JP2868686B2 - Touch panel for pen input - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel for pen input used as a transparent switch structure for various displays.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, analog switches, which can be input from a digital switch to a pen switch, are becoming the mainstream of transparent switches that allow the display screen to be seen through. For example, applications from electronic notebooks to portable multimedia devices have been announced. It is thought that it will increase further in the future.

As a touch panel for pen input used in these devices, generally, a pair of panel plates having a conductive thin film are opposed to each other via a spacer so that the thin films face each other. The mainstream is a resistive type in which an input pen is brought into contact with the panel plate and an electromagnetic induction type in which an electromagnetic pen is used to contact the surface of the panel plate with the input pen.

[0004]

However, in both types, the panel plate to which the input pen is brought into contact is made of a polyethylene terephthalate plate or an acrylic plate with a hard coat layer in consideration of the scratch resistance of the pen. In addition, since it is made of a relatively hard material such as a glass plate, it is difficult to write differently from writing on paper or the like, and there is a problem in terms of writing taste.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type or an electromagnetic induction type which has excellent scratch resistance to an input pen and has a good writing quality. It is an object.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present inventors have made intensive studies and as a result, have determined that a panel plate to be brought into contact with an input pen has a specific pencil hardness and a specific coefficient of dynamic friction, The present inventors have found that a pen input touch panel having excellent scratch resistance to an input pen and excellent writing quality can be obtained when the touch panel is made of a material having the above elastic deformation property, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, according to the present invention, the pencil hardness of the surface is 2H or more, and the dynamic friction coefficient with respect to the input pen is 0.02 to 0.02.
0.30 transparent panel plate, and when this panel plate comes in contact with the input pen under a load of 300 g,
The present invention relates to a touch panel for pen input, which has an elastic deformation property that sinks to a depth of 0 μm and returns to an original state when a load is removed.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows a conductive thin film D (Da, Db) as an example of a touch panel for pen input according to the present invention.
A pair of panel plates P (PA, PB) having
a, Db shows a touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type arranged so as to face each other via a spacer S and an adhesive reinforcing material H, and a panel plate PA on the side where an input pen M is brought into contact. However, a transparent base material with a conductive thin film 3 is bonded to a transparent base material 1 with a surface treatment layer via a transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 2.

The transparent substrate 1 with a surface treatment layer is composed of a substrate body 1
0, a surface treatment layer 11 is provided.
1, the pencil hardness of the surface of the panel plate PA is 2H or more,
Preferably, the coefficient of kinetic friction with respect to the input pen M is 0.02 to 0.30, preferably 0.05 to 0.
It is set to 15. When the pencil hardness is less than 2H,
The scratch resistance to the input pen M is insufficient. If the coefficient of kinetic friction is less than 0.02, the pen will slip too much, and if it exceeds 0.30, the pen will slip and become heavy, making it difficult to write.

As the transparent substrate 1 having such a surface treatment layer, the substrate body 10 usually has a thickness of 50 to 200 μm.
Using a transparent resin film with a surface treatment layer 1
Preferably, a hard coat layer is provided as 1.

In the resin film with a hard coat layer, the material of the hard coat layer may be a thermosetting polysiloxane, an ultraviolet curable unsaturated polyester, an unsaturated acrylic resin, an unsaturated polyurethane, a polyamide. and so on. This hard coat layer may be a clear type or an anti-glare type in which micro silica, calcium carbonate, or the like is dispersed.

The resin film may be made of polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate or polycarbonate.
Bones, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene,
Examples include acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, cellulose acetate, polyimide, polysulfone, and polyethersulfon.

The transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 2 is for bonding a transparent substrate 3 with a conductive thin film to the above-mentioned transparent substrate 1 with a surface treatment layer. By interposing the agent layer 2, the cushioning effect of the cushioning effect improves the abrasion resistance of the panel plate PA, and imparts an appropriate elastic deformation property to the panel plate PA, so that the writing quality with the input pen M is extremely improved. To be good.

The above-mentioned moderate elastic deformation means that the input pen M
Is contacted with a load of 300 g, the contact portion is 20 to
It means that it sinks to a depth of 100 μm and quickly returns to the original state when the load is removed. When the depth of the sink is less than 20 μm, the writing taste is poor as if writing on a hard board, and when it is more than 100 μm, the sink is too deep and it becomes difficult to write. Further, if the original state is not restored when the load is removed, repeated writing to the same portion becomes impossible.

The material of the input pen M is polyaceta
Resin is mainly used, and the pen tip shape has a radius of 0.8 mm
Of the degree. For such an input pen M, good writing quality can be obtained by sinking in the above specific range, but this is because writing characters on paper with a pole pen or the like is easier than writing on a hard desk than writing on a hard desk. This is considered to be the same effect as writing on paper with a better writing taste.

When the transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 2 is not interposed by directly providing the conductive thin film Da on the transparent substrate 1 having the surface treatment layer, the material and thickness of the surface treatment layer may be selected. However, it is difficult to obtain the appropriate elastic deformation as described above, and the writing quality with the input pen M is inevitably deteriorated.

The thickness of the transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 2 is important for obtaining the above-mentioned effects, and is usually within the range of 20 to 100 μm as appropriate according to the material composition of the transparent substrate 1 with a surface treatment layer. It is good to choose the thickness. Examples of the pressure-sensitive adhesive include an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive and a rubber-based pressure-sensitive adhesive, and it is particularly preferable to use an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive in terms of transparency. In these pressure-sensitive adhesives, in addition to the adhesive polymer component, a plasticizer, a tackifier, etc. may be included, but the use of additives that may impair transparency was avoided. Is more desirable.

Examples of the adhesive polymer which is a main component of the acrylic adhesive include 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isooctyl acrylate, butyl methacrylate, propyl methacrylate and the like. Monomer containing, as main components, 10 alkyl (meth) acrylates and a functional group-containing unsaturated monomer such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, hydroxyethyl acrylate and hydroxyethyl methacrylate. Those obtained by copolymerizing a body mixture are preferably used. Further, as the adhesive polymer which is a main component of the rubber-based adhesive, styrene-butadiene random copolymer, styrene-isoprene-based block copolymer,
Natural rubber is preferably used.

The transparent substrate 3 with a conductive thin film is
0, a relatively thin resin film having a thickness of about 6 to 75 μm is usually used, and a conductive thin film Da is provided on the resin film. The material of the resin film is a transparent substrate with a surface treatment layer. It is the same as the material of the resin film used for the material 1.

The conductive thin film Da is made of In, Sn, Au, A
l, Cu, Pt, Pd, Ag, Rh, and other metals, indium oxide, tin oxide, and composite oxides thereof (hereinafter referred to as I
This is a transparent and conductive thin film made of a metal oxide such as TO, and is formed by a method such as vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or ion plating. The thickness is usually several tens to 1,000 Å, preferably 100 to 5
The light transmittance is usually 50% or more, preferably 70%.
% Or more.

The panel plate PA on the side to which the input pen M is brought into contact
On the other hand, the panel plate PB opposed to the spacer S via the spacer S and the bonding reinforcing material H is generally made of a glass plate, an acrylic plate, a transparent epoxy plate, or the like and usually has a thickness of 0.5 to 0.5 mm.
The conductive thin film Db is formed on a transparent hard substrate 4 of about 2 mm. The material configuration, thickness, forming method, and the like of the conductive thin film Db are the same as those of the above-described conductive thin film Da.

In the touch panel for pen input of the resistive film type configured as described above, the input pen M is brought into contact with the transparent base material 1 having the surface treatment layer of the panel plate PA with a load of about 300 g to provide an appropriate level. A good writing quality can be obtained by the sinking, and the electrical connection between the thin films Da and Db and the input / output operation by releasing the electrical connection can be easily performed. Moreover, since the surface treatment layer 11 of the base material 1 has excellent scratch resistance, it exhibits good durability even when used repeatedly.

FIG. 2 shows an electromagnetic induction type pen input touch panel using an electromagnetic pen Md as the input pen M as another example of the pen input touch panel of the present invention. The board PC has a structure in which a transparent hard base material 7 is bonded to a transparent base material 5 with a surface treatment layer via a transparent adhesive layer 6.

The transparent substrate 5 with a surface treatment layer is made of
The transparent substrate 5 with the surface treatment layer, the transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 6, and the transparent hard substrate 7
Are respectively the same as the transparent substrate 1 with a surface treatment layer, the transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 2 and the transparent hard substrate 4 in the resistive film type touch panel for pen input shown in FIG. The pencil hardness of the surface of the PC is 2H or more, and the coefficient of dynamic friction with respect to the electromagnetic pen Md is 0.02-0.
30 and the electromagnetic pen M
When it comes into contact with d, it sinks to a depth of 20 to 100 μm, and has an elastic deformability that returns to the original state when the load is removed.

In such an electromagnetic induction type touch panel for pen input, similarly to the touch panel of the resistive film type, the transparent substrate 5 with the surface treatment layer of the panel plate PC is used.
By contacting the magnetic pen Md with the base member 5, a good writing quality can be obtained, and a good input / output operation to a conductive path (not shown) through the panel PC can be performed.
Good durability based on excellent scratch resistance is obtained.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the panel plate to be brought into contact with the input pen is made of a material having a specific pencil hardness and dynamic friction coefficient and a specific elastic deformation property. In addition, it is possible to provide a touch panel for pen input that is excellent in both scratch resistance and writing taste for an input pen.

[0027]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

Example 1 A 25 μm-thick polyethylene terephthalate film (hereinafter referred to as PET film) was used as a substrate body.
On one side of the main body, a transparent ITO thin film having a thickness of about 250 ° was formed by a DC magnetron sputtering method to obtain a transparent base material with a conductive thin film.

Diahard EX-200 manufactured by Reiko Co., Ltd. was used as a transparent substrate having a surface treatment layer. This uses a 125 μm thick PET film as the base material,
On one surface side of the main body, a polysiloxane-based thermosetting hard coat material is applied as a surface treatment layer to a thickness of 2 μm.

On the PET film side of the transparent substrate having the surface treatment layer, an acrylic transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive layer mainly composed of a copolymer of 100 parts by weight of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate and 10 parts by weight of acrylic acid was coated with a 40 μm The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the surface of the transparent substrate with a conductive thin film of PET described above.
The film side was bonded to form an upper panel plate.

Separately from this, as a lower panel plate having a conductive thin film, a glass plate with an ITO thin film manufactured by Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. UV curable ink [# 9051 manufactured by Seiko Advance Co., Ltd.] is applied on the side having the conductive thin film by a silk screen printing method with a 1 mm pitch. 0.08 diameter
It was printed in the shape of a small protrusion of mm, and was exposed and cured by an ultraviolet irradiation device to form a spacer.

A lower panel plate on which the spacer is formed;
The upper panel plate and the conductive thin films are arranged so as to face each other, and only four corners are bonded to each other with an adhesive reinforcing material made of a double-sided adhesive tape having a thickness of 100 μm.
A touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type having a structure shown in FIG. 1 was manufactured.

Comparative Example 1 The transparent substrate having a surface treatment layer used in Example 1 [Diahard EX-200 manufactured by Reiko Co., Ltd.] was coated on the PET film side by a DC magnetron sputtering method. About 2
A 50 ° transparent ITO thin film was directly formed to obtain an upper panel plate. Using this upper panel plate, a touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type was produced in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 except for the above.

Comparative Example 2 The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that a glass plate having a thickness of 0.2 mm was used instead of the transparent substrate having a surface treatment layer (Diahard EX-200 manufactured by Reiko Co., Ltd.). In exactly the same way, a touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type was produced.

With respect to the touch panel for pen input of Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, the pencil hardness of the upper panel plate surface, the coefficient of kinetic friction and elastic deformation with respect to the input pen, and the writing taste and scratch resistance with the input pen The property was examined by the following method. The results are shown in Table 1 below.

<Pencil Hardness> Measured according to JIS K 5400.

<Coefficient of Dynamic Friction> Using a Haydon surface property measuring device (TYPE: HEIDON-14D) manufactured by Shinto Kagaku Co., Ltd., a Hyper-Electronic Notebook DB-Z touch pen manufactured by Sharp Co., Ltd. (material: polyaceta) Resin, pen tip: radius 0.
8 mm) was used as an input pen, and the dynamic friction coefficient was measured under the conditions of a relative moving speed of 1,000 mm / min between the input pen and the panel plate surface and a pen load of 500 g.

<Elastic Deformability> The same input pen as used for the measurement of the dynamic friction coefficient was applied to the panel plate surface with a load of 3 with and without a glass plate having a predetermined thickness.
The depth of the sink when contacting at 00 g was read with a dial gauge connected above the pen, and the reading when passing through the glass plate was set as X ₁ , and the reading when not passing through the glass plate was set as X ₂ , and the sink was set. Was determined as Y = (X ₂ −X ₁ −thickness of glass plate). When the above load is removed,
It was observed whether or not it returned to the original state within 2 seconds. When it returned, the recovery was judged to be good, and when it did not return, the recovery was judged to be poor.

<Writing taste> When the same input pen used for measuring the dynamic friction coefficient is used to check the feeling when actually writing on the panel plate surface, and when a good writing taste as if writing on paper is obtained. Was evaluated as ○, hard feeling or slipping, and slightly difficult to write was evaluated as Δ, and extremely hard to write was evaluated as ×.

<Scratch Resistance> A writing test was performed 10,000 times on the same portion of the panel plate surface with the same input pen used for the measurement of the coefficient of dynamic friction, and the surface was visually observed. The evaluation was evaluated as ○ when there was no damage, Δ when there was some damage, and X when the hard coat layer peeled off.

[0041]

[Table 1]

As is evident from the results shown in Table 1, the touch panel for pen input according to the first embodiment of the present invention is much more excellent in writing taste than the touch panels for pen input of Comparative Examples 1 and 2. In addition, it can be seen that it also has good scratch resistance.

Example 2 As a transparent substrate having a surface treatment layer, A manufactured by Nitto Denko Corporation
630-80T was used. In this method, a triacetate film having a thickness of 80 μm is used as a base material body, and an acrylic hard coat layer having a thickness of 3 μm in which silica is dispersed is provided as a surface treatment layer on one surface side of the main body. It is.

A glass plate having a thickness of 2 mm was used as a transparent hard base material, and an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive layer similar to that used in Example 1 was formed on one surface thereof to a thickness of 50 μm. Thereafter, on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer surface, the transparent substrate with the above surface treatment layer, such that the triacetate film is on the inside,
By sticking together, a touch panel for pen input of an electromagnetic induction system having a structure shown in FIG. 2 was produced.

With respect to this touch panel for pen input, the pencil hardness on the surface treatment layer side, the coefficient of kinetic friction and elastic deformation to the input pen, and the writing taste and scratch resistance with the input pen were examined in the same manner as described above. As a result, the pencil hardness was 3H, the coefficient of kinetic friction was 0.04, and as the elastic deformation property, the sinking depth was 30 mm and the recoverability was good. The writing quality and the abrasion resistance were both evaluated as ○, and the same favorable results as those of the touch panel of Example 1 were obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a touch panel for pen input of the electromagnetic induction type according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P (PA, PB, PC) Panel plate D (Da, Db) Conductive thin film S Spacer M Input pen Md Electromagnetic pen 1,5 Transparent substrate with surface treatment layer 2,6 Transparent adhesive layer 3 Conductive thin film With transparent substrate 7 Transparent hard substrate

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-280012 (JP, A) JP-A-1-132017 (JP, A) JP-A 62-59922 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01H 13/70

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transparent panel plate having a surface having a pencil hardness of 2H or more and a coefficient of kinetic friction with respect to an input pen of 0.02 to 0.30, wherein the panel plate is brought into contact with the input pen under a load of 300 g. An elastically deformable touch panel for pen input that sinks to a depth of 20 to 100 μm and returns to its original state when the load is removed. 2. A touch panel for pen input of a resistive film type, comprising a pair of panel plates having a conductive thin film disposed opposite each other via a spacer such that the thin films oppose each other. The pencil panel according to claim 1, wherein the panel plate on the side to be bonded has a structure in which a transparent substrate with a conductive thin film is bonded to a transparent substrate with a surface treatment layer via a transparent adhesive layer. A touch panel for pen input that has a coefficient of kinetic friction and elastic deformation for the touch panel. 3. A touch panel for pen input of an electromagnetic induction system using an electromagnetic pen as an input pen, wherein a panel plate for contacting the electromagnetic pen is provided on a transparent substrate with a surface treatment layer via a transparent adhesive layer and a transparent hard layer. 2. The pen input touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel has a pencil hardness, a dynamic friction coefficient with respect to an input pen, and an elastic deformation property.