KR20170112478A - A touch sensor with protruding electrodes - Google Patents

Abstract

And at least one electrode cell formed on the substrate and having a first electrode pattern and a second electrode pattern, wherein the first electrode pattern includes at least one first electrode line connected to the first connection line and one or more first electrode lines connected to the first connection line, Wherein at least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line is disposed along a first direction, and the second electrode line includes at least one second electrode line connected to the second connection line and the second connection line, A touch sensor is disclosed in which a first electrode line and a second electrode line are arranged in a second direction and at least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line includes protruding electrodes continuously arranged along the electrode line.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a touch sensor with protruding electrodes,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch sensor, and more particularly, to a touch sensor having a protruding electrode formed in a capacitive touch sensor composed of a single layer.

With the spread of smart phones and IPTV, various demands for touch sensors are occurring. Users who are accustomed to the use of touch sensors are becoming more sophisticated, and it is becoming more and more necessary to improve the response speed and recognition sensitivity of the touch sensor.

The touch sensor technology that is commonly used in recent years is a capacitive type. When a finger or the like is touched to a panel or a screen, the electrostatic capacitance of the electrostatic capacity type touch sensor changes the electrostatic capacitance of the electrode and recognizes the detected position as a contact position. Also, pressure touch or force touch technology is being actively developed. Pressure touch or force touch refers to a technique capable of sensing the pressure of a finger or the like, and recognizing the intensity separately. The pressure touch or force touch can be extended to a variety of touch functions by using the touch sensor function which detects touch only. The pressure touch sensor or the force touch sensor using the electrostatic capacity type can recognize the position of the touch and the intensity of the pressure by measuring the change amount of the capacitance caused by the change of the distance between the electrodes by the pressure. In order for the distance between the electrodes to change by the pressure, a substance or substrate having elasticity capable of causing displacement depending on the pressure is required.

According to the conventional technology, the touch sensor and the pressure touch sensor using the capacitive type may have low recognition sensitivity to recognize when touch or pressure is applied by a finger or the like at a corner of a touch screen or a bezel of a touch panel . In such a case, there is a problem in that when touching the corner portion of the touch screen or the touch panel, it is impossible to recognize the touch point or to apply the same pressure as the portion other than the corner, .

In order to solve the above-described problem, in one embodiment, the touch sensor provides a touch sensor with improved recognition accuracy and operating speed for touch or pressure because the recognition sensitivity of the touch or pressure is not lowered at the corner of the bezel.

In order to achieve the above object, a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate and at least one electrode cell formed on the substrate, the electrode cell including a first electrode pattern and a second electrode pattern.

The first electrode pattern includes a first connection line and at least one first electrode line connected to the first connection line, and the second electrode pattern includes a second connection line and at least one second electrode line connected to the second connection line.

At least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line is arranged along a first direction, and the first electrode line and the second electrode line are arranged in a second direction.

At least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line includes a protruding electrode continuously disposed along the electrode line.

The first connection line and the second connection line may be disposed along the second direction, and the first and second electrode lines may be disposed between the first connection line and the second connection line.

The protruding electrodes of two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line may be staggered at equal intervals.

The protruding electrodes may be polygonal or circular.

At least one of the first and second electrode lines may extend in at least one direction based on at least one tilt angle.

The two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line may be arranged in parallel.

The two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line may be arranged symmetrically.

A dummy pattern may be disposed between adjacent two of the first electrode lines or the second electrode lines.

The first electrode line or the second electrode line may be formed in a zigzag shape.

And an elastic substrate formed between the substrate and the electrode cell and formed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

The touch sensor according to an exemplary embodiment has a structure in which the electrode wiring is formed in a cell-like structure similar to a branch having a protruding electrode formed along an electrode line, so that the touch sensor or the bezel edge portion of the panel The recognition accuracy is not lowered, and the recognition accuracy and the operation speed of the touch and the pressure are improved.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to more fully understand the drawings recited in the detailed description of the present invention, a detailed description of each drawing is provided.
Fig. 1 shows a wiring shape of a conventional electrode.
2 illustrates a touch sensor according to a wiring shape of a conventional electrode.
3 is a side view of the touch sensor according to the wiring shape of the conventional electrode.
4A illustrates an electrode cell according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4B to 4F are modification examples of the electrode cell according to the present invention.
5 illustrates a touch sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a side view of a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a graph showing the results of an experiment on a touch sensor according to an embodiment.

It is to be understood that the specific structural or functional description of embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concept But may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

The embodiments according to the concept of the present invention can make various changes and can take various forms, so that the embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the embodiments according to the concepts of the present invention to the particular forms disclosed, but includes all modifications, equivalents, or alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms may be named for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another, for example, without departing from the scope of the right according to the concept of the present invention, the first element may be referred to as a second element, The component may also be referred to as a first component.

It is to be understood that 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, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between. Other expressions that describe the relationship between components, such as "between" and "between" or "neighboring to" and "directly adjacent to" should be interpreted as well.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there are features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts or combinations thereof described herein, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Do not.

Fig. 1 shows a wiring shape of an electrode. 2 shows a state of the touch sensor according to the wiring shape of the electrode. 3 is a side view of the touch sensor according to the wiring shape of the electrode. Hereinafter, the shape of the electrode wiring and the shape of the touch sensor will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG.

The wiring of the electrodes is formed by using two electrodes, and the electrode lines of the respective electrodes are formed like the edges of the fork, and are staggered. When the wiring of the electrode of FIG. 1 is regarded as one pixel or a cell, the touch sensor may be formed on the substrate with several pixels or cells as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the touch sensor used in the experiment to be described below can be regarded as having 3 rows and 3 columns and 9 pixels having the electrode structure as shown in FIG. The bezel 400 is present at the corner of the touch screen or the touch panel including the touch sensor. A bezel refers to a corner portion of a front surface to which a touch screen or a touch panel is inserted and connected to a groove of a cover or the like. In FIG. 3, the appearance of the touch sensor viewed from the side along the line L1 in FIG. 2 can be confirmed. It can be seen that the bezel 400 exists at the corner portion on the side surface.

4A to 4F illustrate an electrode cell according to an embodiment of the present invention. The structure of a basic electrode cell according to one embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The electrode cell 100 may include a first electrode pattern 110 and a second electrode pattern 120. The first electrode pattern 110 and the second electrode pattern 120 may be connected to the same electrode or may be connected to different electrodes, respectively. The first electrode pattern 110 may include a first connection line 110a and one or more first electrode lines 110b. The first electrode pattern 110 may include a plurality of first electrode lines 110b and all the first electrode lines 110b may be connected to the first connection line 110a. The second electrode pattern 120 may include a second connection line 120a and one or more second electrode lines 120b. The second electrode pattern 120 may also include a plurality of second electrode lines 120b and all the second electrode lines 120b may be connected to the second connection line 120a.

The first electrode line 110b and the second electrode line 120b may be disposed along the first direction. At least one of the first electrode line 110b and the second electrode line 120b may include protruding electrodes 110c and 120c disposed continuously along the electrode line. Only the protruding electrode of one of the protruding electrode 110c of the first electrode line and the protruding electrode 120c of the second electrode line may be disposed or both of the protruding electrodes of the two electrode lines may be disposed. The protruding electrodes of two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line 110b or the second electrode line 120b may be staggered from each other. In this case, the protruding electrodes may be arranged at equal intervals or at unequal intervals. As the protruding electrode is formed on the electrode line, the area of the electrode line per unit area may become larger when a finger or the like is touched or pressed. Accordingly, the recognition sensitivity of the touch sensor can be improved.

At least one of the first electrode line 110b and the second electrode line 120b may extend in a first direction based on at least one tilt angle. The inclination angle refers to an angle inclined in the other direction with respect to the first direction, and may be inclined to a straight line or to a gentle curve. Therefore, although the first electrode line 110b and the second electrode line 120b are disposed along the first direction, they may be bent in various directions other than the vertical line.

The inclination angle may be formed in a zigzag shape. The zigzag pattern may be repeated at regular intervals or may be repeated at irregular intervals. When the finger or the like is touched or pressed by the electrode line formed in this manner, the area of the electrode line per unit area can be larger. Accordingly, the recognition sensitivity of the touch sensor can be improved.

The zigzag or serpentine forms of the electrode lines can be varied and implemented. The shape of the deformed electrode line forms a deformed electrode pattern. Unlike the conventional electrode pattern, the deformed electrode pattern also has an increased area of the electrode line per unit area in which the touch or pressure of the finger touches, thereby improving the recognition sensitivity of the touch sensor.

The adjacent first and second electrode lines 110b and 120b may be parallel to each other. However, it is not necessary to be parallel, and the first direction can be wider than the range, and the electrode lines within the range can be included in the first direction. In Fig. 1, the X-axis in the plane can be seen in the first direction.

The first electrode line 110b and the second electrode line 120b may be spaced apart from each other in the second direction and may be alternately arranged repeatedly. It can be arranged irregularly and repeatedly without being alternately repeated. For example, a plurality of electrode lines may be disposed adjacent to the first electrode line 110b only, and a second electrode line may be randomly arranged in the middle.

The spacing distance may be the same so that the spacing is constant for each repeated arrangement. When the spacing distance is the same, the first electrode line and the second electrode line are disposed at almost the same ratio for each electrode cell 100, and the effect of sensing the position of the X axis and the Y axis can be more accurately detected.

On the other hand, it is also possible to arrange the spacing distances irregularly at different intervals for each repeated arrangement. When the spacing distance is irregular, the same pattern is repeated and the problem of Moire phenomenon that may occur when the same pattern is repeated can be alleviated. Therefore, there is an effect that visibility is improved.

The first direction and the second direction may be orthogonal. In this case, the electrode cell 100 may be formed into a rectangular or square shape, and the electrode cell 100 may be disposed conveniently when the touch sensor is manufactured. 4A-4F, the Y-axis in the plane can be seen in the second direction. The second direction may also have a range angle more widely as in the first direction so that all the angles are included in the second direction.

The arrangement of the connection line and the connection of the connection line and the electrode line are as follows. The first connection line 110a and the second connection line 120a are disposed along the second direction and the first and second electrode lines 110b and 120b are disposed between the first connection line 110a and the second connection line 120a. Can be arranged. One end of the first electrode line 110b may be connected to the first connection line 110a and the other end may be adjacent to the second connection line 120a but not to be in contact with each other.

The second electrode line 120b may be arranged so that one end thereof is connected to the second connection line 120a and the other end thereof is adjacent to the first connection line 110a but not in contact with the first connection line 110a like the first electrode line 110b .

The shapes of the protruding electrodes may vary. The protruding electrodes may be polygonal or circular. Referring to FIGS. 4B to 4D, the shape of some projecting electrodes will be described as follows. As shown in FIG. 4B, the protruding electrode 130 may have a round shape close to a circle. 4C, the protruding electrode 140 may be in the form of a triangle. It may be a polygon such as a square, a pentagon, etc. as well as a triangle. The protruding electrode can have various shapes as well as a figure shape. For example, as shown in FIG. 4D, the protruding electrode 200 may have a shape in which a plurality of electrode lines protrude in at least one direction around a point where protruding electrodes protrude from the electrode line. Unlike the conventional electrode pattern, the electrode pattern having the protruding electrode of the deformed shape also has an increased area of the electrode line per unit area where the touch or pressure is applied to the finger or the like, thereby improving the recognition sensitivity of the touch sensor.

 Referring to FIGS. 4E to 4F, an example in which the electrode lines extend in the first direction based on at least one inclination angle will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4E, the electrode line may be curved in the shape of a curve. As shown in FIG. 4E, the first electrode line or the second electrode line may be in the form of a curved line similar to a sinusoidal line. The first electrode line and the second electrode line may be parallel or the first electrode line and the second electrode line may be symmetrical. The above-mentioned symmetry is not necessarily a mathematical definition, but a superposition of symmetry around a straight line or a point. If you symmetrically center a straight line or a point, you can include symmetry until it is a similar shape, even if it does not overlap exactly. The protruding electrodes 150 may be disposed according to the same principle as described above.

As shown in FIG. 4F, the adjacent first and second electrode lines 180 and 190 are symmetrical, and a dummy pattern 170 may be interposed therebetween. The first electrode lines 180 are arranged and the dummy patterns 170 and the second electrode lines 190 are arranged in one set and the set may be repeated. The dummy pattern 170 can be prevented from entering between the set and the set.

The adjacent first and second electrode lines 180 and 190 may be symmetrical only without the dummy pattern 170 or only the dummy pattern 170 may not be symmetrical. As described above, the range of the symmetry is not necessarily a mathematical definition, but a superimposition when symmetrical about a straight line or a point. If you are symmetrically based on a straight line or a point, you can include symmetry until it is a similar shape, even if it does not overlap exactly. In this case, the first electrode line 180 and the second electrode line 190 may be curved or may have a plurality of straight lines forming an inclination angle. By inserting the dummy pattern 170 into the empty space, it is possible to mitigate problems such as moiré phenomenon that may occur due to the formation of a void space between the electrode lines. The protruding electrodes 160 may be arranged according to the same principle as described above.

5 illustrates a touch sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a side view of a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 to 6, a structure of a touch sensor according to an embodiment will be described.

In Fig. 5, nine electrode cells 100 are arranged in three rows and three columns. In actual touch sensors, the number of electrode cells 100 may vary depending on the size of the screen. For example, the number of the electrode cells 100 entering the touch sensor may be several hundreds or more. The arrangement of the electrode cells 100 may vary depending on the screen or the shape of the panel to be manufactured. The bezel 400 may also be present in a touch screen or a touch panel in which a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed.

In FIG. 6, the appearance of the touch sensor viewed from the side along the line L1 in FIG. 5 can be confirmed. It can be seen that the bezel 400 exists at the corner portion on the side surface. The display panel 500 may be positioned with a device for displaying a screen and information at a lower portion thereof. The substrate 300 may be formed on the panel 500. The material of the substrate 300 may be a hard glass or a film. The electrode cell 100 may be formed on the substrate 300. The electrode lines and connection lines constituting each of the electrode cells 100 may be formed of a transparent electrode made of a transparent conductive material such as ITO, Ag NW, PEDOT, or the like.

The elastic substrate 200 may be included between the substrate 300 and the electrode cell 100. [ The elastic substrate 200 may be formed of polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS). The polydimethylsiloxane is one of the silicone polymers and can constitute a pressure touch sensor when it comprises an elastic substrate 200 formed of PDMS in a touch sensor. A pressure touch sensor is a device capable of recognizing the position and pressure of a touch by measuring a change in capacitance caused by a change in the distance between the electrodes due to a pressure, and is also referred to as a pressure sensor or a force touch sensor. When the pressure of the finger or the like is applied to the touch sensor, the elastic base 200 changes the distance between the electrodes due to the touch of the finger and the pressure, and thus the capacitance can be reduced.

크기의 도전봉으로 터치 한 후 200g의 추를 놓아 압력을 준 후, 전 후의 정전용량의 값을 측정하는 방식으로 진행하였다. 터치와 압력의 위치는 베젤(400)과 인접한 모서리 부분과 베젤(400)과 인접하지 않은 부분에서 각각 시험하였다. 시험 위치를 보다 정확히 확인하려면, 도 3 및 도 6에서 A가 상기한 베젤(400)과 인접한 모서리 부분이고 B가 상기한 베젤(400)과 인접하지 않은 부분이다. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of an experiment on a toothed sensor according to an embodiment. More specifically, the touch sensor according to the structure of the conventional electrode line and the touch sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention were tested under the same conditions and compared. The experiment is based on touch sensor 4

Sized conductive rods, and 200 g of a weight was placed thereon to apply pressure. Then, the values of the capacitance before and after the measurement were measured. The positions of touch and pressure were tested at the adjacent corner of the bezel 400 and at the non-adjacent portion of the bezel 400, respectively. 3 and 6, A is the edge portion adjacent to the bezel 400 and B is the portion not adjacent to the bezel 400 in order to check the test position more accurately.

The exact values of the above experimental results are shown in Table 1 below. The Fork of the pattern shape in Table 1 refers to the conventional electrode wiring structure as shown in FIG. 1, and the branch refers to the structure of the electrode cell according to one embodiment as shown in FIG. 4A. Line represents the thickness of the electrode line in the electrode cell, and Space represents the distance between two adjacent electrode lines in the electrode cell. Cm is an abbreviation of mutual capacitance, that is, a value of a capacitance existing between electrode lines. When the touch or pressure is applied, the value of Cm changes according to the change of the position of the electrode line. However, in a corner portion adjacent to the bezel, a change in position is less likely to be caused by relative pressure, resulting in a decrease in recognition sensitivity to touch or pressure. In addition, in the corner portion adjacent to the bezel, the first electrode line and the second electrode line are not uniformly arranged, only one electrode line is disposed, or both electrode lines are not arranged, and therefore, there may be an empty space. Therefore, the recognition sensitivity may be lowered for this reason. That is, in the experiment, position A is vulnerable to recognition sensitivity.

In the experiment, the touch position was A and B, and the same was applied to the fork touch sensor and the branch touch sensor. 7 shows the case where the line and space are 60um in the fork shape, the case where the line and space are 100um in the fork shape, When the space is 60um each, the part indicated by 4 is the case where the line and space are 100um each in the branch shape. The left part of the figure shows the front and back values of the Cm value according to the touch and pressure at the position A on the left and B position on the left. 1 and 2, it can be seen that there is a large difference in the rate of change of the Cm value depending on the positions of A and B, respectively. In other words, although there is a large change in the B position, the change is small in the A position. As shown in Table 1, 13% and 8%, respectively. That is, it can be judged that the sensitivity of the touch or the pressure is low because the change of the Cm is not large at the A position. In this case, when touching the corner portion of the touch screen or the touch panel, it is impossible to recognize, or even if the same pressure as the portion other than the corner is applied, it may not be recognized as the same strength.

3 and 4 are similar in degree of change by touch or pressure at A and B positions. As shown in Table 1, the change rate is 55% and 35% at the A position, which shows that the recognition sensitivity is good.

Pattern shape Fork Branch Line / space (um) 60/60 100/100 60/60 100/100 Touch location A B A B A B A B Initial Cm (pF) 4.07 3.99 1.93 1.82 3.42 3.38 1.79 1.75

)+200g Cm (pF)Finger (4

) + 200 g Cm (pF) 3.55 2.79 1.77 1.35 1.55 1.05 1.17 0.97 200g Cm change rate 13% 30% 8% 26% 55% 69% 35% 45% Difference ratio by touch position (A, B) 135% 212% 26% 29%

In other words, through the experimental results, the touch sensor according to the embodiment has the effect of improving the recognition accuracy and the operation speed because the recognition sensitivity of the touch or pressure does not decrease even if the touch or pressure is applied at any position of the touch screen or the touch panel .

Each of the drawings referred to in the description of the foregoing embodiments is merely one embodiment for convenience of description, and items, contents and images of the information displayed on each screen can be modified and displayed in various forms.

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 embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

Claims (10)

Board; And
And at least one electrode cell formed on the substrate, the electrode cell including a first electrode pattern and a second electrode pattern,
Wherein the first electrode pattern includes a first connection line and at least one first electrode line connected to the first connection line and the second electrode pattern includes a second connection line and at least one second electrode line connected to the second connection line,
At least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line is disposed along a first direction, the first electrode line and the second electrode line are arranged in a second direction,
Wherein at least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line includes a protruding electrode continuously disposed along the electrode line.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first connection line and the second connection line are disposed along the second direction, and the first electrode line and the second electrode line are disposed between the first connection line and the second connection line.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein protruding electrodes of two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line are alternately arranged.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the protruding electrodes are polygonal or circular.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein at least one of the first electrode line and the second electrode line extends in at least one direction based on at least one tilt angle.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line are arranged in parallel.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line are arranged symmetrically.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a dummy pattern is disposed between two adjacent electrode lines of the first electrode line or the second electrode line.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first electrode line or the second electrode line is formed in a zigzag shape.
10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
And a pressure sensing unit formed between the substrate and the electrode cell and configured by an elastic substrate formed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

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