JP4071707B2 - Transparent touch panel - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a resistive film type transparent touch panel mounted on a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and further to provide a transparent touch panel in which a peripheral edge portion other than an input possible area portion of the transparent touch panel is reduced.

Transparent touch panels can be broadly classified into digital types and analog types, but analog types capable of handling character input are becoming mainstream. Each of the analog type transparent touch panels has a transparent conductive layer on the surface, and a touch-side movable substrate and a non-touch-side fixed substrate having electrodes on opposite ends thereof, the transparent conductive layer is opposed and the electrode directions are orthogonal. They are arranged and stacked. The movable substrate and the fixed substrate are held between the substrates with a double-sided adhesive tape or the like.

  FIG. 7 is an exploded explanatory view of an example of a conventional resistive film type transparent touch panel. As shown in FIG. 7, the transparent touch panel is configured by laminating a movable substrate 110 and a fixed substrate 130 via a spacer 140 made of a double-sided adhesive tape. The thickness of the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is usually about 100 μm. The movable substrate 110 receives an input from the operator using a finger or an input pen on the transparent touch panel. Reference numeral 120 denotes a connector portion connected to an internal electrode.

  The spacer 140 is formed in a continuous frame shape except for the part where the connector part 120 is mounted and the corner cutting part 141 on the opposite side thereof, and the movable substrate 110 and the fixed substrate 130 are attached to the peripheral part thereof. Is done. In the excision part 141, since no spacer member is interposed, a gap is formed between the movable substrate 110 and the fixed substrate 130. This acts as an internal air vent hole. When the air vent hole is not required, the cut portion 141 may not be provided.

  In the gap between the movable substrate 110 and the fixed substrate 130 inside the spacer 140, dot-shaped spacers 160 are provided at a predetermined interval, and the main surface of the movable substrate 110 on the side facing the fixed substrate 130 is provided. The transparent conductive layer 111 is formed on substantially the entire surface. In addition, electrodes 112 are provided on two opposing sides of the transparent conductive layer 111. A pair of electrode end portions 114 and 114 for connecting to the pair of connection electrodes 122 and 122 on the connector portion 120 side are formed in the remaining region of the main surface and facing the connector portion 120. The electrode ends 114 and 114 and the electrodes 112 and 112 provided on the two sides of the resistance layer 111 are connected by routing circuits 113 and 113.

  On the main surface of the fixed substrate 130 facing the movable substrate 110, the transparent conductive layer 131 is provided on the substantially entire surface. Electrodes 132 and 132 are formed on two opposite sides of the transparent conductive layer 131 and in a direction perpendicular to the opposing direction of the electrodes 112 and 112 formed on the transparent conductive layer 111 of the movable substrate 110. Has been. In the remaining area of the main surface, like the movable substrate 110, a pair of electrode ends 134, 134 connected to the pair of connection electrodes 123, 123 on the connector portion 120 side are formed. , 134 and electrodes 132, 132 provided on the two sides of the transparent conductive layer 131 are formed.

  The connector 120 is formed by exposing the connection electrodes 122, 122, 123, 123 connected to the electrode ends 114, 114, 134, 134 of the movable substrate 110 and the fixed substrate 130 on the upper and lower surfaces. In a state where the transparent touch panel is assembled, the movable substrate connection electrodes 122 and 122 are movable substrate electrode end portions 114 and 114, and the fixed substrate connection electrodes 123 and 123 are fixed substrate electrode end portions 134 and 134, respectively, by thermocompression bonding or the like. It is connected.

  By the way, in recent portable devices such as mobile personal computers, mobile phones, and portable information terminals, the non-display part of the peripheral part of the display device such as a liquid crystal is narrowed, and the peripheral part other than the inputable area part is also provided for the mounted transparent touch panel Narrowing has been required.

  As a countermeasure, there is a method of providing a routing circuit on a flexible connecting member. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.) Some of them have thinned electrodes and routing circuits. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)

JP 2000-299033 A (Claim 1) JP 2001-216090 A (Claim 1)

  However, there is a strong demand for downsizing the transparent touch panel, and particularly in portable information devices, there is a growing demand for a transparent touch panel with a small peripheral edge other than the input possible area of the transparent touch panel, and countermeasures are required. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a transparent touch panel in which the peripheral part other than the inputable area part is made small in order to reduce the size and pocket size of a portable personal computer, a mobile phone, a portable information terminal, and the like.

In order to achieve the above object, the transparent touch panel of the invention of claim 1 includes a movable substrate having a transparent conductive layer on the surface of a transparent substrate, and provided with position detection electrodes at substantially both ends of the transparent conductive layer. In the transparent touch panel in which the transparent conductive layer is opposed to the fixed substrate with a predetermined gap and the electrodes are orthogonal to each other, the transparent base material of the movable substrate and the fixed substrate is integrated in an endless manner. It is characterized by being.

A transparent touch panel according to a second aspect of the present invention is the transparent touch panel according to the first aspect, characterized in that a spacer having a shape with four hollow sides is provided between the movable substrate and the fixed substrate.

The transparent touch panel according to claim 3 is the transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 and 2,
The spacer is flexible.

The transparent touch panel of the invention of claim 4 is the transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
It is characterized by having one or more terminal connection parts for collecting the routing circuits from the electrodes.

The transparent touch panel according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the transparent touch panel according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the fixed substrate has a support on a surface that does not face the movable substrate.

The transparent touch panel according to claim 6 is the transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The movable substrate has a hard coat layer and / or an antireflection layer on a surface not facing the fixed substrate.

The transparent touch panel of the invention of claim 7 is the transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The spacer is fixed to the transparent base material with an adhesive.

The transparent touch panel according to claim 8 is the transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The transparent substrate is made of a plastic film having heat shrinkability.

  As described above, in the transparent touch panel according to the present invention, the movable substrate and the fixed substrate are integrated in an endless manner. Therefore, compared to the conventional case where the movable substrate and the fixed substrate of the individual parts are bonded together, the area for fixing the movable substrate and the fixed substrate is reduced, and an effect of narrowing the area other than the input possible area portion can be obtained.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Since each drawing is drawn so that the configuration is easy to understand, it is not an actual size ratio but is partially enlarged or reduced.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an explanatory view before end joining of a transparent touch panel of the present invention. On the transparent base material 40, the movable substrate conductive layer pattern 12, the fixed substrate conductive layer pattern 22, the electrodes 13, 14, 23, and 24, and the routing circuits 15, 16, 25, and 26 are provided. This is a state before the end 18 and the end 28 are joined.

Transparent substrate As the transparent substrate 40 of the transparent touch panel of the present invention, various plastic films having transparency can be used. Specifically, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), Polyethersulfone (PES), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), polyacrylic (PAC), norbornene-based thermoplastic transparent resin, or a laminate thereof The body is raised. As the thickness of the film base, one having a thickness of 20 to 200 μm is usually used.

Transparent conductive layer A transparent conductive layer is formed on one side of the transparent substrate. Common methods include PVD methods such as sputtering, vacuum deposition, and ion plating, or CVD, coating, and printing. The material for forming the transparent conductive layer is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include indium-tin composite oxide (ITO), tin oxide, copper, aluminum, nickel, and chromium. May be formed. Further, before forming the transparent conductive layer, an undercoat layer for improving transparency and adhesion may be provided.

Patterning of transparent conductive layer The transparent conductive layer formed on the entire surface of the transparent base material is patterned, and the transparent conductive layer is peeled off at the periphery of the movable substrate and the fixed substrate as shown in FIG. The conductive layer pattern 12 and the fixed substrate conductive layer pattern 22 are provided. Of course, the directions of the orthogonal patterns are not limited, and may be reversed left and right. Patterning is performed by forming a desired mask pattern on the conductive layer surface of the transparent conductive film, and then etching with an acid solution to peel off only unnecessary portions of the conductive layer, and then using a stripping agent such as an alkaline solution to remove the pattern. The mask is removed by dissolution or the like. There is also a method of cutting the conductive layer surface with a laser.

Electrodes Next, the electrodes 13, 14, 23, and 24 are formed with conductive ink on both ends of the transparent conductive layer. As the conductive ink, a conductive printable paste such as silver, carbon ink, or copper ink is used, and silver and carbon may be mixed or overcoated. The electrode width is generally 0.2 mm to several mm, and the thickness is generally several μm to several tens of μm. Thereafter, as a measure for ensuring insulation and migrating, insulating ink may be applied to the transparent conductive layer and necessary portions of the electrode. As the insulating ink, acrylic resin, urethane resin, epoxy resin, silicon resin, or the like is used. The routing circuits 15, 16, 25 and 26 may also be formed at the same time. Although not shown, dot-like spacers are provided on or around the transparent conductive layer pattern 22 of the fixed substrate.

End face bonding The end 18 and the end 28 in FIG. 1 are bonded with the movable substrate conductive layer pattern 12 and the fixed substrate conductive layer pattern 22 inside to form an endless transparent base material. The adhesive part is partially overlapped and an adhesive is used, or it is welded by heat. When using an adhesive, a pretreatment agent for adhesion may be used in combination. FIG. 2 shows the endless transparent substrate 60 and the joining portion 61. Next, the spacer 50 is inserted into the endless transparent substrate 60.

Spacer The spacer 50 having the hollow portion 51 preferably has flexibility in order to facilitate insertion into the endless transparent base material 60. If flexible, the spacer 50 can be bent and inserted into the endless transparent substrate 60. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a cross section of the central portion of the transparent touch panel in which the spacer 50 is inserted.

Further, the spacer 50 may be provided with a cutout portion 52 and a vent hole 53 as shown in FIG. The cut-out portion 52 is necessary when thermocompression bonding is performed on another connector, and the vent hole 53 is necessary when air inside the transparent touch panel is allowed to escape when pressed.
Although the width of each side of the spacer 50 is appropriately determined, it is not necessary to increase the width as in the conventional spacer 140 of FIG. This is because the movable substrate portion 60a and the fixed substrate portion 60b are integrated because of the endless transparent base material 60.

The spacer 50 is bonded and fixed to the endless transparent substrate 60 with an adhesive after being inserted into the endless transparent substrate 60. If the endless transparent substrate 60 is a shrinkable substrate, it can be heated to shrink and have tension.

Terminal connection part In the transparent base material, the terminal connection part 70 may be secured as shown in FIG. The terminal connection portion 70 collects routing circuits from the electrodes, and a connector can be thermocompression bonded to the terminal connection portion 70 or directly connected to an external circuit. In this case, the cut portion 52 is not required for the spacer 50. There may be a plurality of terminal connection portions 70.

Support and functional layer FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the support and the functional layer. A support 71 is laminated on the fixed substrate portion 60b of the endless transparent base 60, and a functional layer 72 is laminated on the movable substrate portion 60a. The support is made of a polycarbonate resin substrate, an acrylic resin substrate, a polyolefin resin substrate, glass or the like, and the thickness of the support is usually 0.5 to 5 mm, and the shape is often flat. For reinforcement, a support may be laminated to improve durability.

As the functional layer 72, the elasticity, durability, and visibility at the time of input can be improved by coating or attaching a polarizing plate, a retardation plate, a hard coat film, a fine uneven film, and the like. As a thickness of a film base material, the thing of 20-500 micrometers is used normally, and you may laminate | stack.

  The present invention can be applied to a transparent touch panel having a two-layer structure of a movable substrate and a fixed substrate.

Explanatory drawing before the edge part joining of the transparent touch panel of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the spacer insertion of the transparent touch panel of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the center part cross section of the transparent touch panel of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the example of a spacer of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the terminal connection part of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the support body and functional layer of this invention. It is decomposition | disassembly explanatory drawing of an example of the conventional resistive film type transparent touch panel.

Explanation of symbols

12 Movable substrate conductive layer pattern 13, 14, 23, 24 Electrode 15, 16, 25, 26 Lead circuit 18, 28 End 22 Fixed substrate conductive layer pattern 29 Support 30 Transparent conductive film 31 Transparent film 32 Transparent conductive layer 40 transparent base material 50 spacer 51 hollow portion 52 cutout portion 53 vent hole 60 endless transparent base material 60a movable substrate portion 60b fixed substrate portion 61 joint portion 70 terminal connection portion 71 support 72 functional layer 110 movable substrates 111 and 131 Transparent conductive layers 112 and 132 Electrodes 113 and 133 Route circuit 120 Connector portion 130 Fixed substrate 140 Spacer made of double-sided adhesive tape 160 Dot-shaped spacer

Claims (8)

Each of the transparent conductive layer has a transparent conductive layer on the surface of the transparent base material, and the movable conductive substrate provided with position detection electrodes at substantially both ends of the transparent conductive layer is opposed to the fixed substrate with a predetermined gap therebetween. In the transparent touch panel in which the electrodes are arranged orthogonally,
A transparent touch panel, wherein the transparent base material of the movable substrate and the fixed substrate is integrated in an endless manner. The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a spacer having a shape with four hollow sides between the movable substrate and the fixed substrate.   The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the spacer has flexibility.   The transparent touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising one or more terminal connection portions that aggregate the routing circuits from the electrodes.   The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a support on a surface of the fixed substrate that does not face the movable substrate.   The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a hard coat layer and / or an antireflection layer on a surface of the movable substrate that does not face the fixed substrate. The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the spacer is fixed to the transparent base material with an adhesive. The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the transparent substrate is made of a plastic film having heat shrinkability.

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