JP2019133501A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve quality of a touch panel by preventing bleeding of printing resulting from wear of a doctor blade.SOLUTION: In a touch panel arranged such that a plurality of sensor electrode arrays each consisting of a plurality of island-shaped electrodes disposed in line and connection portions for use in connecting adjacent island-shaped electrodes with each other are formed so as to be disposed on one surface of a substrate in parallel and that at least the island-shaped electrode of the sensor electrode array is formed of a mesh of filament of cured conductive ink, an electrode pad 80 is provided at least at one end portion of each sensor electrode array 20 and connected to the island-shaped electrode 21 provided at the end edge. The electrode pad 80 is formed of first filaments 81 of the cured conductive ink disposed so as not to cross each other.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a touch panel in which an electrode pattern and a wiring pattern are formed by printing.

  FIG. 9 shows a configuration of a capacitive touch panel described in Patent Document 1 as a conventional example of this type of touch panel. This touch panel is a surface of a rectangular transparent substrate (substrate) 10. The first conductor layer, the insulating layer, the second conductor layer, and the protective film are sequentially laminated on the side.

  The sensor electrode array includes a plurality of first sensor electrode arrays 20 and a plurality of second sensor electrode arrays 30, and the plurality of first sensor electrode arrays 20 are formed of a first conductor layer, and a plurality of second sensor electrode arrays 20 are formed. The sensor electrode array 30 is formed of a second conductor layer insulated from the first conductor layer by an insulating layer.

  The first sensor electrode array 20 includes a plurality of island electrodes 21 arranged in a line in the X direction parallel to one side of the substrate 10 and a connecting portion 22 that connects adjacent island electrodes 21. A plurality of first sensor electrode arrays 20 are arranged in parallel in the Y direction parallel to the other side adjacent to the one side of the substrate 10. The second sensor electrode array 30 includes a plurality of island electrodes 31 arranged in a line in the Y direction, and a connecting portion 32 that connects adjacent island electrodes 31. A plurality of second sensor electrode arrays 30 are arranged in parallel in the X direction. The first sensor electrode array 20 and the second sensor electrode array 30 intersect each other while being insulated from each other, and the connecting portions 22 and 32 are positioned so as to overlap each other.

  Lead wires 41 are connected to both ends of each first sensor electrode row 20 in the X direction, and lead wires 42 are connected to one end of each second sensor electrode row 30 in the Y direction. Terminals 43 are arranged in the center of one side (lower side) of the substrate 10, and the lead wires 41 and 42 extend to the terminals 43 and are connected to the terminals 43.

  The lead wires 41 and 42 and the terminal 43 are formed of a first conductor layer, and the other end of the lead wire 42 opposite to one end connected to the terminal 43 is connected to the second sensor electrode array 30. A connecting portion 42a is formed. The second sensor electrode array 30 and the connection portion 42a are connected to each other through a through hole 51 formed in the insulating layer.

  On the other hand, an inspection terminal 33 is formed on the other end of each second sensor electrode row 30 on the opposite side to one end connected to the connection portion 42a, following the island electrode 31, and the inspection terminal is formed on the protective film. A through hole 61 for exposing 33 is formed.

  In the above configuration, the electrode patterns and wiring patterns of the first and second conductor layers are formed by gravure offset printing using conductive ink containing conductive particles such as silver particles, and the insulating layer and the protective film are insulated. The ink is formed by flexographic printing or ink jet printing. The first sensor electrode row 20, the second sensor electrode row 30, the connection portion 42a of the lead wiring 42, the terminal 43, and the inspection terminal 33 are not shown in detail in FIG. It is formed with a fine line mesh.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing details of a portion where the inspection terminal 33 is formed. The inspection terminal 33 is used to inspect whether each second sensor electrode array 30 has a predetermined resistance value after forming a protective film on the second conductor layer. An inspection is performed using the terminal 33 and the terminal 43. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing details of a portion where the connecting portion 42a of the lead wiring 42 is formed. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the inspection terminal 33 and the connecting portion 42a are formed by a fine mesh with a narrow pitch.

  In the touch panel described in Patent Document 1 described above, details of the connection portion between the first sensor electrode array 20 and the lead-out wiring 41 are not shown, but as in Patent Document 1, the electrode pattern and the wiring pattern of the touch panel are not shown. Details of this part are shown in Patent Document 2 which uses gravure offset printing for formation. FIG. 12 shows a configuration described in Patent Document 2, and parts corresponding to those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  A connection portion 41a of the lead wire 41 with the first sensor electrode array 20 (referred to as a long side parallel portion of the lead wire 41 in Patent Document 2) is a fine mesh with a narrow pitch as shown in FIG. Is formed by.

JP 2017-103318 A JP 2017-103317 A

  As described above, in the touch panel in which the electrode pattern and the wiring pattern are formed by gravure offset printing using conductive ink, the sensor electrode array located in the sensor region does not impair the visibility of the display unit on which the touch panel is arranged. Thus, it is important to make it difficult to be visually recognized, and for this reason, it is composed of a fine line mesh.

  On the other hand, the inspection terminal of the sensor electrode row and the connection portion between the sensor electrode row and the lead wiring (hereinafter collectively referred to as the electrode pad) are the inspection terminal 33 shown in FIG. 10 and the connection portion shown in FIG. 42a and the connection portion 41a shown in FIG. 12 are configured with a mesh with a pitch that is extremely narrower than the mesh of the sensor electrode array. In 33, good contact performance with the inspection probe is obtained, and in the connection portion 42a, good connection performance is obtained.

  In the configuration shown in FIG. 9, the resistance value of each first sensor electrode array 20 is inspected because two lead wires 41 are drawn from both ends of the first sensor electrode array 20. 43, but in order to inspect the first sensor electrode array 20 itself, a probe for inspection is applied to the connection portion 41a at both ends. From this point, the connection portion 41a is also narrow pitched. It is necessary to configure with a simple mesh.

  In this way, conventionally, electrode pads are made up of a fine mesh with a narrow pitch, but when a narrow pitch mesh with fine wires gathered at high density is printed by gravure offset printing, the number of prints is repeated. Accordingly, it has been found that printing bleeding occurs in the downstream area of the narrow pitch mesh portion and the narrow pitch mesh portion in the squeezing direction of the doctor blade.

  This printing blur is caused by the blade edge of the doctor blade being partially abraded by the collision of the blade edge of the doctor blade with the corners at the intersection of the concave parts of the gravure mesh. It is thought that this is caused by deterioration.

  In view of this problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel including an electrode pad that can greatly reduce wear of a doctor blade while concentrating thin wires at high density.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of sensor electrode rows each including a plurality of island electrodes arranged in a row and a connecting portion that connects adjacent island electrodes are arranged in parallel on one surface side of the substrate. In the touch panel in which at least the island electrodes of the sensor electrode arrays are made of a fine mesh of hardened conductive ink, at least one end of each sensor electrode array has an electrode pad as a terminal island electrode. The electrode pads are provided in a connected manner, and are constituted by a non-crossing arrangement of the first fine wires of the cured conductive ink.

  According to the invention of claim 2, a plurality of sensor electrode rows each including a plurality of island electrodes arranged in a row and a connecting portion connecting adjacent island electrodes are arranged in parallel on one surface side of the substrate. In the touch panel in which at least the island electrodes of the sensor electrode arrays are made of a fine mesh of hardened conductive ink, at least one end of each sensor electrode array has an electrode pad as a terminal island electrode. The electrode pads are formed of a line of first fine lines that are not intersected with each other and a second fine line that connects the first fine lines, and the second fine lines are adjacent to each other. It is assumed that the number is two or less with respect to the two first thin wires.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the interval between the adjacent first fine lines is made narrower than the interval between the adjacent fine lines in the mesh.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the electrode pads are provided at both ends of each sensor electrode row, and at least one of the electrode pads at both ends is provided. It is assumed that it is connected to the lead wiring formed on the one surface side.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the first sensor electrode array and the second sensor electrode array that are the sensor electrode arrays are provided, and the first electrode pad and the second sensor electrode array that are the electrode pads are provided. An electrode pad, and a first lead wire and a second lead wire that are the lead wires, and a hardened conductive ink layer and a first conductor layer and an insulating layer are hardened on the one surface side. A second conductor layer, which is a layer of conductive ink, is sequentially stacked, and a plurality of first conductor layers for detecting an input position in the Y direction among the X and Y2 directions included in the one surface. The first sensor electrode rows, the first electrode pads provided in the first sensor electrode rows, the first lead wires respectively connected to the first electrode pads, and a plurality of second electrode pads A lead wire and a part of each second lead wire in the insulating layer; A through hole is formed in each part to be folded, and a plurality of second sensor electrode arrays for detecting an input position in the X direction are provided in the second conductor layer, and each second sensor electrode array is provided in the second conductor layer. A second electrode pad is formed, and one of the second electrode pads provided at both ends of the second sensor electrode array is connected to the second lead wiring in the through hole, respectively. It is supposed to be.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the partial abrasion of the doctor blade and the occurrence of printing bleeding caused by the electrode pad having been conventionally constituted by a narrow pitch fine mesh. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an excellent quality touch panel that does not impair the visibility of the display unit on which the touch panel is arranged.

The elements on larger scale which show the 1st structural example of the electrode pad which the touchscreen by this invention comprises in the edge part of a 1st sensor electrode row | line | column. The elements on larger scale which show the 1st modification of the electrode pad shown in FIG. The elements on larger scale which show the 2nd modification of the electrode pad shown in FIG. The elements on larger scale which show the 2nd structural example of the electrode pad which the touchscreen by this invention comprises in the edge part of a 1st sensor electrode row | line | column. The elements on larger scale which show the modification of the electrode pad shown in FIG. The elements on larger scale which show the 3rd structural example of the electrode pad which the touchscreen by this invention comprises in the edge part of a 1st sensor electrode row | line | column. The elements on larger scale which show the structural example of the electrode pad which the touchscreen by this invention comprises in the edge part of the 2nd sensor electrode row | line | column. The elements on larger scale which show the modification of the electrode pad shown in FIG. The top view which shows the example of 1 structure of the conventional touch panel. The elements on larger scale of the part in which the test | inspection terminal in FIG. 9 is formed. The figure for demonstrating the structure of the part in which the connection part in FIG. 9 is formed. The elements on larger scale which show the connection part of the 1st sensor electrode row | line | column and extraction wiring in the other structural example of the conventional touch panel.

  The feature of the touch panel according to the present invention is that the configuration of the electrode pad provided connected to the sensor electrode array is not a fine mesh with a narrow line as in the prior art, but the configuration other than the electrode pad is basically changed. It has the same configuration as the conventional touch panel shown in FIG. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that portions corresponding to the touch panel shown in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 1 shows one end of a first sensor electrode array 20 that detects an input position in the Y direction. In FIG. 1, the two-dot chain line indicates the first and second sensor electrode arrays 20 and 30. The boundary line 71 of the sensor area | region where is located, and the frame area | region surrounding the sensor area | region is shown. In this example, the island-like electrode 21 at the end of the first sensor electrode array 20 is formed with an extension portion 21 a that extends into the frame region beyond the boundary line 71, and an electrode pad is provided between the extension portion 21 a and the lead-out wiring 41. 80 is formed.

  In this example, the electrode pad 80 is constituted by an array of parallel fine wires 81 of the hardened conductive ink that do not intersect each other, and the interval between the adjacent fine wires 81 is the adjacent fine wires 23 parallel to each other in the mesh of the island electrode 21. It is considered to be much narrower than the interval between them. As an example of specific numerical values, the unit cell of the mesh of the island electrode 21 is, for example, a rhombus having a side length of 400 μm and an inner angle θ shown in FIG. The arrangement pitch of 23 is 376 μm, whereas the arrangement pitch of the thin wires 81 of the electrode pad 80 is about 10 to 20 μm. The line widths of the thin wires 23 and 81 are both 7 μm.

  Thus, in this example, the electrode pads 80 are configured by a narrow pitch array (arrangement) of the thin wires 81 that do not intersect with each other. Since there is no corner that induces the wear of the doctor blade, the wear of the doctor blade can be greatly reduced compared to the conventional, thus preventing the occurrence of print bleeding due to the wear of the doctor blade. be able to.

  When the squeezing direction S of the doctor blade with respect to the gravure plate is set to the X direction as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1, the sensor region is located in the downstream region of the electrode pad 80 in the squeezing direction S, that is, the first When the first and second sensor electrode rows 20 and 30 are located and printing blur occurs in the first and second sensor electrode rows 20 and 30, the display portion is deteriorated and the touch panel is disposed. However, in this example, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of bleeding, so that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that impairs the visibility of such a display portion.

  As described above, in this example, the electrode pad 80 is configured by a narrow pitch array of fine lines 81 that do not intersect each other. Therefore, unlike the mesh, the fine lines 81 are independent of each other. When disconnection occurs in the thin wire 81 due to the above or the like, the connection resistance value between the island-shaped electrode 21 and the lead-out wiring 41 is greatly increased as compared with the mesh configuration.

  2 and 3 show, in order to suppress the increase in the resistance value of the electrode pad 80 due to the disconnection of the thin wire 81 as much as possible, in addition to the thin wire 81 that is the first thin wire, as a second thin wire that connects the thin wires 81 together. The configurations of electrode pads 80 'and 80 "having a thin wire 82 are shown.

  In the electrode pad 80 ′ shown in FIG. 2, the thin wires 82 are provided so as to connect a set of four thin wires 81, and all the thin wires 81 are extended by a plurality (eight in this example) of thin wires 82. It is configured to be connected (short-circuited) at the intermediate portion.

  The electrode pad 80 ″ shown in FIG. 3 has a configuration in which eight fine wires 82 are added in addition to the eight fine wires 82 in FIG. 2, and all the fine wires 81 are connected at two points in the extending direction.

  Providing such thin wires 82 for connecting the thin wires 81 causes a corner portion that induces abrasion of the doctor blade in the concave portion of the gravure plate. Therefore, the number of the thin wires 82 that connect the thin wires 81 is as follows. It is preferable to reduce as much as possible, and the number of the thin wires 82 provided for each of the two adjacent thin wires 81 is two or less.

  In the example described above, the thin line 81 constituting the electrode pad is assumed to be a straight line, but is not limited thereto, and may be a wavy line, for example.

  FIG. 4 shows an electrode pad 90 constituted by non-intersecting arrangements of thin wires 91 forming triangular wavy lines, and FIG. 5 shows thin wires 92 connecting the thin wires 91 to the electrode pads 90 of FIG. The added electrode pad 90 'is shown. Further, FIG. 6 shows an electrode pad 100 constituted by an arrangement in which thin wires 101 forming sinusoidal wavy lines do not cross each other. These locations shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 correspond to the locations shown in FIG. 1, and the configurations of the electrode pads provided at the end of the first sensor electrode array 20 are shown in FIGS. It is good also as a structure. The first sensor electrode row 20 is connected to the lead wires 41 at both ends thereof. Therefore, the electrode pad at the other end of the first sensor electrode row 20 not shown in FIGS. The same configuration is adopted.

  FIG. 7 shows one end of the second sensor electrode array 30 for detecting the input position in the X direction. In FIG. 7, the two-dot chain line indicates the first and second sensor electrode arrays 20 and 30. The boundary line 72 of the sensor area | region where is located and the frame area | region surrounding a sensor area | region is shown. The island-shaped electrode 31 at the end of the second sensor region 30 is formed with an extension portion 31a that enters the frame region beyond the boundary line 72, and an electrode pad 110 is formed between the extension portion 31a and the lead-out wiring 42. ing. In this example, the electrode pad 110 is configured by a non-intersecting arrangement of thin wires 111 forming sinusoidal wavy lines, similar to the electrode pad 100 described above.

  FIG. 8 shows a configuration of an electrode pad 110 ′ in which a thin wire 112 is added as a second thin wire connecting the thin wires 111 to the electrode pad 110 shown in FIG. 7. In this example, one thin line 112 is provided for each two adjacent thin lines 111. 7 and 8 show one end portion of the second sensor electrode array 30 connected to the lead wiring 42, but the other end portion of the second sensor electrode array 30 is also inspected, for example. An electrode pad for use in the above is provided, and this electrode pad also has the same configuration as that shown in FIGS. The thin lines constituting the lines that do not intersect with each other may be sinusoidal wave lines 111, or may be triangular wave lines or straight lines.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Base material 20 1st sensor electrode row | line 21 Island-like electrode 21a Extension part 22 Connection part 23 Thin wire 30 2nd sensor electrode row | line | column 31 Island-like electrode 31a Extension part 32 Connection part 33 Test | inspection terminal 41 Lead wire 41a Connection part 42 Lead-out Wiring 42a Connection part 43 Terminals 51, 61 Through holes 71, 72 Boundary lines 80, 80 ', 80 "Electrode pads 81, 82 Fine lines 90, 90' Electrode pads 91, 92 Fine lines 100 Electrode pads 101 Fine lines 110, 110 'Electrode pads 111, 112 fine wire

Claims (5)

A plurality of sensor electrode arrays each including a plurality of island electrodes arranged in a row and a connecting portion that connects the adjacent island electrodes are arranged in parallel on one surface side of the substrate. At least the island-shaped electrode is a touch panel composed of a fine mesh of hardened conductive ink,
At least one end of each sensor electrode row is provided with an electrode pad connected to the terminal island electrode,
The said electrode pad is comprised by the row | line | column which does not mutually cross | intersect the 1st thin line of the hardened conductive ink. A plurality of sensor electrode arrays each including a plurality of island electrodes arranged in a row and a connecting portion that connects the adjacent island electrodes are arranged in parallel on one surface side of the substrate. At least the island-shaped electrode is a touch panel composed of a fine mesh of hardened conductive ink,
At least one end of each sensor electrode row is provided with an electrode pad connected to the terminal island electrode,
The electrode pad is constituted by an array of first fine lines that are not intersected with each other and a second fine line that connects the first fine lines of the cured conductive ink,
2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the number of the second thin lines is two or less with respect to each of the two adjacent first thin lines. The touch panel according to claim 1 or 2,
The touch panel, wherein an interval between the adjacent first fine lines is narrower than an interval between the adjacent adjacent fine lines in the mesh. The touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The electrode pads are provided at both ends of each of the sensor electrode rows, and at least one of the electrode pads at both ends is connected to a lead wiring formed on the one surface side. Touch panel characterized by. The touch panel according to claim 4,
A first sensor electrode array that is the sensor electrode array and a second sensor electrode array; a first electrode pad that is the electrode pad; and a second electrode pad that are the lead wirings. A lead wire and a second lead wire,
A first conductor layer that is a layer of a cured conductive ink, an insulating layer, and a second conductor layer that is a layer of a cured conductive ink are sequentially stacked on the one surface side,
The first conductor layer includes a plurality of first sensor electrode arrays for detecting an input position in the Y direction among the X and Y2 directions included in the one surface, and each of the first sensor electrode arrays. The first electrode pads provided on the first electrode pads, the first lead wires connected to the first electrode pads, and the plurality of second lead wires, respectively.
A through hole is formed in each part of the insulating layer that overlaps a part of each of the second lead wires,
The second conductor layer includes a plurality of second sensor electrode rows for detecting an input position in the X direction, and the second electrode pads provided in each of the second sensor electrode rows. Formed,
One of the said 2nd electrode pads provided in the both ends of the said 2nd sensor electrode row | line | column is each connected with the said 2nd extraction wiring in the said through-hole, The touch panel characterized by the above-mentioned.

Images