TW201349302A - Method for manufacturing conductive wire pattern of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a conductive wire pattern of a touch panel includes the steps of printing a photosensitive conducting material on a substrate by screen printing, disposing a photomask on the photosensitive conducting material; irradiating the photosensitive conducting material by a beam to cure parts of the photosensitive conducting material, and etching non-cured parts of the photosensitive conducting material to form the conductive wire pattern.

Description

Method for manufacturing wire pattern of touch panel

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a wire pattern, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a wire pattern of a touch panel.

Various types of touch input technologies have been widely used in electronic products, such as mobile phones and tablet computers. It is quite common to use a touch panel as an input interface. The user can conveniently place the hand directly on the surface of the input panel to issue an instruction, or Move on the surface of the touch panel to operate the mouse or input handwritten text. The display panel matched with the touch panel can also display a virtual button for the user to click, and the user can input the corresponding related text through the virtual button.

In general, touch panels are generally classified into resistive, capacitive, ultrasonic, and infrared types. Among them, resistive touch panels are the most widely used, and the design of resistive touch panels can be mainly divided into Four-wire, five-wire, six-wire, eight-wire, and so on. The four-wire touch panel has been widely used in production and application because of its mature cost and technical level. However, the capacitive type can be sensed by light touch, which is more convenient to use, and the touch panel hardly wears due to finger contact operation, the performance is stable, and the service life is longer than the resistance type, so that the resistance type is gradually replaced. .

The touch panel includes a substrate, a transparent conductive layer formed on the substrate, a wire pattern and an insulating layer, and a connected flexible printed circuit board. The wire pattern connects the transparent conductive layer and the flexible circuit board. general In other words, the wire pattern of the conventional touch panel is formed on the substrate by a yellow light lithography process. However, since the yellow light lithography process is implemented, it is necessary to use a large amount of high purity chemicals and an expensive photoresist composition and an etchant, so that it is not only costly but also environmentally friendly.

In order to solve the problem caused by manufacturing a wire pattern by a yellow lithography process, the industry has proposed a method of forming a wire pattern by printing by printing a thermosetting conductive paste on a substrate, and then hardening and baking at a high temperature. The aforementioned thermosetting conductive paste is baked to form a wire pattern. Although the manufacturing method has the advantages of simplifying the process steps compared with the yellow light lithography process, in the process of high temperature hardening and baking, the adhesion and electrical properties of the thermosetting conductive adhesive are affected, resulting in breakage of the wire pattern. Or reduce its electrical reliability.

Therefore, how to provide a method for manufacturing a wire pattern of a touch panel, which can simplify the process and maintain the adhesion and electrical characteristics of the wire pattern, and also meet the environmental protection requirements, has become an important issue.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a conductor pattern of a touch panel which can simplify the process and maintain the adhesion and electrical characteristics of the conductor pattern while also meeting environmental protection requirements.

In order to achieve the above object, a method for manufacturing a wire pattern of a touch panel according to the present invention includes the steps of: printing a photosensitive conductive material on a substrate by screen printing; and providing a light cover on the photosensitive conductive material; Irradiating a photosensitive conductive material with a light beam to cure a portion of the photosensitive conductive a material; and etching the uncured photosensitive conductive material to form a wire pattern.

In an embodiment of the invention, the substrate is a transparent substrate.

In an embodiment of the invention, the photosensitive conductive material has a plurality of silver particles, and the silver particles have a diameter of from 1 micrometer to 10 micrometers.

In one embodiment of the invention, the wire pattern has a line width of less than 100 microns.

In an embodiment of the invention, the material of the reticle comprises glass, quartz or polyethylene terephthalate.

In one embodiment of the invention, the etching is performed in a wet etched manner.

In an embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing method further includes the step of bonding the wire pattern and a flexible printed circuit board with a conductive adhesive.

In an embodiment of the invention, the conductive adhesive is an anisotropic conductive film or an anisotropic conductive paste.

In an embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing method further includes the step of providing a protective film on the wire pattern.

In an embodiment of the invention, the protective film is disposed on the wire pattern by means of a pasting or printing method.

In one embodiment of the invention, the beam of light comprises visible light having a wavelength in the range of from 350 mm to 780 mm.

According to the above, the method for manufacturing the wire pattern of the touch panel of the present invention is printed on the substrate by screen printing by using the photosensitive conductive material as a printing material, and then passing through the photosensitive portion of the cured portion, and Etching the uncured photosensitive conductive material to form a wire pattern, thereby achieving simplicity The process is maintained and the adhesion and electrical properties of the wire pattern are maintained. In addition, in practice, since the manufacturing method of the present invention can combine the advantages of screen printing and exposure development, it is effective to avoid the problem of energy consumption caused by long-term use of the oven during the process of heat curing, and is environmentally friendly. demand.

In addition, according to the method for manufacturing a wire pattern of the touch panel of the present invention, the line width between the wire pattern and the line pitch between the wire patterns can be reduced, thereby achieving a fine line width process printing technique and improving the resolution.

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a conductor pattern of a touch panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements will be described with the same reference numerals.

First, please refer to FIG. 1A , which is a schematic diagram of a touch panel 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel 1 includes a substrate 11 and a wire pattern 12 . The substrate 11 is a transparent substrate, for example, a plastic substrate or a glass substrate. Of course, the substrate 11 may be a film substrate such as a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film. Among them, in order to utilize the advantage of the exposure and development process without high-temperature baking, it is preferable that the substrate 11 has a flexible property as a film substrate, and is also referred to as a flexible substrate, but this is not limitative.

The substrate 11 has an outer surface S1 and an inner surface S2. The user views the touch panel 1 from the outer surface S1 of the substrate 11, and performs various functions on the outer surface S1. The remaining structures and components of the touch panel 1 are disposed on the inner surface S2 side of the substrate 11. In this embodiment, inside the substrate 11 The surface S2 has a transparent conductive layer 111. The transparent conductive layer 111 is used to define a touch sensing circuit, and the material thereof is, for example, Indium tin oxide (ITO).

The wire pattern 12 is disposed on the inner surface S2 of the substrate 11 and is adjacent to one end of the transparent conductive layer 111 via screen printing. The material of the wire pattern 12 is a photosensitive conductive material comprising a photosensitive resin mixture and a plurality of silver particles. In practice, the diameter of the silver particles is preferably from 1 micrometer to 10 micrometers, more preferably from 1 micrometer to 5 micrometers, but it is also possible to partially mix silver particles having a nanometer size. Further, the photosensitive resin composition is a person who undergoes a crosslinking reaction after being irradiated with light.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, the touch panel 1 further includes an insulating layer 13, a conductive adhesive 14 and a Flexible Printed Circuit Board (FPC). The insulating layer 13 can be formed on the portion of the wire pattern 12 by adhesive bonding or printing to prevent oxidation of the wire pattern 12 due to exposure to air. Secondly, the insulating layer 13 can also be selected according to the requirements of the product to be used as a decorative layer at the same time. The conductive adhesive 14 is used to bond the wire pattern 12 and the pin 151 of the flexible printed circuit board 15 , and the touch sensing signal generated by the transparent conductive layer 111 is transmitted to the soft via the wire pattern 12 and the conductive adhesive 14 . The pin 151 of the printed circuit board 15. In an embodiment, the conductive adhesive 14 may be an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) or an anisotropic conductive paste (ACP).

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the transparent conductive layer 111 is directly formed on the substrate 11, and can independently provide a touch function, so it can be called The substrate 11 in the embodiment is a combination of touch sensing and a cover. However, the present invention can also be applied to a touch panel 1c of a two-layer structure composed of two substrates 11, as shown in FIG. 1C. Further, the single-layer substrate 11 having the above structure can be combined with a plurality of functions. First, when the assembly is completed, only the outer surface S1 of the substrate 11 is exposed, and the transparent conductive layer 111, the wire pattern 12 and other structures are covered under the substrate 11, so that the substrate 11 can provide a decorative function on the one hand to shield The wire pattern 12 and the like can also protect the wire pattern 12 and the transparent conductive layer 111 from damage on the other hand; further, the substrate 11 is sufficient to provide a sensing function because a complete transparent conductive layer 111 is disposed. Therefore, the present invention simultaneously achieves the goal of simplifying the substrate process and diversifying functions. This feature is a forward-looking concept creation, and is suitable for a modular process, which is advantageous in cost reduction.

Referring to FIG. 1D again, the touch panel 1d is substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 1B, but further includes a protective film 16. The protective film 16 can be formed on the wire pattern 12 and the transparent conductive layer 111 by an adhesive method or a printing method to cover both of them, and provides a function of protection and decoration. The protective film 16 can be stably attached to the substrate 11 by adding the optical adhesive 17.

The method for manufacturing the wire pattern of the touch panel according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, which can be used to manufacture the wire of the touch panel 1 as described above, is shown in FIG. The pattern 12 and the steps of the manufacturing method include steps S01 to S04.

In step S01, a photosensitive conductive material is printed on a substrate 11 by screen printing. In the implementation, please refer to FIG. 3A, the photosensitive conductive material The material 33 is formed on the transparent conductive layer 111 of the substrate 11 by printing through a screen printing apparatus composed of a doctor blade 31 and a screen 32. In detail, the screen printing apparatus prints the photosensitive conductive material 33 on the substrate 11 in a printing size of a block or a region.

The above-mentioned photosensitive conductive material 33 includes a photosensitive resin mixture and a plurality of silver particles, and the diameter of the silver particles is from 1 μm to 10 μm, preferably from 1 μm to 5 μm. Further, the substrate 11 is a transparent substrate such as a plastic substrate or a glass substrate. The material of the transparent conductive layer 111 is, for example, indium tin oxide. The transparent conductive layer 111 can be formed on the substrate 11 by sputtering and etching.

In step S02, a photomask 34 is disposed on the photosensitive conductive material. As shown in FIG. 3B, in order to make the alignment of the line layout more precise, the photomask 34 is disposed on the photosensitive conductive material 33 in practice. The material of the reticle comprises glass, quartz or polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and the form of the reticle 34 is not limited to a positive film or a negative film, and the material properties of the end view and the wire pattern 12 are Type needs.

In step S03, the photosensitive conductive material is irradiated with a light beam 35 to cure a portion of the photosensitive conductive material. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3B, in the implementation, the light beam 35 is generated by the light wave generating means, and the photosensitive conductive material 33 is selectively irradiated via the mask 34. The light beam 35 is, for example, a visible light having a wavelength ranging from 350 nm to 780 nm.

Step S04 is to etch the uncured photosensitive conductive material to form a wire pattern 12. In practice, it can be uncured by, for example, a developer The photosensitive conductive material is etched to remove the uncured photosensitive conductive material, and the cured photosensitive conductive material is formed into the wiring pattern 12. The wire pattern 12 is connected to the transparent conductive layer 111. Wherein, the line width of the wire pattern 12 can be less than 100 microns, and the line spacing between the wire patterns can be less than 120 microns.

In addition, referring to FIG. 1D , the manufacturing method of the peripheral circuit of the touch panel 1 d further includes: bonding the conductive pattern 12 and a flexible printed circuit board 15 with a conductive adhesive 14 , and providing a protective film. 16 is in the wire pattern 12. In practice, the protective film 16 can be formed on the partial conductive pattern 12 and the transparent conductive layer 111 by adhesive bonding or printing to prevent the conductive pattern 12 from being touched or formed by direct exposure to air. . Secondly, the protective film 16 can also be selected according to the needs of the product to be used as a decorative layer at the same time, so as to prevent the user from perceiving the internal circuit.

The conductive adhesive 14 is used to bond the wire pattern 12 and the pin 151 of the flexible printed circuit board 15 , and the touch sensing signal generated by the transparent conductive layer 111 is transmitted to the soft via the wire pattern 12 and the conductive adhesive 14 . The pin 151 of the printed circuit board 15. In an embodiment, the conductive adhesive 14 may be an anisotropic conductive film (ACF) or an anisotropic conductive paste (ACP).

In summary, the method for manufacturing a wire pattern of a touch panel of the present invention is printed on a substrate by screen printing by using a photosensitive conductive material as a printing material, and then passing through a photosensitive portion of the cured portion, and Etching the uncured photosensitive conductive material to form a wire pattern, thereby achieving simplicity The process is maintained and the adhesion and electrical properties of the wire pattern are maintained. In addition, in practice, since the manufacturing method of the present invention can combine the advantages of screen printing and exposure development, it is effective to avoid the problem of energy consumption caused by long-term use of the oven during the process of heat curing, and is environmentally friendly. demand.

In addition, according to the method for manufacturing a wire pattern of the touch panel of the present invention, the line width between the wire pattern and the line pitch between the wire patterns can be reduced, thereby achieving a fine line width process printing technique and improving the resolution.

The above is intended to be illustrative only and not limiting. Any equivalent modifications or alterations to the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be included in the scope of the appended claims.

1, 1c, 1d‧‧‧ touch panel

11‧‧‧Substrate

111‧‧‧Transparent conductive layer

12‧‧‧Wire pattern

13‧‧‧Insulation

14‧‧‧ Conductive adhesive

15‧‧‧Soft printed circuit board

151‧‧‧ pins

16‧‧‧Protective film

17‧‧‧Optical adhesive

31‧‧‧Scraper

32‧‧‧Web Edition

33‧‧‧Photosensitive conductive materials

34‧‧‧Photomask

35‧‧‧ Beam

S01~S04‧‧‧ steps of the manufacturing method

S1‧‧‧ outer surface

S2‧‧‧ inner surface

1A to FIG. 1D are schematic diagrams of a touch panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for fabricating a conductor pattern of a touch panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 3A and FIG. A schematic diagram of a touch panel in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

S01~S04‧‧‧ steps of the manufacturing method

Claims (12)

A method for manufacturing a wire pattern of a touch panel, comprising the steps of: printing a photosensitive conductive material on a substrate by screen printing; setting a light cover on the photosensitive conductive material; and irradiating the photosensitive image with a light beam a conductive material to cure a portion of the photosensitive conductive material; and etching the uncured photosensitive conductive material to form a wire pattern. The manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a transparent substrate. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive conductive material has a plurality of silver particles. The manufacturing method of claim 3, wherein the silver particles have a diameter of from 1 micrometer to 10 micrometers. The manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the wire pattern has a line width of less than 100 μm. The manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the material of the reticle comprises glass, quartz or polyethylene terephthalate. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the etching is performed by wet etching. The manufacturing method of claim 1, further comprising: bonding the wire pattern and a flexible printed circuit board with a conductive adhesive. The manufacturing method of claim 8, wherein the conductive adhesive is an anisotropic conductive film or an anisotropic conductive paste. The manufacturing method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a protective film on the wire pattern. The manufacturing method according to claim 10, wherein the protective film is disposed on the wire pattern by a pasting method or a printing method. The manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the light beam comprises visible light having a wavelength ranging from 350 mm to 780 mm.