KR101490173B1 - Manufacturing method of touch panel sensor and the touch panel sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor that is disposed on an upper surface of a display and senses a contact position of a target object includes the steps of forming a transparent conductive film using a metal fiber solution on an insulating substrate, Forming a transparent conductive pattern on the transparent conductive film corresponding to the wire pattern, and forming a transparent conductive pattern from the transparent conductive film using the transparent insulating pattern as a mask do.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a touch panel sensor,

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor and a touch panel sensor, and more particularly, to a touch panel sensor capable of sensing a contact position of an object approaching a display.

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

1, in a conventional touch panel sensor, a lower insulating sheet 10 and an upper insulating sheet 20 are bonded at a predetermined interval. The lower ITO electrode 30 and the upper ITO electrode 40 are vertically arranged on the upper surface of the lower insulating sheet 10 and the lower surface of the upper insulating sheet 20, 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.

In the above-described touch panel sensor, there is a predetermined capacitance, that is, a capacitance value corresponding to the area of each intersection point at each intersection of the lower ITO electrode 30 and the upper ITO electrode 40. When a part of the body is close to the upper The area of the upper ITO electrode 40 may be added to the area of the upper ITO electrode 40 to change the capacitance value.

A connection line 48 made of a metal is connected from the end of the upper ITO electrode 40 to the upper insulating sheet 20 to electrically connect the upper ITO electrode 40 and the electrode 52 of the external circuit board 50 And the lower ITO electrode 30 is connected to the circuit board 50 by a separate connection line.

At this time, the connecting line 48, which is generally made of metal, is shiny with metallic luster and can not be seen through the transparent upper insulating sheet 20 because the light does not pass through. In order to prevent the visual recognition of the connection line 48 and the circuit board 50, a separate non-transparent film for the window decoration 65 of the frame shape is formed on the bottom surface of the reinforced substrate 60 such as another glass or a translucent reinforced plastic And the reinforcing substrate 60 is disposed on the upper insulating sheet 20. [

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor in which a transparent conductive pattern is formed using a metal fiber solution, and a process of forming a transparent conductive pattern and a wire pattern is simplified.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor in which a transparent conductive pattern is formed using a metal fiber solution, and a conductive pattern is formed in a thin and uniform thickness.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor which is advantageous for mass production through an automated process using a metal fiber solution to form a transparent conductive pattern.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor disposed on a display and sensing a contact position of a target object, the method comprising: forming a transparent conductive film using a metal fiber solution on an insulating substrate; A step of forming a wire pattern for electrical connection with the outside on the transparent conductive film by etching the conductive thin film while maintaining the transparent conductive film as it is, And forming a transparent conductive pattern from the transparent conductive film using the transparent insulating pattern as a mask.

The metal fiber solution may be provided in a metal nano wire such as silver nano, including a synthetic resin and a volatile solvent (or water). Since the transparent conductive film is formed entirely on the insulating substrate, Can be formed. For reference, as disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1192645, the contents of forming a transparent electrode using silver nano wire are disclosed. In this process, a transparent conductive pattern having a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.5 탆 The metal fiber solution is applied to a thickness of about 20 탆 or more. In this case, it may not be easy to form a conductive pattern having a uniform thickness due to the surface tension of the metal fiber solution. However, in the present invention, since a transparent conductive film is formed over the entire surface of an insulating substrate, a conductive pattern having a uniform thickness can be obtained.

For reference, the metal fiber in the present invention refers to a fibrous metal, and may include other metals (Al, Ag, Au, Cu, W) on a fiber other than silver (Ag) nanofiber.

Methods such as etching or chemical dissociation may be used to form a transparent conductive pattern. For example, it is possible to form a transparent conductive pattern by removing an area excluding a part protected by a transparent insulating pattern by etching, or alternatively by dissociating the metal fibers in a region except for the area protected by the transparent insulating pattern, A portion protected by the transparent insulating pattern can be formed of the transparent conductive pattern. For example, the transparent conductive film partially protected by the transparent insulation pattern can be deposited in the high-concentration resin solution, and the high-concentration resin solution penetrates between the metal fibers to dissociate the exposed metal fibers.

Although only one touch panel sensor may be formed on an insulating substrate, it is also possible to define a touch panel sensor as one cell and simultaneously form a plurality of cell touch panel sensors on one insulating substrate. After forming the touch panel sensors of a plurality of cells at the same time, each cell can be cut and used as a conductive pattern film of a touch panel sensor.

 According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel sensor disposed on a display and sensing a contact position of a target object includes an insulating substrate, a transparent conductive pattern formed on the insulating substrate and provided using a metal fiber solution, A wire pattern formed on the transparent conductive pattern for electrically connecting the conductive pattern to the outside, and a transparent insulating pattern provided in the same shape as the transparent conductive pattern and for forming the transparent conductive pattern.

The transparent conductive pattern may be formed using a transparent insulating pattern as a mask, and may be provided through etching or chemical dissociation. The transparent conductive pattern may be provided in various shapes such as a linear shape, a diamond shape, a square shape, a triangle shape, a net shape, and the like, depending on the desired pattern pattern.

A wire pattern and a transparent insulating pattern are formed on the transparent conductive film to function as a mask. Therefore, a part of the transparent conductive film may remain in a pattern shape under the transparent insulating pattern and the wire pattern. Here, a part of the transparent conductive film underlying the transparent insulating pattern can be defined as a transparent conductive pattern.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor that is disposed on a display and senses a contact position of a target object, the method comprising: forming a transparent conductive film on an insulating substrate; Forming a transparent insulating pattern on the transparent conductive film in correspondence to the wire pattern, and forming a transparent conductive pattern from the transparent conductive pattern using the transparent insulating pattern as a mask, .

The transparent conductive film may be formed of a material which can be used as a transparent conductive film such as ITO (indium oxide), IZO (zinc oxide), ATO (antimony), conductive polymer, silver nano wire and CNT (carbon fiber).

A method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor according to the present invention includes the steps of forming a transparent conductive pattern using a metal fiber solution, forming a mask pattern, forming a transparent conductive pattern by etching, removing the mask pattern before forming the wire pattern, It is possible to simplify the process of forming the next wire pattern and reduce the defects that occur in the process.

In the method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor of the present invention, a transparent conductive pattern is formed using a metal fiber solution, but since the conductive film is formed thinly and entirely, the pattern itself can be formed with a uniform thickness.

The method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor according to the present invention can form a transparent conductive pattern using a metal fiber solution, and can be mass-produced through an automated process using a roll film. Therefore, Speed and accuracy, and yield.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional touch panel sensor.
2 is an exploded perspective view of a touch panel sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 to 7 are a plan view and a sectional view for explaining the process of manufacturing the top sheet shown in Fig.
FIG. 8 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view illustrating a process of manufacturing an upper sheet of a touch panel sensor according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. For reference, the same numbers in this description refer to substantially the same elements and can be described with reference to the contents described in the other drawings under these rules, and the contents which are judged to be obvious to the person skilled in the art or repeated can be omitted.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a touch panel sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 7 are a plan view and a sectional view for explaining a process of manufacturing the upper sheet shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the touch panel sensor 100 includes an upper cover substrate 110, an upper sheet 120, a lower sheet 130, and a flexible circuit board 140.

The upper sheet 120 includes an upper insulating substrate 122, an upper silver nano conductive pattern 126, an upper wire pattern 128 and an upper conductive terminal 129. The lower sheet 130 also includes a lower insulating substrate 132, a lower silver nano conductive pattern 136, a lower wire pattern 138, and a lower conductive terminal 139. For reference, the conductive patterns are capacitive touch panel sensors, in which the lower silver nano conductive pattern 136 operates as a transmitter and the upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 operates as a receiver .

The upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 and the upper wire pattern 128 may be disposed on the upper insulating substrate 122 and the lower silver nano conductive pattern 136 and the lower wire pattern 138 may be disposed on the lower insulating substrate 132 do. The upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 is disposed on the upper insulating substrate 122 in the longitudinal direction with reference to Fig. 2 and the lower silver nano conductive pattern 136 is disposed laterally on the lower insulating substrate 132, A region intersecting with the conductive pattern 126 can be formed.

Since the upper cover substrate 110 is directly touched by a part of the body, a rigid glass substrate which is excellent in strength and can not be easily refracted can be used, or a translucent reinforced plastic such as polycarbonate which is not easily refracted due to its strength can be used .

The bottom cover of the upper cover substrate 110 is also provided with a frame-shaped window decoration 112 which is made of a transparent material, such as an upper insulating substrate 122, And the upper and lower wire patterns 128 and 138 and the flexible circuit board 140 disposed at the edges of the lower insulating substrate 132. [ In some cases, the upper cover substrate functions as an insulating substrate, the upper silver nano conductive pattern may be directly formed on the lower surface of the upper cover substrate, and the lower silver nano conductive pattern may be formed on the upper cover substrate according to the structure of the touch panel sensor. It is possible.

For reference, the upper and lower insulating substrates 132 may be made of materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, acryloyl, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and plastics and glass.

On the other hand, an optical adhesive layer may be interposed between the upper cover substrate 110, the upper sheet 120, and the lower sheet 130, and the optical adhesive layer may be bonded to the upper sheet substrate 110, Or an OCA (Optically Clear Adhesive) film, a UV curing agent, or the like.

The flexible circuit board 140 may be provided with a terminal electrically connected to the upper and lower wire patterns 128 and 138 formed on the upper insulating substrate 122 and the lower insulating substrate 132. Therefore, when the object approaches the surface of the upper cover substrate 110, a change in the capacitance value caused by mutual action of the upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 and the lower silver nano conductive pattern 136 causes the upper and lower wire patterns 128 and 138, And the control unit corresponding to the external device can calculate the touch position using the change of the value.

Hereinafter, a schematic configuration and components of the touch panel sensor according to the present invention will be described. In particular, the manufacturing process of the upper and lower sheets for generating the electric signal by the approach of the touch panel sensor, , The description of the lower sheet can be replaced with the description of the upper sheet.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing process of the upper sheet 120 will be described with reference to FIGS. As will be described later, the following process may be applied to the manufacturing process of the lower sheet 130 by different patterns, and may be applied to forming the upper conductive pattern and the lower conductive pattern on one insulating substrate.

In addition, the upper sheet 120 may be formed in a plurality of cells at the same time on one original insulating substrate, and the process may be performed as follows.

Referring to FIG. 3, a roll-shaped insulating plate 121 for a touch panel sensor of a plurality of cells is provided. A transparent conductive film 124 is applied over the entire surface of the insulating base plate 121. The transparent conductive layer 124 may be provided using a silver nanofiber solution, and the silver nano conductive layer may be formed directly on the insulating substrate or may be formed by a half coating method, depending on the method of forming the silver nano conductive layer.

Referring to FIG. 4, a wire pattern 128 is formed on the transparent conductive film 124. The wire pattern 128 may be electrically connected to the terminals of the flexible circuit board 140 and may be formed by a printing method such as silver paste silk printing, gravure printing of conductive ink including silver ink, flexo printing, And the like. Since the conductive pattern 126 is not formed when the wire pattern 128 is formed, the wire pattern 128 can be formed in advance corresponding to the position where the conductive pattern 126 is formed.

Referring to FIG. 5, a transparent insulating pattern 156 is formed on the transparent conductive film 124 corresponding to the shape of the transparent conductive pattern 126. The transparent insulation pattern 156 has a rectangular outer shape extending upward and downward, and includes a square hole formed at uniform intervals inside. Thus, the transparent insulation pattern 156 is provided with three linear patterns connected at the top and bottom and formed at uniform widths and intervals. Three linear patterns form one group, and six transparent insulating patterns 156 are arranged in parallel at uniform intervals.

For reference, the above structure is an example of a transparent conductive pattern, and may be formed in various structures such as a diamond structure depending on the type of the touch sensor.

5A, transparent insulating patterns 156 are formed at uniform intervals on the transparent conductive film 124. In FIG. 5B, a transparent conductive film 124 is formed on the transparent conductive film 124, And a transparent insulating pattern 156 is formed thereon.

Referring to FIG. 6, a portion not covered by the transparent insulating pattern 156 can be removed through etching. The transparent insulation pattern 156 functions as a mask, and a part of the transparent conductive film 124 including the silver nanofibers can be removed by an aqueous solution or a silver etching solution. The transparent conductive pattern 126 can be formed by partially removing the portion of the transparent conductive film 124 on which the transparent insulating pattern 156 is not printed.

7, after the transparent conductive pattern 126 is formed, a protective coating layer 125 is formed, and then an insulating original plate 121 is cut to provide an insulating substrate 122 corresponding to each cell have. In general, it is preferable to form the protective coating layer 125 and cut the raw insulating sheet 121 in a raw paper shape, but in some cases, the protective coating layer 125 may be formed after cutting.

As described above, the upper silver nano conductive pattern and the upper wire pattern may be individually formed on the upper insulating substrate of the size used for the touch panel sensor. However, in the present embodiment, the upper insulating silver plate 121 corresponding to at least one upper insulating substrate 122 is drawn out from the winding roller while the upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 and the upper wire pattern 128 are provided, The upper insulating substrate 122 may be integrally produced, and cut and cut before use thereof to the touch panel sensor 100.

The upper insulating plate 121 of the present embodiment is provided in a size corresponding to at least one upper insulating substrate 122. Specifically, a process of forming the upper insulating substrate 122 of 1 * x at a time, Depending on the intention of the producer, the design may be changed to x * y, such as 5 * 5, 6 * 6, 3 * 4,

The transparent conductive pattern 126 of the upper insulating plate 121 is minimized by external physical impact and minimized by chemical effects due to oxidation by the protective coating layer 125 covering the entire insulating plate 121 You can escape.

For example, the silver nano conductive pattern 126 may be provided at about 0.1 to 0.2 μm, and the protective coating layer 125 may be provided at about 0.5 μm or more so that the upper silver nano conductive pattern 126 is exposed to the surface of the upper protective coating layer 125. Can be prevented.

The protective coating layer 125 also covers the upper wire pattern 128 as previously mentioned. Accordingly, in order to electrically connect the upper wire pattern 128 to an external device such as the control unit or the flexible circuit board 140, it is necessary to partially remove the protective coating layer 125 to expose the end of the upper wire pattern 128 have.

A through hole is formed in the upper protective coating layer 125 using a laser so as to expose the end portion of the wire pattern 128 and the conductive terminal 129 exposed in the wire pattern 128 is electrically connected to the flexible circuit board 140 You can connect. The electrical change generated in the silver nano conductive pattern 126 can be transmitted to the control unit sequentially through the wire pattern 128 and the flexible circuit board 140 by the approach of the object, Can be calculated. Of course, in addition to the laser etching method in which only the protective coating layer is selectively removed in order to form the through holes, a chemical etching method or a physical etching method may be used.

For reference, in the present embodiment, the conductive patterns 126 and 136 have a group structure in which the upper and lower ends are connected so that the three linear patterns form one group, but the present invention is not limited to the structure of the conductive pattern , And the conductive pattern can be applied to the structures already disclosed in touch panel sensors such as those disclosed in Publication No. 10-2011-0092814, 10-2010-0138849, and 10-2011-0095684.

Although the upper sheet is described in the present embodiment, the same can be applied to the lower sheet, and the case of forming the upper and lower conductive patterns on both sides simultaneously or sequentially in one roll film can also be explained. It is also possible to directly form the upper conductive pattern on the tempered glass substrate, to form the lower conductive pattern on the insulating substrate by the method described above, and to attach the lower conductive pattern to the insulating substrate.

FIG. 8 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view illustrating a process of manufacturing an upper sheet of a touch panel sensor according to another embodiment of the present invention. For reference, the explanation of the insulating disc, the transparent insulating pattern, and the transparent conductive film and the process of forming the transparent insulating film can be referred to the above description.

Referring to FIG. 8, a transparent insulating pattern 256 is formed on the transparent conductive film 224 corresponding to the desired shape of the transparent conductive pattern 226. 8A, transparent insulating patterns 256 are formed at uniform intervals on the transparent conductive film 224, and FIG. 8B shows a state in which a transparent conductive film 224 is formed on the transparent conductive film 224 And a transparent insulating pattern 256 is formed thereon.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. It can be understood that

100: touch panel sensor 110: upper cover substrate
112: window decoration 120: top sheet
121: upper insulating plate 122: upper insulating substrate
126: upper silver nano conductive pattern 128: upper wire pattern
125: upper protective coating layer 126: through hole
129: upper conductive terminal 130: lower sheet

Claims (14)

1. A method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor disposed on an upper surface of a display,
Forming a transparent conductive film using a metal fiber solution on an insulating substrate;
Forming a conductive thin film on the transparent conductive film;
Etching the conductive thin film while keeping the transparent conductive film intact to form a wire pattern for electrical connection with the outside on the transparent conductive film;
Forming a transparent insulating pattern on the transparent conductive film corresponding to the wire pattern; And
And forming a transparent conductive pattern from the transparent conductive layer using a combination of the transparent insulation pattern and the wire pattern as a mask,
Wherein the transparent insulating pattern remains on the transparent conductive pattern to protect the transparent conductive pattern. The method according to claim 1,
The metal fiber solution includes a metal nano wire, a synthetic resin, and a volatile solvent,
Wherein the metal fiber solution is applied over the insulating substrate to form the transparent conductive film. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern is formed by removing a region excluding a portion protected by the transparent insulating pattern. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the protective coating layer is formed after forming the transparent conductive pattern. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the end of the wire pattern connected to the outside is exposed by laser processing, chemical etching, or physical punching after forming the protective coating layer. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a cell for one or a plurality of touch panel sensors is simultaneously formed on the insulating substrate, and the insulating substrate is provided in the form of a flat film or a roll film. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern and the insulating pattern are formed on one or both surfaces of the insulating substrate. A touch panel sensor disposed at an upper portion of a display for sensing a contact position of an object,
An insulating substrate;
A transparent conductive pattern formed on the insulating substrate and provided using a metal fiber solution;
A wire pattern formed on the transparent conductive pattern to electrically connect the transparent conductive pattern to the outside; And
And a transparent insulating pattern provided in the same shape as the transparent conductive pattern to form the transparent conductive pattern,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern is formed by forming the wire pattern and the transparent insulating pattern on a transparent conductive film and then etching the transparent conductive film with a mask of a combination of the wire pattern and the transparent insulating pattern as a mask Touch panel sensor. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern comprises a metal nano wire. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern is provided by removing a region excluding a portion protected by the transparent insulating pattern. 9. The method of claim 8,
And a protective coating layer covering the transparent conductive pattern and the transparent insulating pattern. 1. A method of manufacturing a touch panel sensor disposed on an upper surface of a display,
Forming a transparent conductive film on an insulating substrate;
Forming a wire pattern for electrical connection with the outside on the transparent conductive film while keeping the transparent conductive film intact;
Forming a transparent insulating pattern on the transparent conductive film corresponding to the wire pattern; And
And forming a transparent conductive pattern from the transparent conductive film by using the combined form of the transparent insulation pattern and the wire pattern as a mask. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the transparent conductive film is formed using at least one of ITO, IZO, ATO, conductive polymer, silver nano wire, and CNT. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the transparent conductive pattern is formed by etching an area excluding a portion protected by the transparent insulating pattern.

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