JPH10326153A - Production of large glass touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a large glass touch panel that can be easily and inexpensively produced with high reliability and excels in its characteristic. SOLUTION: The transparent conductive films 2a and 2b are formed on the surfaces of two glass substrates 1a and 1b respectively. The dot spacers 3 are formed on the surface of one of both films 2a and 2b. Then both films 2a and 2b of the substrates 1a and 1b are set opposite to each other via the spacers 3, and the chemical etching is applied to the surface of the substrate 2a to reduce its thickness.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a large glass touch panel which is arranged on a screen in front of a large display device and used as an input device by generating coordinate value information corresponding to a pressed position. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a touch panel is arranged on a screen in front of a display device, and is used as a terminal input device for inputting an input guidance screen output on the display device by pressing it with a finger or an input pen. Various types of touch panels have been proposed. For example, a structure in which two transparent electrode plates each having a transparent conductive film formed on a surface of a film such as a plastic or a glass substrate are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval. Are generally used. In a touch panel for a small or medium-sized liquid crystal display device or a CRT display device of about 4 inches to 10 inches, a structure in which two transparent electrode plates are both made of a film, or a structure in which one is a film and the other is a glass substrate However, for example, in the case of a large touch panel for a display device of 13 inches or more, problems may occur in terms of aging of the film, transparency, expansion coefficient, smoothness, surface scratch resistance, and the like. Therefore, it is desirable that both use a glass substrate.

[0003]

However, in a structure in which a large touch panel for a display device uses two glass substrates, it is necessary to use a thin material for the glass substrate that comes into contact with the surface with a fingertip or an input pen. There is a special glass material, which increases the cost,
During the manufacturing process, it was easily damaged and the yield was sometimes reduced. As the touch panel becomes larger, it becomes more difficult to handle a thin glass substrate.
A thickness of about 7 mm was used, and it was difficult to use a thin material to further reduce the input. Also,
In the conventional touch panel structure, small beads were uniformly scattered in order to oppose the two transparent electrode plates at a predetermined interval, but in the manufacture of a large touch panel, the beads easily move and cause image unevenness. There was something.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a large-sized glass touch panel that can be easily manufactured, has excellent characteristics, is highly reliable, and can be manufactured at low cost.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for manufacturing a large-sized glass touch panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of:
Form a transparent conductive film on the surface of each glass substrate,
A pattern of dot spacers is formed on one surface of the transparent conductive film, and the transparent conductive films of the two glass substrates are opposed to each other at a predetermined distance via the dot spacers. Is disposed on a screen of a display device, characterized in that the thickness is reduced by chemical etching. Chemical etching of the surface of one glass substrate,
By reducing the thickness, breakage during the manufacturing process is eliminated,
As well as making large glass touch panels easier,
It can be manufactured with excellent characteristics, high reliability and low cost.

Further, it is preferable that the dot spacers are formed by a photolithography process in that they can be formed at uniform sizes and intervals, and the image quality can be easily viewed without unevenness.

Further, the two glass substrates are excellent in that a large-sized glass touch panel can be manufactured when they are sized to be arranged on a screen of a display device of 13 inches or more.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a manufacturing process of a large-sized Gatus touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1A, first, transparent conductive films 2a and 2b are formed on the upper surfaces of two large glass substrates 1a and 1b, respectively, and the respective transparent conductive films 2a and 2b are formed. Are formed, which are connected to the electrodes. Then, the transparent conductive film 2 of one glass substrate 1a
A large number of dot spacers 3 are pattern-formed on the surface b. The two glass substrates 1a and 1b are, for example, 1
It is formed in a rectangular shape used as a touch panel on a screen of a display device of 3 inches or more, and has a thickness of 1.1.
A transparent soda glass of about mm is used. On the surfaces of these two large-sized glass substrates 1a and 1b, for example, the transparent conductive films 2a and 2b having a thickness of 50 to 400
An ITO film of about 0 ° is formed, and these transparent conductive films 2 are formed.
routing electrodes 4 electrically connected to a and 2b, respectively.
As a and 4b, for example, a silver paste film or a copper paste film having a thickness of about 0.1 μm to 20 μm, or a film of aluminum, chromium, copper, gold, or the like is formed by vacuum evaporation. On the surface of one of the transparent conductive films 2b, for example, a number of dot spacers 3 made of an acrylic resist having a size of about 5 μ to 100 μm, such as a square or a circle, and a thickness of about 1 μm to 20 μm are provided. For example, a pattern is uniformly formed by a photolithography process at intervals of about 5 to 10 mm.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, the two large glass substrates 1a and 1b, on which the transparent conductive films 2a and 2b are formed, face each other. For example, the periphery is sealed with the bonding material 5 at a constant interval of about 2 to 50 μ, preferably about 8 to 12 μ.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), the surface of one large glass substrate 1a is chemically etched with, for example, hydrofluoric acid, and the initial thickness is uniformly reduced from 1.1 mm to about 0.2 mm. make it thin.

According to the method for manufacturing a large-sized glass touch panel having the above structure, two large-sized glass substrates 1 having the same thickness are used.
a, 1b, and a transparent conductive film 2
a, 2b, routing electrodes 4a, 4b, and a large number of dot spacers 3 on the surface of one transparent conductive film 2b;
After the transparent conductive films 2a and 2b are opposed to each other with a predetermined distance therebetween and the periphery thereof is sealed with a bonding material 5, the surface of one large glass substrate 1a is thinned by chemical etching. Eliminates the process of handling substrates, improves yield without breaking, and can use general soda glass without using thin special materials as in the past. Can be manufactured. Unlike the case of using a film, the large glass touch panel manufactured by such a process has a beautiful screen due to the high transparency of the glass, there is no change over time, the color of the screen does not fade, and the touch is small and the touch is small. There is no change in the feeling and the image is excellent in smoothness, so that there is no distortion of the image, the surface is hardly scratched, the dirt is easily removed, and the care is easy. In addition, since a large number of fine dot spacers 3 are formed in a pattern, they are more stable than conventional spraying of beads or the like, and the image is easy to see without unevenness. Furthermore, by making the surface of one large glass substrate 1a thinner by chemical etching, it is possible to freely control the thickness, and by making it thinner than before, it becomes possible to input with a light touch of a finger or a pen. In addition, by controlling the roughness of the surface of the large glass substrate 1a by chemical etching, reflection can be eliminated to make it easy to see,
A moderate resistance can be given to pen touch, and input can be facilitated. Therefore, according to such a manufacturing method, a large-sized glass touch panel having excellent characteristics, high reliability, and low cost can be easily manufactured.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the two large glass substrates 1a and 1b are made of soda glass having the same thickness and a thickness of about 1.1 mm. Glass materials of any size and thickness can be used according to the requirements, and different thicknesses can be used. The etching time can be reduced. Further, the transparent conductive films 2a,
The thickness and material of 2b, the routing electrodes 4a and 4b, and the dot spacer 3 can be arbitrarily set and are not limited to the embodiment.

[0014]

As described above, in the method for manufacturing a large glass touch panel according to the present invention, a transparent conductive film is formed on the surfaces of two glass substrates, and a large number of dots are formed on the surface of one of the transparent conductive films. After forming a spacer and opposing the transparent conductive film at a predetermined interval, the thickness of one of the glass substrates is reduced by chemical etching to facilitate the manufacture and provide excellent characteristics and reliability. It can be manufactured at high cost and at low cost. Further, if the dot spacers are formed in a pattern by a photolithography process, they can be formed with uniform sizes and intervals, and the image quality can be easily viewed without unevenness. In addition, two glass substrates 13
The size that is arranged on the screen of a display device of inches or more is excellent in that a large glass touch panel can be manufactured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of a large-sized glass touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Glass substrate 2a, 2b Transparent conductive film 3 Dot spacer 4a, 4b Leading electrode 5 Bonding material

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kiyohiro Yokoyama 1396-3 Musashino, Oi-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama

Claims (3)

[Claims] A transparent conductive film is formed on the surfaces of two glass substrates, a dot spacer is formed on one surface of the transparent conductive film, and the transparent conductive film of the two glass substrates is formed via the dot spacers. A method of manufacturing a large-sized glass touch panel disposed on a screen of a display device, wherein after the films are opposed at a predetermined interval, the surface of the one glass substrate is chemically etched to reduce the thickness. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dot spacers are patterned by a photolithography process. 3. The method for manufacturing a large glass touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the two glass substrates are sized to be arranged on a screen of a display device of 13 inches or more.