KR20030055924A - Touch Panel and Fabricating Method of Dot Spacer Thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A touch panel and a method for forming a dot spacer of the same are provided to enhance the insulation between a transparent conductive layer on an upper and a lower sheet by differently forming a height of the touch panel dot spacer. CONSTITUTION: The touch panel(40) is placed on the flat panel display(30). The touch panel(40) includes an upper and a lower sheet(34,32), the transparent conductive layers(36a,36b) formed on the upper and the lower sheet(32,34), and the first and the second spacer dispersed between the upper and the lower sheet(34,32). The first electrode layer is formed on a surface of the lower sheet(32). The second electrode layer(40b) is formed on a bottom surface of the upper sheet(34). The second electrode layer(40b) generates a signal having the current volume or a voltage level varied according to a pressing position by shorting from the first electrode layer when the upper sheet(34) is pressed by a stylus pen or a finger. The first and the second dot spacer(44,42) are formed by having the height different from each other.

Description

Touch Panel and Fabrication Method of Dot Spacer Thereof}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a touch panel and a method of forming the dot spacer, which can improve insulation and yield by differently forming a height of a dot spacer according to a position.

A touch panel, which is an integrated display device, is a representative ATM of a bank. The touch panel generates a voltage or current signal corresponding to a position where a stylus pen or a finger is pressed to input a user-specified command or graphic information. Recently, a resistive touch panel of an analog input method is used mainly because it is integrated with a liquid crystal panel among flat panel displays. A typical liquid crystal panel displays an image by controlling the light transmittance of liquid crystal cells injected between two lower substrates. Each of the liquid crystal cells adjusts the amount of light transmitted in response to the video signal, that is, the pixel signal.

1 is a structural diagram of a touch panel according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a state of looking down the touch panel of FIG. 1.

1 and 2, the touch panel 20 is placed on the flat panel display 10. The touch panel 20 includes a lower sheet 12 and an upper sheet 14, transparent conductive layers 16a and 16b formed on the lower sheet 12 and the upper sheet 14, the lower sheet 12 and The spacer sheet 26 is spread between the upper sheets 14. The first electrode layer 18a is formed on the surface of the lower sheet 12, and the second electrode layer 18b is formed on the bottom surface of the upper sheet 14. It is. The second electrode layer 18b causes the upper sheet 14 to be shorted with the first electrode layer 18a when the upper sheet 14 is pressed by a stylus pen or finger to generate a signal having a current amount or voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position. In this case, the first and second electrode layers 18a and 18b include indium tin oxide (hereinafter referred to as "ITO") and indium zinc oxide (Indium-Zinc-Oxide); Ag on the transparent conductive layers 16a and 16b formed of one of " IZO ") and indium-tin-zinc-oxide (hereinafter referred to as " ITZO "). It is formed by printing. The upper sheet 12 of the touch panel 20 has an X-axis electrode 12 formed at an edge in the horizontal direction, and is drawn from the center of the X-axis electrode 12 to provide an amount of current or voltage to an external touch controller (not shown). And a signal line 24 for supplying a signal having a.

3 is a view showing in detail the cross section of the touch panel according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 3, the touch panel 20 includes a first region A in which the transparent conductive layer 16 and the electrode layer 18 are formed at the edge of the panel, and the two electrode layers 18a and 18b are formed by a stylus pen or a finger. It is composed of a second region B in which a signal having a current amount or a voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position by being shorted when pressed is generated.

In this case, the dot spacer 26 formed in the second region B is formed of a transparent sheet formed on the lower sheet 12 and the upper sheet 14 formed of a polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as "PET") film. It serves to maintain a certain gap between the layers (16a, 16b). However, when the height of the dot spacer is formed to be constant as in the prior art, a phenomenon in which the transparent conductive layers 16a and 16b formed on the upper sheet sags at the center of the panel as shown in FIG. 3. This causes a problem that insulation resistance may be deteriorated by lowering the insulation between the upper transparent conductive layer 16b and the lower transparent conductive layer 16a.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel and a dot spacer forming method thereof in which the height of the touch panel dot spacers is differently formed for each region so as to increase insulation between the lower conductive sheet and the transparent conductive layer on the upper sheet.

1 is a structural diagram of a touch panel according to the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a state where the touch panel of FIG. 1 is viewed from above. FIG.

3 is a view showing in detail the cross section of the touch panel according to the prior art.

4 schematically illustrates a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a state where the touch panel of FIG. 4 is viewed from above. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a method of forming the dot spacer shown in FIG. 4; FIG.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10,30: flat panel display 12,32: lower sheet

14,34: upper sheet 16,36: transparent conductive layer

18,40: electrode layer 20,40: touch panel

22,38 insulation layer 24,44 signal line

26,42,44: dot spacer 46: printing mask

In order to achieve the above object, the touch panel according to the present invention is an upper substrate formed with an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer, a lower substrate formed with a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer, and the upper transparent conductive layer and a lower transparent layer A plurality of dot spacers formed between the conductive layers to prevent the upper and lower transparent conductive layers from acting when a predetermined pressing force is not applied; When the effective area of the touch panel is divided into four, at least one second dot spacer having a height higher than that of the first dot spacer is included in one division area.

The second dot spacer in the present invention is characterized in that it is 2/3 points from the peripheral electrode line.

In the method of forming a dot spacer of a touch panel according to the present invention, when the effective area of the touch panel is divided into four, the first mask hole for forming the first dot spacer in one divided area and the second dot having a height higher than that of the first dot spacer. Arranging a printing mask on which a second mask hole for forming a spacer is formed on a substrate, and printing the first and second dot spacers by a spacer paste through the printing mask. .

In the present invention, the second mask hole is wider than the first mask hole.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention in addition to the above object will be apparent from the detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a state where the touch panel of FIG. 4 is viewed from above. FIG.

4 and 5, the touch panel 40 is placed on the flat panel display 30. The touch panel 40 includes a lower sheet 32 and an upper sheet 34, transparent conductive layers 36a and 36b formed on the lower sheet 32 and the upper sheet 34, the lower sheet 32 and The first and second spacers 46 and 48 are spread between the upper sheets 34. A first electrode layer (not shown) is formed on the surface of the lower sheet 32, and a second electrode layer 40b is formed on the bottom surface of the upper sheet 34. The second electrode layer 40b is short-circuited with the first electrode layer 40a when the upper sheet 34 is pressed by the stylus pen or finger, thereby generating a signal having a current amount or voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position. In this case, the first and second electrode layers 40a and 40b are formed by printing silver (Ag) on the transparent conductive layers 36a and 36b formed of one of ITO, IZO, and ITZO, which are transparent conductive materials. The lower sheet 32 of the touch panel 40 has an X-axis electrode 38a formed at a horizontal edge and a center of the X-axis electrode 38a, which is applied to an external touch controller (not shown). And a signal line 44 for supplying a signal having a. Between the lower sheet 32 and the upper sheet 34 on which the electrode layers 40a and 40b are not formed, a projection pattern formed by photolithography from the photosensitive resin composition is heat-softened to form the first and second dot spacers. (42, 44).

When the effective area of the touch panel is divided into quarters, the dot spacer formed at the point corresponding to 2/3 of the 1/4 effective area from the electrode layer formed on the side of the area is called the first dot spacer 44. The region formed in the region other than the point where the first spacer is formed is referred to as a second dot spacer 42. At this time, the first dot spacer 44 and the second dot spacer 42 are formed to have different heights. In order to improve insulation between the transparent electrode layers 36a and 36b due to the pressing of the upper sheet 34, the first dot spacer 44 may be formed higher than the second dot spacer 42. The height of the first dot spacer 44 is formed to about 15 μm, and the height of the second dot spacer 42 is formed to about 10 μm.

In addition, the first dot spacers 44 may be formed at a wider interval than the area where the second dot spacers 42 are formed. This is because the height of the first dot spacer 44 having a high height does not increase when pressure is formed by a stylus pen or a finger when the first dot spacer 44 is formed at the same interval as the area where the second dot spacer 42 of the touch panel is formed. That is, when the peripheral interval with the first dot spacer 44 is T1 and the peripheral interval with the second dot spacer 42 is T2, T1> T2.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a method of forming the dot spacer shown in FIG. 4.

In the method of forming the dot spacer in the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. 6, the print mask 46 having the size of the touch screen effective area is positioned. The printing mask 46 has holes 48a and 48b formed at positions where the first and second spacers 44 and 42 are to be formed. At this time, the widths of the holes 48a and 48b formed in the printing mask 46 for forming the first and second spacers are different from each other. When the spacer is printed using the spacer paste on the substrate 50 where the print mask 46 is located, the first and second spacers 44 and 42 are formed. At this time, the peripheral interval T1 of the printing mask hole for forming the first dot spacer 44 is wider than the peripheral interval T2 of the printing mask hole for forming the second dot spacer. This is to make the degree of pressing of the upper sheet equal to the peripheral region by forming the first dot spacer T1 high.

In addition, the dot spacer of another touch panel according to the present invention, when forming the first and second dot spacer, the first dot spacer is formed to about 15㎛, the second dot spacer is formed to a height of less than 10㎛. This is because the first dot spacer is formed high and the height of the second dot spacer formed in the remaining regions other than the region where the first dot spacer is formed is reduced, thereby improving the insulation and reducing the activation force, which is the degree of pressing the upper sheet. You can do it.

As described above, in the touch panel according to the present invention, the height of the dot spacer of a specific region is increased in the spacer formed on the lower substrate, thereby preventing insulation defects caused by sagging of the upper sheet. In addition, by widening the interval between the areas where the dot spacers are formed high, it is possible to keep the strength of the upper sheet press constant.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (9)

An upper substrate having an upper electrode line and an upper transparent conductive layer formed thereon; A lower substrate having a lower electrode line and a lower transparent conductive layer formed thereon; A plurality of dot spacers formed between the upper transparent conductive layer and the lower transparent conductive layer to prevent the upper and lower transparent conductive layers from acting when a predetermined pressing force is not applied; When the effective area of the touch panel is divided into four, the touch panel is characterized in that at least one second dot spacer having a height higher than the first dot spacer in one divided area. The method of claim 1, The second dot spacer is a touch panel, characterized in that 2/3 from the peripheral electrode line. The method of claim 1, The height of the first spacer is a touch panel, characterized in that about 10㎛. The method of claim 1, The height of the second spacer is a touch panel, characterized in that about 15㎛. When the effective area of the touch panel is divided into four parts, the first mask hole for forming the first dot spacer and the second mask hole for forming the second dot spacer having a height higher than the first dot spacer are formed in one division area. Aligning the mask on the substrate, And printing the first and second dot spacers by a spacer paste through the printing mask. The method of claim 5, And the second mask hole is wider than the first mask hole. The method of claim 6, The height of the first spacer formed by the first mask hole is 10㎛ the method of forming a dot spacer of the touch panel. The method of claim 6, The height of the second spacer formed by the second mask hole is 15㎛ the method of forming a dot spacer of the touch panel. The method of claim 6, The height of the first spacer formed by the first mask hole is less than 10 ㎛ the method of forming a dot spacer of the touch panel.