TWI503713B - Touch panel - Google Patents

Description

Touch panel

The invention relates to a touch panel using a low-reflection conductive layer.

In recent years, thin and light flat panel displays have become widely used displays for various electronic products. In order to achieve convenience, compact appearance and versatility, many information products have been converted from input devices such as traditional keyboards or mice to using touch panels as input devices.

With the rapid development of the technology of flat panel displays and touch input devices, in order to allow users to have larger visual images and provide more convenient operation modes under limited volume, some electronic products combine touch panels with display panels. And constitute a touch display panel.

The operating principle of the touch panel is that when a conductor object (such as a finger) contacts the touch sensing array of the touch panel, the electrical characteristics (such as resistance value or capacitance value) of the touch sensing array may change. And causing the bias of the touch sensing array to change. This change in electrical characteristics is converted to a control signal that is transmitted to the external control board and processed by the processor for data processing. Then, a display signal is outputted to the display panel by the external control circuit board, and the image is displayed on the user through the display panel. In front of you.

Since the touch panel is stacked on the display panel, how to solve the display quality of the display panel due to the reflection of the metal layer on the touch panel becomes an important issue.

The invention provides a touch panel using a low-reflection conductive layer for solving the problem caused by metal reflection.

One aspect of the present invention provides a touch panel including a substrate and a low-reflection conductive layer disposed on the substrate. The low-reflection metal layer sequentially includes an oxide layer, a metal layer, and a nitride layer disposed between the metal layer and the oxide layer. The metal layer, the oxide layer and the nitride layer are in close contact, and the thickness ratio between the oxide layer and the nitride layer is between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the oxide layer is a metal oxide layer and the nitride layer is a metal nitride layer.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the thickness of the oxide layer is between 20 nm and 100 nm, and the thickness of the nitride layer is between 20 nm and 100 nm, and the thickness of the metal layer. Between 50 nm and 500 nm.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the material of the metal layer is molybdenum, the material of the nitride layer is molybdenum nitride, and the material of the oxide layer is molybdenum oxide.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the thickness of the metal layer is 90 nm, the thickness of the nitride layer is 40 nm, and the thickness of the oxide layer is 40 nm.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch panel is a conductive mesh touch panel, and the low-reflection conductive layer comprises a conductive mesh structure, and the conductive mesh structure has a wire width of 2-10 micrometers (μm).

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the oxide layer directly contacts the substrate.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the metallic material is selected from one of molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium, and aluminum.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch panel is a single-layer touch panel, and the low-reflection conductive layer includes a plurality of touch units and a plurality of wires respectively connected to the touch unit.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch unit includes a finger unit, and a plurality of opposite units that are in a U shape and are aligned with the finger unit.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch unit is in a plurality of rectangular grids.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the wires are linear.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the wires are regular or irregularly wavy.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch unit is a regular or irregular wavy mesh.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch panel is a single-chip glass solution touch panel, and the low-reflection conductive layer includes a plurality of wires and a plurality of bridge portions, and the single-chip glass solution touch panel further includes Local A plurality of insulating layers covering the bridge portion and a plurality of transparent conductive electrodes disposed on the substrate, wherein a portion of the transparent conductive electrodes are connected by a bridge portion, and each of the transparent conductive electrodes is respectively connected to the wires.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the touch panel further includes a light shielding layer disposed on the substrate and surrounding the transparent conductive electrode, wherein the wire is located between the light shielding layer and the substrate.

The invention provides a touch panel using a low-reflection conductive layer, which can reduce the light reflectance of the metal layer and reduce the visibility thereof, so as to reduce the problem that the display capability of the touch panel is affected by the metal reflection.

100‧‧‧Low-reflective conductive layer

110‧‧‧metal layer

120‧‧‧Oxide layer

130‧‧‧ nitride layer

200‧‧‧ Conductive mesh touch panel

210‧‧‧Substrate

220‧‧‧ Conductive mesh structure

300, 300', 300" ‧ ‧ single-layer touch panel

310‧‧‧Substrate

320, 320', 320" ‧ ‧ touch unit

321‧‧‧ finger unit

322‧‧‧ opposite unit

330, 330"‧‧‧ wires

400‧‧‧Single glass solution touch panel

410‧‧‧Substrate

420‧‧‧ wire

430‧‧ ‧Bridge Department

440‧‧‧Insulation

450‧‧‧Transparent conductive electrode

460‧‧‧ shading layer

A-A, B-B, C-C‧‧‧ segments

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a low-reflection conductive layer of the present invention.

2 is a partial top view of an embodiment of a conductive mesh touch panel of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 2.

4 is a top view of an embodiment of a single-layer touch panel of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of Fig. 4.

Figure 6 is a top view of another embodiment of a single-layer touch panel of the present invention.

Figure 7 is a top view of still another embodiment of a single-layer touch panel of the present invention.

8A to 8D respectively illustrate a single glass solution of the present invention A schematic diagram of a method for fabricating a touch panel in a different stage of an embodiment.

Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of Figure 8D.

The spirit and scope of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention. The spirit and scope of the invention are not departed.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a low-reflection conductive layer to which the present invention is applied. The low-reflection conductive layer 100 includes a metal layer 110, an oxide layer 120, and a nitride layer 130, wherein the nitride layer 130 is disposed between the metal layer 110 and the oxide layer 120, and the metal layer 110, the oxide layer 120, and the nitrogen The chemical layers 130 are in close contact with each other.

Since the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 have different refractive indices for light, the blackened metal layer 110 can be used for extinction. The light reflecting ability of the metal layer 110 on the surface of the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 is reduced to reduce the visual brightness of the metal layer 110. In this way, the low-reflection conductive layer 100 can reduce the visibility of the low-reflection conductive layer 100 by the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 to destroy the reflection ability of the metal layer 110, thereby achieving the effect of the blackened metal layer 110.

The ratio of the thickness between the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 is preferably between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5. The oxide layer 120 may be a metal oxide layer, and the nitride layer 130 may be a metal nitride layer. The thickness of the oxide layer 120 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. Nitride layer The thickness of 130 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the metal layer 110 is between 50 nm and 500 nm. The material of the metal layer 110 may be a metal material such as molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium or aluminum.

According to the experimental results, taking molybdenum as an example, a simple molybdenum layer having a thickness of 90 nm has an impedance of about 13.38 ohms and a light reflectance of 47.77%. After the structure provided by the present invention is used, the low-reflection conductive layer 100 composed of MoO/MoN/Mo is taken as an example, and the thickness of the three is 40 nm/40 nm/90 nm, respectively. The low-reflection conductive layer 100 has an impedance of up to 12.42 ohms and a light reflectance of 6.63%. From this, it can be known that the low-reflection conductive layer 100 using the structure of the present invention can combine the advantages of low impedance and low light reflectance.

In the low-reflection conductive layer 100, the material, thickness, and proportional relationship of the metal layer 110, the oxide layer 120, and the nitride layer 130 may be changed according to practical design requirements, such as different distribution areas, line widths, etc., and are not The foregoing disclosure is limited.

The low-reflection conductive layer 100 can be applied to touch panels of different fields, which will be specifically described below by way of examples.

Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 simultaneously. FIG. 2 is a partial top view of an embodiment of the conductive mesh touch panel of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. The low-reflection conductive layer 100 can be applied to a touch panel in the form of a metal mesh. The conductive mesh touch panel 200 includes a substrate 210 and a conductive mesh structure 220 distributed on the substrate 210. The conductive mesh structure 220 is made of the low reflective conductive layer 100.

The material of the conductive mesh structure 220 is the low reflective conductive layer 100, wherein the oxide layer 120 is directly contacting or adjacent to one side of the substrate 210. More specifically, the oxide layer 120 is interposed between the nitride layer 130 and the substrate 210, and the nitride layer 130 is interposed between the metal layer 110 and the substrate 210. The substrate 210 is a display surface or a touch surface facing the human eye. The conductive mesh structure 220 uses the low-reflection conductive layer 100 as a material, so that the metal layer 110 can be blackened on the side facing the substrate 210 to reduce the visibility of the conductive mesh structure 220 on the substrate 210.

The conductive mesh structure 220 may be a regular or irregular pattern, and the conductive mesh structure 220 is formed by interlacing a plurality of wires. The wire width of the conductive mesh structure 220 is about 2-10 micrometers (μm). In the low-reflection conductive layer 100, the ratio of the thickness between the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 is preferably between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5. The oxide layer 120 may be a metal oxide layer, and the nitride layer 130 may be a metal nitride layer. The thickness of the oxide layer 120 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the nitride layer 130 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the metal layer 110 is between 50 nm and 500 nm. The material of the metal layer 110 may be a metal material such as molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium or aluminum.

4 and FIG. 5, wherein FIG. 4 is a top view of an embodiment of a single-layer touch panel of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 4. The one-layer touch panel 300 includes a substrate 310 and a plurality of touch units 320 disposed on the substrate 310. The touch unit 320 includes a finger unit 321 that presents a finger shape and a pair that is in a U shape and is arranged in a staggered manner with the finger unit 321 . To unit 322. The finger unit 321 and the opposite unit 322 are formed of the same material and are formed on the substrate 310 through the same mask. The shape and arrangement of the touch unit 320 can be changed according to different design requirements, and are not limited thereto.

The single-layer touch panel 300 further includes a plurality of wires 330 connected to the touch unit 320. The wire 330 and the touch unit 320 are made by using the same mask, and the wire 330 and the touch unit 320 are fabricated in the same process. The material of the wire 330 and the touch unit 320 may be the low-reflection conductive layer 100. Since the conductive layer 100 and the touch unit 320 are used as the material, the metal layer 110 can be blackened on the side facing the substrate 310 to reduce the visibility of the wire 330 and the touch unit 320 on the substrate 310. The low-reflection conductive layer 100 is applied not only to the wire 330 but also to the conventional transparent conductive layer as the material of the touch unit 320.

In the low-reflection conductive layer 100, the oxide layer 120 is directly contacting or adjacent to one side of the substrate 310. More specifically, the oxide layer 120 is interposed between the nitride layer 130 and the substrate 310, and the nitride layer 130 is interposed between the metal layer 110 and the substrate 310. The ratio of the thickness between the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 is preferably between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5. The oxide layer 120 may be a metal oxide layer, and the nitride layer 130 may be a metal nitride layer. The thickness of the oxide layer 120 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the nitride layer 130 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the metal layer 110 is between 50 nm and 500 nm. The material of the metal layer 110 may be a metal material such as molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium or aluminum.

Referring to Figure 6, a top view of another embodiment of a single layer touch panel of the present invention is illustrated. The single-layer touch panel 300' includes a substrate 310 and a plurality of touch units 320' disposed on the substrate 310. The shape of the touch unit 320' may be a rectangular grid shape including a plurality of vertical and horizontal intersecting lines. The touch units 320' are arranged in an array on the substrate 310. The single-layer touch panel 300' further includes a plurality of wires 330 connected to the touch unit 320', and the wires 330 are linear. The wire 330 and the touch unit 320' are fabricated through the same mask in the same process. The material of the wire 330 and the touch unit 320' may be the aforementioned low-reflection conductive layer, and details are not described herein.

Referring to FIG. 7, a top view of still another embodiment of a single-layer touch panel of the present invention is shown. The single-layer touch panel 300 ′′ includes a substrate 310 , a plurality of touch units 320 ′′ disposed on the substrate 310 , and a plurality of wires 330 ′′ respectively connected to the touch unit 320 ′′. The touch units 320' are arranged in an array on the substrate 310. The shape of the touch unit 320" in this embodiment may be a regular or irregular wavy network, for example, including a plurality of horizontal and vertical interlaced rules (such as a sine wave, etc.) or irregular wavy lines. The corresponding wire 330" may also be a regular or irregular wavy line. However, in other embodiments, the wire 330" may be a linear structure as shown in Fig. 6. By the rule of the touch unit 320" and the wire 330" Or the irregular shape of the bending process can solve the Moire effect caused by the overlapping of the line images. In another embodiment, it is particularly mentioned that the touch unit 320" can be as shown in FIG. The rectangular grid is shown, and the wire 330" is a regular or irregular wavy line as shown in Fig. 7; this embodiment is particularly suitable for touch The control unit 320" and the wire 330" are disposed on the color filter substrate, but are not limited thereto.

Similarly, the design of the rule or irregularity of the lines to solve the Murray effect can also be applied to the touch panels in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, and the person skilled in the art can change according to actual needs. . The wire 330" and the touch unit 320" are fabricated in the same process through the same mask. The material of the wire 330" and the touch unit 320" may be the aforementioned low-reflection conductive layer, which will not be described herein.

8A to 8D are schematic diagrams showing different stages of an embodiment of a method for fabricating a touch panel of a single-chip glass solution according to the present invention. The low-reflection conductive layer can also be applied to a one-glass solution (OGS) touch panel to solve the problem that the bridge portion and the surrounding wire metal reflection affect the visual effect.

FIG. 8A shows a substrate 410, and a plurality of wires 420 and a plurality of bridge portions 430 are formed on the substrate 410. The substrate 410 is preferably a transparent substrate such as glass. The wire 420 and the bridge portion 430 are fabricated in the same process using the same mask. The material of the wire 420 and the bridging portion 430 is the aforementioned low-reflection conductive layer.

Next, FIG. 8B illustrates forming a plurality of insulating layers 440 on the substrate 410, wherein the insulating layers 440 partially cover the bridging portion 430, respectively. In the present embodiment, the bridging portion 430 is used to connect the lateral electrodes. Therefore, the left and right ends of the bridging portion 430 are exposed to the insulating layer 440 and are not covered by the insulating layer 440.

Next, FIG. 8C is a diagram of forming a plurality of transparent conductive layers on the substrate 410. The electrode 450 has a portion of the transparent conductive electrodes 450 directly connected to each other in the longitudinal direction, and another portion of the transparent conductive electrodes 450 are connected through the bridge portion 430 in the lateral direction.

Finally, the 8D is a light shielding layer 460 formed on the substrate 410, and the light shielding layer 460 is disposed around the transparent conductive electrode 450. The wire 420 located around the transparent conductive electrode 450 is covered by the light shielding layer 460. In this way, the single-glass solution touch panel 400 can be obtained.

Since the wire 420 and the bridge portion 430 are made of a low-reflection conductive layer having low visibility and having low visibility, the possibility that the display surface directly sees the wire 420 and the bridge portion 430 can be reduced, so that the light shielding layer 460 is made. It can be made after the wire 420.

Referring to Fig. 9, a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C in Fig. 8D is shown. The single-glass solution touch panel 400 includes a substrate 410, a wire 420 disposed on the substrate 410, and a light shielding layer 460 disposed on the substrate 410 and the wire 420. The light shielding layer 460 is formed on the substrate 410 after the wire 420 is completed, so that the wire 420 is located between the substrate 410 and the light shielding layer 460.

The material of the wire 420 and the bridging portion 430 (see Fig. 8A) is the low reflection conductive layer 100. In the low-reflection conductive layer 100, the oxide layer 120 is a side that contacts the substrate 410. More specifically, the oxide layer 120 is interposed between the nitride layer 130 and the substrate 410, and the nitride layer 130 is interposed between the metal layer 110 and the substrate 410. The ratio of the thickness between the oxide layer 120 and the nitride layer 130 is preferably between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5. The oxide layer 120 may be a metal oxide layer, and the nitride layer 130 may be a metal nitrogen Chemical layer. The thickness of the oxide layer 120 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the nitride layer 130 is between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the metal layer 110 is between 50 nm and 500 nm. The material of the metal layer 110 may be a metal material such as molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium or aluminum.

In the traditional process, the limitation of the material is that the metal wire is made on the light shielding layer. This manufacturing method causes a problem that the metal wires are peeled off due to poor adhesion between the metal wires and the light shielding layer of the organic material. However, in the present invention, since the low-reflection conductive layer is used as the material of the wire 420, the wire 420 may be formed on the substrate 410, and then the light-shielding layer 460 may be covered on the wire 420. Since the adhesion between the wire 420 and the substrate 410 (such as glass) is greater than the adhesion between the wire 420 and the light shielding layer 460, the peeling of the wire 420 can be effectively avoided.

The invention provides a touch panel using a low-reflection conductive layer, which can reduce the light reflectance of the metal layer and reduce the visibility thereof, so as to reduce the problem that the display capability of the touch panel is affected by the metal reflection.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and the present invention can be modified and retouched without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope is subject to the definition of the scope of the patent application attached.

100‧‧‧Low-reflective conductive layer

110‧‧‧metal layer

120‧‧‧Oxide layer

130‧‧‧ nitride layer

Claims (20)

A touch panel includes: a substrate; and a low-reflection conductive layer disposed on the substrate, the low-reflection conductive layer sequentially includes: an oxide layer; a nitride layer; and a metal layer, wherein the oxidation a layer of the material is disposed between the nitride layer and the substrate, and the nitride layer is disposed between the metal layer and the oxide layer, wherein the metal layer, the oxide layer, and the nitride layer are in close contact, and the oxidation The thickness ratio between the layer and the nitride layer is between 1:0.6 and 1:1.5. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the oxide layer is a metal oxide layer, and the nitride layer is a metal nitride layer. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the oxide layer has a thickness of between 20 nm and 100 nm, and the nitride layer has a thickness of between 20 nm and 100 nm. The thickness of the layer is between 50 nm and 500 nm. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the material of the metal layer is molybdenum, the material of the nitride layer is molybdenum nitride, and the material of the oxide layer is molybdenum oxide. The touch panel of claim 4, wherein the metal layer has a thickness of 90 nm, the nitride layer has a thickness of 40 nm, and the oxide layer has a thickness of 40 nm. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the touch panel is a conductive mesh touch panel, and the low-reflection conductive layer comprises a conductive mesh structure, and the conductive mesh structure has a wire width of 2-10 micrometers (μm). ). The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the oxide layer directly contacts the substrate. The touch panel of claim 2, wherein the metal material is one selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, copper, silver, chromium, and aluminum. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the touch panel is a single-layer touch panel, and the low-reflection conductive layer comprises a plurality of touch units, and a plurality of wires respectively connected to the touch units. The touch panel of claim 9, wherein the touch units comprise a finger unit, and a plurality of opposite units arranged in a U shape and aligned with the finger unit. The touch panel of claim 9, wherein the touch units are Rectangular grid shape. The touch panel of claim 11, wherein the wires are linear. The touch panel of claim 11, wherein the wires are regular or irregularly wavy. The touch panel of claim 9, wherein the touch units are in a regular or irregular wavy network. The touch panel of claim 14, wherein the wires are linear. The touch panel of claim 14, wherein the wires are regular or irregularly wavy. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the touch panel is a single-chip glass solution touch panel, the low-reflection conductive layer comprises a plurality of wires and a plurality of bridge portions, and the single-chip glass solution touches The panel further includes: a plurality of insulating layers partially covering the bridge portions; and a plurality of transparent conductive electrodes disposed on the substrate, wherein a portion of the transparent conductive electrodes are connected by the bridge portions, each of the Some The conductive electrodes are respectively connected to the wires. The touch panel of claim 17, wherein the oxide layer directly contacts the substrate. The touch panel of claim 17, further comprising a light shielding layer disposed on the substrate and surrounding the transparent conductive electrodes, wherein the wires are located between the light shielding layer and the substrate. The touch panel of claim 17, wherein the material of the metal layer is molybdenum, the material of the nitride layer is molybdenum nitride, and the material of the oxide layer is molybdenum oxide.