KR20160141525A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a touch panel. More specifically, the present invention relates to a touch panel which improves visibility of the touch panel and a difficulty level of a manufacturing process by arranging a mesh structure of a first electrode formed on a first substrate and a second electrode formed on a second substrate, or a mesh structure of a first electrode and a second electrode formed on one substrate to be misaligned.

Description

TOUCH PANEL {TOUCH PANEL}

The present invention relates to a touch panel.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a touch panel has been applied to an image displayed on a display device in various electronic products by a method of touching an input device such as a finger or a stylus.

The touch panel is typically divided into a resistive touch panel and a capacitive touch panel. The resistance film type touch panel detects the change of resistance according to the connection between electrodes when pressure is applied to the input device and detects the position. A capacitance type touch panel senses a change in electrostatic capacitance between electrodes when a finger touches them, thereby detecting the position. Considering the convenience of the manufacturing method and the sensing power, recently, in a small model, the electrostatic capacity method has attracted attention.

Meanwhile, the touch panel can be manufactured in various structures according to the lamination method of the substrate, electrodes, wiring, etc. Among them, the electrodes formed on the substrate have a great influence on the visibility of the touch panel depending on its arrangement or structure. For this reason, attempts have recently been made to improve the visibility of a touch panel by forming an electrode having a mesh structure on a substrate.

On the other hand, in the case of a touch panel in which electrodes for sensing touches in different directions on the substrate are formed on different substrates, conventionally, when the touch panel is viewed in a plane, the mesh structures of the respective electrode layers are aligned so as to improve visibility . However, in this case, the mesh structure of the layer electrode may not be precisely matched in the process, resulting in an increase in the product defect rate, and in the case where the mesh structure is not precisely matched, the visibility of the touch panel is lowered.

Korean Patent No. 1402825 (Apr.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to improve the visibility of a touch panel by arranging the mesh structures of the electrodes formed on the respective substrates of the touch panel to be shifted from each other.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a touch panel including: a first pen touch electrode including a mesh line, an opening, and a node on a substrate; And a second pen touch electrode formed on the substrate with a mesh line, an opening, and a node portion, wherein node portions of the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode are disposed to be shifted from each other.

The touch panel may be arranged such that a node of the second pen touch electrode is located in an opening region of the first pen touch electrode.

In this case, the node of the second pen touch electrode is spaced from the mesh line of the closest first pen touch electrode by a distance of 1% to 50% of the opening region width of the first pen touch electrode .

The width of the opening area of the first pen touch electrode is 100 um to 500 um and the node of the second pen touch electrode is spaced apart from the mesh line of the closest first electrode by 5 um to 50 um.

In the touch panel, a node of the first pen touch electrode and a node of the second pen touch electrode are arranged in an arbitrary unit area in which the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode overlap, As shown in Fig.

Also, in the touch panel, a plurality of first pen touch electrodes or second pen touch electrodes are provided, and a first sensing electrode or a second sensing electrode sensing an electrostatic input signal between the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode, And an electrode.

In the touch panel, a first pen touch electrode is formed on one surface of the substrate, and a second pen touch electrode is formed on the other surface of the substrate.

In the touch panel, the first pen touch electrode may be formed on the first substrate, and the second pen touch electrode may be formed on the second substrate.

The touch panel may further include a cover substrate on a substrate on which the first or second pen touch electrode is formed.

According to the present invention, the visibility of the touch panel can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to more easily design the mesh electrode on the substrate.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce a product defect rate occurring in a touch panel process.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing the overlap region of the first electrode and the second electrode. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention, showing a state of overlapping areas between pen touch electrodes.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention, showing the overlap region between the sensing electrode and the pen touch electrode.
FIGS. 4 to 7 illustrate examples of application of the touch panel according to various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments disclosed herein should not be construed or interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the description including the embodiments of the present specification has various applications. Accordingly, any embodiment described in the Detailed Description of the Invention is illustrative for a better understanding of the invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to embodiments.

The functional terms shown in the drawings and described below are examples of possible expressions. In other embodiments, other terms may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the following detailed description.

Furthermore, the expression "including an element" is merely referred to as an "open" expression, and the element should not be understood as excluding the additional elements.

Means that each layer (film), region, pattern or structure is formed 'on' or 'under' of the substrate, each layer (film), region, pad or patterns Includes all that is formed directly or through another layer.

Further, when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, but it should be understood that other elements may be present in between do.

Also, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, the components should not be limited by the terms, and the terms may be used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another Is used.

1 is a plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the touch panel includes a first electrode 200 formed on one surface of a first substrate 20 in a mesh structure; And a second electrode 300 formed on one surface of the second substrate 30 in a direction different from the first electrode 200 and formed in a mesh structure, The first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are formed such that the mesh structures are mutually shifted when viewed from a plane after the first electrode 30 and the second electrode 300 are bonded together.

In the meantime, the present invention is based on a touch panel in which electrodes are formed separately on two substrates or electrodes are formed on one substrate. For example, the present invention can be applied to a touch panel including a GFF (A structure in which a cover substrate and a substrate formed with upper and lower surfaces of a first electrode / a second electrode are adhered to each other by using an adhesive), a structure in which a first substrate and a second substrate on which a second electrode is formed are bonded together using an adhesive) , G1F (a structure in which a cover substrate on which a first electrode is formed and a substrate on which a second electrode are formed are attached together using an adhesive), GFdl (an insulation / dielectric layer is formed on a cover substrate on which a first electrode is formed, So as to be attached to the touch panel. That is, the present invention relates to how mesh structure electrodes of different layers formed on separate substrates are arranged at the time of substrate coalescence, or how mesh structure electrodes of different layers formed on one substrate are arranged, It should be understood that the present invention is applicable to a touch panel including a mesh structure electrode existing in a different layer on a substrate as mentioned above.

Hereinafter, the substrate and the electrodes constituting the present invention will be described in detail, and a method of forming electrodes having a mesh structure will be described.

First, the first substrate 20 or the second substrate 30 is a means for supporting electrodes, wiring, and the like. The substrate may be rigid or flexible. For example, the substrate may comprise glass or plastic. In detail, the substrate may include chemically reinforced / semi-tempered glass such as soda lime glass or aluminosilicate glass, or may include polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), propylene glycol (PPG), polycarbonate (PC), or the like, or may include sapphire. In addition, the substrate may comprise an optically isotropic film. For example, the substrate may include a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), a cyclic olefin polymer (COP), a polycarbonate (PC), a light polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), or the like. Sapphire has excellent electrical properties such as dielectric constant, which not only dramatically increases the speed of touch reaction but also can easily realize spatial touch such as hovering and can be applied as a cover substrate because of its high surface strength. Hovering refers to a technique of recognizing coordinates even at a small distance from the display.

In addition, the substrate may be curved with a partially curved surface. That is, the substrate may be partially flat and partially curved with a curved surface. In detail, the end of the substrate may be curved with a curved surface or may have a surface including a random curvature, and may be bent or bent.

In addition, the substrate may be a flexible substrate having flexible characteristics.

In addition, the substrate may be a curved or bended substrate. That is, the touch panel including the substrate may be formed to have a flexible, curved, or bent characteristic. Accordingly, the touch panel according to the embodiment is easy to carry and can be changed into various designs.

The substrate may include a cover substrate. That is, the electrode, wiring, and the like can be supported by the cover substrate. Alternatively, a separate cover substrate may be further disposed on the substrate. That is, the electrode, the wiring, and the like are supported by the substrate, and the substrate and the cover substrate can be bonded together through the adhesive layer.

Also, the effective area VA and the ineffective area UA may be defined on the substrate. The display may be displayed in the effective area VA and the display may not be displayed in the non-valid area UA disposed around the valid area VA. Also, at least one of the valid area VA and the ineffective area UA can sense the position of an input device (e.g., a finger or the like). When such an input device such as a finger touches the touch panel, a difference in capacitance occurs at a portion where the input device is contacted, and a portion where such a difference occurs can be detected as the contact position.

Meanwhile, the electrode (the first electrode 200 or the second electrode 300), which is another component of the present invention, may include a transparent conductive material so that electricity can flow without disturbing the transmission of light. The electrode may be formed of indium tin oxide, indium zinc oxide, copper oxide, tin oxide, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and the like. Of a metal oxide. The electrode may also include nanowires, photosensitive nanowire films, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphenes, conductive polymers, or a variety of metals. For example, the electrode may be formed of Cr, Ni, Cu, Al, Ag, Mol, or an alloy thereof.

In addition, the electrodes formed in the view area or the active area can be formed of ITO, a transparent conductive material such as a Cu mesh or an Ag mesh. That is, the above-mentioned patterns made of the material can be effectively utilized to enhance the visibility of the display by implementing them in a mesh shape. Further, the wiring extending from the electrodes may be formed of various materials including a layered material such as ITO, Cu mesh, Ag mesh, Cu, Ag or metal nitride oxide.

Furthermore, when a mesh structure containing a metal component as described above is used, application to a large-sized touch panel is facilitated, design freedom due to resistance is enhanced, and wiring and electrodes can be formed at the same time. There is an effect of increasing.

Meanwhile, the first electrode 200 or the second electrode 300 may be formed in a mesh structure having a mesh line and an opening.

The mesh wire may be formed of a conductive material such as a metal paste containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Cr, Ni, Cu, Al, Ag, Mo, and alloys thereof.

The electrode may include a plurality of sub-electrodes, and the sub-electrodes may be disposed so as to intersect with each other in a mesh shape. Specifically, a plurality of sub-electrodes crossing each other in a mesh shape can include the mesh line LA and the opening OA between the mesh lines LA. The line width of the mesh line LA may be about 0.1 mu m to about 10 mu m. If the line width of the mesh line LA is less than about 0.1 mu m, it may be impossible in the manufacturing process or may short-circuit the mesh line. If the line width exceeds about 10 mu m, the mesh line may be visually recognized from the outside, . Preferably, the line width of the mesh line LA may be about 0.5 mu m to about 7 mu m. More preferably, the linewidth of the mesh wire may be between about 1 [mu] m and about 3.5 [mu] m.

Further, the openings may be formed in various shapes. For example, the opening OA may have various shapes such as a square, a diamond, a pentagon, a hexagon, a polygonal shape, or a circular shape. Further, the opening may be formed in a regular shape or a random shape.

By having the mesh shape, the electrode can be prevented from being visible to the user on the display area, for example, as an effective area. That is, even if the electrode is formed of metal, it can be made invisible. Also, even if the electrode is applied to a touch panel of a large size, the resistance of the touch panel can be reduced. On the other hand, in addition to the above-described electrodes, wirings may also be formed in a mesh structure.

On the other hand, the electrode of the mesh structure can be formed by disposing a metal layer on the front surface of the substrate and etching the metal layer into a mesh shape. For example, a metal such as copper (Cu) may be deposited on the entire surface of a substrate such as poly (ethylene terephthalate), and the copper layer may be etched to form a copper mesh electrode having a relief mesh shape.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a resin layer (or an intermediate layer) including a photo-curable resin (UV resin) or a thermosetting resin is formed on a substrate, a meshed pattern is formed on the resin layer, The electrode of the mesh structure can be formed by filling the conductive material in the depressed pattern. At this time, the engraved pattern of the resin layer can be formed by imprinting a mold having a relief pattern. The conductive material may be a metal paste containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Cr, Ni, Cu, Al, Ag, Mo, and alloys thereof. Accordingly, it is possible to form a meshed pattern of the engraved pattern by filling the metal paste in the meshes of the meshed pattern and hardening or plating the meshes.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a resin layer (or an intermediate layer) containing a photo-curable resin (UV resin) or a thermosetting resin is formed on a substrate, and then the resin layer is provided with a nano- After forming the pattern, at least one metal layer of Cr, Ni, Cu, Al, Ag, Mo, or an alloy thereof may be deposited on the resin layer by a sputtering process or the like. The nano pattern and the micro pattern can be formed by imprinting a mold having a relief pattern, and the relief pattern can be formed by imprinting a mold having a relief pattern. Then, the metal pattern formed on the nano pattern and the micro pattern is etched to remove only the metal layer formed on the nano pattern, leaving only the metal layer formed on the micro pattern, thereby forming a mesh pattern. A difference in the etching rate may occur depending on the difference in bonding area between the nano pattern and the micro pattern and the metal layer during the metal layer etching. That is, since the contact area between the micropattern and the metal layer is larger than the contact area between the nanopattern and the metal layer, etching of the electrode material formed on the micropattern is less likely to occur, and the metal layer formed on the micropattern, As the metal layer formed on the nano pattern is etched and removed, a pattern of a relief pattern or a relief mesh pattern of a micro pattern can be formed on the substrate.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the touch panel according to the present invention is characterized in that the mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 is shifted. Specifically, when the first substrate 20 on which the first electrode 200 is formed in one direction and the second substrate 30 on which the second electrode 300 is formed in the other direction are bonded, The mesh structures of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are not arranged to coincide with each other but are arranged to be shifted from each other. Alternatively, the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 may be arranged such that the mesh structures of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are shifted from each other on a substrate on which the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are formed in different directions .

This means that the mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are shifted from each other so that the touch panel on which the first substrate 20 and the second substrate 30 are joined together The mesh structure of each electrode, for example, the mesh line, the openings, the nodes, etc., overlaps, so that the mesh structure of any one of the electrodes does not appear to exist, but the mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 The positions of the mesh lines, the openings and the nodes are shifted from each other, which means that the mesh structure of the two electrodes can be distinguished.

There are various ways of arranging the mesh structures of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 in a shifted manner. Hereinafter, the detailed structure of the mesh structure, that is, the mesh line, The mesh arrangement method according to the present invention will be described.

According to the first mesh arrangement method of the present invention, the mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 is formed by disposing two electrodes such that the nodes of the other mesh electrodes are located in the opening region of one of the mesh electrodes. And can be made to be offset from each other.

1, when the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are overlapped (hereinafter referred to as overlapping regions), the second electrode 300 in the opening region of the first electrode 200, The mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 is naturally misaligned with respect to each other. In this case, since the nodes of the first electrode 200 are naturally positioned in the opening region of the second electrode 300, the mesh structures of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are arranged to be shifted from each other You can check it once.

The first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 may be disposed at a predetermined distance from the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300. In this case, Is preferably spaced from the mesh line by a length of 1% to 50% of the width of the opening region of the first electrode (200). For example, in FIG. 1, assuming that the opening width of the first mesh electrode (the straight line distance between the mesh lines facing each other among the mesh lines forming the openings) is 100 to 500 mu m, 1 < / RTI > to 200 < RTI ID = 0.0 > (200) < / RTI >

In the second mesh arrangement of the present invention, when assuming an arbitrary unit area in which the first and second electrodes 300 are overlapped on the first substrate 20 and the second substrate 30, A pattern is formed in such a manner that the nodes of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 are present at intervals of 5 to 50 μm. For example, when a unit area is defined as 100 μm X 100 μm on a substrate, the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 in the unit area are spaced from each other by 5 μm to 50 μm. The touch panel according to the present invention can be realized when the mesh structure of the first electrode 200 and the second electrode 300 is formed.

The basic structure of the touch panel according to the present invention has been described with reference to FIG.

Meanwhile, the first electrode 200 or the second electrode 300 may be divided into two types, such as a sensing electrode and a pen touch electrode.

The sensing electrode senses the change in capacitance according to the input (user's touch input) and identifies the input position. Such a sensing electrode may be realized by a material, a shape, or the like referred to in the foregoing description of the electrode, and an embodiment in which the sensing electrode is formed on the substrate is the same as that shown in FIG.

Next, the electrode may be a pen touch electrode. The pen touch electrode senses a change of an electromagnetic induction or an electric field generated when a stylus pen approaches the touch panel, and senses an input position. The pen touch electrode may be formed according to the material, shape, and the like of the electrode described above. Preferably, the plurality of pen touch electrodes form a loop, and it is possible to detect whether the electromagnetic induction occurs in the loop or the electric field changes have.

2 is a plan view of a touch panel in which a pen touch electrode is formed on a substrate.

Referring to FIG. 2, the pen touch electrode has two loops arranged in parallel on a substrate, which are connected by wiring to form a loop. In general, the width of the electrode is narrower than that of the sensing electrode.

On the other hand, when examining the overlap area between the pen touch electrodes, it can be seen that the mesh structure of the first pen touch electrode 240 and the second pen touch electrode 340 is arranged to be shifted from each other like the above-described FIG. That is, the node of the second pen touch electrode 340 formed on the second substrate 30 is located in the opening area of the first pen touch electrode 240 formed on the first substrate 20, The touch panel according to the present invention can be realized. In addition, by arranging the respective pen touch electrodes such that the nodes of the second pen touch electrodes 340 formed on the other surface of the same substrate are positioned in the opening regions of the first pen touch electrodes 240 formed on one surface of the substrate, A touch panel may also be implemented. In this case, the manner in which the pen touch electrodes are disposed is not different from the description in FIG. 1, and therefore, the description is not repeated.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the sensing electrodes and the pen touch electrodes formed on different substrates are arranged in the overlapping area when the sensing electrodes and the pen touch electrodes are alternately arranged on the substrate.

The sensing electrode and the pen touch electrode may be alternately arranged on the substrate in order to sense the capacitive input input to the touch panel and the input according to the electromagnetic induction or the electric field change sensing method, respectively, throughout the effective region of the substrate.

3 (a) is an enlarged view of an overlapped region where the first sensing electrode 220 on the first substrate 20 and the second pen touch electrode 340 on the second substrate 30 intersect. The two electrodes are arranged such that the node of the first sensing electrode 220 formed on the first substrate 20 is included in the opening area of the second pen touch electrode 340 formed on the second substrate 30 Can be confirmed.

3B is an enlarged view of an overlapped region where the first pen touch electrode 240 on the first substrate 20 and the second sensing electrode 320 on the second substrate 30 intersect. 3 (a), the node of the first pen touch electrode 240 formed on the first substrate 20 is located within the opening area of the second sensing electrode 320 formed on the second substrate 30 It can be seen that the two electrodes are arranged to be included.

In the meantime, the above embodiments can be applied to the case where the electrodes are formed in different directions on one side / the other side of the substrate.

Meanwhile, a method of disposing the mesh structures of the sensing electrode and the pen touch electrode in a mutually shifted manner includes a method in which the electrode nodes are spaced apart from each other by a specific ratio with respect to the width of any one of the electrode openings as described with reference to FIG. 1, A method of forming a pattern in which nodes of two electrodes are spaced apart by a predetermined interval may be utilized.

Next, Figs. 4 to 7 illustrate examples of application of the touch panel according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a touch panel of the present invention applied to a mobile device. The above-described touch panel can be applied to the display portion of the mobile device.

Figure 5 shows a mobile device with a curved display, even among mobile devices. In the present embodiment, a substrate is partially curved with a curved touch panel applied thereto. For example, the substrate may be a touch panel that is partially curved with a flat surface and partially with a curved surface. Specifically, the end of the substrate may be curved with a curved surface, or may have a surface with a random curvature, and may be bent or bent. Or the substrate itself may be a flexible substrate having a flexible property. In addition, the substrate may be a curved or a bended substrate. That is, the touch panel including the substrate may be formed to have a flexible, curved, or bent characteristic. Accordingly, the mobile device to which the touch panel according to the embodiment is applied is easy to carry, and various designs can be changed.

6 is a perspective view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the touch panel of the present invention may be applied to a navigation device for a vehicle, and the touch panel may be detachably attached to a vehicle.

7 is an example in which a vehicle display is implemented through a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. A dashboard and a front operation portion of the vehicle can be realized by the above-described touch panel.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

20 First substrate
30 Second substrate
200 first electrode
220 first sensing electrode
240 first pen touch electrode
300 second electrode
320 second sensing electrode
340 second pen touch electrode

Claims (9)

A first pen touch electrode formed on the substrate with a mesh line, an opening and a node portion;
A second pen touch electrode formed on the substrate with a mesh line, an opening and a node portion;
/ RTI >
And the node portions of the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode are disposed to be shifted from each other.
The method according to claim 1,
And the second pen touch electrode is positioned within an opening area of the first pen touch electrode.
3. The method of claim 2,
And the node of the second pen touch electrode is disposed at a distance of 1% to 50% of the width of the opening area of the first pen touch electrode from the mesh line of the closest first pen touch electrode.
The method of claim 3,
The width of the opening area of the first pen touch electrode is in the range of 100 탆 to 500 탆,
And the node of the second pen touch electrode is disposed at a distance of 5 um to 50 um from the mesh line of the closest first electrode.
3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein a node of the first pen touch electrode and a node of the second pen touch electrode are disposed in an arbitrary unit area in which the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode are overlapped with each other at an interval of 5 um to 50 um.
The method according to claim 3 or 5,
A first sensing electrode or a second sensing electrode for sensing an electrostatic input signal between the first pen touch electrode and the second pen touch electrode;
.
The method according to claim 3 or 5,
Wherein the first pen touch electrode is formed on one side of the substrate and the second pen touch electrode is formed on the other side of the substrate.
The method according to claim 3 or 5,
Wherein the first pen touch electrode is formed on the first substrate and the second pen touch electrode is formed on the second substrate.
The method according to claim 3 or 5,
Wherein the touch panel further comprises a cover substrate on a substrate on which the first pen touch electrode or the second pen touch electrode is formed.

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