TW201443732A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch panel includes a substrate, a touch region and a trace region which surrounds the touch region are defined on the substrate, and a trace collection region is disposed within the trace region, a sensor layer, disposed on the substrate within the touch region, a plurality of traces disposed on the substrate and disposed within the trace region, one end of each trace is disposed within the trace collection region, another end is electrically connected to the sensor layer. Each trace includes at least two trace widths, the present invention narrow down the trace region.

Description

Touch panel

The invention relates to the field of touch technology, in particular to a touch panel with a wire pattern configuration.

In today's market for consumer electronics products, portable electronic products such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, notebooks, and tablet PCs have been widely used. A touch panel is used as an interface tool for data input. In addition, since the design of electronic products is in the direction of lightness and thinness, it is hoped that the traditional input devices such as keyboards and mice can be omitted in the design of products, especially driven by the demand for tablet computers with humanized design. Touch panels have become one of the key components.

Generally, the touch panel includes a signal wire connecting the touch electrode to the external processor for transmitting an electrical signal between the touch electrode and the processor. As the size of the touch panel increases, the routing path of the signal wires will become longer, and the length of the signal wires becomes longer. Therefore, the width of the signal wires needs to be increased to ensure the transmission effect of the signal wires. However, the increase in the width of the signal wires will occupy more area of the peripheral area of the touch panel, which will not meet the product requirements of the narrow frame touch panel. Therefore, how to design the signal wire does not occupy extra space and maintain the transmission effect of the signal wire has been an important research topic in the technical field.

The invention improves the design of the wires with relatively long traces in the touch panel, and makes the line width of the wires change with the line width, thereby effectively laying out the layout and reducing the line occupied by the wires. Reduce the size of the border of the touch panel by the space of the area.

The present invention provides a touch panel comprising: a substrate defining a touch area and a line area corresponding to the touch area, the line area further having a concentrating area; a sensing electrode layer disposed on the substrate and located a touch area; and a plurality of wires electrically insulated from each other, disposed on the substrate, and located in the circuit area, one end of each of the wires is located in the line region, and the other end is electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer, wherein at least one wire comprises two types The line width above.

The line width of the wires in the touch panel of the present invention varies with the layout of the traces. More specifically, in the portion where the overall traces are dense, the line width of the wires is relatively small, so that the original cause The wiring of the wires is denser and the space occupying the larger circuit area is effectively reduced. On the other hand, in the portion where the wiring is more dispersed, the line width of the wires can be relatively designed to reduce the aforementioned line width. The increased line resistance of the small one maintains the transmission effect of the wire. In this way, the area of the line area of the touch panel of the present invention can be effectively reduced, thereby achieving the design of the narrow frame of the touch panel.

1‧‧‧ touch panel

2‧‧‧ touch panel

10‧‧‧Substrate

20‧‧ ‧ touch area

30‧‧‧Line area

32‧‧‧ pin

34,34’,34”‧‧‧ wires

341~345‧‧‧ wire

36‧‧‧Collection area

40‧‧‧Sensing electrode layer

41‧‧‧First electrode shaft

41a‧‧‧First Conductive Unit

41b‧‧‧Connecting Department

42‧‧‧Second electrode shaft

42a‧‧‧Second conductive unit

42b‧‧‧Bridge

43‧‧‧Insulation block

A‧‧‧ area

A1~A4‧‧‧Area

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a touch panel according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged schematic view showing a region A in Fig. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial schematic view showing another embodiment of the wire of the touch panel of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial schematic view showing another embodiment of the wire of the touch panel of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a touch panel according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention will be further understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains. .

For the convenience of description, the drawings of the present invention are only for the purpose of understanding the present invention, and the detailed proportions thereof can be adjusted according to the design requirements. As described in the text for the relative relationship between the relative elements in the figure, those in the art should be able to understand that it refers to the relative position of the object. In the meantime, the same components can be flipped and presented, which are all within the scope of the disclosure, and are described herein.

1 is a top view of a touch panel according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the touch panel 1 of the present embodiment includes a substrate 10 , a sensing electrode layer 40 , and a plurality of Electrically insulated wire 34. The substrate 10 is defined with a touch area 20 and a line area 30 corresponding to the touch area 20, and the line area 30 further has a junction area 36. In actual design, the line area 30 can be, for example, designed to be located on at least one side of the touch area 20. The embodiments of the present specification are designed by the line area 30 surrounding the four sides of the touch area 20 as an example. Description. In general, the touch area 20 is the visible area of the touch panel 1, and the line area 30 is the opaque mask area.

The sensing electrode layer 40 is disposed on the substrate 10 and located in the touch area 20 . The wires 34 are disposed on the substrate 10 and located in the line region 30, wherein one end of each of the wires 34 is further located in the line region 36, and the other end is electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer 40. In addition, at least one of the wires 34 of the present embodiment includes two or more line widths, so that it can be adjusted in accordance with the layout of the overall wires 34 in design.

As shown in the layout of the wiring shown in FIG. 1, the area where the wiring of the integral wire 34 is relatively dispersed is in the vicinity of one end of the wire 34 electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer 40, and the denser region is in the wire 34. In the vicinity of one end of the junction region 36, the line width of the design wire 34 at one end of the electrical connection sensing electrode layer 40 is greater than the line width at one end of the junction region 40. In this way, the space occupied by the wire 34 disposed near the line region 36 can be reduced due to the smaller line width of the wire 34, effectively reducing the size of the line region 30, and additionally arranging the wire 34 in the vicinity of the sensing electrode layer 40. The larger line width avoids the problem that the line width of the wire 34 becomes smaller near the line-collecting zone 36 or the wire resistance increases due to the long wire length, and the transmission effect of the integral wire 34 is maintained.

In an embodiment, the substrate 10 is made of a transparent insulating material, for example, may be selected from the group consisting of glass, acrylic (PMMA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate ( PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS), etc. The transparent material, and more preferably the transparent material described above, is made by a strengthening process. Further, the substrate 10 may be a hard material or a flexible material. The substrate 10 may comprise two planar surfaces, two curved surfaces, or a planar one curved surface design, such as a 2.5D shape, or a 3D shape. In this regard, the choice of substrate 10 is not a limitation of the present invention.

Furthermore, the sensing electrode layer 40 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of first electrode axes 41 arranged in parallel along a first direction (for example, a Y-axis), and the plurality of strips are parallel along a second direction (for example, an X-axis). The second electrode shaft 42 and the plurality of insulating blocks 43 are arranged at an intersection of each of the first electrode shafts 41 and each of the second electrode shafts 42. Preferably, the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. In more detail, in the embodiment, the first electrode shaft 41 includes a plurality of first conductive units 41a and a connecting portion 41b, and the second electrode shaft 42 includes a plurality of second conductive units 42a and a bridge portion 42b, wherein the first electrode The connecting portion 41b of the shaft 41 and the bridging portion 42b of the second electrode shaft 42 form an intersection to constitute the aforementioned intersecting portion. The insulating block 43 is disposed between the connecting portion 41b and the bridge portion 42b to electrically insulate the first electrode shaft 41 from the second electrode shaft 42. The first conductive unit 41a and the second conductive unit 42a of the present embodiment are substantially rhombic, but may of course be designed according to specific requirements, and are not limited to the diamond shape in this embodiment.

In addition, at least one end of the first electrode shaft 41 and the second electrode shaft 42 further includes a pin 32 for electrically connecting the wires 34, so that each of the first electrode shaft 41 and the second electrode shaft 42 are connected. The pin 32 and the wire 34 are signaled to an external processor (not shown). The first electrode shaft 41 and the second electrode shaft 42 of the present embodiment are exemplified by the fact that only one end includes the pin position 32. From the orientation drawn in FIG. 1, the pin position 32 is set on the first electrode axis. The lower end of 41 and the left end of the second electrode shaft 42. Of course, in other embodiments, the design of the pin 32 may be omitted, so that the first electrode axis 41 and the second electrode axis 42 are directly overlapped with the wires 34 by the first conductive unit 41a and the second conductive unit 42a, respectively. To achieve an electrical connection, there is no limit here.

The material of the first electrode shaft 41 and the second electrode shaft 42 may include various transparent conductive materials, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), cadmium tin oxide (cadmium tin) Oxide, CTO), aluminum zinc oxide (aluminum zinc oxide, AZO), indium tin zinc oxide (ITZO), zinc oxide, cadmium oxide, hafnium oxide (HfO), indium gallium zinc oxide (InGaZnO) ), indium gallium zinc magnesium oxide (InGaZnMgO), indium gallium magnesium oxide (InGaMgO), indium gallium aluminum oxide (InGaAlO), graphene (Graphene), nai Ag nanowire or carbon nanotubes (CNT), etc., but are not limited thereto. Incidentally, since the bridge portion 42b in the second electrode shaft 42 belongs to a bridge structure, in order to improve the reliability of the bridge structure, the bridge portion 42b is made of a metal material or a combination thereof such as copper, silver or molybdenum aluminum molybdenum.

The insulating block 43 may be an inorganic material such as silicon nitride, silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride, and an organic material such as an acrylic resin or a polyimide. Polyimide) or other suitable material.

The actual design of the wire 34 may have different layouts due to the resolution design of the sensing electrode layer 40, the position of the line region 36, and the avoidance of static interference, and the wires 34 may have different traces. length. In order to save the process steps, the wire 34, the bridge portion 42b and the pin 32 can be made of the same material, such as a metal material (copper, aluminum, molybdenum, aluminum, molybdenum, etc.), a transparent conductive material (indium tin oxide, etc.). Or a combination of the foregoing materials, and formed by the same process step. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the wire 34, the bridge portion 42b and the pin 32 may also be made of different materials.

In another embodiment, the touch panel 1 further includes a protective layer (not shown) for covering the sensing electrode layer 40 and the wires 34 to avoid damage due to contact with air or external stress. . The protective layer may be made of a transparent insulating material such as ruthenium dioxide, photoresist or the like. The protective layer may be a design that uses a complete planar film layer corresponding to the size of the touch panel 1, but the wires 34 located in the junction region 36 are exposed to electrically connect the wires 34 to an external processor.

In other embodiments, the substrate 1 of the touch panel 1 further includes a shielding layer (not shown), and the aforementioned wiring region 30 is directly defined by the layout region of the shielding layer. here In the structure of the touch panel 1, the sensing electrode layer 40 is disposed on the substrate 10 in the touch area 20, and the wires 34 are disposed on the shielding layer on the line area 30.

In order to explain the line width design of the wire 34 in more detail, please refer to FIG. 2 together to show a partial enlarged view of the area A in FIG. Each of the wires 34 designed in this embodiment adopts a stepwise change to exhibit a change in the line width of the wire 34, starting from one end of the electrical connection sensing electrode layer 40 to a line at one end of the collecting portion 36, the wire 34 The width is a phased design that is getting smaller and smaller.

The stages exemplified in the present embodiment are distinguished according to the arrangement interval of the second electrode shafts 42. Since the area A of the first figure corresponds to the arrangement of the four second electrode axes 42, there are four stages, and this embodiment has four stages. Further, the area A is further divided into four areas (A1, A2, A3, and A4) according to the stage, and each time the wire 34 enters an area (A1, A2, A3, or A4), that is, each time a second electrode axis 42 is passed. The line width changes once, for example, the longest wire 345 in the area A is laid out in four areas (A1, A2, A3, and A4), so the longest wire 345 has at least four line widths in the area A, and the rest Wire 34 and so on. In this way, the line width of the wire 34 which is finally in the vicinity of the line-collecting zone 36 and in which the wiring is dense is greatly reduced, thereby effectively reducing the area of the area.

It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the different wires 34 in each region (A1, A2, A3 or A4) of the present embodiment are designed, for example, to have the same line width, which is more in the overall line width design plan. Convenient, no need to be tailored for each wire 34. Specifically, the wire 341 that has been electrically connected to the second electrode shaft 42 in the area A1 is sequentially viewed from the area A1 to the area A4, and does not occupy any area in the next area A2, so the area A2 can be used. The overall area is evenly distributed to the remaining wires 342~345, and so on. In this embodiment, the line width is planned to make the line width of the wires 342-345 wider and wider, and the overall area is not Exceeding the size of the previously defined line zone 30, there is no need to enlarge the line zone 30 to accommodate the layout of the integral wire 34.

It should be noted that the different line widths included in any of the wires 34 of this embodiment are adjusted according to the layout of the wires 34. It is not necessary to have a certain change rule, and the ladder shown in FIG. 2 In view of the shape of the wire 34, the line width and length of each stage are not limited by the embodiment, and it is not necessary to distinguish the different stages according to the arrangement interval of the second electrode shaft 42. Of course, the calculation formula based on resistance: resistance (R) = resistivity (ρ) × length (L) / cross-sectional area (A), the premise on the line width planning is that a relatively large number of lines in the same wire 34 The width (larger cross-sectional area) is designed to compensate for the increase in line width due to the relatively small design (small cross-sectional area), and at the same time to compensate for the possibility of long lines due to long trace lengths. The portion of the resistance is increased to maintain the transmission effect of the signal transmitted by the wire 34.

As described above, for the maximum line width in the wire 34, when the line resistance of one wire 34 has been set low enough, even if the line width of the wire 34 is increased in the subsequent stage, the reduction of the line resistance is limited, then The maximum line width of the wire 34 can be defined. In other words, the maximum line width of the wire 34 in this embodiment can be designed to be less than or equal to a fixed value.

The different embodiments of the touch panel of the present invention are described below, and the following description is mainly for the sake of simplification of the description of the embodiments, and the details are not repeated. In addition, the same elements in the embodiments of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals to facilitate the comparison between the embodiments.

The line width variation design of the wire 34 of the present invention is not limited to that shown in the second drawing. 3 and 4 are partial schematic views showing two different embodiments of the wire of the touch panel of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, this embodiment also adopts a stepwise change to present a change in the line width of the wire 34'. The difference from the embodiment of FIG. 2 is that the step type of the embodiment is the second figure. The long axis of each of the wires 34 in the middle is mirrored to form a wire 34'. Further, as shown in Fig. 4, the present embodiment employs a continuous smooth change to exhibit a change in the line width of the wire 34".

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a top view of a touch panel according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is substantially the same as the first preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1 except that all the second electrode shafts 42 in this embodiment are divided into two groups to be different ends (eg, 5th). The left and right sides of the orientation depicted in the figure are electrically connected to the wires 34, and this embodiment is distributed, for example, by a spacing method. In other words, a portion of the pin 32 of the embodiment is disposed on the left of the second electrode shaft 42. The side end, and a portion of the pin 32 is disposed at the right end of the second electrode shaft 42. In this way, the layout of the wires 34 can be more dispersed and flexible, and the area of the line region 30 can be further reduced.

Of course, in actual design, in addition to all the second electrode shafts 42 can be divided into two sets of the incoming connecting wires 34 as in this embodiment, in another embodiment, all the first electrode axes 41 can be further Divided into two groups to electrically connect the wires 34 by different ends (upper and lower ends of the orientation as depicted in FIG. 5).

In summary, according to the touch panel provided by the present invention, the line width of the wire varies with the layout of the wire. More specifically, in the portion where the overall wire is dense, the wire width of the wire is relatively small. Therefore, the space occupied by the larger wiring area due to the dense wiring of the wires can be effectively reduced; on the other hand, in the portion where the wiring is more dispersed, the line width of the wires can be relatively designed to be reduced to reduce The aforementioned line resistance due to the small line width maintains the transmission effect of the wire. In this way, the area of the line area of the touch panel of the present invention can be effectively reduced, thereby achieving the design of the narrow frame of the touch panel.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

1‧‧‧ touch panel

10‧‧‧Substrate

20‧‧ ‧ touch area

30‧‧‧Line area

32‧‧‧ pin

34‧‧‧Wire

36‧‧‧Collection area

40‧‧‧Sensing electrode layer

41‧‧‧First electrode shaft

41a‧‧‧First Conductive Unit

41b‧‧‧Connecting Department

42‧‧‧Second electrode shaft

42a‧‧‧Second conductive unit

42b‧‧‧Bridge

43‧‧‧Insulation block

A‧‧‧ area

Claims (11)

A touch panel includes: a substrate defining a touch area and a pair of line areas corresponding to the touch area, the line area further having a line region; a sensing electrode layer disposed on the substrate and located And the plurality of electrically-insulated wires are disposed on the substrate, and are located in the circuit region, wherein one end of each of the wires is located in the line region, and the other end is electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer, wherein At least one wire includes more than two line widths. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the wire having two or more line widths has a line width electrically connected to one end of the sensing electrode layer greater than a line width at one end of the line region. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the wire comprising two or more line widths exhibits a change in line width in a stepwise change. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the wire comprising two or more line widths exhibits a line width variation in a continuous smooth variation. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the wires have different trace lengths. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein a maximum line width of each of the wires is less than or equal to a fixed value. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the wires are made of a metal material, a transparent conductive material or a combination of the foregoing materials. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the substrate further comprises a shielding layer, the routing area of the shielding layer defines the line area. The touch panel of claim 8, wherein the wires are further disposed on the shielding layer. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the sensing electrode layer comprises a plurality of first electrode axes arranged in parallel along a first direction and a plurality of second electrode axes arranged in parallel along a second direction. And a plurality of insulating blocks located at intersections of the first electrode axes and the second electrode axes. The touch panel of claim 10, wherein at least one ends of the first electrode shaft and the second electrode shaft respectively comprise a pin position for electrically connecting the wires.