KR102233696B1 - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a touch panel, and the touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a sensing electrode formed on a substrate; At least one wire electrically connected to the sensing electrode; And a shielding portion formed between the outer portion of the substrate and the sensing electrode.

Description

Touch panel {TOUCH PANEL}

The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a touch panel capable of preventing penetration of foreign substances (eg, moisture) into a touch panel or a display device including the touch panel.

In electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebook computers, OA devices, medical devices, or car navigation systems, a touch panel for detecting a touch input using a human hand or an object in an area where an image is displayed is widely used. It is being used.

Typical methods for sensing a touch input from an external touch panel include a capacitive method, a resistive film method, an electromagnetic induction method, and an optical method, and recently, a capacitive method is widely used.

Both the touch panel that senses the touch input through the various methods described above and the electronic device on which the touch panel is mounted include a number of electronic components that are vulnerable to exposure to external foreign substances (especially moisture, salt). Blocking the penetration of foreign substances is one of the very important factors to consider.

As an example, when sensing electrodes included in the touch panel are exposed to moisture or salt, corrosion may occur, and a short circuit between electrodes or a signal error may occur due to such corrosion.

That is, particularly in a touch panel where rapid input detection is important, a remarkable deterioration in quality and performance due to the penetration of external foreign substances may cause a fatal problem.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication: No. 10-2013-0025769 (2013.03.12)

The present invention was devised to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and according to an embodiment of the present invention, by forming a shield in a shape surrounding a component such as a sensing electrode at the edge of a touch panel, It is intended to provide a touch panel and image display device with excellent penetration prevention performance.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems that are not mentioned can be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention belongs from the following description. will be.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a touch panel including a sensing electrode formed on a substrate, at least one wiring electrically connected to the sensing electrode, and a shielding portion formed between the edge of the substrate and the wiring. .

In addition, the shielding part may be made of at least one insulating material.

In addition, a ground line formed on one side of the wiring and to which ground power is applied, and the shielding portion is disposed between the wiring and the ground line, which is close to the edge of the substrate and the edge of the substrate. I can.

In addition, the substrate may include a first substrate and a second substrate, and the wiring and the shielding portion may be disposed on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate.

In addition, the substrate includes a first substrate and a second substrate, the wiring is formed on the first substrate or the second substrate, the shielding portion is a first shielding portion formed at least one or more on the first substrate and At least one second shielding portion formed on the second substrate may be included, and the first shielding portion and the second shielding portion may be alternately disposed.

In addition, the shielding portion may have a thickness of 5 μm or more and 15 μm or less, or a width of 0.09 mm or more and 0.11 mm or less.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel and an image display device having excellent penetration prevention performance for external foreign substances can be provided by forming a shielding portion in a shape surrounding a component such as a sensing electrode at the edge of the touch panel.

In addition, by forming a shield through a screen printing technique or the like in the touch panel manufacturing process, it is possible to easily secure a touch panel having waterproof performance.

In addition, by integrating the touch panel and the shielding portion, it is possible to improve the resistance to the application of an external impact, thereby maintaining the foreign matter blocking performance.

1 is a view showing a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line A-A' of FIG. 1.
3 is a diagram showing a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line B-B' of FIG. 3.
5 is a view showing a touch panel according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line C-C' of FIG. 5.
7 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line D-D' of FIG. 7.
9 is a view showing a touch panel according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line E-E' of FIG. 9.

The embodiments disclosed herein should not be construed or used as limiting the scope of the present invention. It is natural for those skilled in the art that the description including the embodiments of the present specification has various applications. Therefore, unless limited by the claims, certain embodiments are illustrative for better describing the present invention, and it is not intended that the scope of the present invention be limited to the embodiments. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known configuration or function may obscure the subject matter of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line A-A' of FIG. 1.

1 and 2, the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a sensing electrode 20, a wiring 30, and a shielding part 40.

At least one sensing electrode 20 may be formed on the substrate 10.

The substrate 10 is a transparent film to which a material forming the sensing electrode 20 may be applied, polyethylene tterephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), polyether sulfone (PES), ployimide (PI), polymethly methaacrylate (PMMA), It may include at least one or more of various materials such as glass.

The sensing electrode 20 may be provided in the touch active area to sense a touch input by a person or an object. In the present invention, a touch active area means an area in which a user's touch command can be input. In addition, the touch inactive area is a concept opposite to the touch active area, and refers to an area in which a touch command is not input because it is not activated even when a user's touch is made. Here, the touch active area may be the same as the screen area, but is not limited thereto, and in some cases, it should be interpreted to mean an area that can extend to part or all of the non-screen area in addition to some or all of the screen area.

The sensing electrode 20 is ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), CNT (Carbon Nano Tube), IZO (Indium Zinc Oxide), ZnO (Zinc Oxide), graphene, conductive polymer, Ag nano wire ), may be formed of a conductive member such as copper oxide.

In addition, the sensing electrode 20 may include a first sensing electrode 20a and a second sensing electrode 20b.

The first sensing electrode 20a and the second sensing electrode 20b may be formed using various methods such as etching, photolithography, sputtering, or screen printing. .

In this case, the first sensing electrode 20a and the second sensing electrode 20b may be patterned to cross each other, but it will be easily understood by those skilled in the art that the pattern is not limited thereto and may be patterned in an array of various shapes. For example, the first sensing electrode 20 may extract a coordinate component in a first direction (eg, a horizontal direction) for a touch input, and the second sensing electrode 20 may be a second direction for a touch input ( Yes, it is possible to extract the coordinate component in the vertical direction). For another example, each sensing electrode 20 may be formed to have a bar shape, a diamond shape, or the like.

The wiring 30 is configured to be electrically connected to the sensing electrode 20, specifically, one end is electrically connected to one end of each sensing electrode 20, the other end is connected to the terminal unit, and each sensing electrode 20 Electrically connect to the terminal part. In this case, the number of wires 30 may be the same as the number of sensing electrodes 20.

Specifically, the wiring 30 may be formed of a plurality of first wirings 30a and second wirings 30b as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this case, one first wire 30a may be electrically connected to one first sensing electrode 20a, and one second wire 30b may be electrically connected to one second sensing electrode 20b. .

In addition, the wiring 30 is generally located in the touch non-active area, but may be located in the touch active area in some cases.

In addition, the wiring 30 is used to form the sensing electrode 20, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), CNT (Carbon Nano Tube), IZO (Indium Zinc Oxide), ZnO (Zinc Oxide), graphene (Graphene), Conductive polymer, silver nanowire (Ag nano wire), it may be formed by using the same conductive member such as copper oxide (copper oxide). In addition, when the wiring 30 is located in the non-screen area, it is sufficient if it is formed of a conductive material and may be made of a non-transparent material (eg, molybdenum, titanium, etc.).

The wiring 30 may be formed using various methods such as etching, photo lithography, sputtering, or screen printing.

The shielding part 40 may prevent external foreign substances such as moisture, salt, dust, and air from penetrating into the touch panel and damaging components such as the sensing electrode 20.

Specifically, the shielding part 40 may be formed between the edge of the substrate 10 and the sensing electrode 20. That is, the shielding part 40 is formed in a shape surrounding the sensing electrode 20 between the edge of the substrate 10 and the sensing electrode 20, thereby preventing the sensing electrode 20 from being exposed to external foreign substances as it is. It acts as a blocking shield.

The shielding part 40 may be made of one or two or more insulating materials. In addition, the shielding part 40 may be made of a silicon-based material having high resistance to moisture and sodium ions, or one or a combination of two or more of various materials such as polycarbonate (PC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In addition, the shielding part 40 may include indium tin oxide (ITO), carbon nanotube (CNT), indium zinc oxide (IZO), zinc oxide (ZnO), which are used to form the wiring 30 or the sensing electrode 20. It may be formed using the same conductive member such as graphene, conductive polymer, silver nano wire, copper oxide, and the like.

The shielding part 40 may be formed using various methods such as etching, photolithography, sputtering, or screen printing. In this case, the shielding part 40 may be formed through the same process as the process of forming the sensing electrode 20 or the wiring 30, and according to this, there is an advantage in that the manufacturing process is simplified.

3 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line B-B' of FIG. 3. The same reference numerals are used for the same components as those of the first embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

3 and 4, the touch panel according to the second embodiment of the present invention further includes a ground line 50.

The ground line 50 may be formed on one side of the wiring 30. That is, the ground line 50 may be formed between the sensing electrodes 20 or may be formed in a region such as a central portion or an outer portion of the substrate 10 based on the wiring 30. The ground line 50 may attenuate or block noise generated from the sensing electrode 20 or the wiring 30 by applying a ground power. Meanwhile, in FIG. 4, the ground line 50 is shown to be formed on the same surface of the same substrate as the substrate on which the wiring 30 is formed, but is not limited thereto and is formed on the other surface of the same substrate or different substrates. It may be formed on one side of.

Specifically, the ground line 50 is maintained at the ground level by receiving the ground power, and discharges the electrostatic discharge flowing into the touch panel to the outside so that the electrical signal of the sensing electrode 20 can be accurately distinguished. , It is possible to improve the reliability of static electricity by preventing the electrode from being damaged by the instantaneous high current.

In addition, the ground line 50 may be formed between a plurality of wires 30, and thus, signal interference caused by a coupling phenomenon occurring between each wire 30 is attenuated or blocked so that the touch input is more accurately detected. To be able to be.

In this case, the ground line 50 may be formed using the same material as the material used to form the sensing electrode 20, the wiring 30, or the shielding part 40. For example, the ground line 50 may be integrally patterned through the same process as the sensing electrode 20, the wiring 30, or the shield 40, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.

According to the second embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the shield 40 is closer to the edge of the substrate 10 of the wiring 30 and the ground line 50 and the substrate 10 Can be formed between the edges of. That is, in order to block foreign substances from both the wiring 30 and the ground line 50, the shielding part 40 is formed to surround both the wiring 30 and the ground line 50.

5 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line C-C' of FIG. 5. The same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as those of the first and second embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, and descriptions thereof will be omitted.

The substrate 10 of the touch panel according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes a first substrate 10a and a second substrate 10b, and the sensing electrode 20 or the wiring 30 is a first substrate 10a. ) Or may be formed on the second substrate 10b.

As an example, in FIGS. 5 and 6, a first wiring 30a is formed on the first substrate 10a, a second wiring 30b is formed on the second substrate 10b, and the shielding part 40 is 1 It is shown to be formed on the substrate 10a, but is not limited thereto. In some cases, the wirings 30a and 30b may be formed only on the first substrate 10a or may be formed only on the second substrate 10b, and shielding The portion 40 may be formed on the second substrate 10b.

When all of the wirings 30 are formed only on one of the substrates 10a or 10b, each of the wirings 30 may be formed on the same or different surfaces of the corresponding substrate.

In this case, the shielding part 40 may be formed on a substrate different from the substrate on which the sensing electrode 20, the first wiring 30a, or the second wiring 30b is formed. As an example, FIG. 6 shows that the shielding part 40 may be formed on a substrate 10a different from the substrate 10b on which the second wiring 30b is formed.

In this case, that two of the sensing electrodes 20, the wiring 30, or the shielding part 40 are formed on one substrate means that both are formed on the same surface of the substrate or are formed on different surfaces. Should be interpreted as. In this case, an adhesive material layer such as an optical clear adhesive (OCA) may be formed between the first substrate 10a and the second substrate 10b.

When the sensing electrode 20, the wiring 30, and the shielding part 40 are formed on one and the same substrate, the thickness of the touch panel is reduced, but it may be difficult to implement a single process due to the complicated pattern. have. In this case, by forming each on two or more different substrates, there is an advantage of maintaining the effect of blocking foreign substances by the shielding unit 40 while reducing the complexity of the pattern due to simultaneous implementation on one substrate.

7 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line D-D' of FIG. 7. The same reference numerals are used for the same components as those of the first to third embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.

In order to more effectively block foreign substances such as a water part penetrating the touch panel, a plurality of shielding parts 40a and 40b may be sequentially disposed.

The substrate of the touch panel according to the fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a first substrate 10a and a second substrate 10b as in the third exemplary embodiment, and the sensing electrode 20 or the wiring 30 is It may be formed on the first substrate 10a or the second substrate 10b.

In this case, a plurality of shielding portions 40a and 40b may be formed on the first substrate 10a and the second substrate 10b in a shape that meshes with each other. 7 and 8, a first shielding portion 40a is formed on an upper surface of the first substrate 10a, and a second shielding portion 40b is formed on the lower surface of the second substrate 10b. ) May be formed, and the first shielding portions 40a and the second shielding portions 40b may be alternately disposed. More specifically, a plurality of second shielding portions 40b are disposed on the lower surface of the second substrate 10b to form an uneven shape (eg, 凹　 and 　凸) between the plurality of second shielding portions 40b, The first shielding portion 40a may be interposed in the concave space formed between the second shielding portions 40b.

Meanwhile, in FIGS. 7 and 8, it is shown that two shielding portions 40a and 40b are formed on the first substrate 10a and one on the second substrate 10b, but are not limited thereto. One or more may be formed on each of the first and second substrates 10a and 10b.

In this case, the shielding portions 40a and 40b may be formed on one side of each substrate facing each other. For example, when the second substrate 10b is positioned on the first substrate 10a, the shielding portion ( One or more 40) may be formed on the upper surface of the first substrate 10a and the lower surface of the second substrate 10b, respectively.

In this case, an adhesive material layer such as an optical clear adhesive (OCA) may be formed between the first substrate 10a and the second substrate 10b.

Accordingly, even when an external foreign substance passes through the shielding portion 40 formed on the outermost side, it is sequentially blocked by the shielding portion 40 formed on the inside, thereby effectively reducing the possibility of damage to the sensing electrode 20 or the like.

9 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of the touch panel taken along line E-E' of FIG. 9. The same reference numerals are used for the same components as those of the first to fourth embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.

The substrate of the touch panel according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention includes a first substrate 10a and a second substrate 10b, and the sensing electrode 20 includes a first sensing electrode 20a and a second sensing electrode ( 20b), and the wiring 30 may include a first wiring 30a and a second wiring 30b. In this case, the first sensing electrode 20a and the first wiring 30a are formed on the upper surface of the first substrate 10a to be electrically connected to each other, and a second sensing electrode is formed on the upper surface of the second substrate 10b. (20b) and the second wiring 30b are formed to be electrically connected to each other.

In this case, the first shielding part 40a is formed on the upper surface of the first substrate 10a together with the first sensing electrode 20a and the first wiring 30a, and the second shielding part 40b is It is formed on the upper surface of the second substrate 10b together with the sensing electrode 20b and the second wiring 30b. That is, unlike the third and fourth embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8, in the fifth embodiment, the sensing electrode 20 and the wiring 30 are both the first substrate 10a and the second substrate ( Since it is formed on the upper surface of 10b), one or more shielding portions 40 are also formed on the upper surfaces of the first substrate 10a and the second substrate 10b, respectively.

Accordingly, the first shield 40a formed on the upper surface of the first substrate 10a surrounds the first sensing electrode 20a and the first wiring 30a, and is formed on the upper surface of the second substrate 10b. Since the second shielding part 40b surrounds the second sensing electrode 20b and the second wiring 30b, the sensing electrode 20 and the wiring 30 can act as a protective layer to block exposure of the sensing electrode 20 and the wiring 30 as they are to external foreign substances. I can.

The touch panel according to the fifth embodiment may further include a cover substrate 100 and an adhesive material layer 200. Specifically, the transparent substrate 100 is positioned on the second substrate 10b to contact a person's hand or a touch pen, and is formed of a material such as tempered glass or PMAA (PolyMethyMethAcrylate), and is applied from the outside. It is possible to protect the sensing electrode 20 or the wiring 30 located underneath the device. In addition, the adhesive material layer 200 is a configuration in which each substrate is attached to each other, and representatively, OCA (optical clear adhesive) is exemplified, but is not limited thereto, such as OCR (optical clear resin) or optical double-sided tape. Any material capable of adhering each substrate while having light transmittance is irrelevant. As an example, referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, a first adhesive material layer 200a is formed between the first substrate 10a and the second substrate 10b, and the cover substrate 100 and the second substrate ( A second adhesive material layer 200b may be formed between 10b).

In the first to fifth embodiments described above, the cross section of the shielding portion 40 is shown to have a rectangular shape, but this is for convenience only and may be formed in various shapes such as other polygonal or convex shapes. . In addition, it is natural that in the first to fourth embodiments, an adhesive material layer such as OCA (optical clear adhesive) may be formed between each substrate as in the fifth embodiment.

In addition, the shielding portion 40 may have a thickness of 5 μm or more and 15 μm or less. Specifically, in the case of forming the shielding part 40 using a screen printing technique, etc., bubbles may be generated due to the step difference as the thickness increases, and the thinner the thickness, the more effectively blocking external foreign matters, so that the shielding part ( 40) by forming the thickness of 5μm or more and 15μm or less, it is possible to minimize defects due to bubble generation and maintain the external foreign matter blocking performance above a certain level.

In addition, the shielding portion 40 may have a width of 0.09 mm or more and may be formed to be 1.1 mm or less. Specifically, the shielding part 40 may be formed in a touch inactive area or a non-screen area. While it has the advantage of increasing the blocking effect against foreign substances as the width increases, There is a disadvantage in that the width becomes wider and the size of the entire product increases compared to the same screen area. In addition, when the wiring 30, the ground line 50, and the shielding part 40 are formed together in the limited touch inactive area, mutual signal interference may occur or a process limitation may follow due to a complex pattern.

Therefore, the lower limit of the width of the shielding part 40 is set to 0.09mm to maintain the external foreign matter blocking performance above a certain level, and the upper limit is set to 1.1mm to reduce the ratio of the non-screen area to the screen area, and the wiring 30 and grounding It is possible to minimize the interference with the line 50 and reduce the complexity of the process.

Meanwhile, the touch panel according to the first to fourth embodiments of the present invention may be installed on an image display device. Such an image display device includes a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a tablet PC, and a wearable according to the product type. A device (wearable device), a head up display (HUD), a navigation device, a camera, a medical device, and the like may be mentioned. Such an image display device may include an image display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a field emission display device (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP), and an electroluminescent display device (ELD). . That is, the image display device should be understood as a term that can encompass all devices that display data or figures so that the human eye can check them.

Terms such as "include" described above, unless specifically stated to the contrary, means that the corresponding component can be embedded, so that other components may be further included rather than excluding other components. Should be interpreted as.

The embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for purposes of illustration, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the technical field of the present invention will be able to make various modifications and changes within the spirit and scope of the present invention, and these modifications and changes should be regarded as belonging to the scope of the present invention.

10: substrate
10a: first substrate
10b: second substrate
20: sensing electrode
30: wiring
30a: first wiring
30b: second wiring
40: shield
40a: first shield
40b: second shield
50: ground line
100: cover substrate
200: adhesive material layer
200a: first adhesive material layer
200b: second adhesive material layer

Claims (6)

A sensing electrode formed on the substrate;
At least one wire electrically connected to the sensing electrode; And
A shielding portion formed between the edge of the substrate and the wiring;
Including,
The substrate includes a first substrate and a second substrate bonded to each other by an adhesive material layer,
The wiring is formed on the first or second substrate,
The shielding portion includes a first shielding portion formed at least one or more on the first substrate, and a second shielding portion formed at least one or more on the second substrate, wherein the first shielding portion and the second shielding portion face up and down. Touch panels that are alternately arranged so as not to touch the opposite substrate. The method of claim 1,
The shielding part,
Touch panel made of at least one insulating material
The method of claim 1,
A ground line formed on one side of the wiring and to which ground power is applied;
Including more,
The shielding part,
The touch panel, which is disposed between the wiring and the ground line close to the edge of the substrate and the edge of the substrate.
delete delete The method of claim 1,
The shielding part,
A touch panel having a thickness of 5 μm or more and 15 μm or less, or a width of 0.09 mm or more and 0.11 mm or less.

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