JP5884494B2 - Touch panel sensor and touch panel sensor with flexible printed wiring board - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a touch panel sensor with less disconnection of wiring of a flexible printed wiring board when connected to the flexible printed wiring board.

  Today, touch panels are widely used as input means. In many cases, a touch panel is used together with a display device as an input means for various devices in which a display device such as a liquid crystal display or a plasma display is incorporated (for example, a ticket vending machine, an ATM device, a mobile phone, a game machine). Yes. In such a device, the touch panel is placed on the display surface of the display device, which allows the touch panel to make a very direct input to the display device.

  Various types of touch panels have been put into practical use. Among them, what is called a capacitance method is for touch panel sensors having a layer structure of first transparent electrode / interelectrode insulating layer / second transparent electrode, and for supplying power to the transparent electrodes and outputting detection signals. What has a flexible printed wiring board (henceforth FPC may be connected) connected to the external connection terminal of a touch panel sensor is used (for example, patent documents 1-5). Then, a weak current is passed through the touch panel surface of the touch panel to form an electric field, and the change in capacitance value when a finger or other conductor is lightly touched is converted into a voltage drop or the like and detected. The obtained contact position is output as a signal.

As a touch panel sensor used for a capacitive method, generally, a transparent electrode and an external connection terminal are formed on a pair of opposing substrates (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4). As another aspect, there is known one in which a transparent electrode and an external connection terminal are respectively formed on both surfaces of a single transparent substrate (hereinafter referred to as a double-sided type touch panel sensor) (for example, Patent Document 5).
The double-sided touch panel sensor has a small number of members, and can improve productivity by reducing the thickness of the touch panel and making it possible to manufacture by a roll-to-roll process. Moreover, since it is not necessary to bond two substrates together, it is possible to avoid problems such as a positional shift between the two transparent electrodes.
However, as a method of connecting the double-sided type touch panel sensor with the FPC, after connecting the external connection terminal formed on one surface and the connection terminal of the FPC by thermocompression bonding through an anisotropic conductive adhesive, A method of turning the both over and connecting the external connection terminal formed on the other surface and the connection terminal of the FPC is used. Therefore, in general, a portion where the FPC touch panel sensor overlaps in plan view, particularly a connection portion where the external connection terminal of the touch panel sensor and the connection terminal of the FPC overlap, the metallic terminal has an anisotropic conductive adhesive or the like. Adhesion and electrical connection are made by thermocompression bonding, and the external connection terminal and the connection terminal are formed wider than the wiring connected thereto, so that only the wiring is formed. Rigidity is higher than that. For this reason, when a stress is applied in the vertical direction to the FPC surface when turning over, as shown in FIG. 5, the part adjacent to the connection part 34 as described above, specifically, the FPC and the touch panel sensor The stress concentrates on the inner side of each of the connection parts, and a large bend occurs. And there was a problem that the wiring formed in the place where such bending occurred was disconnected.

JP 2009-64343 A JP-A-9-146680 Japanese Patent No. 2587975 JP 2011-124332 A JP 2011-76514 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel sensor in which the wiring of the flexible printed wiring board is less disconnected when connected to the flexible printed wiring board.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a transparent film substrate, a front electrode formed on one surface of the transparent film substrate, and a surface on which the front electrode of the transparent film substrate is formed. A front-side external connection terminal formed on and connected to the front-side electrode, a back-side electrode formed on the other surface of the transparent film base, and a surface on which the back-side electrode of the transparent film base is formed The front side external connection terminal is formed so as not to overlap with the front side external connection terminal in plan view, and has a back side external connection terminal connected to the back side electrode, and the transparent film base is adjacent at least in plan view. There is a cut part between the external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal, and the distance from the end of the cut part to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film base is the front side external connection terminal adjacent to the cut part or To provide a touch panel sensor, characterized in that the inner end of the serial rear external connection is a terminal cutting portion adjacent the external connection terminal is a distance less than the distance to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film substrate.

  According to this invention, by having the said cutting | disconnection part, the softness | flexibility in the connection site | part of a touchscreen sensor can be improved, and after connecting with FPC, FPC and a touchscreen sensor bend | fold greatly at the connection site | part adjacent part vicinity. Can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to prevent disconnection of the wiring at the connection site adjacent portion.

  In the present invention, the interval between the cutting portion and the cutting portion adjacent external connection terminal is determined by the terminal width of the cutting portion adjacent external connection terminal, and the cutting portion adjacent external connection terminal and the cutting portion adjacent external connection terminal. It is preferable that the width between terminals with the external connection terminal formed on the same adjacent surface is wider than any narrow one. This is because the connection stability with the FPC can be improved.

  The present invention includes the touch panel sensor described above, a flexible printed circuit board having an insulating flexible substrate and a connection terminal formed on the surface of the flexible substrate, and the front external connection terminal and the back external device. An anisotropic conductive adhesive comprising a connection terminal and an anisotropic conductive adhesive that exhibits adhesiveness and conductivity in the thickness direction by thermocompression bonding, and connects the front external connection terminal and the back external connection terminal to the connection terminal. A touch panel sensor with a flexible printed wiring board, comprising: an agent layer.

  According to the present invention, since the touch panel sensor described above is used, the wiring of the FPC or the touch panel sensor can be reduced.

  The present invention has an effect that it is possible to provide a touch panel sensor with less disconnection of the wiring of the flexible printed wiring board when connected to the flexible printed wiring board.

It is a schematic plan view which shows an example of the touch panel sensor of this invention. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of an external connection terminal indicated by B in FIG. 1. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining the softness | flexibility in the connection site | part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the softness | flexibility in the connection site | part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting part in this invention. It is process drawing which shows an example of the manufacturing method of the touch panel sensor of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows an example of the touchscreen sensor with FPC of this invention. It is a side view which shows the connection part of the touch panel sensor in FIG. 19, and FPC.

The present invention relates to a touch panel sensor and an FPC-equipped touch panel sensor using the same.
Hereinafter, the touch panel sensor and the touch panel sensor with FPC of the present invention will be described.

A. Touch Panel Sensor First, the touch panel sensor will be described.
The touch panel sensor of the present invention is formed on the surface on which the transparent film substrate, the front electrode formed on one surface of the transparent film substrate, and the front electrode of the transparent film substrate are formed, a front external connection terminal connected to the front electrode, the transparent film substrate other back electrode formed on a surface of said front outside on the back side electrode is formed surface of the transparent film substrate A backside external connection terminal formed so as not to overlap with the connection terminal in plan view, and connected to the backside electrode, and the transparent film substrate is adjacent at least in plan view and the front side external connection terminal and the above The front side external connection terminal or the back side has a cutting part between the back side external connection terminals, and the distance from the end of the cutting part to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film base is adjacent to the cutting part. It is characterized in that the inner end of the external connecting cuts adjacent external connection terminal is a terminal which is a distance less than the distance to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film substrate.

Such a touch panel sensor of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the touch panel sensor of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view around the external connection terminal indicated by B in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. It is. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the touch panel sensor 10 of the present invention includes a transparent film substrate 1 and an electrode material layer 2 </ b> X formed on one surface of the transparent film substrate 1. A front external connection terminal 3a formed on the surface of the transparent film substrate 1 on which the front electrode 2a is formed and connected to the front electrode 2a by a lead wire 5; and the other of the transparent film substrate 1 So as not to overlap the front-side external connection terminal 3a in plan view on the back-side electrode 2b made of the electrode material layer 2X formed on the surface and the surface on which the back-side electrode 2b of the transparent film substrate 1 is formed. A back side external connection terminal 3b formed and connected to the back side electrode 2b by the lead wiring 5, and the transparent film substrate 1 is adjacent to the front side external connection terminal 3a in plan view. In addition, the front side external connection terminal having a cutting portion 4 between the back side external connection terminal 3b and having a distance from the terminal end of the cut portion 4 to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate 1 is adjacent to the cut portion 4 3a or the back side external connection terminal 3b, which is a distance less than the distance from the inner end of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal 3c to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate 1.
Further, in this example, the cutting parts 4 are formed on both sides of the front side external connection terminal part 13a in which a plurality of front side external connection terminals 3a are arranged and the back side external connection terminal part 13b in which a plurality of back side external connection terminals 3b are arranged. Is. Moreover, the front side electrode 2a and the back side electrode 2b are formed in the active area 12 that can be visually recognized by the touch panel user, and the routing wiring and the external connection terminal are formed in the inactive area outside the active area 12. Yes. Furthermore, the front-side external connection terminal 3a, the back-side external connection terminal 3b, and the routing wiring 5 are formed by laminating the metal material layer 3X on the same electrode material layer 2X as the electrode material layer 2X constituting the front-side electrode 2a and the back-side electrode 2b. It will be.

According to this invention, by having the said cutting | disconnection part, by improving the softness | flexibility of the connection site | part which is a site | part with which the external connection terminal of a touchscreen sensor and the connection terminal of FPC overlap, one surface of a transparent film base material When the external connection terminal formed above is connected to the connection terminal of the FPC and then turned over, it is possible to easily change the connection part of the touch panel sensor following the moving direction of the FPC. For this reason, even when a load is applied in the vertical direction to the FPC surface when turning over, stress is applied to the connection part adjacent portions adjacent to the connection parts of the FPC and the touch panel sensor as shown in FIG. It is possible to avoid concentration and large bending.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the flexibility of the connection part of the touch panel sensor is improved by having a cutting part that is positioned so that the terminal end as described above overlaps the connection part in a cross-sectional view. Thus, the touch panel sensor 10 can be easily deformed in the connection portion 34. For this reason, even when a load is applied in the vertical direction to the FPC surface when turning over, it is possible to avoid stress concentration on the adjacent portion of the connection portion of the FPC 30 and the touch panel sensor 10, and the FPC 30 and the touch panel sensor 10 are connected to the connection portion. It is possible to prevent a large bend in the vicinity of the adjacent portion. As a result, disconnection of the wiring 5 at the connection site adjacent portion can be prevented.
5 and 6, the touch panel sensor 10 includes a back side connection terminal 32 b formed on the back side connection part 31 b of the flexible substrate 31 of the FPC 30 in the front side external connection terminal 3 a formed on the transparent film substrate 1. Are connected via an anisotropic conductive adhesive layer 33. Further, the part where the external connection terminal and the connection terminal are bonded and connected is the connection part 34, and the part adjacent to the connection part 34 is the connection part adjacent part.

The touch panel sensor of the present invention has at least a transparent film substrate, a front side electrode, a front side external connection terminal, a back side electrode, and a back side external connection terminal.
Hereinafter, each component of the touch panel sensor of the present invention will be described in detail.

1. Transparent film base material The transparent film base material in this invention contains the said cutting part.

(1) Cutting part The cutting part in this invention is formed between the said front side external connection terminal and back side external connection terminal which adjoin at least planar view of the said transparent film base material.
In addition, the distance from the terminal to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film base is the outer edge of the transparent film base from the inner edge of the adjacent external connection terminal of the cut portion adjacent to the front external connection terminal or the rear external connection terminal. The distance is less than the distance up to.

Here, the end of the cut part and the inner end of the external connection terminal are the part of the cut part farthest from the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate, and the outer periphery of the transparent film substrate among the external connection terminals. It is the point farthest from the edge.
In addition, the distance from the inner end of the cutting portion adjacent external connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate specifically refers to the distance indicated by a1 or a2 in FIGS. The distance from the end of the film to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film substrate refers to the distance indicated by b in FIGS. Further, the inner end of the cut portion connection external connection terminal means the end of the main part of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal. For example, in the case of a shape whose width changes at the connection portion with the lead wiring, it has already been described. As shown in FIG. 8, it refers to a portion having a constant width. Further, when the width of the external connection terminal is the same as that of the lead wiring, it can be determined from the presence or absence of exposure and the width and length of the connection terminal of the FPC to be connected.
7 to 8 indicate the same members as those in FIG. 3, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

  Further, in the present invention, the front side external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal that are adjacent in plan view have other configurations such as other external connection terminals and routing wiring between the external connection terminals in plan view. That is, it is not formed.

Such a cut part is not particularly limited as long as it is a cut part provided on the transparent film substrate and can improve the flexibility of the connection part. It may be a notch.
In the present invention, it is particularly preferable to use a notch. It is because the flexibility of a connection part can be improved effectively by the said cutting part being a notch part, and the big bending to the connection part adjacent part of FPC or a touchscreen sensor can be suppressed more effectively. .
The notch width when the cut part is a notch part is not particularly limited as long as the connection part can have a desired flexibility, for example, thermocompression bonding. Thus, even when the transparent film base material is thermally expanded, the width of the cut portions can be made such that the ends do not contact each other. This is because when the external connection terminal of the touch panel sensor and the connection terminal of the FPC are connected by thermocompression bonding, even if the transparent film base material at that part expands, the flexibility of the connection part can be stably maintained.
A specific notch width is preferably 0.2 mm or more, and more preferably 1.0 mm or more. This is because a sufficient radius of curvature at the tip of the notch can be secured, and cracks that occur when the notch is formed by punching can be reduced.
In addition, it is preferable that it is 5.0 mm or less from a viewpoint of suppressing the fall of the positional accuracy of the connection of thermocompression bonding by the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of a transparent film base material and FPC.

The shape in plan view when the cut portion is a notch portion is not particularly limited as long as the flexibility of the connection portion can be improved, but FIG. 3, FIG. 9 and FIG. 11 may be a rod shape as exemplified in FIG. 11, and may be a triangle shape as exemplified in FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 14 and FIG.
In the present invention, in particular, the width of the cutout portion at the outer peripheral end of the transparent fill is preferably wider than the width at the portion adjacent to the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal. This is because the connection site can be made more flexible.
In addition, as a specific example of the shape in which the width at the outer peripheral end of the transparent fill of the notch is wider than the width at the portion adjacent to the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal, for example, FIG. 13 and FIG. 15 may be mentioned.
In addition, about the code | symbol in FIGS. 9-15, since the same member as FIG. 3 is shown, description here is abbreviate | omitted. Moreover, the width | variety shown by e in a figure shows the width | variety in the site | part adjacent to a cutting part adjacent external connection terminal, and the width | variety shown by f shows the width | variety in the outer peripheral end of a transparent film.

The shape in plan view near the end of the cut portion is not particularly limited as long as it can improve the flexibility of the connection site, but is preferably a shape that does not include an acute angle portion. It is preferably a shape or a circular shape. This is because the occurrence of cracks and the like can be reduced from the end of the cut portion.
As specific examples of the shape not including the acute angle portion, the already described FIG. 3, FIG. 10, FIG. 11, FIG. 13, FIG.

The distance from the end of the cut portion to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the cut portion depth) is the cut portion adjacent external portion that is the adjacent front side external connection terminal or back side external connection terminal. The distance is less than the distance from the inner end of the connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the depth of the external connection terminal).
In the present invention, when the cut portion is adjacent to two cut portion adjacent external connection terminals having different external connection terminal depths, the depth is shallower than the depth of the deep external connection terminal, that is, adjacent to the cut portion. The distance from the inner end to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate may be longer than the distance from the inner end of the connection part adjacent external connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate. Depth within the depth of the shallow external connection terminal, that is, the connection portion adjacent external connection terminal having a short distance from the inner end to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate among the cut portion adjacent external connection terminals The distance is preferably within the distance from the inner end to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate, and in particular, the depth is preferably shallower than the depth of the external connection terminal shallow. This is because the flexibility of the connection site can be effectively improved.
Note that the depth shallower than the depth of the external connection terminal is specifically that b and a2 in FIG. 7 already described are b <a2, and the external connection terminal depth. The depth within the depth of the shallow one means that b and a1 in FIG. 7 satisfy b ≦ a1.

In addition, the depth of the cut portion in the present invention is the distance from the outer end of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film base material (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the external connection terminal installation depth). It is preferable that the length is longer.
In addition, when the cutting part is adjacent to two cutting part adjacent external connection terminals having different external connection terminal installation depths, which is the distance from the outer end of the cutting part adjacent external connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film base material The depth of the external connection terminal installation depth is preferably deeper than the depth, and in particular, the depth of the external connection terminal installation depth is preferably deeper than the depth. This is because the flexibility of the connection part can be improved by forming the end of the cut portion in the region adjacent to the connection part.
In addition, deeper than the depth of the shallow external connection terminal installation depth specifically means that b and d1 in FIG. 7 are b ≧ d1, and the external connection terminal installation depth is deep. “Deeper than the depth of the object” means that b and d2 in FIG. 7 are longer than the length of b ≧ d2.

Specifically, the length of the cut portion depth in the present invention is preferably 1.0 mm or more. This is because the length of the external connection terminal can be made sufficiently long, and the connection reliability between the touch panel sensor of the present invention and the FPC can be made excellent. Among them, in the present invention, it is preferably 2.0 mm or more. This is because sufficient connection reliability can be ensured.
On the other hand, it is preferable that it is 10 mm or less from a viewpoint of size reduction of a touch panel sensor, and it is preferable that it is 5 mm or less especially.

The interval between the cut portion and the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal is not particularly limited as long as the flexibility of the connection portion can be improved, but the terminal width of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal, and It is preferable that the inter-terminal width between the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal and the external connection terminal formed on the same surface adjacent to the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal is wider than any narrower one. Even when a positional shift occurs between the connection terminal of the FPC and the external connection terminal of the touch panel sensor of the present invention, the FPC connection terminal can be prevented from overlapping the cut portion. For this reason, it is possible to suppress peeling of the cut portion of the FPC from a portion overlapping with the cut portion in plan view, and to have excellent connection stability with the FPC.
Moreover, although the said space | interval is preferable in order to fully obtain the effect of a softness | flexibility, it is suitably set according to the size of FPC connected to the touchscreen sensor of this invention, the manufacturing process of a subsequent touchscreen, etc. .
The distance between the cut portion and the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal, the terminal width of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal, and the same surface adjacent to the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal and the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal Specifically, the terminal-to-terminal width formed with the external connection terminals is indicated by h, m, and n in FIG. Moreover, about the code | symbol in FIG. 16, since it shows the same member as FIG. 3, description here is abbreviate | omitted.

  The distance between the cutting part and the external connection terminal adjacent to the cutting part in the present invention varies depending on the width of the external connection terminal adjacent to the cutting part and the like, but specifically, within the range of 0.1 mm to 20 mm. It is preferable that When the distance is within the above-described range, and more specifically, not less than the above-described lower limit, it is possible to reduce the influence due to the shift of the processing position of the cut portion in the punching process, and to facilitate the processing. Because it can. Moreover, it is because it is easy to connect an external connection terminal and FPC with a sufficient positional accuracy by being below the said upper limit.

In the present invention, the cutting portion is formed at least between the front-side external connection terminal and the back-side external connection terminal that are adjacent to each other in plan view, but is formed at other locations as necessary. For example, it may be formed adjacent to all front side external connection terminals and back side external connection terminals.
In the present invention, in particular, when an external connection terminal portion composed of a plurality of external connection terminals arranged on the same surface of the transparent film substrate is formed, it is formed in units of external connection terminal portions. Preferably, it is formed on both sides of all the external connection terminal portions including the front side external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal adjacent in the plan view, and particularly, formed on both sides of all the external connection terminal portions. It is preferred that Connection with the FPC is normally performed in units of external connection terminal portions. For this reason, it is because the softness | flexibility of a connection site | part can be improved efficiently by forming a cutting part in the unit of an external connection terminal part. Moreover, as an example formed in the both sides of all the external connection terminal parts, what was already shown in FIG. 1 can be mentioned.
FIG. 17 shows an example in which a cut portion is formed in units of external connection terminal portions, and FIG. 17A includes the front side external connection terminals and the back side external connection terminals that are adjacent in the plan view. FIG. 17B shows an example formed on both sides of all external connection terminal portions (13a and 13b), and FIG. 17B shows an example formed on both sides of all external connection terminal portions (13a and 13b). It is shown. Moreover, about the code | symbol in FIG. 17, since it shows the member same as FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, description here is abbreviate | omitted. Further, in FIG. 17, description of the routing wiring, the electrode, and the like is omitted for easy explanation.

The number formed adjacent to the external connection terminal of the cut portion in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is 1 or more, and may be 2 or more as illustrated in FIG.
Moreover, about the code | symbol in FIG. 18, since it shows the member same as FIG. 3, description here is abbreviate | omitted.

The method for forming the cut portion in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a method capable of forming a cut portion having a desired shape with high positional accuracy.For example, after forming the electrode, the external connection terminal, and the like, Examples thereof include a method of forming by punching or the like, and a method of patterning using a photolithography method before and after forming the electrode, the external connection terminal, and the like.
In the present invention, the method of forming by punching is particularly preferable. This is because formation is easy.

(2) Transparent film base material The transparent film base material in this invention has the said cutting part.
The material constituting such a transparent film substrate is not particularly limited as long as it is made of a resin having transparency. Specifically, a polyethylene-based resin such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Mention may be made of polyester resins such as polyethersulfone.
Further, the thickness of the transparent film substrate used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it can stably support the above electrodes, external connection terminals and the like, but is usually 50 μm to 300 μm. Can be within the range.

The transparent film substrate in the present invention may be composed of a single layer or may be composed of a plurality of layers.
In addition, as a layer laminated | stacked when it consists of multiple layers, a low refractive index layer, a high refractive index layer, etc. can be mentioned besides the layer which consists of said resin which has transparency.

2. External Connection Terminal The external connection terminal in the present invention includes at least a front side external connection terminal and a back side external connection terminal.
Here, the front-side external connection terminal is formed on the surface of the transparent film substrate on which the front-side electrode is formed, and is connected to the front-side electrode, and the back-side external connection terminal is the above-mentioned transparent film substrate. It is formed on the surface on which the back side electrode is formed so as not to overlap the front side external connection terminal in plan view, and is connected to the back side electrode.
Moreover, the external connection terminal in this invention may be formed directly on the surface of the said transparent film base material, and may be formed through another layer. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 already described, it may be formed on a layer made of an electrode material constituting the electrode.

The external connection terminal in the present invention has a front side external connection terminal and a back side external connection terminal formed so as not to overlap in plan view.
Further, in the present invention, the front side external connection terminal part composed of the front side external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal part composed of the back side external connection terminal are usually formed so as not to overlap in plan view. This is because the touch panel sensor and the FPC can be easily and efficiently connected in units of external connection terminal portions.
Note that the number of external connection terminals included in the external connection terminal portion is appropriately set according to the heat tool used for connection with the FPC. Moreover, an external connection terminal part consists of a several external connection terminal normally arrange | positioned in parallel with respect to the outer periphery end on the same surface of a transparent film base material. The interval between the external connection terminals between the adjacent external connection terminal portions is wider than the interval between the external connection terminals in the external connection terminal portion.

  In the present invention, the interval between the adjacent front-side external connection terminals and the back-side external connection terminals is not particularly limited as long as the cut portion can be formed. it can.

  The material constituting the external connection terminal in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as desired conductivity can be obtained. For example, aluminum, silver, copper, or an alloy thereof can be used. .

About the terminal width of the said external connection terminal, thickness, and planar view shape, and the space | interval between the external connection terminals in an external connection terminal part can be made the same as that of a general touch panel sensor.
Specifically, it can be the same as that described in JP2011-210176A.

3. Electrode The electrode in this invention contains a front side electrode and a back side electrode at least.
Here, the front side electrode is formed on one surface of the transparent film base material, and the back side electrode is formed on the other surface of the transparent film base material. Moreover, an electrode is normally formed in the active area of a transparent film base material.

The material constituting such an electrode is not particularly limited as long as it has desired conductivity, and is a non-transparent material having no transparency even if it is a transparent material having transparency. However, a transparent material is preferable.
As the transparent material in the present invention, those generally used for touch panels can be used. For example, indium tin oxide (ITO), zinc oxide, indium oxide, antimony-added tin oxide, fluorine-added tin oxide, Aluminum-added zinc oxide, potassium-added zinc oxide, silicon-added zinc oxide, metal oxides such as zinc oxide-tin oxide, indium oxide-tin oxide, zinc oxide-indium oxide-magnesium oxide, and metal oxides thereof Examples include materials in which two or more kinds of materials are combined.
Moreover, as a non-transparent material, the thing as described in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2010-238052 etc. can be used, for example. Specifically, metals such as aluminum, molybdenum, silver, chromium, copper, and alloys thereof can be used.

  About the formation pattern, thickness, etc. of the said electrode, it can be made the same as that of a general touch panel sensor. Specifically, the patterns described in JP2011-210176A and 2010-238052A can be used.

5. Touch Panel Sensor The touch panel sensor of the present invention includes a transparent film base material, front side electrodes and back side electrodes, and front side external connection terminals and back side external connection terminals, but may have other configurations as necessary. good.
As such another configuration, for example, a lead wiring for connecting the electrode and the external connection terminal, and a protective layer formed so as to cover the electrode and the lead wiring can be cited.

  The routing wiring can be the same as that used for a general touch panel sensor. Specifically, a material made of the same material as the external connection terminal can be used. Further, the line width of such a routing wiring can be set to about 0.03 mm to 0.2 mm.

The protective layer is not particularly limited as long as it has insulating properties. However, when the protective layer is formed so as to cover the electrode, it is preferable to have transparency.
Examples of the protective layer having insulation and transparency include those made of an inorganic material such as acrylic resin or SiO ₂ .

The manufacturing method of the touch panel sensor of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a method capable of forming each of the above structures with high accuracy.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 19A, a transparent film substrate 1 is prepared, and an electrode material layer 2X made of ITO or the like and a metal made of molybdenum or the like on both surfaces of the transparent film substrate 1 by sputtering. A laminate 20 in which the material layer 3X is laminated is prepared, a resist 21 is formed in a pattern on the metal material layers 3X on both sides, and then the metal material layer 3X is patterned by etching with phosphorous acetic acid or the like, Then, the electrode material 2X is etched using iron chloride or the like using the resist 21 as a mask (FIG. 19B).
Thereafter, the resist 21 is peeled off (FIG. 19C), the patterned laminate is coated with the resist 21, the resist in the active area is removed by exposure and development, and the metal material in the active area is removed with phosphorous acetic acid or the like. The layer 3X is etched to form patterned transparent electrodes (2a and 2b) (FIG. 19 (d)), and then the remaining resist 21 is peeled off, whereby the electrode material layer 2X and the metal material layer 3X are formed. The lead wiring 5 and the external connection terminals (3a and 3b) formed by laminating are formed (FIG. 19E).
Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 19F, a method of forming a cut portion 4 by punching between the front side external connection terminal 3a and the back side external connection terminal 3b to obtain a touch panel sensor can be used.

  Applications of the touch panel sensor of the present invention include, for example, a display device with a touch panel, specifically, a liquid crystal display device with a touch panel, an organic electroluminescent display device with a touch panel, and the like. It is preferably used for a display device with a touch panel that is required to be stably connected to an FPC, or to be bonded with a cover, a display device, or the like with high positional accuracy.

B. Next, the touch panel sensor with FPC of the present invention will be described.
The touch panel sensor with FPC of the present invention includes the touch panel sensor described above, a flexible printed circuit board having an insulating flexible substrate and a connection terminal formed on the surface of the flexible substrate, and adhesiveness and thickness direction by thermocompression bonding. And an anisotropic conductive adhesive layer for connecting the front side external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal to the connection terminal. is there.

Such a touch panel sensor with FPC will be described with reference to the drawings. 20 is a schematic plan view of the touch panel sensor with FPC of the present invention, and FIG. 21 is a side view showing a connection portion between the touch panel sensor and the FPC in FIG. As illustrated in FIGS. 20 to 21, the touch panel sensor with FPC 40 of the present invention includes the touch panel sensor 10, the flexible substrate 31 having an insulating property, and the front side formed on one surface of the flexible substrate 31. A flexible printed wiring board 30 having a connection terminal 32a and a back-side connection terminal 32b formed on the other surface of the flexible substrate 31, and the front-side external connection terminal 3a and the back-side connection terminal 32b, and The back side external connection terminal 3 b and the front side connection terminal 32 a are connected using an anisotropic conductive adhesive layer 33.
In this example, the front-side connection terminal 32 a is formed on the front-side connection portion 31 a of the flexible substrate 31, and the back-side connection terminal 31 b is formed on the back-side connection portion 31 b of the flexible substrate 31.

  According to the present invention, since the touch panel sensor described above is used, the wiring of the FPC or the touch panel sensor can be reduced.

The touch panel sensor with FPC of the present invention has at least the above-mentioned touch panel sensor, FPC, and anisotropic conductive adhesive layer.
Hereinafter, each structure of the touch panel sensor with FPC of this invention is demonstrated in detail.
In addition, about the above-mentioned touch panel sensor, since it can be made to be the same as that of the content described in the term of the said "A. touch panel sensor", description here is abbreviate | omitted.

1. FPC
The FPC used in the present invention has an insulating flexible substrate and a connection terminal formed on the surface of the flexible substrate.
As such an FPC, one generally used for connection with a touch panel sensor having electrodes and external connection terminals formed on both sides can be used. For example, it is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-210176. Can be.

Specifically, examples of the connection terminal include one having a front side connection terminal formed on one surface of the flexible substrate and a back side connection terminal formed on the other surface.
Although it will not specifically limit as a flexible substrate in this invention if it has desired insulation, For example, a flexible polyimide film etc. about 25 micrometers thick can be mentioned.
Further, the connection terminal is not particularly limited as long as it has desired conductivity. For example, the connection terminal can be the same as the external connection terminal in the touch panel sensor.

The FPC in the present invention has the flexible substrate and the connection terminal, but may have other configurations as necessary.
Examples of such other configurations include a wiring connected to the connection terminal and a protective layer formed so as to cover the wiring.
The wiring can be the same as the routing wiring. Moreover, as a protective layer, if it has insulation, it will not specifically limit, For example, what consists of a polyimide resin can be mentioned.

2. Anisotropic conductive adhesive layer The anisotropic conductive adhesive layer in the present invention is composed of an anisotropic conductive adhesive that exhibits adhesiveness and conductivity in the thickness direction by thermocompression bonding. The connection terminal is connected to the connection terminal.

  As the anisotropic conductive adhesive for forming such an anisotropic conductive adhesive layer, those generally used for touch panels can be used, for example, conductive particles in an adhesive insulating resin. In this case, a paste or a film can be used.

The conductive particles in the present invention are not particularly limited as long as they have a desired conductivity, but the metal particles such as gold, silver and nickel, ceramics, plastics or metal particles are used as the core. Examples thereof include metal coated particles having a metal film such as nickel or gold formed on the surface.
Moreover, as said insulating resin, an epoxy resin etc. can be mentioned, for example.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above-described embodiment is an exemplification, and the present invention has substantially the same configuration as the technical idea described in the claims of the present invention, and any device that exhibits the same function and effect is the present invention. It is included in the technical scope of the invention.

[Example 1]
A polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was used as the transparent film substrate. After depositing ITO (transparent conductive film layer) and molybdenum (metal conductive film layer) on both sides of the PET film, applying a positive photosensitive resin and patterning it by photolithography, the metal conductive film layer is first phosphoric acid, nitric acid Then, patterning was carried out using an aqueous phosphoric acid acetate solution containing acetic acid and water in a ratio of 5: 5: 5: 1 as an etching solution. Thereafter, the transparent conductive film layer is patterned using ferric chloride as an etchant, the positive photosensitive resin is peeled off with an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution, and the positive photosensitive resin is applied again, and then the positive photosensitive resin in the active area Is removed with a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution, the metal conductive film layer in the active area is etched with the above phosphoric acid-acetic acid solution, and then the positive photosensitive resin is peeled off with the potassium hydroxide aqueous solution, thereby patterning on both sides of the PET film. A touch panel sensor having an electrode formed thereon was obtained. One external connection terminal was formed on each of the front and back surfaces, and the distance from the inner end of the connection terminal to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate was 2000 μm.
Thereafter, the distance (cutting portion depth) from the terminal end to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film substrate between the front and back external connection terminals is 1500 μm, that is, 500 μm outside from the inner end of the external connection terminal (the outer peripheral edge of the transparent film substrate) Side) cutting part (cutting part) was formed, and a touch panel sensor having a cutting part was obtained.

[Comparative Example 1]
A touch panel sensor was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the cut portion was formed.

[Comparative Example 2]
A touch panel sensor was formed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the depth of the cut portion was 2500 μm, that is, a cut portion having an end 500 μm inside from the inner end of the external connection terminal was formed.

[Evaluation]
FPC is thermocompression-bonded at a temperature of 130 ° C. via an ACF (anisotropic conductive film which is a film-like anisotropic conductive adhesive) to the external connection terminals on the surface of the touch panel sensor produced in the examples and comparative examples. After that, FPC was connected to the external connection terminal on the back surface by thermocompression bonding at a temperature of 130 ° C. via ACF, and a tensile load was applied to the connected FPC in the direction perpendicular to the sensor surface. The occurrence of disconnection and disconnection of the touch panel sensor routing wiring part was confirmed.
As a result, in Example 1, no breakage occurred in the FPC and touch panel sensor wiring. On the other hand, in the touch panel sensor of Comparative Example 1, disconnection occurred in the FPC wiring, and in Comparative Example 2, disconnection occurred in the touch panel sensor routing wiring.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Transparent film base material 2 ... Electrode 3 ... External connection terminal 3c ... Cutting part adjacent external connection terminal 4 ... Cutting part 5 ... Lead-out wiring 10 ... Touch panel sensor 12 ... Active area 13 ... External connection terminal part 20 ... Laminate body 21 ... Resist 30 ... FPC
31 ... Flexible substrate 32 ... Connection terminal 34 ... Connection part 40 ... Touch panel sensor with FPC

Claims (3)

A transparent film substrate;
A front electrode formed on one surface of the transparent film substrate;
A front-side external connection terminal formed on the surface of the transparent film substrate on which the front-side electrode is formed and connected to the front-side electrode;
A back electrode formed on the other surface of the transparent film substrate;
On the surface of the transparent film substrate on which the back side electrode is formed, the front side external connection terminal is formed so as not to overlap in plan view, and the back side external connection terminal connected to the back side electrode;
Have
The transparent film substrate has a cutting portion between the front-side external connection terminal and the back-side external connection terminal adjacent at least in plan view,
The distance from the end of the cut portion to the outer peripheral end of the transparent film substrate is the transparent from the inner end of the cut portion adjacent external connection terminal that is the front side external connection terminal or the back side external connection terminal adjacent to the cut portion. A touch panel sensor having a distance less than the distance to the outer peripheral edge of the film substrate.   The distance between the cutting part and the cutting part adjacent external connection terminal is the same as the terminal width of the cutting part adjacent external connection terminal and the cutting part adjacent external connection terminal and the cutting part adjacent external connection terminal. 2. The touch panel sensor according to claim 1, wherein a width between terminals with the external connection terminal formed on the touch panel is wider than any narrow one. The touch panel sensor according to claim 1 or 2,
A flexible printed wiring board having an insulating flexible substrate and a connection terminal formed on the surface of the flexible substrate;
An anisotropic conductive adhesive layer comprising an anisotropic conductive adhesive exhibiting adhesiveness and conductivity in the thickness direction by thermocompression bonding, and connecting the front side external connection terminal and the back side external connection terminal and the connection terminal;
A touch panel sensor with a flexible printed wiring board, comprising:

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