KR100568313B1 - Optical device array and touch pad comprising the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical element array formed by arranging optical elements. The present invention includes a laminated structure including a plurality of laminated ceramic sheets and having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals; And an optical element array including a plurality of optical elements mounted in the cavity, wherein the stacked structure includes at least one ceramic sheet formed by stacking a conductive pattern on an upper surface thereof, the conductive layer being formed on the ceramic sheet of the uppermost layer. A pattern is electrically connected to each other by using a conductive pattern and a conductive via hole on the ceramic sheet stacked below, and an optical device mounting part in which the plurality of optical devices electrically connected to the conductive pattern are arranged at predetermined intervals on the topmost ceramic sheet; And at least one ceramic sheet stacked on the optical device mounting part and having a plurality of open regions formed at predetermined intervals on the plurality of optical devices disposed on the optical device mounting part to form a cavity on the optical device. A cavity forming part is included. According to the present invention, a larger number of optical devices can be arranged in the optical device array, the gap can be maintained accurately, and the alignment accuracy of the light emitting device and the light receiving device can be improved in the touchpad device employing the optical device array. .

Touch pad, optical element array, light emitting element, light receiving element, LTCC

Description

Optical device array and touch pad device having the same {OPTICAL DEVICE ARRAY AND TOUCH PAD COMPRISING THE SAME}             

1A is a perspective view schematically showing a conventional touch pad device.

1B is a partial perspective view partially illustrating a light emitting device and a light receiving device of a conventional touch pad device.

2A is a partial perspective view showing a portion of an optical device array according to the present invention.

2B is a cross-sectional view of an optical device array according to the present invention.

Figure 2c is an exploded perspective view showing an optical device array according to the present invention.

3A is a perspective view schematically showing a touch pad device according to the present invention.

3B is a cross-sectional view of the touch pad device according to the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

20: optical device array 21: laminated structure

22: optical element 24: transparent cover

25a: Optical element mounting part 25b: Cavity forming part

251a-251f: Ceramic Sheet 26a-26c: Conductive Pattern

27: conductive via hole H: cavity

30: touch pad device 31: display unit

The present invention relates to an optical device array formed by arranging optical devices, and more particularly, by stacking a plurality of ceramic sheets having conductive patterns and a plurality of ceramic sheets having open regions by using an LTCC process, and having a cavity at a predetermined interval. The present invention relates to an optical device array including a stacked structure and an optical device mounted in the cavity, and a touch pad device using the same.

In general, a touch pad (or touch screen) device is a kind of input device, which is simpler to input than other input devices such as a mouse, a keyboard, and the like. In particular, recently, PDAs, notebooks, etc. are being essentially applied, and its field of application is increasing dramatically.

Examples of the operation method of the touch pad include a resistive film, a capacitive type, an ultrasonic type, a light sensor type, and an electromagnetic induction type. 1A illustrates an example of an optical sensor type touch pad among the above operating modes.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the conventional optical sensor type touch pad 10 arranges a plurality of light emitting elements 12 and a plurality of light receiving elements 13 around a display unit 11 such as a liquid crystal display, and emits light. The device 12 emits light, such as infrared rays, to receive light from the light receiving element 13 facing the display unit 11. A separate circuit unit 15 for driving control of the display unit 11 and optical elements (light emitting element and light receiving element) is provided.

The light sensor type touch pad 10 is arranged at regular intervals by arranging the light emitting device 12 and the light receiving device 13 opposite to each other, and coordinates with respect to the light receiving device 13 corresponding to each light emitting device 12. After setting the value in advance, when the user touches the display unit 11, the coordinate value of the light beam to be blocked is read to detect the touched position.

FIG. 2B is an enlarged perspective view of the area indicated by 'A' of FIG. 2A (optical device array in which light emitting devices and light receiving devices are arranged), in which a conventional optical device array is surface mounted on a flexible PCB 14 having flexibility The light emitting element 12 and the light receiving element 13 are mounted at a predetermined interval d using a technique. As such, since the conventional optical device array is mounted on the single flexible PCB 14, all patterns for electrical connection of the optical device should be formed on the PCB 14. Therefore, the area in which the optical devices can be disposed is limited, and the distance between the optical devices cannot be reduced, so that the number of optical devices can not be increased, so that the resolution of the touch pad cannot be increased.

In addition, since the accuracy of the spacing between the optical devices mounted on the PCB 14 and the alignment of the positions between the opposing optical devices depend only on the surface mounting technology, the accuracy is very low, and in particular, the flexible PCB to be bent or When twisted, there was a problem in that the alignment of the optical device is misaligned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to form a conductive pattern in a laminated structure having a cavity fabricated using LTCC technology to reduce external connection patterns, thereby reducing the distance between optical devices. In addition, the present invention provides an optical device array and a touchpad device using the same, which can improve the accuracy of spacing and alignment between optical devices at the level of mechanical processing precision of the LTCC process.

The present invention to achieve the above object,

A laminated structure including a plurality of laminated ceramic sheets and having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals; And

An optical device array including a plurality of optical devices mounted in the cavity is provided.

Preferably, the laminated structure,

At least one ceramic sheet having a conductive pattern formed on the upper surface of the ceramic sheet, wherein the conductive pattern formed on the ceramic sheet of the uppermost layer is electrically connected to each other by using a conductive pattern and a conductive via hole on the ceramic sheet stacked below. An optical device mounting unit in which the plurality of optical devices electrically connected to the conductive pattern are disposed at predetermined intervals on the ceramic sheet of the substrate; And

A cavity is formed on the optical device, including at least one ceramic sheet stacked on the optical device mounting part and having a plurality of open regions formed at predetermined intervals on the plurality of optical devices disposed on the optical device mounting part. It may include a cavity forming portion.

It is preferable that the optical device array according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a transparent cover formed on the cavity. In particular, the laminate structure is preferably formed using an LTCC process, and the optical device may be a light emitting device and / or a light receiving device.

In addition, the present invention also provides a touch pad device having the optical element array. Touch pad device according to an embodiment of the present invention,

A display unit;

At least one first optical device disposed on one side of the display unit and including a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets, the stacked structure having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of optical devices mounted in the cavity. An array; And

It is formed on the other side of the display unit facing the first optical element array, and includes a plurality of laminated ceramic sheets, a laminated structure having a plurality of cavities arranged at a predetermined interval, and a plurality of optical elements mounted in the cavity And at least one second optical device array, wherein the cavity of the first optical device array and the cavity of the second optical device array face each other.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of optical devices of the first optical device array and the plurality of optical devices of the second optical device array are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with each other, and the plurality of optical devices of the first optical device array emit light. The plurality of optical devices of the second optical device array may be light receiving devices.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of optical elements of the first optical element array and the plurality of optical elements of the second optical element array corresponding to each other include a light emitting element and a light receiving element, The optical device of the second optical device array corresponding to the light emitting device is a light receiving device, and the optical device of the second optical device array corresponding to the light receiving device of the first optical device array is a light emitting device. At this time, it is preferable that the light emitting element and the light receiving element are alternately arranged in the plurality of optical elements of the first optical element array.

Hereinafter, an optical device array and a touch pad device using the same according to various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2A is a partial perspective view showing a portion of an optical device array according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2A, the optical device array 20 according to the present invention includes a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets, and the stacked structure 21 and the cavity having a plurality of cavities H arranged at predetermined intervals. It includes a plurality of optical elements (not shown) mounted in (H).

2B is a cross-sectional view of an optical device array according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2C is an exploded perspective view (only one cavity portion is shown) of the optical device array according to an embodiment of the present invention. By reference, the structure of the above-described optical element array will be more clearly understood.

As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, the multilayer structure 21 (21 of FIG. 2A) may include at least one ceramic sheet 251a, 251b, and 251c formed by stacking conductive patterns 26a, 26b, and 26c on an upper surface thereof. The conductive pattern 26c formed on the ceramic sheet 251c of the uppermost layer is electrically formed by using the conductive patterns 26a and 26b and the conductive via hole 27 on the ceramic sheets 251a and 251b stacked below. An optical device mounting portion 25a and the optical device mounting portion 25a, the optical device mounting portion 25a having the plurality of optical devices 22 electrically connected to the conductive pattern 26c on the topmost ceramic sheet 251c and disposed at predetermined intervals. At least one ceramic sheet 251d, 251e, and 251f stacked on the optical device mounting portion 25a and having a plurality of open areas formed at predetermined intervals on the plurality of optical devices 22 disposed on the optical device mounting portion 25a Cavity forming unit 25 to form a cavity (H) on the optical device b).

The plurality of optical devices 22 may be light emitting devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) or light receiving devices such as photo diodes (PDs), depending on the field in which the optical device array is applied. You can also include them all.

Conductive patterns 26a, 26b, and 26c are formed on upper surfaces of the ceramic sheets 251a, 251b, and 251c included in the optical device mounting part 25a. The conductive patterns 26a, 26b, and 26c formed on the ceramic sheets 251a, 251b, and 251c are electrically connected through conductive via holes 27 formed in the ceramic sheet, if necessary, and the ceramics of the uppermost layer of the ceramic sheets are The conductive pattern 26c formed on the top surface of the sheet 251c is electrically connected to the electrode of the optical device 22.

As such, the electrical connection for supplying power to the optical device 22 may be formed through a conductive pattern formed by dividing the plurality of ceramic sheets 251a, 251b, and 251c. Compared with the conventional art of forming, the distance between the optical elements 22 can be reduced by reducing the area where the conductive pattern is formed.

The cavity forming portion 25b is formed by stacking a plurality of ceramic sheets 251d, 251e, and 251f having an open area at a central portion thereof. The open area formed at the center of the ceramic sheets 251d, 251e, and 251f forms a cavity H when the ceramic sheets are stacked. The open area or cavity H is provided above the area in which the optical device 22 is mounted in the optical device mounting part 25a. In the optical device array according to the present invention, a plurality of cavities (H) are arranged at predetermined intervals, and the optical devices are mounted in the cavity (H), so that the distance between the optical devices can be maintained more accurately.

The transparent cover 24 may be formed on the cavity formed in the cavity forming part 25b. The transparent cover 24 is to protect the optical devices disposed in the cavity, and in particular, when the transparent cover 24 is manufactured as a lens, the transparent cover 24 may adjust the linearity of light emitted or received.

The above-described laminated structure (21 in FIG. 2A), that is, the optical element mounting portion 25a and the cavity forming portion 25b particularly refers to a low temperature co-fired ceramic process (LTCC, hereinafter referred to as 'LTCC'). It is preferably formed at the same time using.

In general, LTCC technology is applied to a conductive pattern (generally, a metal electrode) on the ceramic sheet in the form of a glass (glass), and laminated and pressed a plurality of ceramic substrates with the conductive pattern, 800 to 1000 ℃ It is the technique of forming a board | substrate of a laminated structure using a metal and co-firing method at the low temperature of the grade. The LTCC technology is not only used for high density circuit boards used in various technical fields such as automobiles and digital cameras, but also applied to ultra high frequency wireless communication technology due to the technical possibility of embedding metal circuits in ceramics. It is utilized as a useful technology for miniaturization, low cost, light weight, and functional integration of mobile communication components. Parts applying LTCC technology commonly include a material layer (ceramic sheet) composed of a material that expresses the electrical, dielectric, and magnetic properties of the part, and a metal coating film (conductive pattern) applied as a form on the material layer. This structure has a mutually laminated structure. The external surface of the laminated structure of the material layer and the metal layer includes an external electrode layer for attaching an external terminal and a lead or the like to enable a signal to be input and output to secure the sealing property. The external electrode layer exists as a metal coating film on the external surface of the component, and enables the input and output of signals and circuit elements embedded in the inside of the substrate, as well as mounting IC circuits, optical elements, etc. inside the cavity structure. After that, seal it with a lid to ensure a sealed structure.

As described above, the conventional optical device array is arranged using a method of mounting the optical device on the substrate and all the patterns for electrical connection of the optical device should be formed on a single substrate. In contrast, as in the present invention, when the conductive patterns are formed on the plurality of stacked sheets using the LTCC process and the cavity is formed, the conductive patterns for electrical connection may be divided and formed on the plurality of sheets. The spacing between them can be reduced, and the alignment of the optical elements can be arranged with a precision of the machining level without merely relying on the accuracy of the mounting technology, thereby increasing the accuracy of the optical element alignment. In particular, when the optical device array is applied to a touch pad where the accuracy of the optical device alignment is very important, the positional accuracy of the light emitting device and the light receiving device facing each other may be increased.

In addition, the material used in the LTCC process is characterized by a high content of alumina, which has a high thermal conductivity, so that heat generated in the optical device can be easily released to the outside.

The present invention also provides a touchpad device employing the optical element array described above. 3A is a perspective view schematically illustrating a touch pad device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3A, the touch pad device 30 according to the present invention includes a display unit 31 and a plurality of ceramic sheets stacked on one side of the display unit 31 and arranged at predetermined intervals. A stack structure having a plurality of cavities, a plurality of first optical element arrays 20a including a plurality of optical elements mounted in the cavity, and a display unit 31 facing the first optical element arrays 20a. Two second optical device arrays 20b formed on the other side and including a plurality of stacked structures including a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets and arranged in predetermined intervals, and a plurality of optical devices mounted in the cavity. Include. In particular, the cavity of the first optical device array 20a and the cavity of the second optical device array 20b are disposed to face each other.

The display unit 31 and the two first and second optical element arrays 20a and 20b positioned at both sides thereof are disposed on a substrate 34, and the display unit 31 and the first and second light are disposed on the substrate 34. A circuit unit 35 may be formed on the substrate 34 to supply and control power to the device arrays 20a and 20b and to process coordinate values received from the optical device array.

The display unit 31 is a device for displaying an image in a touch pad device. The display unit 31 includes both a liquid crystal display (LCD) generally used in a small touch pad device or a general display device such as a relatively large CRT or PDP. can do.

The first optical device array 20a and the second optical device array 20b are optical device arrays according to the present invention and have a structure in which a plurality of optical devices are mounted in a plurality of cavities of a stacked structure manufactured by the LTCC process. .

In the touch pad device 30 according to the present invention, a plurality of optical elements included in the first optical element array 20a and a plurality of optical elements included in the second optical element array 20b are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence with each other. Should be. 3B illustrates an example in which an optical device included in the first optical device array 20a and an optical device included in the second optical device array 20b are disposed in one-to-one correspondence. For example, when the plurality of optical devices included in the first optical device array 20a are all the light emitting devices 32, all of the optical devices included in the second optical device array 20b are all light receiving devices 33. Each light emitting device 32 corresponds one-to-one with the light receiving device 33. That is, one light receiving element included in the second optical element array 20b corresponding to one light emitting element 32 included in the first optical element array 20a exists 33.

As another example, a plurality of light emitting devices and light receiving devices may be included in the first optical device array 20a. In this case, a light receiving element is disposed in the second optical element array 20b to correspond to the light emitting element included in the first optical element array 20a, and the light receiving element is included in the first optical element array 20a. In response to the light emitting device is disposed in the second optical device array (20b). In a particularly preferred embodiment, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are alternately arranged in the first optical element array 20a, so that the second optical element array 20b corresponds to the light emitting element of the first optical element array 20a. The light receiving element and the light emitting element corresponding to the light receiving element of the first optical element array 20a are alternately arranged.

As described above, the touch pad device according to the present invention employs an optical element array having a cavity manufactured by an LTCC process, thereby forming a conductive pattern for electrical connection in a stacked structure of a plurality of optical element arrays, thereby providing a gap between optical elements. Can be reduced. In particular, it is possible to increase the accuracy of optical element alignment by arranging the optical elements with a precision of the machining level (error range ± 30 μm) without depending on the accuracy of the mounting technique. That is, since the alignment of the light emitting device and the light receiving device opposite thereto can be accurately performed, accurate operation of the touch pad device can be guaranteed.

The present invention is not limited by the above-described embodiment and the accompanying drawings, but is intended to be limited by the appended claims, and various forms of substitution, modification, and within the scope not departing from the technical spirit of the present invention described in the claims. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes are possible.

As described above, according to the present invention, by forming a conductive pattern on a plurality of stacked sheets by using the LTCC process, the conductive pattern for electrical connection can be divided and formed on the plurality of sheets, thereby providing optical Since the spacing between elements can be reduced, the touch pad device employing the optical element array can have a higher resolution.

In addition, according to the present invention, by forming the cavity using the LTCC process and mounting the optical element therein, it is possible to arrange the optical elements with a precision of the machining level without simply relying on the accuracy of the mounting technology to maintain the gap between the optical elements accurately In the touch pad device, the alignment accuracy of the light emitting device and the light receiving device may be increased.

Claims (10)

A laminated structure including a plurality of laminated ceramic sheets and having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals; And An optical device array comprising a plurality of optical devices mounted in the cavity. The method of claim 1, wherein the laminated structure, At least one ceramic sheet having a conductive pattern formed on the upper surface of the ceramic sheet, wherein the conductive pattern formed on the ceramic sheet of the uppermost layer is electrically connected to each other by using a conductive pattern and a conductive via hole on the ceramic sheet stacked below. An optical device mounting unit in which the plurality of optical devices electrically connected to the conductive pattern are disposed at predetermined intervals on the ceramic sheet of the substrate; And A cavity is formed on the optical device, including at least one ceramic sheet stacked on the optical device mounting part and having a plurality of open regions formed at predetermined intervals on the plurality of optical devices disposed on the optical device mounting part. An optical device array comprising a cavity forming portion. The method of claim 1, And a transparent cover formed on the cavity. The method of claim 1, The stack structure is formed using an LTCC process. The method of claim 1, wherein the optical device, An optical element array, characterized in that it is a light emitting element and / or a light receiving element. A display unit; At least one first optical device array disposed on one side of the display unit and including a stacked structure including a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets and having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of optical devices mounted in the cavity. ; And A stacked structure formed on the other side of the display unit facing the first optical element array, the multilayer structure including a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets and having a plurality of cavities arranged at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of optical elements mounted in the cavity; At least one second optical element array, And a cavity of the first optical element array and a cavity of the second optical element array face each other. The method of claim 6, And a plurality of optical devices of the first optical device array and a plurality of optical devices of the second optical device array are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence with each other. The method of claim 7, wherein And a plurality of optical elements of the first optical element array are light emitting elements, and the plurality of optical elements of the second optical element array are light receiving elements. The method of claim 7, wherein The plurality of optical devices of the first optical device array and the plurality of optical devices of the second optical device array may include light emitting devices and light receiving devices, and may include light emitting devices of the first optical device array. An optical element is a light receiving element, and the optical element of the second optical element array corresponding to the light receiving element of the first optical element array is a light emitting element. The method of claim 9, The plurality of optical devices of the first optical device array, wherein the light emitting device and the light receiving device are alternately arranged.

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