display surface (display surface), and is a deviation when the touch surface and the display surface are viewed from an oblique direction. That is. Responsiveness is the difference in time from input on the touch surface until input information is displayed on the display surface. The surface frictional resistance is a frictional resistance between the input means (finger, pen) and the touch surface.

  In particular, when performing pen input, a desired frictional resistance is required between the touch surface and the pen tip, but in the case of pen input, the surface frictional resistance is lower than when writing characters on paper with a pencil or the like. There is a problem that the input operability is poor because it is very small.

  Specifically, when the touch surface is a flat glass surface, the surface frictional resistance of the touch surface is reduced, and when a pen input is performed, the pen tip slips smoothly on the glass surface and is difficult to write. In particular, when writing with a sharp-pointed pen, the surface friction resistance between the pen tip and the touch surface becomes very small, and the pen tip slips smoothly on the touch surface.

  On the other hand, if the surface frictional resistance of the glass surface is increased, the mechanical strength of the glass is lowered. For example, if the surface of the glass is simply roughened to increase the surface frictional resistance, the mechanical strength of the glass decreases.

  When the mechanical strength of the glass is reduced, the glass may be chipped or cracked due to microcracks existing in the vicinity of the glass surface due to the pressing force at the time of touch input. In particular, when a pen is input, a load is applied to the glass due to the pressing force of the pen tip, and a crack or the like is generated.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to chemically strengthen the glass. For example, it is conceivable to chemically strengthen the plate glass by a chemical strengthening method and to form irregularities on the glass surface.

  However, according to the study by the present inventor, it has been found that it is difficult to sufficiently maintain the mechanical strength of the glass simply by chemically strengthening the plate glass and forming irregularities on the glass surface. It was also found that chemically strengthened glass has a hard surface and it is difficult to form irregularities on the surface.

  In the electronic display device 5 shown in FIG. 6, an image is displayed by light emitted from the organic layer 232, but the touch sensor 2 and the cover glass 401 are disposed on the display surface side of the organic EL panel 200. Therefore, there is a distance d between the surface of the cover glass 401 (touch surface) and the display surface (display position) of the organic EL panel 200.

  For this reason, when writing characters with a pen on the surface of the cover glass 401, the user sees the pen tip from an oblique direction, and thus parallax occurs. The greater the distance d, the greater the parallax.

  In addition, since the surface of the cover glass 401 is a flat surface, there is a problem that it is difficult to see an image displayed on the organic EL panel 200 due to reflection of external light. For this reason, the surface of the cover glass 401 is directly coated with an antireflection film, subjected to antiglare treatment, or a film coated with an antireflection film is attached.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of such knowledge, and provides a tempered glass capable of producing an appropriate surface friction resistance on the glass surface while maintaining the mechanical strength of the glass, and a method for producing the same. The main purpose is to do.

  In addition, it is an object to provide an organic EL panel or the like that can reduce parallax at the time of touch input, and to provide an organic EL panel or an electronic display device having an antireflection effect.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned main object, one aspect of the tempered glass according to the present invention is a tempered glass comprising a plate glass having a surface portion with irregularities formed on the surface, and the surface glass is formed on the surface portion. A chemical strengthening layer, which is a layer in which the plate glass is chemically strengthened by ion exchange of constituent atoms, is formed with a thickness of a predetermined depth from the surface, and the thickness of the chemical strengthening layer is convex in the unevenness. It is more than the height of a part.

  According to this aspect, since the fine unevenness | corrugation is formed in the surface of plate glass, surface friction resistance can be enlarged compared with the plate glass in which the unevenness | corrugation is not formed in the surface. In addition, a chemical strengthening layer with a thickness equal to or higher than the height of the convex and concave portions is formed on the surface portion of the plate glass, so that the mechanical strength of the plate glass is prevented from being lowered even if the surface is uneven. it can. Thereby, moderate surface frictional resistance can be produced on the surface while maintaining the mechanical strength of the plate glass.

  In one embodiment of the tempered glass according to the present invention, the chemical strengthening layer may have a thickness of 100 μm or more.

  According to this aspect, the mechanical strength of the plate glass can be improved as compared with a plate glass on which no irregularities and no chemically strengthened layer are formed.

  Moreover, the aspect of the tempered glass which concerns on this invention WHEREIN: 10 micrometers or more and 100 micrometers or less may be sufficient as the height of the convex part in the said unevenness | corrugation.

  According to this aspect, since the height of the convex part in the unevenness is 10 μm or more, when this tempered glass is used for a touch panel, an appropriate surface friction resistance can be obtained, so when writing characters etc. on a paper with a pencil etc. Can reproduce the writing comfort of. In addition, since the height of the convex portion in the unevenness is 100 μm or less, when this tempered glass is used for an electronic display device or the like, the influence of haze accompanying the unevenness can be suppressed, so that the information displayed on the display surface can be reduced. Blur can be suppressed.

  In one embodiment of the tempered glass according to the present invention, the refractive index of the plate glass in the portion where the chemical strengthening layer is formed may be smaller than the refractive index of the plate glass in the portion where the chemical strengthening layer is not formed. Good.

  According to this aspect, light incident from the uneven surface of the plate glass can be reflected. Therefore, when this tempered glass is used in an electronic display device or the like, an electronic display having an antireflection effect without coating an antireflection film, applying an antiglare treatment, or attaching a film coated with an antireflection film. An apparatus can be realized.

  Moreover, the one aspect | mode of the touchscreen which concerns on this invention is a touchscreen provided with the one aspect | mode of the said tempered glass, The touch sensor is formed in the surface on the opposite side to the said surface of the said tempered glass, The surface is a touch surface.

  According to this aspect, it is possible to realize a touch panel using tempered glass having an appropriate surface frictional resistance and excellent mechanical strength. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of cracks and the like in the tempered glass due to the pressing force at the time of touch input, and to reproduce the writing comfort when writing characters on paper.

  One aspect of the electronic display device according to the present invention includes the touch panel and an organic EL panel, and the touch panel includes the opposite surface of the tempered glass and the light emission side surface of the organic EL panel. Are arranged so as to face each other.

  According to this aspect, an electronic display device is realized by combining a touch panel having a touch surface made of tempered glass having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent mechanical strength and an organic EL panel. . Therefore, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of cracks and the like in the tempered glass due to the pressing force at the time of touch input, and to reproduce the writing comfort when writing characters on paper.

  Moreover, the one aspect | mode of the organic EL panel which concerns on this invention is a top emission type organic EL panel provided with the one aspect | mode of the said tempered glass, Comprising: The said tempered glass is used as sealing glass of the said organic EL panel. It is characterized by being.

  According to this aspect, an organic EL panel in which the sealing glass is composed of tempered glass can be obtained. Therefore, an organic EL panel excellent in impact resistance can be realized.

  Moreover, the one aspect | mode of the organic electroluminescent panel which concerns on this invention WHEREIN: The said organic electroluminescent panel is provided with the board | substrate with which the thin-film transistor was formed, and 3 times or more of the thickness of the said board | substrate may be sufficient as the thickness of the said board | substrate.

  According to this aspect, the impact resistance of the organic EL panel can be further improved, and the organic EL panel can be prevented from being broken even when input with a finger or a pen.

  Moreover, the one aspect | mode of the organic electroluminescent panel which concerns on this invention WHEREIN: The touch sensor may be formed in the surface on the opposite side to the said surface of the said tempered glass.

  According to this aspect, it is possible to realize an organic EL panel with a touch sensor in which the glass plate of the touch surface of the touch panel and the sealing glass of the organic EL panel are combined with the tempered glass. Thereby, the difference of the distance of a touch surface and a display surface can be made small compared with the case where the plate glass of the touch surface in a touch panel and the sealing glass of an organic electroluminescent panel are provided separately. Therefore, the parallax at the time of touch input can be reduced.

  Moreover, the one aspect | mode of the manufacturing method of the tempered glass which concerns on this invention is the said 1st process which forms an unevenness | corrugation in the surface of plate glass, and ion-exchanges the atom which comprises the said plate glass in the surface part of the said plate glass, The said surface And a second step of chemically strengthening the plate glass at a predetermined depth to form a chemically strengthened layer, wherein the first step is performed before the second step.

  According to this aspect, it is possible to easily produce a tempered glass having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent mechanical strength.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that each of the embodiments described below shows a preferred specific example of the present invention. Therefore, numerical values, shapes, materials, components, arrangement positions and connection forms of components, steps (steps), order of steps, and the like shown in the following embodiments are merely examples and are intended to limit the present invention. is not. Therefore, among the constituent elements in the following embodiments, constituent elements that are not described in the independent claims showing the highest concept of the present invention are described as optional constituent elements.

  Each figure is a schematic diagram and is not necessarily illustrated strictly. Moreover, in each figure, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the substantially same structure, The overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted or simplified.

(Embodiment 1)
First, the tempered glass 1 which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of tempered glass according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tempered glass 1 according to the present embodiment is constituted by a plate glass 10. The plate glass 10 is made of glass mainly composed of silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ), for example, and is oxide-based glass in which alkali metal oxides such as lithium (Li) and sodium (Na) are mixed. In the present embodiment, as the plate glass 10, a high-strength glass material in which the entire glass is reinforced by adding a rare earth oxide to a glass composed of silicon dioxide and an alkali metal oxide is used. The plate glass 10 may be mixed with an oxide of an alkaline earth metal.

  The plate glass 10 is a plate-like glass substrate having a first surface 10a and a second surface 10b that is a surface opposite to the first surface 10a. The plate glass 10 in this Embodiment has the surface part 10S (surface layer) in which the fine unevenness | corrugation (uneven structure) was formed in the surface. That is, the 1st surface 10a of the plate glass 10 is a concavo-convex uneven surface, and is constituted by a plurality of minute convex portions 11 and a plurality of minute concave portions 12. In the present embodiment, the second surface 10b is a flat surface (flat surface).

  It is preferable that the height H of the convex portion 11 (depth of the concave portion 12) H in the unevenness of the first surface 10a is 10 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

  When the tempered glass 1 is used for the touch panel with the first surface 10a as a touch surface by setting the height of the convex portion 10 to 10 μm or more, it is appropriate when touch input is performed on the touch panel using a pen with a thin nib. Surface frictional resistance can be generated. This makes it possible to reproduce the writing comfort when writing characters on paper with a pencil or the like.

  Further, when the height of the convex portion 11 (depth of the concave portion 12) H increases, the haze increases, and when the tempered glass 1 is used for an electronic display device or the like, it is displayed on the display surface due to an increase in the haze of the tempered glass 1. However, when the height of the convex portion 11 is set to 100 μm or less, an increase in haze due to the unevenness can be suppressed. Thereby, it can suppress that the information displayed on the display surface blurs. In addition, haze (haze value) is defined by the ratio of the diffused light in total reflected light, and can be measured with a commercially available haze meter or the like. In the present embodiment, the haze is preferably 70% or less.

  A chemical strengthening layer 13a (compression strengthening layer) is formed on the surface portion 10S with a predetermined constant depth from the first surface 10a which is an uneven surface. In the present embodiment, a chemical strengthening layer 13b (compression strengthening layer) is also formed on the second surface 10b side. The chemical strengthening layer 13b is formed with a predetermined constant depth from the second surface 10b. In addition, the thickness of the chemical strengthening layer 13a formed on the first surface 10a side which is an uneven surface and the thickness of the chemical strengthening layer 13b formed on the second surface 10b side which is a flat surface are the same.

  The chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b are layers in which the plate glass 10 is chemically strengthened by ion exchange of atoms constituting the plate glass 10, and can be formed by subjecting the plate glass 10 to chemical treatment. By forming the chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b on the surface of the plate glass 10, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of cracks or the like in the plate glass 10 due to microcracks existing in the vicinity of the first surface 10a and the second surface 10b, which are glass surfaces. .

  In the present embodiment, the thickness D1 of the chemical strengthening layer 13a is equal to or greater than the height H of the convex portion 11 in the unevenness of the first surface 10a. Thereby, even if the unevenness | corrugation is formed in the 1st surface 10a, it can suppress that the mechanical strength of the plate glass 10 falls. In other words, the mechanical strength of the glass sheet 10 is reduced simply by forming irregularities on the first surface 10a. However, the chemical strengthening of the surface portion 10S of the glass sheet 10 with a thickness equal to or higher than the height of the irregularities 11 is performed. By forming the layer 13a, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the mechanical strength of the plate glass 10.

  As mentioned above, according to the tempered glass 1 which concerns on this Embodiment, on the 1st surface 10a of the plate glass 10, the fine unevenness | corrugation is formed, and thickness is more than the height of the convex part 11 with an unevenness | corrugation. Is formed. Thereby, moderate surface friction resistance can be produced in the 1st surface 10a which is a glass surface, maintaining the mechanical strength of the plate glass 10. FIG.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, it is preferable that the thickness D1 of the chemical strengthening layer 13a is 100 micrometers or more. The mechanical strength of the plate glass 10 can be improved by setting the thickness D1 of the chemically strengthened layer 13a to be not less than the height H of the convex portion 11 and not less than 100 μm. Specifically, the mechanical strength of the tempered glass 1 in the present embodiment is 6 to 12 times or more than the mechanical strength of a normal plate glass having no irregularities and no chemically strengthened layer formed on the surface. Tempered glass (so-called “breakable glass”) can be realized.

  Next, the manufacturing method of the tempered glass 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a process of a method for manufacturing a tempered glass according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, in which (a) is a process for producing a plate glass, (b) is a process for forming irregularities on the surface of the plate glass, (C) has shown the process of forming a chemical strengthening layer in the surface part of plate glass.

  First, as shown to Fig.2 (a), the plate glass 10 (glass substrate) is produced. Specifically, the glass material prepared so as to have a predetermined glass composition is melted and formed into a plate shape by the overflow down draw method to produce the plate glass 10. For example, a thin plate glass 10 having a predetermined shape can be produced by forming a molten glass raw material through a wedge-shaped glass forming apparatus 20 and cleaving it. Both sides of the produced plate glass 10 have high smoothness.

  In the present embodiment, the overflow downdraw method has been described as an example. However, the plate glass 10 is molded using another method such as a general float method, a fusion method, a downdraw method, or a Reedlow method. Also good.

  Next, unevenness is formed on the surface of the plate glass 10. In the present embodiment, the unevenness is formed by roughening the surface of the plate glass 10. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), a process called a so-called sand blasting method is performed by spraying compressed air containing fine abrasive 31 onto one surface of the plate glass 10 by the spray device 30. Thereby, fine irregularities can be formed on the glass surface of the plate glass 10.

  In the present embodiment, the sand blasting method has been described as an example, but fine unevenness may be formed on the surface of the plate glass 10 using a wet etching method using a mask.

  Next, the plate glass 10 at a predetermined depth is chemically strengthened from the first surface 10a to form the chemically strengthened layer 13a by ion-exchange of atoms constituting the plate glass 10 in the surface portion of the plate glass 10. .

In this Embodiment, as shown in FIG.2 (c), the plate glass 10 is immersed in the salt bath furnace 40 for chemical strengthening into which the nitrate 41 heated and fuse | melted was put. Thereby, while the lithium ion (Li ^<+> ) of the surface part 10S (refer FIG. 1) of the plate glass 10 substitutes for sodium ion (Na ^<+> ), the sodium ion (Na ^<+> ) of the surface part 10S becomes potassium ion (K ^{<+ >} ). ), The chemical strengthening layer 13a can be formed on the surface portion 10S of the plate glass 10 as shown in FIG.

  Thus, the tempered glass 1 can be produced. In the present embodiment, by immersing the plate glass 10 in the salt bath furnace 40 for chemical strengthening, not only the chemical strengthening layer 13a is formed on the first surface 10a side which is an uneven surface, but also chemical strengthening. The chemical strengthening layer 13b is formed also on the second surface 10b side which is a flat surface by the same principle as the formation principle of the layer 13a. Moreover, in this Embodiment, the chemical strengthening layers 13a and 13b whose thickness is about 20 micrometers-50 micrometers were formed.

  As mentioned above, according to the manufacturing method of the tempered glass 1 which concerns on this Embodiment, after forming an unevenness | corrugation in the surface of the plate glass 10, the chemical strengthening layer 13a is formed in the surface part 10S of the plate glass 10 using a chemical strengthening method. ing. In other words, unevenness is formed on the surface of the plate glass 10 before the chemical strengthening layer 13a is formed on the plate glass 10.

  Thereby, even if it is a case where an unevenness | corrugation and a chemical strengthening layer are formed in the surface of the plate glass 10, an unevenness | corrugation can be easily formed in the surface of the plate glass 10. FIG. Therefore, the tempered glass 1 having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent mechanical strength can be easily manufactured.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, since the unevenness | corrugation is formed in the surface of the plate glass 10 by chemical treatment, the tempered glass 1 can be manufactured at low cost.

In this embodiment, when the tempered glass 1 is bonded to an electronic display device or another glass substrate to form an electronic display device, if the thermal expansion coefficient is different, the electronic display device may be warped due to a temperature change. However, in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to control the thermal expansion coefficient of the tempered glass 1 to the same thermal expansion coefficient as that of the glass substrate to be bonded. In order to increase the thermal expansion coefficient of the plate glass 10, the content of the alkali metal oxide component or alkaline earth metal oxide component may be increased or the content of SiO ₂ may be decreased. On the other hand, in order to reduce the thermal expansion coefficient of the plate glass 10, the content of the alkali metal oxide component or alkaline earth metal oxide component may be reduced or the content of SiO ₂ may be increased.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, tempered glass 1A according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the tempered glass according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the tempered glass 1A according to the present embodiment is composed of a plate glass 10 having a surface portion 10S in which fine irregularities are formed on the first surface 10a, as in the first embodiment. The first surface 10a is formed with a plurality of minute convex portions 11 and a plurality of minute concave portions 12.

  Also in the present embodiment, the chemical strengthening layer 13a (compression strengthening layer) is formed on the surface portion 10S with a predetermined constant depth from the first surface 10a, which is an uneven surface, and is a flat surface. 2 The chemical strengthening layer 13b is also formed on the surface 10b side.

  Also in the present embodiment, the thickness D2 of the chemical strengthening layer 13a is equal to or greater than the height H of the convex portion 11 in the unevenness of the first surface 10a. The thickness of the chemical strengthening layers 13a and 13b is, for example, 100 μm to 200 μm.

  Further, the refractive index of the chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b (the refractive index of the plate glass 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layer 13a is formed) is the portion where the chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b are not formed (the chemically strengthened treatment is applied). Less than the refractive index of the plate glass 10 of the non-existing portion). For example, the refractive index of the chemical strengthening layers 13a and 13b is 1.4 to 1.51, and the refractive index of the portion where the chemical strengthening layers 13a and 13b are not formed is 1.52.

  The tempered glass 1A in the present embodiment can be manufactured by the same manufacturing method as in the first embodiment.

  As described above, according to the tempered glass 1A according to the present embodiment, similar to the tempered glass 1 according to the first embodiment, the first surface 10a of the plate glass 10 has fine irregularities and has an irregular thickness. A chemical strengthening layer 13a having a height equal to or higher than the height of the convex portion 11 is formed. Thereby, moderate surface friction resistance can be produced in the 1st surface 10a which is a glass surface, maintaining the mechanical strength of the plate glass 10. FIG.

  Furthermore, according to the tempered glass 1A according to the present embodiment, the refractive index of the plate glass 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layer 13a is formed is the refractive index of the plate glass 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b are not formed. Is smaller than Thereby, the light which injects into tempered glass 1A can be reflected. Therefore, tempered glass 1A having an antireflection effect can be realized. Hereinafter, this point will be described.

In general, the reflectance R of light at the interface between the medium 1 and the medium 2 is R = (n1−n2) ² / (n1 + n2) where n1 is the refractive index of the medium 1 and n2 is the refractive index of the medium 2. ) Can be represented by ² .

Accordingly, the refractive index of the air layer is n1, the refractive index of the plate glass 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) is formed is n2, and the plate glass 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layer 13a (or 13b) is not formed. If the refractive index of n3 is n3, the reflectance R1 of light at the interface between the air layer and the glass sheet 10 in the portion where the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) is formed is R1 = (n1-n2) ² / (n1 + n2) ² Can be expressed as Similarly, the light reflectance R2 at the interface between the portion of the plate glass 10 where the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) is formed and the portion of the plate glass 10 where the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) is not formed is R2 = (n2 -N3) ² / (n2 + n3) ² . Therefore, the reflectance R of the tempered glass 1A can be expressed as R = R1 + R2.

For example, when n1 = 1.0 (air) and n3 = 1.52 (glass), when the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) is not formed on the plate glass 10, R = (1.0−1.52) ^{2 / (} 1.0 + 1.52) ² = 4.3%.

  On the other hand, when n1 = 1.0 (air) and n3 = 1.52 (glass), when the chemically strengthened layer 13a (13b) of n2 = 1.4 is formed on the plate glass 10, R1 = 2 .78%, R2 = 0.17%, R = 2.95%, and when the chemical strengthening layer 13a (13b) of n2 = 1.51 is formed on the plate glass 10, R1 = 4.13 %, R2 = 0.01%, and R = 4.14%.

  As described above, according to the tempered glass 1A in the present embodiment, the first surface 10a is separately applied without coating a film coated with an antireflection film, subjected to antiglare treatment, or coated with an antireflection film, An antireflection effect can be obtained.

  Also in the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the thickness D2 of the chemical strengthening layer 13a is preferably 100 μm or more, and the height of the convex portion 11 (the concave portion 12) in the irregularities of the first surface 10a. The depth H) is preferably 10 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, the touch panel 100 and the electronic display device 3 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel and an electronic display device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the electronic display device 3 has a configuration in which a touch panel 100 and an organic EL panel 200 are bonded together by an adhesive material 300. As the adhesive material 300, for example, a transparent resin such as an optical transparent adhesive double-sided tape can be used.

  Touch panel 100 includes tempered glass 1 in the first embodiment. That is, the tempered glass 1 is used as a cover glass. The touch panel 100 is disposed such that the second surface 10b of the tempered glass 1 and the light emission side surface of the organic EL panel 200 face each other.

  The touch panel 100 includes a touch sensor 2. The touch sensor 2 is formed on the second surface 10 b of the tempered glass 1. That is, the second surface 10b of the tempered glass 1 is a surface on which the touch sensor 2 is formed. On the other hand, the 1st surface 10a of the tempered glass 1 is a touch surface (input surface), and is a surface which a user's finger | toe and pen contact.

  The touch sensor 2 is configured to be able to perform multipoint detection. For example, a first conductive layer 2a having a first electrode pattern formed in a row direction and a second electrode pattern formed in a column direction. And a second conductive layer 2b having an insulating layer, and an insulating layer 2c that insulates the first conductive layer 2a from the second conductive layer 2b. Thereby, the contact position (positional coordinate) of the user's finger or pen in the row direction and the column direction can be detected.

  The first electrode pattern and the second electrode pattern are transparent electrodes made of, for example, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) or the like. The insulating layer 2c is, for example, a transparent resin or a glass plate. In the present embodiment, the touch sensor 2 configured by forming transparent electrodes with a predetermined pattern on both surfaces of a glass plate is used.

  Further, the touch sensor 2 in the present embodiment is a capacitive type, for example, by detecting a change in capacitance between the user's fingertip or pen tip and the first electrode pattern or the second electrode pattern. In this method, the position of the user's finger or pen tip is specified. In other words, this is a method of detecting which position is touched by a change in capacitance that occurs when a high-resistance capacitive body such as a user's finger or pen touches the touch panel 100.

  There are two types of pens: an active method that emits radio waves from itself, and a passive method that simply functions as a capacity. As another pen input method, an electromagnetic induction method in which an electromagnetic induction detection circuit board on which an antenna coil is formed is disposed on the back surface of the organic EL panel 200 and the position of the pen having the coil is detected may be used.

  The organic EL panel 200 includes a sealing substrate 210, a TFT substrate 220 on which a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) is formed, and an organic EL layer 230.

  The sealing substrate 210 is a transparent substrate, for example, a glass substrate or a transparent resin substrate. In the present embodiment, since the organic EL panel 200 is a top emission type, the sealing substrate 210 is a substrate on the light emission side.

  The TFT substrate 220 is obtained by forming a TFT on a glass substrate, for example. The organic EL panel 200 according to the present embodiment is an active matrix driving method and includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix. Therefore, TFTs are formed on the TFT substrate 220 for each pixel. For example, a plurality of TFTs are formed on one pixel.

  The organic EL layer 230 includes, for example, an organic layer including a light emitting layer, and an anode and a cathode that sandwich the organic layer. The light emitting layer is formed in each of the plurality of pixels. Each light emitting layer is a red light emitting layer that emits red light, a green light emitting layer that emits green light, or a blue light emitting layer that emits blue light.

  As described above, in the touch panel 100 and the electronic display device 3 according to the present embodiment, the tempered glass 1 having an appropriate surface friction resistance and excellent in mechanical strength is used.

  Thereby, it can reduce that a crack etc. generate | occur | produce in the tempered glass 1 (plate glass 10) by the pressing force at the time of touch-inputting on the 1st surface 10a (touch surface) of the tempered glass 1. In addition, when the surface of the electronic display device 3 (the surface of the touch panel 100) is directly rubbed with a pen, the first surface 10a of the tempered glass 1 is uneven, so that the user feels an appropriate surface friction resistance. be able to. Accordingly, even when writing with a pointed pen, the pen tip does not slip smoothly on the first surface 10a (touch surface), and the writing comfort when writing characters or the like on paper can be reproduced.

  In the present embodiment, the organic EL panel 200 is used. However, another flat panel display such as a liquid crystal panel or electronic paper may be used instead of the organic EL panel 200. That is, the electronic display device may be configured by attaching the touch panel 100 to a liquid crystal panel or the like.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although the adhesive material 300 (transparent resin) was formed between the touch panel 100 and the organic electroluminescent panel 200, without forming the adhesive material 300, the touch panel 100 and the organic electroluminescent panel 200 are the same. The space may be an air layer. In this case, the touch panel 100 and the organic EL panel 200 may be fixed by separate mounting members. In addition, what is necessary is just to select the member between the touch panel 100 and the organic EL panel 200 so that the distance between the touch panel 100 and the organic EL panel 200 may become a desired optical distance.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, an organic EL panel 4 according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an organic EL panel according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the organic EL panel 4 according to the present embodiment is a top emission type organic EL panel provided with the tempered glass 1 in the first embodiment, and uses the tempered glass 1 as a sealing glass. . That is, in the present embodiment, the tempered glass 1 serves as the sealing glass for the organic EL panel 4.

  The organic EL panel 4 has a built-in touch sensor 2. Specifically, the organic EL panel 4 includes a touch panel 100 including a tempered glass 1 and a touch sensor 2. The touch sensor 2 is formed on the second surface 10 b of the tempered glass 1.

  Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the organic EL panel 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the organic EL panel 4 includes a TFT substrate 220, an organic EL layer 230 (light emitting element layer) disposed on the TFT substrate 220, and a touch panel 100 disposed on the organic EL layer 230. Is provided.

  The TFT substrate 220 includes a substrate 221 and a drive circuit layer stacked on the substrate 221. The substrate 221 is, for example, a glass substrate. Since the organic EL panel 4 has a top emission type structure, the substrate 221 does not need to be transparent. Therefore, the substrate 221 may be a non-transparent substrate such as a silicon substrate. The substrate 221 may be formed of a transparent or opaque flexible substrate made of resin.

  In the drive circuit layer, a drive transistor DrTr and a switching transistor SwTr are provided for each pixel.

  The drive transistor DrTr includes a gate electrode G1 patterned in a predetermined shape on the substrate 221, a semiconductor layer SC1 that is a channel layer formed in an island shape on the gate insulating film 222 that covers the gate electrode G1, and a semiconductor layer SC1. And a pair of source electrode S1 and drain electrode D1 formed so as to face each other.

  Similarly, the switching transistor SwTr includes a gate electrode G2 patterned in a predetermined shape on the substrate 221, a semiconductor layer SC2 which is a channel layer formed in an island shape on the gate insulating film 222 covering the gate electrode G2, A pair of source electrode S2 and drain electrode D2 are formed so as to cover part of the semiconductor layer SC2 and to face each other.

  The drive transistor DrTr and the switching transistor SwTr configured as described above are covered with an interlayer insulating film (planarization film) 223.

  An organic EL layer 230 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 223. The organic EL layer 230 is configured by sequentially laminating an anode (anode) 231 that is a reflective electrode, an organic layer 232 that includes a light emitting layer, and a cathode (cathode) 233 that is a transparent electrode. The organic layer 232 is configured by stacking layers such as an electron transport layer, a light emitting layer, and a hole transport layer.

  The anode 231 is connected to the drain electrode D1 of the drive transistor DrTr in the drive circuit layer via the contact electrode.

  On the interlayer insulating film 223, a bank BNK is formed at the boundary between adjacent pixels. The anode 231 and the organic layer 232 are formed in the opening constituted by the adjacent bank BNK.

  A thin film sealing film 240 and a resin sealing layer 250 are formed on the organic EL layer 230. And on the resin sealing layer 250, the touch panel 100 which consists of the tempered glass 1 and the touch sensor 2 is arrange | positioned.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, the glass plate (glass substrate) 10 of the tempered glass 1 uses a glass substrate having a thickness larger than that of the substrate 221 (glass substrate) in the TFT substrate 220. In this case, the thickness of the tempered glass 1 (plate glass 10) is preferably 3 times or more the thickness of the substrate 221 that is a glass substrate. In the present embodiment, a glass substrate having a thickness of 0.5 mm is used as the substrate 221, and a glass substrate having a thickness of 1.5 mm is used as the plate glass of the tempered glass 1.

  As mentioned above, according to the organic EL panel 4 which concerns on this Embodiment, since sealing glass is comprised with the tempered glass 1, the organic EL panel excellent in impact resistance is realizable.

  Moreover, in the organic EL panel 4 according to the present embodiment, since the thin film sealing layer 240 is formed between the organic layer 232 and the tempered glass 1, the deterioration of the organic layer 232 can be suppressed. That is, if the thin film sealing layer 240 is not formed, the tempered glass 1 is alkali glass, so that alkali ion impurities may precipitate and enter the organic layer 232 to deteriorate the organic layer 232. By forming the stop layer 240, entry of alkali ion impurities can be blocked to protect the organic layer 232, and deterioration of the organic layer 232 can be suppressed. Thus, by forming the thin film sealing layer 240, the tempered glass 1 can be easily used as the sealing glass for the organic EL panel.

  Further, in the organic EL panel 4 according to the present embodiment, the touch sensor 2 is formed on the second surface 10 b of the tempered glass 1, and the first surface 10 a of the tempered glass 1 that is sealing glass is a touch of the touch panel 100. Make up surface.

  Thereby, the organic EL panel with a touch sensor in which the glass plate of the touch surface in the touch panel 100 and the sealing glass of the organic EL panel 4 are combined with the tempered glass 1 can be realized. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the difference in the distance d between the touch surface and the display surface can be reduced as compared with the electronic display device 5 shown in FIG. Therefore, the parallax at the time of touch input can be reduced.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, the thickness of the tempered glass 1 (plate glass 10) is 3 times or more of the thickness of the board | substrate 221 (glass substrate).

  Thereby, the impact resistance of the organic EL panel 4 can be further improved, and the organic EL panel 4 can be prevented from being broken even when input with a finger or a pen.

(Modification)
The tempered glass, the touch panel, the organic EL panel, and the electronic display device according to the present invention have been described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

  For example, in Embodiments 1 to 4 described above, the chemically strengthened layers 13a and 13b are formed on both surfaces of the tempered glass 1 (the plate glass 10). However, the chemically strengthened layer 13a is formed on at least the first surface 10a side serving as the touch surface. do it.

  In the third and fourth embodiments, the tempered glass 1 in the first embodiment is used. However, the tempered glass 1A in the second embodiment may be used. In this case, since the tempered glass 1A has an antireflection effect, the antireflection effect can be achieved without coating the surface of the touch panel 100 with a separate antireflection film, applying an antiglare treatment, or attaching a film coated with the antireflection film. Can be obtained.

  In the third and fourth embodiments, the top emission type organic EL panel which is a top emission method is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  Moreover, although said embodiment demonstrated the example which applies the tempered glass 1 and 1A to a display apparatus, it is also applicable to products other than a display apparatus.

  In addition, the embodiment can be realized by arbitrarily combining the components and functions in each embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention, or a form obtained by subjecting each embodiment to various modifications conceived by those skilled in the art. Forms are also included in the present invention.

  The tempered glass, touch panel, organic EL panel and electronic display device according to the present invention require a touch input such as a finger or a pen, a display such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a notebook PC or an ultrabook PC, or It is useful for displays for education, medical care, and financial purposes.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1A Tempered glass 2 Touch sensor 2a 1st conductive layer 2b 2nd conductive layer 2c Insulating layer 3, 5 Electronic display device 4,200 Organic EL panel 10 Sheet glass 10a 1st surface 10b 2nd surface 10S Surface part 11 Convex part 12 Recess 13a, 13b Chemical strengthening layer 20 Wedge glass molding device 30 Spray device 31 Abrasive agent 40 Salt bath furnace for chemical strengthening 41 Nitrate 100, 400 Touch panel 210 Sealing substrate 220 TFT substrate 221 Substrate 222 Gate insulating film 223 Interlayer insulating film 230 Organic EL layer 231 Anode 232 Organic layer 233 Cathode 240 Thin film sealing film 250 Resin sealing layer 300 Adhesive 401 Cover glass

Claims (10)

It is a tempered glass made of a plate glass having a surface portion with irregularities formed on the surface,
On the surface portion, a chemical strengthening layer, which is a layer in which the plate glass is chemically strengthened by ion exchange of atoms constituting the plate glass, is formed with a thickness of a predetermined depth from the surface,
The thickness of the said chemical strengthening layer is more than the height of the convex part in the said unevenness. Tempered glass. The tempered glass according to claim 1, wherein the chemically strengthened layer has a thickness of 100 μm or more. The height of the convex part in the said unevenness | corrugation is 10 micrometers or more and 100 micrometers or less. Tempered glass of Claim 2. The tempered glass according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a refractive index of the plate glass in a portion where the chemical strengthening layer is formed is smaller than a refractive index of the plate glass in a portion where the chemical strengthening layer is not formed. . It is a touch panel provided with the tempered glass of any one of Claims 1-4,
A touch sensor is formed on a surface opposite to the surface of the tempered glass,
The surface of the tempered glass is a touch surface. A touch panel according to claim 5;
With an organic EL panel,
The said touch panel is arrange | positioned so that the surface of the said other side of the said tempered glass and the surface of the light emission side of the said organic electroluminescent panel may oppose. A top emission type organic EL panel comprising the tempered glass according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The tempered glass is used as a sealing glass for the organic EL panel. The organic EL panel includes a substrate on which a thin film transistor is formed,
The organic EL panel according to claim 7, wherein a thickness of the tempered glass is three times or more a thickness of the substrate. The organic EL panel according to claim 7, wherein a touch sensor is formed on a surface opposite to the surface of the tempered glass. A first step of forming irregularities on the surface of the plate glass;
Including a second step of chemically strengthening the plate glass at a predetermined depth from the surface to form a chemically strengthened layer by ion-exchange of atoms constituting the plate glass in the surface portion of the plate glass;
The said 1st process is performed before the 2nd process. The manufacturing method of tempered glass.

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