KR101030232B1 - Touch panel sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A touch panel sensor is provided to minimize damage ability of ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) electrode which is provided to lower surface of the insulating substrate due to external impact or refraction of an insulating substrate by contact of a user. CONSTITUTION: Electrode patterns(112) is formed on a low surface of an insulating substrate. A non-conductive window decoration(120) includes a through-region(122) exposing a part of electrode patterns by secluding light. A color control conductive layer(140) includes transparent conductive ink which is provided to the through-region and coloring ink for window decoration. A metal electrode terminal(113) is connected to the electrode pattern with a color control conductive layer as an intermediation.

Description

Touch Panel Sensor {TOUCH PANEL SENSOR}

The present invention relates to a touch panel sensor, and more particularly, to a touch panel sensor for detecting a contact position of a part of the body.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional capacitive touch panel sensor.

Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional touch panel sensor 1 is bonded to the lower insulating sheet 10 and the upper insulating sheet 20 at predetermined intervals. The lower ITO electrode 30 and the upper ITO electrode 40 are vertically arranged on the opposite surfaces of the lower insulating sheet 10 and the upper insulating sheet 20, and specifically, the lower ITO electrode 30 is The upper surface of the lower insulating sheet 10 is oriented from left to right, and the upper ITO electrode 40 is oriented from the upper side to the lower side on the bottom surface of the upper insulating sheet 20.

The touch panel sensor 1 has a predetermined capacitance, that is, a capacitance value, corresponding to the area of each intersection at each intersection of the lower ITO electrode 10 and the upper ITO electrode 20 arranged to cross each other. When the body part is close, the capacitance of the body part may be changed by adding the area of the body part to the area of the upper ITO electrode 20 disposed above.

In addition, in order to electrically connect the upper ITO electrode 40 and the electrode 52 of the external circuit board 50, a connecting line 48 made of metal is formed from the end of the upper ITO electrode 40 from the upper insulating sheet 20. It extends to the bottom of the), the lower ITO electrode 20 is also connected to the circuit board 50 by a separate connection line.

In this case, the connecting line 48, which is generally provided as a metal, is shiny with metallic luster and does not pass through the light, so that the connecting line 48 may be visually confirmed on the upper portion of the transparent upper insulating sheet 20. Thus, in the related art, a separate non-translucent film 65 for window decoration is formed on the bottom of the reinforcing substrate 60 such as glass or translucent reinforced plastic so that the connecting line 48 and the circuit board 50 are not visually checked. The reinforcing substrate 60 is disposed on the upper insulating sheet 20.

However, attaching the non-translucent film 65 to the bottom surface of the reinforcing substrate 60 may cause a defect because it may be easily shifted during the attaching process, and the attaching process itself may be cumbersome and may increase the process difficulty. have.

In addition, further providing the reinforcing substrate 60 on the upper insulating sheet 20 to protect the surface of the upper insulating sheet 20 results in an increase in the thickness of the touch panel sensor and a complicated assembly process. Occurs.

In addition, an increase in the thickness of the touch panel sensor may cause a decrease in transparency and clarity of the touch panel sensor, and may decrease the sensitivity of the touch panel sensor.

The present invention provides a touch panel sensor capable of minimizing the possibility of breakage of the ITO electrode provided on the bottom surface of the insulating substrate even by refraction or external impact of the insulating substrate generated by the user's contact.

The present invention provides a touch panel sensor in which the connecting line and the circuit board for electrically connecting the ITO electrode disposed on the insulating board and the external circuit board are not visually confirmed.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel sensor for detecting a contact position of a part of the body through a change in capacitance is formed on the insulating substrate, the bottom surface of the insulating substrate, a plurality of sensors for sensing the approach of the body An electrode pattern, a non-conductive window decoration provided to block light on the bottom surface of the insulating substrate and including a through area exposing a portion of the plurality of electrode patterns, a conductive transparent ink provided in the through area electrically connected to the electrode pattern, And a color control conductive layer including a coloring ink having a color corresponding to the window decoration, and a metal electrode terminal formed on the bottom of the window decoration and electrically connected to the electrode pattern via the color control conductive layer, respectively.

In the present invention, the touch panel sensor may include all of the sensors for detecting the contact position of a part of the body by using the change in capacitance generated by the body contact or approach. For example, a touch panel sensor including two insulating substrates having electrode patterns formed on the bottom and upper surfaces thereof, facing each other, and including an insulating member for electrically insulating the two insulating substrates may be used. For example, a touch panel sensor in which an electrode pattern is formed on at least one side of an upper surface and a lower surface of one insulating substrate may be used.

In the present invention, the insulating substrate may be manufactured using a plastic such as polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) through which light is transmitted, such as glass or a glass material.

In addition, the electrode pattern formed on the bottom surface of the insulating substrate may be manufactured using a transparent conductive material, and the material of the electrode pattern may be indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO) having both transparency and conductivity. have. Therefore, the organic light emitting diode (OLED), the liquid crystal display device (LCD), and the plasma display panel (PDP), which are not visible from the outside and are disposed on the rear surface of the touch panel sensor. The image of the display module, such as may be exposed.

Meanwhile, a metal electrode terminal electrically connected to an end of the transparent electrode pattern is disposed at one edge of the insulating substrate. Since the metal electrode terminal is provided as a non-transmissive metal, it may be visible from the outside, and the conductive connection pattern connecting the metal electrode terminal and the external circuit board may also be provided as the non-transmissive metal to be visible from the outside. Therefore, the window decoration is provided in the shape of a frame in the peripheral region of the insulating substrate on which the metal electrode terminal or the conductive connection pattern is disposed.

Here, it may be considered that the end of the transparent electrode pattern is formed on the bottom of the window decoration, and the metal electrode terminal or the conductive connection pattern is formed on the bottom of the window decoration, but this is the transparent electrode at the boundary portion where the transparent electrode pattern and the window decoration meet. Refraction occurs in the pattern, which can degrade durability.

Accordingly, in the touch panel sensor according to the present invention, a through area is formed around the end of the transparent electrode pattern in the window decoration, and the end of each transparent electrode pattern is disposed in the through area so that the transparent electrode pattern is entirely refracted of the insulating substrate. It can be formed on the bottom.

The color regulating conductive layer is provided in the above-described through region to block light, thereby preventing the interior of the touch panel sensor from being exposed through the through region. In addition, the color control conductive layer may include a conductive transparent ink provided in the through area electrically connected to the transparent electrode pattern, and the conductive transparent ink may be PEDOT (polyethylene dioxythiophene), ITO, IZO, CNT (carbon nanotube). ) To include at least one. In addition, the color control conductive layer may include a coloring ink having a color corresponding to window decoration. It is easy to adjust the overall color of the color control conductive layer similar to window decoration by using a coloring ink, and since the conductive transparent ink described above is also transparent, it is easy to match the color with the window decoration by using a coloring ink. For example, when the window decoration is an index of black type, the coloring ink may use black dye. If the window decoration is an index of white type, the coloring ink may also use white dye. At this time, any of electroconductive and nonelectroconductive materials may be used for coloring ink.

In addition, specifically, a color conductive layer may be disposed between the transparent electrode pattern and the color control conductive layer and disposed behind the color control conductive layer.

The color conductive layer may include carbon as the conductive material, and when compared to the color conductive layer, the conductive color of the conductive transparent ink may be somewhat lowered.

At least one of the above-described color control conductive layer and color conductive layer may be formed using a printing, silkscreen, inkjet, or deposition method.

For reference, the window decoration may be formed using the coloring ink used in the color regulating conductive layer so as to have the same or similar color as the color regulating conductive layer. Here, the meaning of having the same or similar color may include the meaning that the color control conductive layer visible from the outside has the same or similar color as that of the window decoration, and thus may not be visually distinguished from the window decoration.

By forming the metal electrode terminal under the above-described color conductive layer, the end of the transparent electrode pattern disposed in the through area and the metal electrode terminal can be electrically connected to each other, and at the same time to prevent the opaque metal electrode terminal from being exposed to the outside. Can be.

On the other hand, the thickness of the window decoration is generally thicker than the thickness of the transparent electrode pattern having a thickness of about 1 μm or less. Therefore, it is preferable that the color control conductive layer and the color conductive layer not only cover the penetrating area but also fill the groove of the penetrating area caused by the difference in the thickness of the window decoration and the transparent electrode pattern.

The touch panel sensor of the present invention forms a through region at a portion where the window decoration and the transparent electrode pattern overlapped on the bottom surface of the insulating substrate overlap, so that bending does not occur at the end of the transparent electrode pattern, thereby refracting or externally insulating the substrate. Damage to the transparent electrode pattern may be minimized by the impact.

The touch panel sensor of the present invention can prevent the inside of the touch panel sensor from being visible through the through area by forming the color adjusting conductive layer and the color conductive layer in the through area.

Since the color control conductive layer of the touch panel sensor of the present invention uses a conductive transparent ink, it is easy to match color with window decoration by mixing coloring inks.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional capacitive touch panel sensor.
2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a touch panel sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a rear perspective view of the upper sheet of the touch panel sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view cut along the AA direction to explain a connection structure between the metal electrode terminal and the conductive connection pattern in FIG. 3.
5 is a rear perspective view of the upper sheet of the touch panel sensor according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a connection structure of a metal electrode terminal and a conductive connection pattern in a touch panel sensor according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited or limited by the embodiments. For reference, in the present description, the same numbers refer to substantially the same elements, and may be described by quoting contents described in other drawings under such a rule, and the contents repeated or deemed apparent to those skilled in the art may be omitted.

The present invention relates to a touch panel sensor for use in a display for sensing the contact position of a part of the body.

2 is an exploded perspective view for explaining a touch panel sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the upper sheet of the touch panel sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is In order to explain the connection structure between the metal electrode terminal and the conductive connection pattern, it is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view cut along the AA direction.

2 to 4, the touch panel sensor 100 includes an upper sheet 110, a lower sheet 130, and an insulating member 150.

The upper sheet 110 includes an upper insulating substrate 111 and an upper transparent electrode pattern 112, and the lower sheet 130 includes a lower insulating substrate 131 and a lower transparent electrode pattern 132.

The upper insulating substrate 111 is a material having a high surface strength and may be manufactured using a glass material or another plastic material that transmits light, such as glass material, and has excellent surface strength. The lower insulating substrate 131 on which the lower transparent electrode pattern 132 interacting with the electrode pattern 112 is disposed may also be manufactured by selecting the same material as the upper insulating substrate 111.

Meanwhile, the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 and the lower transparent electrode pattern 132, which interact with each other on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 111 and the upper surface of the lower insulating substrate 131, may sense an approach of a body part. The upper transparent electrode pattern 112 or the lower transparent electrode pattern 132 may use indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO) having both light transmittance and conductivity. Therefore, it may be formed of a transparent material that is not visible from the outside and may pass light emitted from a display such as a PDP or LCD that may be disposed at the bottom of the touch panel sensor 100.

In this case, since the shape of the lower insulating substrate 131 is firmly supported by the display disposed below and is not directly touched by a part of the body, the shape is not easily deformed by external force. It is not necessary to consider the strength, and as a material it can be formed using a material such as plastic and glass, such as polyethylene (polyethylene), polypropylene (polypropylene), acrylic (acryloyl), polyethylene terephthalate (PET). On the other hand, in the case of the upper insulating substrate 111, its strength should be considered differently from the lower insulating substrate 131 described above. Specifically, the touch panel sensor 100 of the present invention adopts a capacitive method, and the upper transparent electrode pattern formed on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 111 and the lower transparent electrode pattern formed on the upper surface of the lower insulating substrate 131 ( In order to prevent the 132 from being bonded to each other, even if a part of the body is directly touched by the upper insulating substrate 111, it is preferable not to be deflected downward as much as possible. Accordingly, in the present invention, the upper insulating substrate 111 may include a rigid glass substrate having excellent strength and is not easily refracted. Although not necessarily a glass material, light is transmitted, and the polycarbonate is not easily refracted due to its excellent strength. It may include a reinforced plastic such as.

In addition, an insulating member 150 is disposed between the upper sheet 110 and the lower sheet 130, and the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 and the lower transparent electrode pattern 132 are electrically separated by the insulating member 150. Can be. The insulating member 150 is bonded to the upper sheet 110 and the lower sheet 120 by using an optical adhesive film or an optically clear adhesive (OCA) film, and the light is well transmitted, thereby being excellent optically.

As described above, the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 uses ITO or IZO which is widely used as a transparent electrode among conductive materials of transparent material, and is not visible from the outside.

However, at one edge of the upper insulating substrate 111, a metal electrode terminal 113 electrically connected to an end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 is disposed. Since the metal electrode terminal 113 is made of a non-transparent metal, the metal electrode terminal 113 may be visible from the outside, and the conductive connection pattern 114 connecting the metal electrode terminal 113 and the external circuit board 160 may also be non-transparent metal. It can be provided to be visible from the outside.

The window decoration 120 is disposed on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 111 in a frame shape along its periphery to prevent the conductive connection pattern 114 from being visible from the outside.

However, in the present invention, at the boundary where the window decoration 120 and the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 meet, the window decoration 120 prevents the end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 from being deflected by the window decoration 120. ), A through region 122 is formed at each end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112. Accordingly, bending does not occur at an end portion of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112, and thus damage to the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 may be minimized due to the refraction or external impact of the upper insulating substrate 111.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the through region 122 is provided in the form of a hole exposing the end portion of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112, in another embodiment of the present invention, the through region 222 is shown in FIG. Likewise, the window decoration 220 may be provided in a U-shaped cutout pattern extending from the boundary where the window decoration 220 and the upper transparent electrode pattern 212 extend from the edge of the upper transparent electrode pattern 212. For reference, other components other than the shape of the through area according to the present embodiment, specifically, the upper sheet 210, the upper insulating substrate 211, the metal electrode terminal 213, the conductive connection pattern 214, in FIG. The color adjusting conductive layer 240 and the color conductive layer 270 are substantially the same as the components of the touch panel sensor illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4 of the foregoing embodiment, and the detailed description thereof is described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. Reference may be made to the description of the touch panel sensor shown in FIG.

2 to 4, the metal electrode terminal 113 for electrically connecting the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 and the external circuit board 160 is formed on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 111. In general, the width thereof may be formed to have a width of about 300 μm to facilitate the connection with the circuit board 160. Because of this, it can be visually confirmed through the through region 122 from the outside of the upper insulating substrate 111 through which light passes well, which may have a bad effect on appearance.

Accordingly, the color control conductive layer 140 is formed in the through region 122 to prevent the metal electrode terminal 113 electrically connected to the end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 from being exposed to the outside through the through region 122. ) And the color conductive layer 170 are disposed.

The color regulating conductive layer 140 may be provided in the above-described through region 122 to block light, thereby preventing the inside of the touch panel sensor 100 from being exposed through the through region 122. The color control conductive layer 140 includes a conductive transparent ink provided in the through area 122 to be electrically connected to the upper transparent electrode pattern 112, and the conductive transparent ink is PEDOT (polyethylene dioxythiophene), ITO, IZO. At least any one of CNTs may be used, and the conductive transparent ink may be prepared by dispersing PEDOT, ITO, IZO, and CNTs in powder form in a suitable solvent (water or alcohol). In addition, the color control conductive layer 140 includes a coloring ink having a color corresponding to the window decoration 120. It is easy to adjust the overall color of the color control conductive layer 140 similarly to the window decoration 120 using the coloring ink, and since the conductive transparent ink described above is also transparent, the window decoration and the color using the coloring ink can be used. It is easy to fit.

The color control conductive layer 140 may be formed by printing, silkscreen, inkjet method, or by vapor deposition by mixing with a conductive transparent ink, a coloring ink, and an adhesive such as a thermal curing agent or an ultraviolet curing agent.

The color conductive layer 170 is disposed on the color control conductive layer 140 and is provided behind the color control conductive layer 140. The color conductive layer 170 includes carbon as a conductive material, and when compared to the carbon of the color conductive layer 170, the conductivity of the conductive transparent ink of the color control conductive layer 140, which may be less conductive, may be compensated. have.

Similarly to the color control conductive layer 140, the color conductive layer 170 may also be mixed with an adhesive such as a thermosetting agent or an ultraviolet curing agent in a conductive material, and may be formed by printing, silk screen, or inkjet method, or through deposition.

By forming the metal electrode terminal 113 under the color conductive layer 170 described above, an end portion of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 disposed in the through region 122 and the metal electrode terminal 113 may be electrically connected to each other. At the same time, the opaque metal electrode terminal 113 can be prevented from being exposed to the outside.

For reference, the window decoration 120 may be formed using a coloring ink used in the color control conductive layer 140 to have the same color or the same color as the color control conductive layer 140, wherein the same or similar color may be used. That is, the color control conductive layer 140 visible from the outside may have the same color as that of the window decoration 120 and may not be visually distinguished from the window decoration 120 from the outside.

On the other hand, the thickness of the window decoration 120 is usually 1㎛ or more, it is generally thicker than the thickness of the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 having a thickness of 1㎛ or less. Therefore, the color control conductive layer 140 and the color conductive layer 170 do not just cover the through region 122, but are generated due to the difference in thickness between the window decoration 120 and the upper transparent electrode pattern 112. The groove of the through area 122 may be filled.

As described above, the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 is formed through the conductive connection pattern 114 electrically connected to the metal electrode terminal 113 formed on the bottom surface of the color conductive layer 170 provided in the through area 122. It is electrically connected to the circuit board 160.

For reference, as shown in the drawing, the conductive connection pattern 114 electrically connected to the upper transparent electrode pattern 112 and the other conductive connection pattern 100 electrically connected to the lower transparent electrode pattern 132 are each a circuit board 160. The electrical contact with the electrode 162 of the circuit board 160 formed on the different surface of the insulating member 150 is provided with a part cut in the portion in which the circuit board 160 is disposed.

6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a connection structure of a metal electrode terminal and a conductive connection pattern in a touch panel sensor according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The touch panel sensor illustrated in FIG. 6 is substantially the same as the touch panel sensor according to the previous embodiment, and thus, the description of the touch panel sensor according to the present embodiment may refer to the foregoing embodiment. It will be described focusing on the top sheet and the surrounding configuration that is different from the embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6, in the touch panel sensor according to the present exemplary embodiment, the upper sheet includes an upper insulating substrate 311 and an upper transparent electrode pattern 312.

As in the previous embodiment, a metal electrode terminal 313 electrically connected to an end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 312 described above is disposed at one edge of the upper insulating substrate 311.

The window decoration 320 is disposed on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 311 in a frame shape along its periphery to prevent the metal electrode terminal 313 from being visible from the outside.

However, the metal electrode terminal 313 for electrically connecting the upper transparent electrode pattern 312 and the external circuit board is formed on the bottom surface of the upper insulating substrate 311, and the through region 322 of the window decoration 320 is formed. It can be identified with the naked eye.

Accordingly, the color control conductive layer 340 is formed in the through region 322 to prevent the metal electrode terminal 313 electrically connected to the end of the upper transparent electrode pattern 312 from being exposed to the outside through the through region 322. ) Is placed.

The color control conductive layer 340 is provided in the above-described through region 322 to block light, thereby preventing the inside of the touch panel sensor 300 from being exposed through the through region 322. The color control conductive layer 340 includes a conductive transparent ink provided in the through region 322 to be electrically connected to the upper transparent electrode pattern 312.

In addition, the color control conductive layer 340 includes a coloring ink having a color corresponding to the window decoration 320. It is easy to adjust the overall color of the color control conductive layer 340 similarly to the window decoration 320 by using the coloring ink, and the conductive transparent ink described above is also transparent, so that the color and the window decoration and the color are used using the coloring ink. It is easy to fit.

The color control conductive layer 340 may be formed by printing, silkscreen, or inkjet method by mixing conductive transparent ink, coloring ink, and an adhesive such as a heat curing agent or an ultraviolet curing agent, or by vapor deposition.

As described above, although described with reference to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art various modifications and variations of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below I can understand that you can.

100: touch panel sensor 110: top sheet
111: upper insulating substrate 112: upper transparent electrode pattern
113: metal electrode terminal 114: conductive connection pattern
120: window decoration 122: penetrating area
130: lower sheet 131: lower insulating substrate
132: lower transparent electrode pattern 140: color control conductive layer
150: insulating member 160: circuit board
170: color conductive layer

Claims (5)

In the touch panel sensor for detecting the contact position of a part of the body through the change of capacitance,
Insulating substrate;
A plurality of electrode patterns formed on a bottom surface of the insulating substrate to sense an approach of a body;
A non-conductive window decoration provided on the bottom surface of the insulating substrate and including a through area exposing a part of the plurality of electrode patterns;
A color regulating conductive layer comprising a conductive transparent ink provided in the through area electrically connected to the electrode pattern, and a coloring ink having a color corresponding to the window decoration;
A metal electrode terminal formed on a bottom surface of the window decoration and electrically connected to the electrode pattern through the color control conductive layer;
Touch panel sensor comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The color control conductive layer is a touch panel sensor, characterized in that formed using a printing, silk screen, inkjet or deposition method. The method of claim 1,
The window decoration is a touch panel sensor, characterized in that formed using the coloring ink to have the same or similar color as the color control conductive layer. The method of claim 1,
The conductive transparent ink includes at least one of PEDOT (polyethylene dioxythiophene), ITO, IZO, CNT. The method of claim 1,
And a conductive connection pattern formed on the bottom of the window decoration to connect the metal electrode terminal and the external circuit board.

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