KR101973742B1 - Transparent film antenna and display device including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provides a film antenna having electrode visibility reduced through a mesh structure and a slit and a display device including the same. The film antenna comprises: a dielectric layer; and electrode lines including first electrode lines and second electrode lines arranged to cross each other on the dielectric layer and forming the mesh structure. Boundaries of antenna patterns and dummy patterns including the mesh structure are defined by slits continuously formed on a part of cross units of the first and second electrode lines.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a film antenna and a display device including the film antenna.

The present invention relates to a film antenna and a display device including the same. And more particularly, to a film antenna including electrode lines and a display device including the same.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] With the development of an information society in recent years, wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have been combined with a display device, for example, in the form of a smart phone. In this case, an antenna may be coupled to the display device to perform a communication function.

Recently, as the mobile communication technology evolves, an antenna for performing communication in a very high frequency band needs to be coupled to the display device. In addition, recently, a thin, high-transparency, and high-resolution display device such as a transparent display and a flexible display has been developed, and the antenna also needs to have improved transmittance while satisfying high radiation characteristics and signal sensitivity.

In order to improve the signal transmission / reception characteristics of the antenna, it may be preferable to form an electrode or a radiation pattern using a low resistance metal. However, in this case, the electrode or radiation pattern may be visible to the user of the display device, which may deteriorate the image quality.

For example, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-0095557 discloses an antenna structure incorporated in a portable terminal, but it may cause the above-described problem of electrode visibility.

Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-0095557

An object of the present invention is to provide a film antenna having improved optical characteristics.

An object of the present invention is to provide a display device including a film antenna having improved optical characteristics and having improved image quality.

1. Dielectric layer; And electrode lines including first electrode lines and second electrode lines arranged to cross each other on an upper surface of the dielectric layer to form a mesh structure,

Wherein boundaries of the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern including the mesh structure are defined by slits continuously formed at intersections of some of the intersections of the first electrode line and the second electrode line.

2. The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the slit has a shape in which the intersection is partially removed.

3. The film antenna of claim 2, wherein the slit is formed between the remaining portions of the intersection.

4. The film antenna of claim 3, wherein the first electrode lines and the second electrode lines included in each of the antenna pattern and the dummy patterns around the boundary are connected to each other by the remaining portions.

5. The film antenna of claim 3, wherein the remaining portion includes a concave portion that is gentler than an intersection angle of the first electrode line and the second electrode line on the side opposite to the slit.

6. The film antenna according to claim 5, wherein the concave portion includes a concave surface concave toward the slit side.

7. The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the width of the slit is greater than the width of the electrode line.

8. The film antenna of claim 7 wherein the width of the intersection is greater than the sum of the width of the electrode line and the width of the slit.

9. The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the antenna pattern comprises a radiation pattern, a pad portion, and a transmission line for mediating the radiation pattern and the pad portion.

10. The film antenna of claim 9, wherein both the radiation pattern, the transmission line, and the pad portion comprise the mesh structure.

11. The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the radiation pattern and the transmission line comprise the mesh structure, and the pad portion has a solid structure.

12. The film antenna of claim 1, further comprising a ground layer formed on the bottom of the dielectric layer.

13. The electrode of claim 1, wherein the electrode line is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Cu, Al, Pt, Pd, Cr, Tungsten, niobium, tantalum, vanadium, iron, manganese, cobalt, nickel, zinc, tin, And at least one selected from the group consisting of these alloys.

14. A display device comprising a film antenna according to any one of claims 1 to 13 above.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the film antenna may comprise a mesh structure formed by first electrode lines and second electrode lines intersecting each other. Therefore, the transmittance of the film antenna can be improved.

The mesh structure may be divided into an antenna pattern and a dummy pattern. The antenna pattern and the dummy pattern may be separated by slits formed by partially removing intersections of the first electrode lines and the second electrode lines.

Since the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern include substantially the same mesh structure, it is possible to prevent the electrode visibility according to the pattern shape difference. Therefore, the image quality of the display device on which the film antenna is mounted can be prevented from being deteriorated by the antenna pattern.

The intersection part is partially removed to form a remaining part, and the first and second electrode lines included in the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern can be connected to each other by the remaining part. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an increase in resistance of the antenna pattern caused by the slit and signal loss.

The film antenna has improved transmittance and can be applied to a display device including a mobile communication device capable of transmitting and receiving at a 3G or higher, for example, a 5G high-frequency band, thereby improving optical characteristics such as radiation characteristics and transmittance.

Figures 1 and 2 are schematic plan and sectional views, respectively, illustrating a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.
3 is a partially enlarged view for explaining an electrode line structure of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.
4 is a partially enlarged view for explaining an intersection of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments;
5 is a schematic view for explaining slit formation of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.
6 is a schematic view for explaining slit formation of a film antenna according to a comparative example.
Figures 7 and 8 are schematic plan and sectional views illustrating a film antenna according to some embodiments.
9 is a schematic plan view for explaining a display device according to exemplary embodiments.

Embodiments of the present invention include first electrode lines and second electrode lines arranged on a dielectric layer so as to intersect with each other to form a mesh structure, and slits formed at intersections of the first electrode lines and the second electrode lines And a dummy pattern defined by the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern.

The film antenna may be, for example, a microstrip patch antenna fabricated in the form of a transparent film. The film antenna can be applied to a communication device for 3G to 5G mobile communication, for example.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a display device including the film antenna.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. And shall not be construed as limited to such matters.

Figures 1 and 2 are schematic plan and sectional views, respectively, illustrating a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the film antenna may include an antenna pattern and a dummy pattern 118 disposed on the dielectric layer 100. According to exemplary embodiments, the antenna pattern may include a radiation pattern 112, a transmission line 114, and a pad portion 116.

The dielectric layer 100 may comprise an insulating material having a predetermined dielectric constant. The dielectric layer 100 may be formed of, for example, an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, metal oxide or the like, or an inorganic insulating material such as an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, an imide resin, a cellulose resin, a polyolefin resin, Resin, and the like. The dielectric layer 100 may function as a film base of a film antenna on which the antenna pattern is formed.

In some embodiments, the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer 100 can be adjusted to a range of about 1.5 to about 12. If the dielectric constant exceeds about 12, the driving frequency is excessively reduced, and driving in a desired high frequency band may not be realized.

The antenna pattern may include a radiation pattern 112, a transmission line 114, and a pad portion 116.

The radiation pattern 112 may be integrally connected to the transmission line 114. For example, the radiation pattern 112 may include a protrusion at the center which is connected to the transmission line 114. However, the shape of the radiation pattern 112 shown in Fig. 1 is exemplary and can be appropriately changed in consideration of radiation efficiency and the like.

The transmission line 114 may be provided, for example, as a feeding line of the antenna pattern. The transmission line 114 may extend from the protrusion of the radiation pattern 112 to the pad portion 116.

1, the pad portion 116 may have a shape that includes a recess, and the transmission line 114 may be inserted into the recess of the pad portion 116. As shown in FIG.

A dummy pattern 118 may be arranged around the antenna pattern. The dummy pattern 118 may be disposed on the same layer or the same level as the antenna pattern on the upper surface of the dielectric layer 100.

According to exemplary embodiments, the dummy pattern 118 and the antenna pattern may comprise a mesh structure of substantially the same shape. In some embodiments, the dummy pattern 118 and the antenna pattern are formed from substantially the same mesh layer such that the area of each cell included in the mesh structure, the width and height of the electrode lines are the same can do. The mesh layer is partially patterned or cut to form a segment region A, and the dummy pattern and the antenna pattern can be physically and electrically separated from each other by the segment region A.

2, a first conductive layer 110 is disposed on the dielectric layer 100, and the first conductive layer 110 may include the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118 described above.

The first conductive layer 110 (the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118) includes a mesh structure as described above, and thus the transmittance of the film antenna can be improved. In addition, since the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118 include substantially the same mesh structure, it is possible to prevent a phenomenon of pattern visibility according to a difference in pattern shape and reflectivity of each region of the first conductive layer 110. In addition, the above-described mesh structure can be commonly included in the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118, thereby ensuring improved transmittance and optical characteristics.

According to exemplary embodiments, the antenna pattern may comprise a low resistance metal. Therefore, a signal loss of the antenna pattern can be reduced by using a metal instead of a transparent metal oxide having a relatively high resistance (for example, ITO or IZO), and the radiation characteristic can be further improved.

For example, the antenna pattern may be formed of a metal such as Ag, Au, Cu, Al, Pt, Pd, Cr, Ti, (W), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), vanadium (V), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) ≪ / RTI > These may be used alone or in combination of two or more. For example, the antenna pattern may include silver (Ag) or a silver alloy for low resistance implementation, and may include, for example, a silver-palladium-copper (APC) alloy.

In one embodiment, the antenna pattern may comprise the metal and / or the alloy.

The dummy pattern 118 may also include substantially the same metal or alloy as the antenna pattern.

The thickness of the first conductive layer 110 may be adjusted in consideration of the low resistance implementation of the antenna pattern and the improvement of the permeability. For example, the thickness of the first conductive layer 110 may range from about 100 to 5000 angstroms. As described above, the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118 may have substantially the same thickness (or height).

A second conductive layer 90 may be disposed under the dielectric layer 100. In the exemplary embodiments, the second conductive layer 90 may be provided as a ground electrode or ground layer of the film antenna. In this case, a contact or a connection ground pattern connecting the second conductive layer 90 and the pad portion 116 may be formed in the dielectric layer 100.

In some embodiments, the second conductive layer 90 may be included as a separate configuration of the film antenna. In some embodiments, the conductive member of the display device on which the film antenna is mounted may be provided as a ground layer.

The conductive member may include, for example, a gate electrode of a thin film transistor (TFT) included in a display panel, various wirings such as a scan line or a data line, or various electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode.

The second conductive layer 90 may comprise a conductive material such as a metal, an alloy, or a transparent metal oxide.

In some embodiments, the antenna pattern may be a vertical radiation pattern. In one embodiment, the antenna pattern may comprise a horizontal radiation pattern. In this case, the ground layer may be disposed on the same level as the radiation pattern 112 (for example, the upper surface of the dielectric layer 100).

Although only one antenna pattern is shown in FIG. 1 for convenience of description, a plurality of antenna patterns may be regularly or randomly arranged on the dielectric layer 100.

3 is a partially enlarged view for explaining an electrode line structure of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 3, a plurality of electrode lines 50 are arranged on a dielectric layer 100 to form a mesh structure. The mesh structure is divided into segment regions A to include a radiation pattern 112 An antenna pattern and a dummy pattern 118 can be defined.

The electrode lines 50 may include first electrode lines 50a and second electrode lines 50b extending in a diagonal direction intersecting each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the first electrode line 50a and the second electrode line 50b may extend in a first direction and a second direction, respectively. In addition, a plurality of first electrode lines 50a may be arranged along the second direction, and a plurality of second electrode lines 50b may be arranged along the first direction to form a mesh structure.

Hereinafter, the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the antenna pattern included in the film antenna are defined as a third direction and a fourth direction, respectively. The first direction and the second direction may be inclined at a predetermined acute angle with respect to the third direction.

The segmented region A may be cut by cutting the intersections where the first and second electrode lines meet along the third direction. The dummy pattern 118 and the antenna pattern (e.g., radiation pattern 112) can be defined from the mesh structure by the segmented region A. [ The segmented region A extends in the fourth direction as shown in FIG. 1, and the intersection portions are cut to define the antenna pattern.

By separating the dummy pattern 118 from the antenna pattern by the segmented region A, the antenna pattern can be defined without forming a separate border pattern. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the electrode visibility caused by the rim pattern.

4 is a partially enlarged view for explaining an intersection of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments;

Referring to FIG. 4, the intersection of the first electrode line 50a and the second electrode line 50b may be partially removed to form the slit 60. As described above, the slits 60 are formed along the third direction and / or the fourth direction to form the segmented region A and the antenna pattern can be defined.

A portion of the intersection excluding the portion removed by the slit 60 may be defined as a residual portion 65. In the exemplary embodiments, two separate residual portions 65 may be created from one intersection where the slit 60 is formed. The first and second electrode lines 50a and 50b belonging to the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern 118 can be connected to each other by each of the remaining portions 65. [ Accordingly, even if the segmented region A is formed, the electrode lines 50a and 50b around the segmented region A are connected to each other by the remaining portion 65 to prevent signal loss due to an increase in resistance of the antenna pattern have.

In some embodiments, the side of the remaining portion 65 on the side opposite to the slit 60 may include a recess 65a. For example, the concave portion 65a may be formed at a gentle angle with respect to the intersection angle of the electrode lines 50a and 50b or the intersection angle of the first and second directions.

It is possible to further reduce the electrode visibility at the intersection by buffering the pattern change of the electrode lines 50a and 50b by the intersection or the crossing angle through the recess 65a. In addition, it is possible to prevent the etching liquid from concentrating at the intersections and to prevent cutting and damage due to over etching of the intersections. In addition, the curved surface portion 65a can reduce or prevent the moire phenomenon with the display panel disposed below the film antenna.

In one embodiment, the side surface of the concave portion 65a may have a curved shape.

In some embodiments, the width W1 of each of the first and second electrode lines may be about 1 to 7 mu m. The width W2 of the slit 60 may be greater than the width W1 of the electrode line.

When the width W2 of the slit 60 is smaller than the width W1 of the electrode line, the separation distance between the dummy pattern 118 and the antenna pattern decreases and signal noise may increase. If the width W2 of the slit 60 is excessively increased, the width of the isolation region A may excessively increase, resulting in electrode visibility. For example, the width W2 of the slit 60 may be about 1.5 to 35 mu m.

5 is a schematic view for explaining slit formation of a film antenna according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 5, an intersection 70 may be formed in an intersection region of the first electrode line 50a and the second electrode line 50b. 4, the slit 60 may be formed to be larger than the width of the electrode line W1, and thus may be formed to have a sufficient width in consideration of the formation of the slit 60 of the intersection 70 have.

The width W3 of the intersection 70 may be greater than the sum of the width W1 of the electrode line and the width W2 of the slit 60. In some embodiments, The width W3 of the intersection 70 is about 1.5 to 5 times the width W1 of the electrode line in view of the slit 60 and the remaining portion 65, 5 times.

Thereafter, an etching process is performed to form the segmented region A so that the intersection 70 can be partially removed, and the slit 60 having a predetermined width W2 can be formed. The remaining portions 65 may be formed by the portions of the intersection 70 that are removed by the slit 60 to connect the first and second electrode lines 50a and 50b to each other. The remaining portion 65 may include the concave portion 65a as described above.

6 is a schematic view for explaining slit formation of a film antenna according to a comparative example.

Referring to FIG. 6, when the electrode lines 50a and 50b cross the original shape without changing the width in the intersecting region (dotted circle), the electrode lines 50a, and 50b can be cut or separated.

In this case, the number of cut regions may increase, causing a pattern deviation, and the electrode visibility can be increased. Also, as the electrode lines 50a and 50b included in the boundary of the antenna pattern are all separated, the signal loss due to the increase in resistance may be increased.

However, according to the above-described exemplary embodiments, the width of the intersection portion 70 is formed to be sufficiently large so as to form the slit 60 between the remaining portions 65 and the remaining portions 65 in forming the segmented region A can do. Therefore, it is possible to suppress or reduce the problems of the electrode visibility and resistance increase caused by the comparative example.

Figures 7 and 8 are schematic plan and sectional views illustrating a film antenna according to some embodiments. Substantially the same or similar structures as those described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, detailed description of the configuration is omitted.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, the pad portion 116a included in the antenna pattern may have a substantially solid structure. In this case, the radiation pattern 112 is formed in a mesh structure to secure the transmittance and optical characteristics, and the pad portion 116a may be formed in a hollow structure to realize signal sensitivity and low resistance characteristics.

For example, the pad portion 116a may be disposed in the peripheral portion or the bezel portion of the display device so as not to substantially affect the display image.

In some embodiments, the pad portion 116a may be disposed at a different level or other layer than the radiation pattern 112. In some embodiments, An insulating layer 140 may be formed on the radiation pattern 112 and the transmission line 114 and a pad portion 116a may be disposed on the insulating layer 140 as shown in FIG.

In the insulating layer 140, a contact 145 for electrically connecting the pad portion 116a and the transmission line 114 may be formed.

9 is a schematic plan view for explaining a display device according to exemplary embodiments.

For example, FIG. 9 shows an outer shape including a window of a display device.

Referring to FIG. 9, the display device 200 may include a display area 210 and a peripheral area 220. The peripheral region 220 may be disposed on both sides and / or both ends of the display region 210, for example.

In some embodiments, the film antenna described above may be inserted into the display device 200 in the form of a patch. In some embodiments, the antenna pattern of the film antenna may overlap the display area 210 of the display device 200 as a whole. In some embodiments, the radiation pattern 112 of the antenna pattern overlaps the display region 210 and the pad portions 116 and 116a may be disposed to correspond to the peripheral region 220. In some embodiments,

The peripheral region 220 may correspond to, for example, the light shielding portion or the bezel portion of the image display apparatus. A driving circuit such as the IC chip of the film antenna and / or the display device 200 may be disposed in the peripheral region 220.

By arranging the pad portions (116, 116a) of the film antenna so as to be adjacent to the drive circuit, the signal transmission / reception path can be shortened and signal loss can be suppressed.

As described above, since the film antenna includes the antenna pattern including the same mesh structure and the dummy pattern, the permeability is improved and the electrode visibility can be remarkably reduced or suppressed. Thus, the image quality in the display area 210 can also be enhanced, while maintaining or improving the desired communication reliability.

50: electrode line 60: slit
65: Residual part 65a:
90: ground layer 100: dielectric layer
112: radiation pattern 114: transmission line
116, 116a: pad portion 118: dummy pattern

Claims (14)

Dielectric layer; And
And electrode lines including first electrode lines and second electrode lines arranged to cross each other on an upper surface of the dielectric layer to form a mesh structure,
The boundaries of the antenna pattern and the dummy pattern including the mesh structure are defined by the slits successively formed at the intersections of some of the intersections of the first electrode line and the second electrode line
Wherein the slit is formed between the remaining portions formed by partially removing the intersection,
Wherein the remaining portion included in the antenna pattern includes a concave portion that is gentler than an intersection angle of the first electrode line and the second electrode line.
delete delete The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the first electrode lines and the second electrode lines included in each of the antenna pattern and the dummy patterns around the boundary are connected to each other by the remaining portions.
delete The film antenna according to claim 1, wherein the concave portion includes a curved surface concave toward the slit side.
The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the width of the slit is greater than the width of the electrode line.
The film antenna of claim 7, wherein the width of the intersection is greater than the sum of the width of the electrode line and the width of the slit.
The film antenna of claim 1, wherein the antenna pattern comprises a radiation pattern, a pad portion, and a transmission line that mediates the radiation pattern and the pad portion.
10. The film antenna of claim 9, wherein both the radiation pattern, the transmission line, and the pad portion comprise the mesh structure.
The film antenna of claim 9, wherein the radiation pattern and the transmission line comprise the mesh structure, and the pad portion has a solid structure.
The film antenna of claim 1, further comprising a ground layer formed on the bottom of the dielectric layer.
The electrode according to claim 1, wherein the electrode line is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Al, Al, Pd, Cr, Ti, (W), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), vanadium (V), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) Of at least one of the following:
A display device comprising a film antenna according to any one of claims 1, 4, and 6 to 13.

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