KR20120062135A - Electrostatic capacity touch sensor of double layer type, and the manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An electrostatic capacity touch sensor of a double layer mode and a manufacturing method thereof are provided to reduce raw material costs by replacing an ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) or an IZO(Indium Zinc Oxide). CONSTITUTION: Electrode layers include sensing unit electrodes(3) and a bus line(6) which is connected to one side of the sensing unit electrode. The sensing unit electrodes are formed in a sensing sell(4) and a bridge electrode(5). The sensing unit electrode and the bus line are formed by using the same material on an electrode layer.

Description

Electrostatic capacity touch sensor of double layer type, and the manufacturing method

The present invention relates to a double layer capacitive touch sensor and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a sensing unit electrode forming each electrode layer layer in a double layer capacitive touch panel in which electrode layer layers are formed. Double layer capacitive touch sensor that simultaneously forms bus lines using the same material simultaneously, reduces the number of processes, reduces the manufacturing cost of the product, and ensures the electrical characteristics and reliability corresponding to existing products And a method for producing the same.

In general, the capacitive touch sensor is interactive by measuring the capacitance changes between two sensing cells embedded in the sensor as an object such as a finger approaches or contacts the sensor, thereby confirming the position of the object in proximity or contact. It is a convenient input device that can be operated intuitively.

The capacitive touch sensor is classified into a single layer method in which the two sensing cells are formed on the same plane, and a double layer method in which the two sensing cells are formed on different planes.

Particularly, in the double layer method, first, a sensing cell is formed using ITO or IZO, which is a transparent conductor, and second, a insulating layer is formed to apply the sensing cell. After forming a bridge electrode for electrically connecting to form a sensing electrode, fourth, a process of forming a bus line with a separate conductive material to electrically connect the sensing electrode and an external power source Form a layer.

However, in the conventional double layer capacitive touch sensor, since the sensing cell, the bridge electrode, and the bus line are formed of different materials, a separate process must be applied to each material in order to form one layer. There is a problem that occurs, the cost increases as the process increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and to reduce the number of processes, to ensure the electrical characteristics and reliability corresponding to the existing product, as well as to reduce the manufacturing cost of the product double A layered capacitive touch sensor and a method of manufacturing the same are provided.

The object of the present invention is to provide a double-layer capacitive touch sensor in which an electrode layer layer displaying an x-axis and an electrode layer layer displaying a y-axis are stacked on a substrate, wherein each electrode layer layer has a plurality of electrode layers. A sensing unit electrode spaced apart from each other, a bus line electrically connected to one end of the sensing unit electrode, and a surface is coated with an insulating layer, and the sensing unit electrode comprises: a sensing cell forming a mesh structure with an electrode wire; One electrode wire is formed of a bridge electrode connecting two adjacent sensing cells in each electrode layer layer to each other, the sensing cell of the electrode layer layer displaying the x-axis, and the sensing cell of the electrode layer layer displaying the y-axis. In order to avoid overlapping, the sensing unit electrode and the bus line are formed at the same time by using the same material. It is achieved by that the two-layer method capacitive touch sensors as claimed.

Wherein each of the electrode layer is, first, a metal (where the metal is one of silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn)) and Second, it is preferable to include one of the paste containing the metal, and third, the slurry containing the metal.

Wherein each of the electrode layer layer, first, the conductive polymer material (where the conductive polymer material is one of poly-aniline, poly-pyrrole, poly-thiophene) And, secondly, a carbon organic material (wherein the carbon organic material is one of carbon nanotubes and graphene), third, the conductive polymer material or the paste containing the carbon organic material, and fourth, the conductive polymer material or the carbon It is preferable to include any one of the slurry containing the organic material.

Wherein the insulating layer is, one of the organic material (wherein the organic material is one of the acrylic polymer, imide-based polymer, oligomer), second, the paste containing the organic material, and third, one of the slurry containing the organic material It is preferred to be made of a material.

The above object is, according to the present invention, in the method of manufacturing the above-described touch sensor, each of the electrode layer layer, first, a roll printing method for transferring the material attached to the surface of the roller to the substrate, and second, the inkjet nozzle It is achieved by a method of manufacturing a capacitive touch sensor of the double layer method characterized in that to form at the same time by integrally forming the sensing unit electrode and the bus line by selectively applying any one of the inkjet printing method for spraying a material using .

Wherein each electrode layer is preferably baked or dried at 180 degrees Celsius or less to be bonded to the substrate.

Here, the insulating layer is applied to each electrode layer layer by a roll printing method for transferring the material attached to the surface of the roller to the substrate or a slit coating method for applying the material to the substrate while the application unit or the substrate is moved, 180 degrees Celsius It is preferable to bond to the substrate or the electrode layer layer by firing or drying to below a degree.

According to the present invention, there is provided a double layer capacitive touch sensor and a method of manufacturing the same, which can reduce the number of processes, secure electrical characteristics and reliability corresponding to existing products, and reduce manufacturing costs of products. do.

 In addition, there is provided a double layer capacitive touch sensor and a method of manufacturing the same, which reduces cost of raw materials by replacing expensive ITO or IZO.

In addition, a double layer capacitive touch sensor capable of stabilizing flatness of a sensor surface and a method of manufacturing the same are provided.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a capacitive touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a perspective view showing each electrode layer in the capacitive touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a portion “a” of FIG. 2;
4 is a process chart showing a manufacturing process according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
5 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing process according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to the description, in the various embodiments, components having the same configuration will be representatively described in the first embodiment using the same reference numerals, and in other embodiments, different configurations from the first embodiment will be described. do.

Hereinafter, a capacitive touch sensor of a double layer type according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a capacitive touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing each electrode layer in the capacitive touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, 3 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a portion “a” of FIG. 2.

1 to 3, in the capacitive touch sensor according to the present invention, the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the x-axis and the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the y-axis are respectively stacked on the substrate 1 so as to have a double layer. It's in the way.

At this time, each of the electrode layer 2 includes a detector electrode 3, the plurality of which are spaced apart from each other, and a bus line 6 electrically connected to one end of the detector electrode 3, the surface is insulated Layer 7 is applied.

The sensing unit electrode 3 is a sensing cell 4 having a mesh structure with electrode wires 40, and two sensing cells 4 adjacent to each electrode layer layer 2 with at least one electrode wire 40. It is formed as a bridge electrode (5) interconnecting the. Accordingly, it is possible to secure electrical characteristics and reliability corresponding to the electrode of the sensing unit made of existing ITO or IZO.

The sensing unit electrode of each electrode layer layer 2 is disposed so that the sensing cell 4 of the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the x-axis and the sensing cell 4 of the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the y-axis do not overlap each other. (3) and busline 6 are formed simultaneously in one piece using the same material. Accordingly, the number of processes can be reduced, as well as the manufacturing cost of the product can be reduced.

In other words, in an embodiment of the present invention, the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the x-axis is referred to as the first electrode layer layer 21, and the electrode layer layer 2 displaying the y-axis is referred to as the second electrode layer layer 22. It is called).

Then, in the first electrode layer layer 21, a plurality of first detector electrodes 31 are spaced apart from each other, and one bus line 61 is electrically connected to one end of each of the first detector electrodes 31. Connected. Here, the first sensing unit electrode 31 interconnects the first sensing cell 41 having a mesh structure with the electrode wire 40 and the two first sensing cells 41 adjacent to each other with the at least one electrode wire 40. The first bridge electrode 51 is formed. Here, the shape of the first sensing cell 41 is preferably formed in, for example, a triangle, a square, or a rhombus, but is not limited thereto. For example, the first sensing cell 41 may be formed in various shapes such as a circle, an ellipse, or a polygon.

The first sensing unit electrode 31 and the first bus line 61 are simultaneously formed integrally with the same material. The first electrode layer layer 21 is coated with the first insulating layer 71.

Here, the electrode wire 40 formed on the first sensing unit electrode 31 preferably has a line width of 5 micrometers to 120 micrometers. When the wire width of the electrode wire 40 is smaller than 5 micrometers, an additional process such as a etching method using a laser or a wet etching method of forming a corrosion pattern in an etching solution after photoprinting is performed in order to form a fine pattern. If necessary, the electrical characteristics of the first sensing cell 41 may be drastically lowered due to a short circuit of the electrode wire 40. In addition, when the line width of the electrode wire 40 is greater than 120 micrometers, the spacing between the electrode wires 40 may be smaller than the line width of the electrode wire 40, and the opening ratio of the first sensing cell 41 may drop. Because it can.

In addition, it is preferable that the electrode wire 40 formed on the first sensing unit electrode 31 has a height of 0.3 to 30 micrometers. When the height of the electrode wire 40 is smaller than 0.3 micrometer, the electrical characteristics of the first sensing cell 41 may be drastically lowered due to the short circuit of the electrode wire 40. When the height of the electrode wire 40 is larger than 30 micrometers, it is difficult to maintain the height of the electrode wire 40 due to process characteristics, and the opening ratio of the first sensing cell 41 may drop.

In addition, the first insulating layer 71 is preferably formed with a height greater than 0.3 micrometers or less than 300 micrometers. When the height of the first insulating layer 71 is 0.3 micrometer or less, the above-described first sensing unit electrode 31 may be exposed and the electrical characteristics of the first sensing cell 41 may be drastically lowered, and more than 300 micrometers. This is because it is difficult to maintain the height of the first insulating layer 71 in the coating process, and the opening ratio may drop.

The material used for the first electrode layer layer 21 is one of a metal, a paste containing a metal, and a slurry containing a metal. The metal is one of silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr) and zinc (Zn). In addition, the metal included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 1% to 90% of the total material.

In addition, the material used for the first electrode layer layer 21 may include a conductive polymer material, a carbon organic material, a paste containing a conductive polymer material or a carbon organic material, and a slurry containing the conductive polymer material or carbon organic material. Will use one. The conductive polymer material is one of poly-aniline, poly-pyrrole, and poly-thiophene, and the carbon organic material is one of carbon nanotubes and graphene. In addition, the conductive polymer or carbon organic material included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 1% to 90% of the total material.

In addition, the material used for the first insulating layer 71 may use one of an organic material, a paste containing an organic material, and a slurry containing an organic material. Herein, the organic material is one of an acrylic polymer, an imide polymer, and an oligomer. In addition, the organic material included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 0.5% to 80% of the total material.

In the second electrode layer layer 22, a plurality of second sensing unit electrodes 32 are spaced apart from each other, and a second bus line 62 is electrically connected to one end of each of the second sensing unit electrodes 32. . Here, the second sensing unit electrode 32 interconnects a second sensing cell 42 having a mesh structure with the electrode wire 40 and two second sensing cells 42 adjacent to each other with at least one electrode wire 40. The second bridge electrode 52 is formed. Here, the shape of the second sensing cell 42 is, for example, preferably formed in a triangle, a square or a rhombus, but is not limited thereto. For example, the second sensing cell 42 may be formed in various shapes such as a circle, an ellipse or a polygon.

The second sensing unit electrode 32 and the second bus line 62 are integrally formed simultaneously using the same material. The second electrode layer layer 22 is coated with the second insulating layer 72.

Here, the electrode wire 40 formed on the second sensing unit electrode 32 preferably has a line width of 5 micrometers to 120 micrometers. When the wire width of the electrode wire 40 is smaller than 5 micrometers, an additional process such as a etching method using a laser or a wet etching method of forming a corrosion pattern in an etching solution after photoprinting is performed in order to form a fine pattern. If necessary, the electrical characteristics of the second sensing cell 42 may be drastically lowered due to a short circuit of the electrode wire. When the line width of the electrode wire 40 is greater than 120 micrometers, the spacing between the electrode wires 40 may be smaller than the line width of the electrode wire 40, and the aperture ratio of the second sensing cell 42 may drop. Because there is.

In addition, it is preferable that the electrode wire 40 formed on the second sensing unit electrode 32 has a height of 0.3 micrometers to 30 micrometers. When the height of the electrode wire is smaller than 0.3 micrometer, the electrical characteristics may be rapidly lowered due to a short circuit of the electrode wire in the second sensing cell 42. When the height of the electrode wire 40 is larger than 30 micrometers, it is difficult to maintain the height of the electrode wire 40 due to process characteristics, and the opening ratio of the second sensing cell 42 may drop.

In addition, the second insulating layer 72 preferably has a height greater than 0.3 micrometers and less than 300 micrometers. When the height of the second insulating layer 72 is 0.3 micrometer or less, the above-described second sensing unit electrode 32 may be exposed, and the electrical characteristics of the second sensing cell 42 may be drastically lowered, than 300 micrometers. This is because it is difficult to maintain the height of the second insulating layer 72 in the coating process, and the opening ratio may drop.

Here, the material used for the second electrode layer layer 22 is one of a metal, a paste containing a metal, and a slurry containing a metal. The metal is one of silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr) and zinc (Zn). In addition, the metal included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 1% to 90% of the total material.

In addition, the material used for the second electrode layer layer 22 may include a conductive polymer material, a carbon organic material, a paste containing a conductive polymer material or a carbon organic material, and a slurry containing the conductive polymer material or carbon organic material. Will use one. The conductive polymer material is one of poly-aniline, poly-pyrrole, and poly-thiophene, and the carbon organic material is one of carbon nanotubes and graphene. In addition, the conductive polymer or carbon organic material included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 1% to 90% of the total material.

In addition, the material used for the second insulating layer 72 may use one of an organic material, a paste containing the organic material, and a slurry containing the organic material. Herein, the organic material is one of an acrylic polymer, an imide polymer, and an oligomer. In addition, the organic material included in the paste or slurry is included in a weight ratio of 0.5% to 80% of the total material.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a capacitive touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

In the capacitive touch sensor according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1A, the first electrode layer layer 21 and the second electrode layer layer 22 are formed on both surfaces of the substrate 1, respectively. After stacking, an insulating layer 7 may be stacked on each electrode layer 2, and the first electrode layer 21 and the first electrode layer 21 may be formed on the substrate 1 as shown in FIG. The first insulating layer 71, the second electrode layer layer 22, and the second insulating layer 72 may be sequentially stacked.

4 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing process according to the first embodiment of the present invention, which shows the process of forming the electrode layer layer 2, which is the core of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the electrode layer layer 2 is formed by a roll printing method. In the roll printing method, a material used for the electrode layer layer 2 is attached to the surface of the roller 100 in the same shape as the electrode layer layer 2, and the material attached to the surface of the roller 100 is transferred to the substrate 1. That's how. For example, roll printing methods include gravure printing, offset printing, gravure offset printing, reverse offset printing, and the like.

5 is a process diagram showing a manufacturing process according to the second embodiment of the present invention, which shows the process of forming the electrode layer layer 2, which is the core of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the electrode layer layer 2 is formed by an inkjet printing method. The inkjet printing method is a method in which a material used for the electrode layer layer 2 is sprayed through the inkjet nozzle 200 and transferred to the substrate 1 in the same shape as the electrode layer layer 2.

In the above-described roll printing method or inkjet printing method, the same shape as that of the electrode layer layer 2 is directly printed on the substrate 1, thereby reducing the number of processes and lowering the unit cost. More specifically, compared to photolithography, the process is simpler, inexpensive, minimizes material consumption, and more accurately forms the sensor electrode 3 and the bus line 6 integrally.

After the material for forming the electrode layer layer 2 is transferred to the substrate 1 by the above-described roll printing method or inkjet printing method, the transferred material is baked or dried at 180 degrees Celsius or less to stably transfer the transferred material to the substrate 1. To bond.

Although not shown, the insulating layer 7 is a roll printing method for transferring the material attached to the surface of the roller 100 to the substrate 1 or the material is applied to the substrate 1 while the application unit or the substrate 1 is moved. It is applied to each electrode layer layer 2 by a slit coating method, which is baked or dried at 180 degrees Celsius or less to stably adhere to the substrate 1 or the electrode layer layer 2. More specifically, the method of forming the insulating layer 7 may use the above-described roll printing method, or may use a slit coating method of applying a material to the substrate 1 while the coating unit or the substrate 1 is moved. . After uniformly applying the material forming the insulating layer 7 on the electrode layer layer 2, it is baked or dried to 180 degrees Celsius or less to ensure that the transferred material is stable on the substrate 1 or the electrode layer layer (2). To bond.

As described above, after the electrode layer layer 2 is formed, an external driving unit (eg, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) or a chip on film (COF), etc.) may be bonded to the end of the bus line 6.

The scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but may be embodied in various forms of embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. Without departing from the gist of the invention claimed in the claims, it is intended that any person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains falls within the scope of the claims described in the present invention to various extents which can be modified.

1: substrate 2: electrode layer layer 21: first electrode layer layer
22: second electrode layer layer 3: detector electrode 31: first detector electrode
32: second sensing unit electrode 30: mesh 4: sensing cell
41: first sensing cell 42: second sensing cell 40: electrode wire
5: bridge electrode 51: first bridge electrode 52: second bridge electrode
6: bus line 61: first bus line 62: second bus line
7: insulating layer 71: first insulating layer 72: second insulating layer
100: roller 200: nozzle 300: laser

Claims (7)

In the double-layer capacitive touch sensor in which the electrode layer layer showing the x-axis and the electrode layer layer showing the y-axis are laminated on the substrate,
Each of the electrode layer layers includes a detector electrode having a plurality of electrodes spaced apart from each other, a bus line electrically connected to one end of the detector electrode, and a surface thereof is coated with an insulating layer.
The sensing unit electrode is formed of a sensing cell forming a mesh structure with an electrode wire, and a bridge electrode for interconnecting two adjacent sensing cells in each electrode layer layer with at least one electrode wire,
In order to prevent the sensing cell of the electrode layer layer displaying the x-axis and the sensing cell of the electrode layer displaying the y-axis from overlapping with each other, the sensing unit electrode and the bus line are simultaneously integrated with each other using the same material. Double layer capacitive touch sensor, characterized in that formed. The method of claim 1,
Each of the electrode layer layers, first, a metal (where the metal is one of silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn)), Second, the capacitive touch sensor of the double layer type, characterized in that it comprises a paste containing the metal, and third, the slurry containing the metal. The method of claim 1,
Each of the electrode layer layers may include first, a conductive polymer material (where the conductive polymer material is one of poly-aniline, poly-pyrrole, and poly-thiophene) and Second, a carbon organic material (wherein the carbon organic material is one of carbon nanotubes and graphene), third, the conductive polymer material or the paste containing the carbon organic material, and fourth, the conductive polymer material or the carbon organic material. A double layer capacitive touch sensor, characterized in that it comprises any one of a slurry containing a material. The method of claim 1,
The insulating layer is, first, an organic material (where the organic material is one of an acrylic polymer, an imide polymer, and an oligomer), second, a paste containing the organic material, and third, an insulating material of one of the slurry containing the organic material Double layer capacitive touch sensor, characterized in that consisting of. In the method of manufacturing the double layer capacitive touch sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Each of the electrode layer layers may be configured by selectively applying one of a roll printing method for transferring a material attached to a roller surface to a substrate and a second ink jet printing method for spraying a material using an ink jet nozzle. A method of manufacturing a double layer capacitive touch sensor, wherein the secondary electrode and the bus line are integrally formed simultaneously. The method of claim 5,
Wherein each electrode layer layer is baked or dried at 180 degrees Celsius or less to be bonded to the substrate. The method of claim 5,
The insulating layer is applied to each electrode layer layer by a roll printing method for transferring a substance attached to the surface of the roller to a substrate or a slit coating method for applying a substance to the substrate while the application unit or the substrate is moved, and 180 degrees Celsius. The method of manufacturing a double layer capacitive touch sensor according to claim 1, wherein the method is baked or dried to adhere to the substrate or the electrode layer layer.

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