JPH0854985A - Transparent touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily provide spacers of the prescribed diameter, to provide a spacer with good elasticity and durability and to prolong the service life by forming a dot-shaped spacer by the synthetic resin ink with the fine powder synthetic resin mixed. CONSTITUTION:A projected part 2 has a part of an insulating base 1 made of glass plate. An electrode 3 consisting of the transparent conduction film of ITO(indium oxide-tin oxide) is provided on the surface of the insulating base 1. On the surface of the electrode 3, a dot-shaped spacer 4 is provided. In short, the dot-shaped spacer 4 consisting of the fine powder-shaped synthetic resin is provided at least on one surface of the insulating base 1 or the electrode 3. In this case, the powder diameter of the fine powder-like synthetic resin is made <=30mum. As the synthetic resin ink, the solid or liquid synthetic resin of the epoxide, polyester, or silicone is made the main component, which is hardened by heat and ultraviolet ray.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transparent touch panel, and more particularly to a transparent touch panel with improved dot-shaped spacers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a transparent touch panel is composed of an insulating substrate such as a glass plate having an electrode made of a transparent conductive film and dot-shaped spacers on the surface, and a polymer film having an electrode made of a transparent conductive film. The insulating substrate and the insulating substrate are laminated on each other via a spacer made of a double-sided tape attached to the end of each insulating substrate.

The dot-shaped spacers are formed by screen-printing ink made of synthetic resin or synthetic resin containing fine powder of an inorganic material such as silica, or by printing using a metal mask. As the synthetic resin, epoxy resin, polyester resin, silicone resin, acrylic resin, polyurethane resin or the like is used.

[0004]

However, when the dot-shaped spacer is formed by the conventional ink containing only the synthetic resin, the ink easily flows, and the diameter of the dot is considerably larger than the diameter of the hole of the screen printing plate or the like. However, there is a drawback that it is difficult to obtain dots having a predetermined diameter.

Further, when an ink in which a fine powder of an inorganic material such as silica is mixed in a synthetic resin is used, the formed dots have a low adhesiveness with an insulating substrate and are easily peeled off. Moreover, since the dots are relatively hard, they have a drawback that they damage the electrodes and shorten the life of the transparent touch panel.

The present invention provides a transparent touch panel that improves the above-mentioned drawbacks, can easily form a dot-shaped spacer having a predetermined diameter, prevents the bracket from being peeled off, improves reliability, and extends the life. It is a thing.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a transparent touch panel in which insulating substrates having electrodes provided on the surfaces are arranged so as to face each other, and at least one surface of the insulating substrate or the electrodes is provided. And a dot-shaped spacer made of synthetic resin ink containing fine powdery synthetic resin.

The particle size of the fine powdery synthetic resin is 30 μm.
The diameter of the dot-shaped spacer can be reduced by setting the thickness to m or less. Therefore, when the transparent touch panel is used by being mounted on the surface of a display body such as liquid crystal, plasma, or electroluminescence, it is possible to prevent the display from being difficult to see due to the dot-shaped spacers.

As the synthetic resin ink, a liquid or solid synthetic resin such as epoxy type, polyester type, silicon type, acrylic type, polyurethane type, etc. is used as a main component, and the type is hardened by heat or ultraviolet rays. To use.

Further, as the fine powdery synthetic resin, acrylic resin, styrene resin, divinylbenzene resin, silicone resin, olefin resin, nylon resin, fluorine resin, melamine resin, phenol resin, etc. are used.

When the synthetic resin ink is in a liquid state, fine powdery synthetic resin is put in and mixed by a lyker machine, a ball mill, a three-roll mill or the like. When the synthetic resin ink is in a solid state, it is dissolved in a resin diluent, and the fine powdery synthetic resin is put in the solution and mixed by a ball mill or the like.

In order to form the dot-shaped spacers, the synthetic resin ink containing the above-mentioned fine powdery synthetic resin is printed to a predetermined diameter by a silica screen, a metal screen, a metal mask or the like, and then heated. It is also cured by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays.

[0013]

Since the fine powdery synthetic resin is mixed in the synthetic resin ink, it is difficult for the ink to flow when the ink is applied to the surface of the insulating substrate or the electrode, and dot-shaped spacers of a predetermined diameter are provided. Can be easily formed. In addition, this ink is more elastic than ink mixed with fine powder such as silica. Therefore, when the insulating substrate is pressed, even if the dot-shaped spacer formed by the former ink is pressed against the electrode, it is possible to reduce damage to the electrode and extend the life of the transparent touch panel.

[0014]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples. Embodiment 1 In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an insulating substrate made of a glass plate having a thickness of 1.5 mm, which is a protruding portion 2 which is partially protruded. 3 has a resistance value of 500 on the surface of the insulating substrate 1.
It is an electrode made of a transparent conductive film of ITO (indium oxide-tin oxide) provided so as to have Ω / □. Reference numeral 4 is a dot-shaped spacer provided on the surface of the electrode 3 and having a bottom diameter of 50 μm. Reference numeral 5 denotes a collector electrode made of Ag or the like, which is connected to the electrode 3 and printed on the surface of the insulating substrate 1. Reference numeral 6 denotes a lead-out electrode connected to the current collecting electrode 5 and provided on the surface of the insulating substrate 1 so as to extend to the protrusion 2. Reference numeral 7 is a spacer made of a double-sided tape attached to the end of the insulating substrate 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes an insulating substrate made of a polyester film having a thickness of 125 μm.
Overlaid. Reference numeral 9 denotes a protrusion provided on the insulating substrate 8, which is pulled out in the same direction as the protrusion 2 provided on the insulating substrate 1 and is provided at a different position. Reference numeral 10 denotes an electrode made of a transparent conductive film of ITO provided on the surface of the insulating substrate 8 so as to have a resistance value of 500Ω / □. Similar to the electrode 1, a current collecting electrode (not shown) is connected to the electrode 10, and a lead-out electrode 11 is further connected to the electrode 10.

In order to form the dot-shaped spacers 4, 3 wt% of fine powder having a particle diameter of 0.1 μm made of an acrylic synthetic resin is added to an ultraviolet curable ink made of a urethane acrylate resin which is liquid at room temperature. , Which is dispersed in a ball mill and has a viscosity of 28,000 CPS at a temperature of 25 ° C. is used. Then, this ink is printed on the surface of the insulating substrate 1 by using a metal mask in which the diameter of holes for injecting ink is 50 μm and the holes for injecting ink are provided in a matrix shape at intervals of 5 mm. After printing, the ink is cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays to form the dot-shaped spacers 4.

Example 2 To form dot-shaped spacers, UV-curable ink made of urethane acrylate resin and 0.1 μm particle size made of styrene synthetic resin were used.
The same configuration as in Example 1 is performed except that 3 wt% of the fine powder of 1 is added and dispersed, and printing is performed using an ink having a viscosity of 27,000 CPS at a temperature of 25 ° C.

Next, with respect to Examples 1 and 2 described above, the diameter of the dot-shaped spacer was measured together with the conventional example, and the state of the spacer after the keystroke test for this spacer was examined.

The conventional example has the following conditions. Conventional Example 1: A temperature of 2 is used to form a dot-shaped spacer.
The configuration is the same as that of the example 1 except that the ultraviolet curable ink made of a urethane acrylate resin having a viscosity of 5000 CPS at 5 ° C. is used.

Conventional Example 2: To form dot-shaped spacers, 3 wt% of fine silica powder having a particle diameter of 0.1 μm was added to UV-curable ink made of urethane acrylate resin, and dispersed at a temperature of 25. Viscosity at 30,000 CPS
The configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment except that printing is performed using the above ink.

In the keystroke test, as shown in FIG. 2, a portion 12 of the insulating substrate 1 immediately above the dot-shaped spacer 4 is
The tip is made of silicone rubber 13 with a radius of 20 mm and is 500
It is performed by hitting 100,000 times with the hitting portion 15 provided with a load portion 14 of g. Then, the presence or absence of breakage of the spacer 4 was examined.

Table 1 shows the diameter of the dot-shaped spacer and the state after the keystroke test.

[0022]

[Table 1]

As is clear from the results shown in Table 1, according to the first and second embodiments, the dot-shaped spacers can be formed to have a size close to the diameter of the hole for injecting the ink of the metal mask, and the keystroke test can be performed. There is no change in the spacer after that, and its durability is improved.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the dot-shaped spacer is formed by the synthetic resin ink mixed with the fine powdery synthetic resin, it is easy to obtain the spacer having a predetermined diameter, In addition, a spacer having excellent elasticity and durability can be obtained, and a transparent touch panel that can improve reliability and have a long life can be obtained.

Further, by setting the particle size of the fine powdery synthetic resin mixed with the synthetic resin ink to 30 μm or less, the diameter of the dot-shaped spacer can be reduced, and a transparent touch panel can be obtained in which the display is difficult to see. To be

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state of a keystroke test.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 8 ... Insulating substrate, 3, 9 ... Electrode, 4 ... Dot-shaped spacer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transparent touch panel in which insulating substrates having electrodes on their surfaces are arranged so as to face each other, and at least one surface of the insulating substrate or the electrodes has a dot shape made of a synthetic resin ink containing a fine powdery synthetic resin. A transparent touch panel, which is provided with a spacer. 2. The transparent touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the fine powdery synthetic resin has a particle diameter of 30 μm or less.