JPH0945183A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the defective connection between circuits of a touch panel and improve reliability. SOLUTION: Insulating substrates 1, 5 provided with electrodes 2, 6 and electrode circuits 3, 7 connected to the electrodes 2, 6 on the surfaces are stuck together so that the electrodes 2, 6 face each other. This touch panel is provided with a flexible insulating substrate 9 having a bend section 11, the first extracting circuit 10 connected to the electrode circuit 7 provided on one insulating base plate 5 on one side of the bend section 11, and the second extracting circuit 10' connected to the electrode circuit 3 provided on the other insulating base plate 1 on the other side of the bend section 11 respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A touch panel is used for inputting information on a surface of a display such as a display such as a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, and an electroluminescence display, or for indicating coordinates on a drawing or the like. .

Conventionally, this touch panel has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, one insulating substrate 30
As a transparent electrode 31 made of ITO or the like is formed on the surface of a glass plate, an acrylic plate, or the like, an electrode circuit (not shown) is connected to the electrode 31, and the extraction circuit 32 is insulated from the electrode 31 to form an extraction circuit 32. Use the provided one. As the other insulating substrate 33, a flexible polymer film on which a transparent electrode 34 is formed, and an electrode circuit 35 is connected to the electrode 34 is used. Then, these insulating substrates 30 and 33 are laminated with a double-sided tape 36 interposed therebetween and attached to each other. Further, the extraction circuit 32 of the insulating substrate 30 and the electrode circuit 35 of the insulating substrate 33 are connected by the anisotropic conductive ink 37. Further, a flexible insulating substrate 38 made of another polymer film for the connector is used.
Is used. On the surface of the insulating substrate 38, the extraction circuit 3 is provided.
9 is provided, and carbon ink 40 is applied to the surface of the take-out circuit 39. The insulating substrate 38 is attached to the insulating substrate 30 with the double-sided tape 41, and
The take-out circuit 39 and the take-out circuit 32 are connected by the anisotropic conductive ink 42.

[0004]

However, the insulating substrate 30 made of a glass plate or the like and the insulating substrate 33 made of a polymer film or the like are different in the degree of expansion due to heat and the degree of swelling due to moisture. That is, the latter insulating substrate 33 is more likely to expand or swell than the former insulating substrate 30 due to the influence of heat or the like. Therefore, the extraction circuit 32 provided on the insulating substrate 30 and the electrode circuit 35 provided on the insulating substrate 33.
There is a drawback that the connection with and becomes unstable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel which can improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, prevent connection failure between circuits, and improve reliability.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, insulating substrates having electrodes and a circuit for electrodes connected to the electrodes are attached to each other so that the electrodes face each other. In the touch panel, a bent portion is provided, and a first extraction circuit connected to an electrode circuit provided on one insulating substrate on one side of the bent portion, and another insulating substrate on the other side of the bent portion. It is intended to provide a touch panel having a flexible insulating substrate each provided with a second extracting circuit connected to the provided electrode circuit.

The electrodes are formed, for example, by stacking ITO or SnO ₂ by a vacuum vapor deposition method, an ion plating method, a sputtering method or the like.

It is preferable that at least one of the expansion and swelling of the flexible insulating substrate is substantially equal to the expansion and the like of one of the insulating substrates provided with the electrode circuits.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the flexible insulating substrate provided with the extraction circuit is bent, and the extraction circuit is connected to the electrode circuits provided on different insulating substrates on both sides of the bent portion. Even if the insulating substrate expands or swells due to heat or moisture, the flexible insulating substrate deforms at the bent portion and follows the expansion or the like. Therefore, connection failure between the electrode circuit and the extraction circuit can be prevented.

Further, if the size of the expansion or swelling of the flexible insulating substrate is made substantially equal to those of one of the insulating substrates provided with the electrodes, even if the latter insulating substrate is extremely expanded. The former insulating substrate can sufficiently follow its expansion and the like.

[0011]

The present invention will be described below based on actual examples. FIG.
In the above, 1 is a first insulating substrate made of a glass plate having a thickness of 1.8 mm. Reference numeral 2 is a transparent first electrode made of ITO provided on the surface of the first insulating substrate 1 and having a resistance value of 500Ω / □. Reference numeral 3 is a first electrode circuit connected to the first electrode 2 and provided on the surface of the first insulating substrate 1. Reference numeral 4 is a dot-shaped spacer having a bottom diameter of 50 μm, which is provided by applying Ag ink on the surface of the first electrode 2. Reference numeral 5 is a second insulating substrate made of a 125 μm thick polyester film. 6 is made of ITO provided on the surface of the second insulating substrate 5 and has a resistance value of 500Ω / □.
The second transparent electrode. Reference numeral 7 denotes a second electrode circuit made of Ag ink, which is connected to the second electrode 6 and is provided on the surface of the second insulating substrate 5. Reference numeral 8 denotes a spacer made of a double-sided tape, which is provided between the ends of the first insulating substrate 1 and the second insulating substrate 5 and between the first electrode circuit 3 and the second electrode circuit 7. The first insulating substrate 1 and the second insulating substrate 5 are attached to each other. 9 is 25μ thick
Flexible third made of m polyester film
Is an insulating substrate of which the tip is bent and folded back. 1
As shown in FIG. 2, reference numerals 0 and 10 ′ are a first extraction circuit and a second extraction circuit provided by applying Ag ink on the surface of the third insulating substrate 9. The former first extracting circuit 10 is provided from one end to the other end of the third insulating substrate 9. In addition, the latter second extraction circuit 1
0 ′ is provided from one end to the front of the bent portion 11, and one end thereof is arranged so as to face the first electrode circuit 3. Reference numerals 12 and 12 'denote a first carbon layer and a second carbon layer formed by applying carbon ink to substantially the surfaces of the first extraction circuit 10 and the second extraction circuit 10', respectively. Reference numeral 13 denotes a first adhesive layer made of an anisotropic conductive ink provided on the surface of the end portion of the third insulating substrate 9 so as to cover the first extraction circuit 10, and on one side of the bent portion 11, The first extraction circuit 10 and the second electrode circuit 7 are electrically connected. Reference numeral 14 denotes the first extraction circuit 1 on the front surface of the bent portion 11 of the third insulating substrate 9.
0 and the second take-out circuit 10 ′ is a second adhesive layer made of an anisotropic conductive ink, and is provided on the other side of the bent portion 11 with the second take-out circuit 10 ′. 1 is electrically connected to the electrode circuit 3.

According to the above embodiment, the flexible third
The first extraction circuit 10 and the second extraction circuit 10 ′ provided on the insulating substrate 9 are bent and used.
Are connected to the second electrode circuit 7 provided on the second insulating substrate 5 and the first electrode circuit 3 provided on the first insulating substrate 1 with the bent portion 11 as a boundary. Therefore, even if the first insulating substrate 1 and the second insulating substrate 5 expand or swell with different sizes under the influence of heat or moisture, the bent portion 11 is deformed and the size of the expansion or the like is increased. Absorb the difference. Therefore, it is possible to prevent each connection failure between the first extraction circuit 10, the second electrode circuit 7, and the second extraction circuit 10 ′ and the first electrode circuit 3.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate 15 used in another embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In this third insulating substrate 15, the first carbon layer 16 and the second carbon layer 17 are coated on the entire surfaces of the first extraction circuit 10 and the second extraction circuit 10 ', respectively. Further, the first adhesive layer 18 and the second adhesive layer 19 are provided so as to cover the end portions of the first carbon layer 16 and the second carbon layer 17.

Further, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate 20 used in another embodiment of the present invention.
The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. This third
In the insulating substrate 20, the first carbon layer 21 is covered before the bent portion 11 of the first extracting circuit 10 and is not covered there. Then, the first adhesive layer 22 directly covers the end portion of the first extracting circuit 10.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate 23 used in another embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. The third insulating substrate 23 covers the first carbon layer 24 on the first extraction circuit 10 before the bent portion 11. Then, the third adhesive 25 is coated on the entire front surface of the first extraction circuit 10.

Next, the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the third embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 5, and the conventional example shown in FIG. Initial values between the first extraction circuit and the second electrode circuit and between the second extraction circuit and the first electrode circuit after leaving for 240 hours in an atmosphere at a temperature of 80 ° C. The change of the resistance value was investigated.

Further, regarding Examples 1 to 4,
1) Resistance between the first extracting circuit and the second electrode circuit and between the second extracting circuit and the first electrode circuit after the third insulating substrate is folded back 50 times Change in value,
2) After the third insulating substrate was left in an atmosphere of a temperature of 65 ° C. and a humidity of 95% RH for 240 hours, the presence or absence of silver migration between the first extraction circuits was examined. The survey results are shown in Table 1.

[0018]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, the change in resistance value after leaving at high temperature is 1 to 1.5 times in Examples 1 to 4 and 10 times in the conventional example. Is less than 3/20 compared to the latter.

After the bending test, Examples 1 to 3 have a resistance of 1Ω or less, and Example 4 has a resistance of 20Ω. Therefore, it is clear that the resistance value is stable when the anisotropic conductive ink is not applied to the bent portion.

With respect to migration, there was no Example 1, Example 2 or Example 4, and only Example 3 occurred. That is, it is clear that migration can be prevented by coating the first extraction circuit with carbon or anisotropic conductive ink.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the flexible insulating substrate provided with the extraction circuit is bent, and the extraction circuit is connected to the electrode circuits provided on different insulating substrates on both sides of the bent portion. Since it is connected to the touch panel, it is possible to obtain a touch panel capable of preventing a defective connection between the electrode circuit and the extraction circuit.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a flexible third insulating substrate used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate used in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate used in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a flexible third insulating substrate used in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... 1st insulating substrate, 2 ... 1st electrode, 3 ... 1st electrode circuit, 5 ... 2nd insulating substrate, 6 ... 2nd electrode, 7 ... 2nd electrode circuit, 9, 15, 20, 23 ... Third insulating substrate, 10 ... First take-out circuit, 10 '... First take-out circuit, 11 ... Bent portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A touch panel in which an insulating substrate having an electrode and a circuit for an electrode connected to the electrode is adhered to each other on the surface so that the electrodes face each other, and a bending portion is provided, and one side of the bending portion is provided. A first extracting circuit connected to the electrode circuit provided on the insulating substrate, and a second extracting circuit connected to the electrode circuit provided on the other insulating substrate on the other side of the bent portion, respectively. A touch panel having a flexible insulating substrate provided.