KR20130015584A - Touch sensor integrated display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A touch sensor-integrated display device is provided to improve durability by using a touch sensor for recognizing a touch with components of the display device. CONSTITUTION: A gate line(G1) and data lines(D1,D2) are intersected with each other to form a pixel area and pixel electrodes(P11,P12) are formed in the pixel area. A common electrode(C11) is overlapped with the pixel electrodes while having an insulating layer and includes touch electrodes. A signal line is connected with the touch electrodes and overlapped with the data lines. The signal line is formed in parallel with the data lines. The signal line is located in an area except for areas in which the pixel electrodes and the common electrode are overlapped with each other.

Description

Touch sensor integrated display device {TOUCH SENSOR INTEGRATED DISPLAY DEVICE}

The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device with a touch sensor.

Touch sensors include Liquid Crystal Display, Field Emission Display (FED), Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Electroluminescence Device (EL), Electrophoretic Display It is a type of input device installed in an image display device such as an input device for inputting predetermined information by pressing (touching or touching) the touch panel while the user views the image display device.

The touch sensor used in the aforementioned display device may be classified into an add-on type, an on-cell type, and an integrated type according to its structure. The top plate attaching type is a method of attaching the touch sensor to the top plate of the display device after separately manufacturing the display device and the touch sensor. The upper plate integrated type directly forms elements constituting the touch parser on the upper glass substrate surface of the display device. The built-in type is a method of achieving a thinner display device and increasing durability by embedding a touch sensor inside the display device.

However, the top-mounted touch sensor has a structure in which the completed touch sensor is mounted on the display device and is thick, and the brightness of the display device is darkened, thereby decreasing visibility. In addition, the upper panel integrated touch sensor has a structure in which a separate touch sensor is formed on the upper surface of the display device, and can be reduced in thickness than the upper panel attached type, but still due to the driving electrode layer and the sensing electrode layer constituting the touch sensor, and an insulating layer for insulating them. There was a problem that the manufacturing thickness increases due to the increase in the overall thickness and the number of processes.

On the other hand, the built-in touch sensor has the advantage that can solve the problems caused by the top plate attached and the top plate integrated touch sensor in that the durability and thickness can be reduced. Such a built-in touch sensor is an optical method, a capacitive method, and the like.

The optical touch sensor is a method of forming a light sensing layer on a thin film transistor substrate array of a display device and recognizing light reflected by an object present in a touched portion by using light from an backlight unit or infrared light. However, the optical touch sensor shows relatively stable driving performance when the surroundings are dark, but light stronger than the reflected light acts as a noise when the surroundings are bright. This is because the intensity of light reflected by the actual touch is so weak that even a little bright outside may cause an error in touch recognition. In particular, the optical touch sensor has a problem that may occur even when the surrounding environment is exposed to sunlight, the light intensity is so strong that the touch is not recognized in the child.

The capacitive touch sensor has a self capacitance type and a mutual capacitance type. The mutual capacitive touch sensor divides a common electrode for display and divides the common electrode into a driving electrode region and a sensing electrode region so that mutual capacitance is formed between the driving electrode region and the sensing electrode region. A method of recognizing touch by measuring a change amount of capacitance.

However, the mutual capacitive touch sensor has a very small amount of mutual capacitance generated during touch recognition, while the parasitic capacitance between the gate line and the data line constituting the display device is very large. There is a problem that is difficult to recognize.

In addition, the mutual capacitive touch sensor requires a very complicated wiring structure because a plurality of touch driving lines for touch driving and a plurality of touch sensing lines for touch sensing must be formed on the common electrode for multi-touch recognition. There is a problem.

Accordingly, there is a need for a touch sensor integrated display device that can solve the problems caused by the above-described touch sensor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a touch sensor integrated display device having a thinner thickness and improved durability by using a touch sensing element for recognizing a touch of the display device as a component of the display device. It is to.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch sensor integrated display device in which signal lines for touch recognition are overlapped with data lines to improve aperture ratio.

In order to achieve the above object, a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a gate line and a data line intersecting each other on a substrate to form a pixel region, and a plurality of pixel electrodes formed in the pixel region. And overlapping the plurality of pixel electrodes with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, the common electrode including two or more touch electrodes, and at least one signal line connected to each of the touch electrodes and overlapping the data line. can do.

 In addition, the touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a gate line formed on a substrate, a gate insulating film formed on the front surface of the substrate on which the gate line is formed, and a gate line formed on the gate insulating film so as to cross the gate line. A thin film transistor having a data line formed on the gate insulating film, a thin film transistor having a source electrode connected to the data line, and a gate line and the data line formed on the gate insulating film so as to be connected to a drain electrode of the thin film transistor. An interlayer insulating film formed on the pixel electrode, the data line, the signal line, the thin film transistor, and the gate insulating film on which the pixel electrode is formed, and the interlayer insulating film formed on the pixel region defined by the intersection of the data; A signal line formed to overlap the line, A passivation film formed on the interlayer insulating film on which the signal line is formed, and a common electrode formed on the passivation film and connected to the signal line through a via hole formed in the passivation film, wherein the common electrode is two or more touch electrodes. Each of the touch electrodes may be connected to the signal line.

The signal line may be formed parallel to the data line.

The signal line may be positioned outside a region where the pixel electrode and the common electrode overlap.

Each of the touch electrodes may have a size corresponding to two or more pixel electrodes.

The touch sensor integrated display device may be driven by a time division in which touch driving is turned off when the display is driven and display driving is turned off when the display is driven.

In the display driving, the same common voltage may be supplied to the two or more touch electrodes through the signal line, and in the touch driving, the touch driving voltage may be sequentially supplied to the touch electrodes.

According to the touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the touch sensor for recognizing a touch can be used as a component of the display device, thereby reducing the thickness of the display device and improving durability. You can get it.

In addition, according to the touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, since the touch driving line and the touch sensing line for touch recognition do not need to be separately configured, the number of signal lines can be reduced, and thus, multi-touch with a simple wiring structure. You can get the effect that can recognize.

In addition, according to the touch sensor integrated display device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the signal line for touch recognition may be disposed to overlap with the data line, thereby achieving an effect of improving the aperture ratio.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a display panel of the touch sensor integrated display device illustrated in FIG. 1.
3 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a relationship between a common electrode, a pixel electrode, and wires of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a layout relationship between a common electrode and a pixel electrode of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection relationship between a common electrode (touch electrode) and a signal line of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a touch sensor integrated view according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating another example of a connection relationship between a common electrode (touch electrode) and a signal line of a display device. FIG.
6A is an enlarged plan view of a portion of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line II ′ and line II-II ′ of FIG. 6A.
7 is a graph illustrating measurement of transmittance loss for each resolution depending on whether data lines and signal lines overlap.
8 is a diagram illustrating 60 Hz time division driving of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals throughout the specification denote substantially identical components.

1 to 4 will be described in more detail with respect to the touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a display panel of the touch sensor integrated display device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between a common electrode, a pixel electrode, and wires of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a common electrode of the touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention; It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the arrangement relationship of a pixel electrode.

In the following description, a touch sensor integrated liquid crystal display device will be described in detail as an example of a touch sensor integrated display device.

1 and 2, a touch sensor integrated liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment may include a liquid crystal display panel (LCP), a host controller 100, a timing controller 101, a data driver 102, and a gate. The driver 103, the power supply 105, and the touch recognition processor 107 may be included.

The liquid crystal display panel LCP includes a color filter array CFA and a thin film transistor array TFTA formed with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween.

The thin film transistor array TFTA includes a plurality of gate lines G1, G2, G3,..., Gm-1, Gm formed in parallel on a first substrate SUBS1 in a first direction (for example, x direction). ) And the data lines D1 and D2 formed in parallel in a second direction (for example, the y direction) so as to intersect with the plurality of gate lines G1, G2, G3,..., Gm-1, Gm. , D3, ... Dn-1, Dn, these gate lines G1, G2, G3, ... Gm-1, Gm and data lines D1, D2, D3, ... Dn-1 , A thin film transistor TFT formed at a region where Dn crosses, a plurality of pixel electrodes P for charging a data voltage to liquid crystal cells, and a common electrode disposed to face the plurality of pixel electrodes P It includes an electrode COM.

The color filter array CFA includes a black matrix and a color filter formed on the second substrate SUBS2. Polarizing plates POL1 and POL2 are attached to each of the upper glass substrate SUBS1 and the lower glass substrate SUBS2 of the liquid crystal display panel LCP, and an alignment layer for setting a pretilt angle of the liquid crystal is formed on an inner surface of the liquid crystal display panel LCP. A column spacer for maintaining a cell gap of the liquid crystal cell may be formed between the first substrate SUBS1 and the second substrate SUBS2 of the liquid crystal display panel LCP.

The common electrode COM is formed on the first substrate in a vertical electric field driving method such as twisted nematic (TN) mode and vertical alignment (VA) mode, and is similar to an in plane switching (IPS) mode and a fringe field switching (FFS) mode. In the horizontal electric field driving method, the pixel electrode P is formed on the first substrate SUBS1. In the embodiment of the present invention, a horizontal electric field driving method will be described as an example.

The common electrode COM according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of touch electrodes that are divided to have sizes corresponding to the sizes of several or tens or more pixel electrodes. The pixel electrode P is allocated to an area defined by the intersection of the gate lines G1 to Gm and the data lines D1 to Dn. For convenience of description, in FIGS. 3 and 4, the common electrode COM has three horizontal, three vertical, and nine touch electrodes C11, C12, C13, C21, C22, C23, C31, C32, and C33. The touch electrodes are divided into two horizontal electrodes, two vertical electrodes, and four pixel electrodes P11, P12, P21, P22; P13, P14, P23, P24; P15, P16, P25, P26; P31, and P32. , P41, P42; P33, P34, P43, P44; P35, P36, P45, P46; P51, P52, P61, P62; P53, P54, P63, P64; P55, P56, P65, P66) Although shown as having a size, this is only one example, the number can be changed as needed.

The divided touch electrodes C11, C12, C13, C21, C22, C23, C31, C32, and C33 constituting the common electrode COM have a plurality of signal lines TX11, TX12, TX13, TX21, TX22, TX23, TX31, TX32, and TX33 are connected in units of rows or columns, and simultaneously perform functions as components for implementing a display of a display device and components of a touch sensor for touch recognition.

5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection relationship between a common electrode (touch electrode) and a signal line of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a touch sensor integrated view according to an embodiment of the present invention. Another example of a connection relationship between a common electrode (touch electrode) and a signal line of a display device is shown.

Referring to FIG. 5A, three touch electrodes C11, C21, and C31 are arranged in a first column, and each of the three touch electrodes may include first to third signal lines TY11, which are arranged along the first column. TY12 and TY13, respectively. Three touch electrodes C12, C22, and C32 are arranged in the second column, and each of the three touch electrodes is each of the fourth to sixth signal lines TY21, TY22, and TY23 arranged along the second column. Is connected to. Three touch electrodes C13, C23, and C33 are arranged in the third column, and each of the three touch electrodes is each of the first to third signal lines TY31, TY32, and TY33 arranged along the third column. Is connected to. Since each touch electrode arranged in the column direction is connected to one signal line arranged in the column direction, the touched position can be accurately sensed even if the display device is multi-touched.

Referring to FIG. 5B, three touch electrodes C11, C21, and C31 are arranged in a first column, and each of the three touch electrodes may include first to third signal lines TY11 arranged along the first column. , TY12, and TY13). However, in the embodiment of FIG. 5B, each of the first to third signal lines TY11, TY12, and TY13 is branched into three branches so that three branched signal lines constituting each signal line are connected to one touch electrode. It differs from FIG. 5A in that it is. The connection relationship between the second row of touch electrodes C12, C22 and C32 and the third to sixth signal lines TY21, TY22 and TY23 and the connection relationship between the third row of touch electrodes C13, C23 and C33 and the third signal line TY31 , TY32, and TY33 are also the same as the connection relationship between the touch electrode of the first row and the first to third signal lines, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

5A and 5B described above, a touch electrode configuration having three rows and three columns is described, but this is only an example and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the number of touch electrodes and the number of signal lines connected to the touch electrodes can be appropriately adjusted as necessary, such as the size of the touch electrodes. In addition, at least one signal line may be connected to each touch electrode, and when a plurality of signal lines are connected to one touch electrode, the ends of these signal lines are integrated into one to input and output the same signal to each touch electrode. It is preferred to be treated.

6A is an enlarged plan view of a portion of a touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line II ′ and line II-II ′ of FIG. 6A. 6A and 6B are plan views and cross-sectional views illustrating regions corresponding to the pixel electrodes P11 and P12 of the touch electrode C11 of the common electrode COM illustrated in FIG. 3 as an example, and the signal lines are arranged in the column direction. It is a figure which shows the example in the case of connecting to a touch electrode.

6A and 6B, the touch sensor integrated display device according to the exemplary embodiment may include a gate line G1 and a gate electrode extending from the gate line G1 formed on the first substrate SUBS1. G).

In addition, the touch sensor integrated display device may include a gate insulating layer GI formed on the substrate SUBS1 on which the gate line G1 including the gate electrode G is formed, and a gate overlapping a portion of the gate electrode G. The semiconductor pattern A is formed on the insulating film GI. The semiconductor pattern A constitutes an active region of the thin film transistor TFT described later.

In addition, the touch sensor integrated display device may include data lines D1 and D2 crossing the gate line G1, a source electrode S extending from the data lines D1 and D2, and having a gate insulating layer GI therebetween. A thin film transistor TFT including a drain electrode D facing the source electrode S is included. The pixel electrodes P11 and P12 are formed in a region defined by the intersection of the gate line G1 and the data line D1 and are connected to the drain electrode of the thin film transistor TFT.

In addition, the touch sensor integrated display device includes an interlayer insulating layer INS and an interlayer insulating layer formed on the entire surface of the gate insulating layer GI on which the data lines D1 and D2, the transistor TFT, and the pixel electrodes P11 and P12 are formed. The first signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12 overlapping the data lines D1 and D2 are included on the INS.

Here, the first signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12 are arranged in parallel with the data lines D1 and D2 and overlap each other. The first signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12 include aluminum (Al), aluminum-neodymium (AlNd), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), molybdenum-titanium (MoTi), and chromium (Cr). Low resistance metals or alloys;

Accordingly, the first signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12 are formed in parallel with and overlapping with the data lines D1 and D2, thereby using the non-opening area formed by the data lines D1 and D2 to form the first signal line. There is an advantage that the aperture ratio can be prevented from being reduced by the signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12.

Meanwhile, the touch sensor integrated display device is formed on the passivation layer PL formed on the entire surface of the interlayer insulating layer INS on which the first signal line TY11 and the second signal line TY12 are formed and on the passivation layer PL. And a common electrode (touch electrode) C11. The common electrode (touch electrode) C11 is connected to the second signal line TY12 through the contact hole CH passing through the passivation film PL.

7 is a graph illustrating measurement of transmittance loss for each resolution depending on whether data lines and signal lines overlap. Here, the embodiment is a display device manufactured by overlapping a data line and a signal line as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, and the comparative example shows a display device manufactured so that the data line and the signal line do not overlap.

Referring to FIG. 7, the comparative example shows a transmittance loss of 5.1% while the comparative example shows a transmittance loss of 0.7% at the same resolution of 230 PPI. In addition, at the same resolution of 266 PPI, the comparative example showed a transmittance loss of 9.0%, while the example showed a transmittance loss of 0.5%. Also, at the same resolution of 330 PPI, the comparative example showed a transmittance loss of 17.1% while the example showed a transmittance loss of 4.4%.

That is, the display device according to the embodiment of the present invention manufactured by overlapping the data line and the signal line has an advantage of significantly reducing the transmittance loss with respect to the display device of the comparative example.

Next, an operation of the touch sensor integrated liquid crystal display according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, an example of 60 Hz time division driving will be described.

The touch sensor integrated liquid crystal display according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is driven by time division. In addition, one cycle of time division driving is composed of a display section and a touch section, as shown in FIG. 8, and the touch driving is turned off during display, and the display driving is turned off during touch, thereby minimizing signal interference. have. For example, in 60Hz time division driving, 16.7ms is one cycle, and this is divided into a display driving section (about 10ms) and a touch driving section (about 6.7ms).

In the display period, the host controller 100 controls the power supply unit 105 to control the power supply 105 to the common electrode COM including, for example, the touch electrodes C11 to C33, for example, the signal lines TY11 to TY33 of FIG. 5A. The common voltage Vcom is simultaneously supplied through the data source, and the data driver 102 is synchronized with the gate pulse Gate sequentially output from the gate driver 103 to pass through the pixel electrodes P11 through the data lines D1 to Dn. P66) is supplied with the pixel voltage Data corresponding to the digital video data. As described above, since an electric field is formed in the liquid crystal layer by the common voltage Vcom and the pixel voltage Data applied to the pixel electrodes P11 to P66 and the common electrode COM, the liquid crystal state is changed by the electric field. The operation is performed. At this time, the touch recognition processor 107 connected to the plurality of touch electrodes C11 to C33 by each signal line TX11 to TX33 measures the voltage value of the initial capacitance of each of the touch electrodes C11 to C33. Save it.

Next, in the touch driving period, the host controller 100 controls the power supply unit 105 to configure the common electrode COM through the signal lines TY11 to TY33 of FIGS. 5A and 5B, for example. The touch driving voltage Vtsp is sequentially supplied to the electrodes C11 to C33. The touch recognition processor 107 connected to the plurality of touch electrodes C11 ˜ C33 may have a voltage Vd of the initial capacitance of each of the stored touch electrodes C11 ˜ C33 and the capacitance Vd measured in the touch driving section. ) Is differentially amplified and the result is converted into digital data. In addition, the touch recognition processor 107 determines a touch position where a touch is made based on the difference between the initial capacitance and the touch capacitance using a touch recognition algorithm, and outputs touch coordinate data indicating the touch position.

In the touch sensor integrated liquid crystal display, display driving is turned off during touch driving, so that signal supply to the gate line GL and data line DL is stopped, and touch driving is turned off during display driving. It is driven by time division driving which is not supplied.

According to the touch sensor integrated display device according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the touch sensor for recognizing a touch can be used as a component of the display device, thereby reducing the thickness of the display device and improving durability. The effect can be obtained.

In addition, according to the touch sensor integrated display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, since the touch driving line and the touch sensing line for touch recognition do not need to be separately configured, the number of signal lines can be reduced, and thus, multi-touch with a simple wiring structure. You can get the effect that can recognize.

In addition, according to the touch sensor integrated display device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the signal line for touch recognition may be disposed to overlap with the data line, thereby achieving an effect of improving the aperture ratio.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example, the first direction and the second direction described in the embodiment of the present invention can be changed in directions opposite to each other, and the size and number and shape of the common electrodes, and the size of the touch electrodes constituting the common electrode. And the number and shape and the number of signal lines connected to each touch electrode can be arbitrarily changed appropriately, and are not limited to those described in the embodiments 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 invention but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (7)

A gate line and a data line crossing each other to form a pixel region;
A plurality of pixel electrodes formed in the pixel region;
A common electrode formed to overlap the plurality of pixel electrodes with an insulating layer interposed therebetween and including at least two touch electrodes; And
And at least one signal line connected to each of the touch electrodes and overlapping the data line.
A gate line formed on the substrate;
A gate insulating film formed on an entire surface of the substrate on which the gate line is formed;
A data line formed on the gate insulating layer to cross the gate line;
A thin film transistor formed on the gate insulating film and having a source electrode connected to the data line;
A pixel electrode formed on the gate insulating film so as to be connected to a drain electrode of the thin film transistor, and formed in a pixel region defined by an intersection of the gate line and the data line;
An interlayer insulating film formed on the gate insulating film on which the data line, the signal line, the thin film transistor, and the pixel electrode are formed;
A signal line formed on the interlayer insulating layer and overlapping the data line;
A passivation film formed on the interlayer insulating film on which the signal line is formed; And
A common electrode formed on the passivation film and connected to the signal line through a via hole formed in the passivation film;
The common electrode includes two or more touch electrodes, and each of the touch electrodes is connected to the signal line.
The method according to any one of claims 1 and 2,
And the signal line is formed in parallel with the data line.
The method according to any one of claims 1 and 2,
And the signal line is positioned outside the region where the pixel electrode and the common electrode overlap.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
And each touch electrode has a size corresponding to two or more pixel electrodes.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The touch sensor integrated display device is driven by a time division in which the touch drive is turned off when the display is driven and the display drive is turned off when the display is driven.
The method of claim 6,
The touch sensor integrated display device in which the same common voltage is supplied to the two or more touch electrodes through the signal line during the display driving, and the touch driving voltage is sequentially supplied to the touch electrodes during the touch driving.

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