KR101886279B1 - Fabrication method of electrode-pattern of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of forming an electrode of a touch panel, and more particularly, to a method of forming an electrode of a touch panel, which comprises a first pattern electrode including a pair of unit pattern electrodes, A second pattern electrode disposed to be electrically insulated from the first pattern electrode, an insulating photosensitive material layer is formed on the first and second pattern electrodes, and a transmittance control region formed in a slit pattern at a position corresponding to the separation region is formed A method of forming an electrode of a touch panel in which an insulating pattern layer having an inclined structure is formed by exposure and development using a photomask.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a metal bridge electrode for connecting a first electrode pattern to a sensing electrode pattern of a touch panel disposed to cross each other, wherein the insulation pattern, on which the bridge electrode is formed, There is an effect that a bridge electrode can be stably deposited on an insulating pattern by introducing a photolithography process using a photomask having a transmittance controlling region including a slit pattern .

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method of forming electrodes on a touch panel,

The present invention relates to a technique for improving the visibility and the vapor deposition property of an insulator applied to an electrode structure of a capacitive touch panel.

2. Description of the Related Art In electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebook computers, OA devices, medical devices, or car navigation systems, touch panels for providing input devices (pointing devices) It is widely used. A typical capacitive type touch panel is known as a resistive type, an electromagnetic induction type, an optical type, and the like.

Generally, the capacitive method is divided into analog method and digital method.

In the analog method, the sensor electrode is a sheet-shaped electrode and does not need a pattern in the sensing operation area, whereas the digital method requires a pattern of the electrode for sensing in the sensing operation area. In this digital approach, the capacitive touch panel employs a change in capacitance caused between the electrostatics of the human body and the transparent electrode to induce a grounded current at which the touch position can be ascertained. Various capacitive touch panel technologies have been developed to detect such human body, e.g., a finger or a stylus, where the touch panel is touched.

As an example, US Registration No. 6,970,160 discloses a lattice touch-sensing system for detecting a touch location on a touch-sensitive surface. The lattice-shaped touch sensing system may include two capacitive sensing layers separated by an insulating material, each layer consisting of substantially parallel conductive elements, and the two The conductive elements of the sensing layer are substantially orthogonal to each other. Each element can consist of a series of diamond shaped patches connected together by narrow conductive rectangular strips. Each conductive element of a given sensing layer is electrically connected to a lead line of a corresponding set of lead lines at one or both ends. A control circuit may also be included, the control circuit providing an excitation signal to both sets of conductive elements through the corresponding set of lead lines, and generating from the sensor elements when a touch occurs on the surface Receives a sensing signal, and determines the location of the touch based on the location of the affected bars in each layer.

Such a capacitive scheme is mostly made up of two capacitive sensing layers, the two capacitive sensing layers having a capacitive effect between the layers. And is formed with an insulating material. Such a configuration makes the structure of the panel very thick, resulting in a reduction in size. Moreover, conventional capacitive touch panels include substrates on both surfaces where two capacitive sensing layers are respectively formed. In this regard, through holes should be formed on the substrate to serve as vias, and circuit layering should be employed to properly connect the conductor elements of the sensing layers do. This makes the fabrication of capacitive touch panels difficult and complicated.

Therefore, in order to cope with such a problem, techniques for reducing two capacitive sensing layers to one are used.

FIG. 1 is a view showing an electrode pattern of a touch panel according to a related art, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an electrode pattern of a touch panel according to a related art. The conventional touch panel and electrode pattern will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

1 and 2, a second pattern electrode 120 is formed on a first axis Rx on a substrate 110 and a second pattern electrode 120 is formed on a second axis Tx. (131). Such electrode patterns are shown in cross section in Fig.

As the method of forming the second pattern electrode 120 and the first pattern electrode 131, etching, sputtering, or screen printing may be used. In general, ITO (Iidium-Tin Oxide) is used.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2B, a photoresist (PR) layer 10 is formed on the second pattern electrode 131, and then an insulating material is applied to the insulating material applied layer 40, .

Thereafter, the photoresist 10 is removed to form the insulating layer 50 as shown in FIG. 2C. The bridge electrodes 90 are formed on the insulating layer 50 thus formed to electrically connect the first pattern electrodes 131 that are spaced apart from each other.

However, in the conventional electrode pattern of the touch panel, since the bridge electrode connecting the first pattern electrodes 131 is visually seen by the user, the width of the bridge electrode is formed to be 10 μm, but the problem of conductivity occurs. Accordingly, a bridge electrode is formed by using a metal. However, the bridge electrode is also visually seen due to the difference in reflectance and color between the metal and the surrounding LCD.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a schematic plan view of the Y region of FIG. 1 and a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-sectional view taken along line XX 'of FIG.

As shown in the figure, the insulating material application layer 40 is a three-dimensional structure having a rectangular cross-sectional structure as in the structure of FIG. 3B, and the insulating material application layer 40 is formed on the upper surface thereof to form the bridge electrode 90. [ The thickness T of the metal layer at the boundary portion (side surface) between the insulating material applied layer 40 and the bridge electrode 90 becomes thin. Such a structural problem is a cause of reducing the electrical characteristics of the touch panel, and the efficiency of deposition is lowered at corner portions formed in a rectangular shape.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal bridge electrode for connecting a first electrode pattern that is separated from a sensing electrode pattern of a touch panel disposed to cross each other, A photolithography process is introduced using a photomask having a transmittance controlling region including a slit pattern so as to realize an insulating pattern formed by using a photosensitive insulating material so that the bridge electrode is stably And to provide an electrode structure therefor.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plasma display panel comprising: a first pattern electrode including a pair of unit pattern electrodes formed separately by forming a separation region having a predetermined width; Forming a first pattern electrode on the first pattern electrode, forming a second pattern electrode on the second pattern electrode, forming an insulating photosensitive material layer on the first and second pattern electrodes, and forming a transmittance adjusting region, To form an insulating pattern layer having a tilted structure.

The exposure of the transmittance adjusting region realized by the slit pattern using a photomask can be performed using a photomask formed so that the transmittance increases as the distance from the center of the isolation region increases.

The transmittance adjusting pattern may include a light shielding region formed at the central portion of the transmittance controlling region and a semi-transmissive region for arranging the slit patterns at uniform or non-uniform intervals so that the transmittance increases as the distance from the light shielding region increases Lt; / RTI >

In addition, the insulating photosensitive material layer is preferably a positive type.

In addition, the insulating pattern layer may be formed by patterning so as to have a width equal to or greater than the width of the isolation region.

In addition, the inclination of the insulating pattern layer can be formed in a stepped structure.

In the method for forming an electrode for a touch panel described above, a step of forming a conductive bridge pattern for connecting the pair of unit pattern electrodes by forming a metal layer on the insulating pattern layer after forming the insulating pattern layer .

The metal layer may be formed by depositing a metal material on the insulating pattern layer.

The photomask according to the present invention applied in the above-described process may be realized by a structure in which the slit pattern included in the transmittance controlling region is formed of a light shielding pattern using Cr or Cr oxide, A composite material in which at least two of the main element materials or the main elements are mixed with Si, Mo, Ta, Ti, and Al as main elements, or at least two of COx, Ox, and Nx A method of forming an electrode of a touch panel implemented with a semitransparent material to which one is added (subscript x is a natural number) can be provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a metal bridge electrode for connecting a first electrode pattern to a sensing electrode pattern of a touch panel disposed to cross each other, wherein an insulation pattern, in which a bridge electrode is formed, There is an effect that the bridge electrode can be stably deposited on the insulating pattern by introducing the photolithography process using the photomask having the transmittance controlling region including the slit pattern.

In addition, when the insulating pattern is implemented as a tilted structure having a step, the visibility of the insulator is reduced when applied to a touch panel, and the bridge electrode stacked on the insulating pattern can be deposited with a stable thickness, There is also an effect.

FIG. 1 is a view showing an electrode pattern of a touch panel according to a related art, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an electrode pattern of a touch panel according to a related art.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are a schematic plan view and a cross-sectional view illustrating a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX 'of FIG. 1, respectively.
FIG. 4 shows a manufacturing process of an electrode structure for a touch panel according to the present invention.
5 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the transmittance control region of the photomask described above with reference to FIG.
6 and 7 show the structure of a pattern electrode according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same elements regardless of the reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted. The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

FIG. 4 shows a manufacturing process of an electrode structure for a touch panel according to the present invention.

4 will be described by applying the same reference numerals to the same components for comparison with the conventional electrode forming process shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the manufacturing process of the electrode structure for a touch panel according to the present invention includes a first pattern electrode including a pair of unit pattern electrodes formed by forming a separation region having a predetermined width, Forming a second pattern electrode that is electrically insulated from the first pattern electrode and forming an insulation pattern layer connecting the isolation region, wherein patterning is performed so that an outer surface of the insulation pattern layer has an inclined structure . Particularly, in the present invention, the constitution of the insulating pattern layer is patterned by applying photolithography using a photosensitive insulating material, and the outer surface of the insulating pattern layer is inclined through a transmittance adjusting portion implemented as a slit pattern on the photomask. .

Specifically, (a) a first pattern electrode 131 and a second pattern electrode 123 are formed on the transparent substrate 110, which are the sensing pattern electrodes used in the touch panel in FIG. In this case, the first pattern electrode 131 is formed as a pair of unit pattern electrodes forming an isolation region like the structure shown in FIG. 1, and the second pattern electrode 123 is formed in the isolation region The second pattern electrode and the first pattern electrode. In this case, it is preferable that the second pattern electrode and the first pattern electrode are patterned so as to be electrically insulated from each other.

Thereafter, a photosensitive insulating material layer 210 is formed on the transparent substrate 110 on which the one-pattern electrode 131 and the second pattern electrode 123 are formed. In particular, the present invention differs from the conventional manufacturing method of FIG. 2 in that the insulating material layer 210 having a photosensitive property is used as the insulating material layer 210, thereby simplifying the process. The photosensitive insulating material layer 210 may be any of those having properties such as a positive photoresist and a negative photoresist which are generally used, .

In step (c), the upper part of the photosensitive insulating material layer 120 is exposed and developed through a photomask 300 to form an insulating pattern layer 211 as shown in FIG. It is further preferable that the insulation pattern layer 211 has a structure in which the cross-sectional shape of the insulation pattern layer 211 is inclined toward the outside from the center of the insulation pattern layer 211.

5, when the photomask 300 is applied, the transmittance adjusting regions Q1 and Q2 having two or more transflective portions having different transmissivities at portions corresponding to the above- ) May be used. The transmissivity control regions Q1 and Q2 are formed to have the same transmittance as that of the center of the insulating pattern layer 211, that is, the center of a portion where the second pattern electrode 123 is disposed, And the width is adjusted.

For example, the transmittance controlling region Q shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be formed in an upper region A corresponding to the center of the insulating pattern layer 211, that is, the center of the portion where the second pattern electrode 123 is disposed, The transmittance can be increased in the order of A> B> C> D, or conversely lower in the order of the center of the slit pattern S1, S2, S3 , P1, P2, and P3). The slit pattern may be formed at uniform intervals, as shown in FIG. 2, so that the transmittance may be adjusted so that the outer surface of the insulation pattern layer 211 is sequentially inclined, or the transmittance may be adjusted by adjusting the interval as necessary. Alternatively, the interval between the slit pattern Q1 in the horizontal direction and the slit pattern Q2 in the vertical direction may be formed differently.

The slit pattern for controlling the transmittance may be formed in a light-shielding pattern using Cr or Cr oxide, or may be formed in a structure in which the slit pattern itself is made of Cr, Si, Mo, Ta, Ti, A main element material or a composite material in which at least two of the main elements are mixed or a semi-permeable material in which at least one of CO _x , O _x , and N _x is added to the main element or the composite material x is a natural number).

Due to such a transmittance controlling region Q, the outer surface of the photosensitive insulating material layer 120 according to the present invention can be exposed and developed with a structure in which a tilt is realized as shown in the figure.

In this case, the insulating pattern layer 211, which is implemented as a tilted structure, may be implemented with a gentle slope structure or a stepped structure in which a constant curvature is formed stepwise as in the illustrated structure. In particular, the width (Z) of the insulation pattern layer 211 is preferably equal to or greater than the width of the isolation region of the first pattern electrode. That is, it is preferable that the insulation pattern layer 211 is formed so as to overlap or contact with one end of the separated unit electrodes of the first pattern electrode 131.

Thereafter, in step (d), a metal layer is formed on the insulation pattern layer by a process such as vapor deposition after the insulation pattern layer 211 is formed, and a conductive bridge (not shown) A process of forming the pattern 220 may be further added.

Therefore, the bridge electrode 220 connecting the unit pattern electrodes separated in the electrode structure realized by the above-described process is implemented as a structure that is laminated on the surface of the insulating pattern layer 211 having the tilted structure, The visibility of the insulation pattern layer 211 is reduced and the inclination of the insulation pattern layer 211 is reduced, so that the conductive bridge pattern 220 is deposited with a stable thickness and does not hinder the electrical conduction characteristics.

5 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the transmittance control region of the photomask described above with reference to FIG.

As described in the step (c) of FIG. 4, the photomask used in the present step has the transmittance adjusting regions Q1 and Q2 having two or more transflective portions having different transmittances at portions corresponding to the above-described separation regions Structure can be used. The transmissivity control regions Q1 and Q2 are formed to have the same transmittance as that of the center of the insulating pattern layer 211, that is, the center of a portion where the second pattern electrode 123 is disposed, S2, S3, and P1 are formed in a structure in which the central region of the transmittance controlling region is formed in a light shielding pattern to realize a transmittance of 0% and the transmittance is increased toward the outside, , P2, and P3) may be disposed. In this photomask structure, it is preferable to use a photosensitive insulating material layer having a positive property.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the structure of the pattern electrode according to the present invention, and the structure of the conventional pattern electrode is compared with FIGS. 3A and 3B. FIG.

A first pattern electrode 131 including a pair of unit pattern electrodes formed by forming a separation region of a predetermined width according to the present invention and a first pattern electrode 131 electrically insulated from the first pattern electrode, 2 pattern electrode 123, an insulating pattern layer 211 having an inclined structure formed on the isolation region, and a conductive bridge pattern 220 formed on the insulating pattern layer and electrically connecting the pair of unit pattern electrodes. As shown in FIG.

That is, in the structure of the electrode pattern for a touch panel according to the present invention, the structure of the insulation pattern layer 211 on which the conductive bridge pattern 220 is formed has a structure that forms a slope toward the outer periphery with respect to the center of the insulation pattern layer Thereby reliably depositing the conductive bridge pattern 220 and reducing the visibility of the insulating pattern layer. In this case, the inclination may be formed at an acute angle with respect to a plane on which the first and second pattern electrodes are disposed. As described in the embodiment of the manufacturing process described above, the insulating pattern layer is preferably formed of an insulating resin layer having a photosensitive property, and is formed to have a width larger than a separation distance of the first pat electrode.

7, the insulating pattern layer may be formed in a crossing region where the isolation region of the first pattern electrode and the second pattern electrode cross each other, and the second pattern electrode existing in the crossing region And the inclined structure may be embodied as a stepped structure having at least two or more bending patterns. In addition, the first pattern electrode 131 and the second pattern electrode 123 according to the present invention may have an arrangement structure that is orthogonal to the first pattern electrode 131 and the second pattern electrode 123. As described in the above-described process, May be disposed on the same transparent substrate 110.

The transparent substrate 110 may be formed of a synthetic resin film such as PET, PC, or PE, or a glass substrate. The transparent substrate 110 may be separately mounted on a display such as an LCD or an organic LED, but may be used as a transparent substrate or a film constituting an LCD or an organic LED module, and may be provided integrally with the display module. Herein, the transparency of the transparent substrate 110 will be referred to as including some degree of opacity as long as it does not hinder the readability suitable for the application of the applied display.

The first and second pattern electrodes may be formed of a material selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), zinc oxide (ZnO), carbon nanotube (CNT), silver nano wire ), A conductive polymer, or graphene (Graphene).

The conductive bridge pattern may be formed of the same material as the first and second pattern electrodes, but may be formed of a conductive material, a conductive paste, gold, silver, copper, or a metal such as aluminum, An alloy using a metal may be used.

In the foregoing detailed description of the present invention, specific examples have been described. However, various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. The technical spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, but should be determined by the claims and equivalents thereof.

110: transparent substrate
120, and 123: a second pattern electrode
130, 131: first pattern electrode
210: insulating material layer
211: insulation pattern layer
300: Photomask
Q: transmittance control region
S1 to S3, P1 to P3: Slit pattern

Claims (9)

A first pattern electrode including a pair of unit pattern electrodes separated and arranged by forming a separation region having a predetermined width and a second pattern electrode arranged to be electrically insulated from the first pattern electrode in the separation region, ;
Forming an insulating photosensitive material layer on the first pattern electrode and the second pattern electrode; And
Exposing and developing the photoresist using a photomask including a transmissivity controlling region formed in a slit pattern at a position corresponding to the separating region to form an insulating pattern layer having an inclined structure,
Wherein the insulating pattern layer includes a transmittance adjusting pattern formed by the photomask,
Wherein the thickness of the insulation pattern layer decreases as the distance from the center of the isolation region increases.
The method according to claim 1,
The exposure using the photomask including the transmittance controlling region, which is implemented with the slit pattern,
And the photomask is formed so that the transmittance increases as the distance from the center of the isolation region increases.
The method of claim 2,
The transmittance adjusting pattern may be formed,
A light shielding region formed at the central portion of the transmittance controlling region;
And a semi-transmissive region in which the slit patterns are arranged at uniform or nonuniform intervals so that the farther they are from the light shielding region, the higher the transmissivity.
The method of claim 2,
Wherein the insulating photosensitive material layer is a positive type.
The method of claim 2,
Wherein the insulating pattern layer
Wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are patterned to have a width wider than the width of the isolation region.
The method of claim 5,
Wherein an inclination of the insulating pattern layer is formed in a stepped structure.
The method of claim 6,
After the step of forming the insulating pattern layer,
And forming a conductive bridge pattern connecting the pair of unit pattern electrodes by forming a metal layer on the insulating pattern layer.
The method of claim 7,
The formation of the metal layer may be performed,
And depositing a metal material on the insulating pattern layer.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
In the photomask,
The slit pattern included in the transmittance controlling region may be formed in a light-shielding pattern using Cr or Cr oxide, or the slit pattern itself may be formed of Cr, Si, Mo, Ta, Ti, or Al as a main element Or a composite material in which at least two of the main elements or the main elements are mixed or a semi-transparent material in which at least one of C0x, Ox and Nx is added to the main element or the composite material Electrode formation method (Subscript x is a natural number).

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