TWI517006B - Touch panel and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

Touch panel and method of manufacturing same

The present invention provides a touch panel and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly to a monolithic touch panel having a color frame and a method of fabricating the same.

Low cost and thinness have become the primary consideration for the development of next-generation touch technology. Therefore, in addition to the highly integrated in-cell technology, OGS (One Glass Solution) is only added to the display panel. The program is also highly anticipated by the industry. At present, global touch panel manufacturers have fully invested in OGS and In-Cell technology research and development, and will further improve the fit yield and commercialize at an early date.

At present, the industry mainly manufactures OGS by black ink printing, but its fine hole line is not easy to manufacture and the production yield is low. In the application of the new generation integrated type of projected touch panel, the film thickness is too thick, the heat resistance and the surface resistance are not. Good problems, when making transparent conductive ITO layer, it is easy to cause ITO circuit breakage and surface resistance instability, which causes problems such as short circuit, failure of touch function and decrease of the number of times of measurement.

At present, the design of white OGS products tends to use the printing ink process. However, the current technology mainly faces the problem of disconnection of the ITO conductive film layer due to the thickness of the ink. The main reason is that the height difference between the printing ink layer and the glass is μm. The ITO layer process is in the nm grade, which is much lower than the ink height, and the height difference of the fault makes the ITO circuit difficult to complete the connection. Another problem brought about by the use of ink printing is that the ink itself is in a vacuum The high temperature environment is prone to gas evaporation and overflow, which will cause the surface resistance of the ITO film layer to be affected by subsequent vacuum sputtering.

According to the above reasons, the current OGS application frame is nothing more than black or white, but the color demand in the market when designing products is not limited to black and white, so there is no need to create a colorful frame. In addition, if ink materials are used, it is necessary to face the above problems that may be caused by the post-process.

In view of the above problems in the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel to solve the OGS outer frame color produced by the prior art, which can only be manufactured in black and white, and the thickness of the printed ink is The problem of producing ITO and miscellaneous gas.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a touch panel is provided which includes a substrate, a color plating layer, and a reflective layer. The substrate comprises a display area and a frame area surrounding the display area, the color coating layer is disposed on the substrate corresponding to the frame area, and has a first thickness, and a reflective layer disposed on the color coating layer corresponding to the color coating layer, wherein the reflective layer The layer has a second thickness such that the color coating layer exhibits at least one color after being refracted by light.

Preferably, the color coating layer may be made of titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, titanium nitride, or tungsten nitride.

Preferably, the reflective layer can be made of a mirror material.

Preferably, the second thickness may be from 30 to 200 nm.

Preferably, the mirror material is aluminum, silver, aluminum silver alloy, or silver bromide.

Preferably, the color coating layer can be made of titanium nitride and when the first thickness is 30 to 40 nm At 80 to 100 nm, 110 to 130 nm, or 150 to 170 nm, the colors exhibited may be golden yellow, blue, yellow green, or purple, respectively.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a touch panel is provided, wherein a substrate including a display area and a frame area surrounding the display area is provided, and then a color coating having a first thickness is formed on the substrate corresponding to the frame area. And forming a reflective layer corresponding to the color coating layer on the color coating layer, wherein the reflective layer has a second thickness, and the reflective layer causes the color coating layer to exhibit at least one color after being refracted by the light.

Preferably, in the step of forming a color coating layer, the photoresist material may be coated on the substrate, and the photoresist material is exposed and developed to define a frame region, and then sputtered on the substrate by vacuum sputtering. The material is vacuum sputtered, and then the sputtered vacuum sputter material is subjected to a photoresist stripping process to obtain a color coating layer corresponding to the bezel area.

Preferably, before performing the photoresist stripping process, the reflective material may be sputtered by vacuum sputtering on the sputtered vacuum sputter material to obtain a corresponding border area after performing the photoresist stripping process. The reflective layer.

Preferably, the vacuum sputtering material is made of titanium, aluminum, chromium, zirconium, titanium, or tungsten.

Preferably, the color coating layer may be made of titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, titanium nitride, or tungsten nitride.

Preferably, the reflective layer can be made of a mirror material.

Preferably, the mirror material can be aluminum, silver, aluminum silver alloy, or silver bromide.

Preferably, in the step of forming the reflective layer, the second thickness may be 30 to 200 nm.

Preferably, in the step of forming a color coating layer, the color coating layer may be made of titanium nitride, and the first thickness may be 30 to 40 nm, 80 to 100 nm, 110 to 130 nm, or 150 to At 170 nm, the colors can be golden yellow, blue, yellow green, or purple, respectively.

As described above, the touch panel and the method of fabricating the same disclosed in the present invention may have one or more of the following advantages:

(1) The touch panel can be combined with a reflective layer by a color coating layer, and is refracted by light to present a border of various colors to manufacture a touch panel having a colorful border.

(2) The touch panel can also be used to make a colorful touch panel by using vacuum sputtering to avoid the problem that the ITO is difficult to complete the connection due to the difference in height between the ink and the substrate caused by the use of ink in the printing process, and the ink. The presence of the heterogas in the vacuum environment easily causes the problem of affecting the sheet resistance when preparing ITO.

1‧‧‧ touch panel

100‧‧‧Substrate

110‧‧‧positive photoresist

200‧‧‧Color coating layer

210‧‧‧ Temporary color coating

300‧‧‧reflective layer

310‧‧‧Transient reflection layer

400‧‧‧OC (over coat) layer

500‧‧‧Color border

T1‧‧‧first thickness

T2‧‧‧second thickness

FA‧‧‧Border area

DA‧‧‧ display area

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

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel of FIG. 1 taken along line I-I according to an embodiment of the invention.

3 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The technical features, contents, and advantages of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof, can be understood by the present inventors, and the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The subject matter is only for the purpose of illustration and description. It is not intended to be a true proportion and precise configuration after the implementation of the present invention. Therefore, the scope and configuration relationship of the attached drawings should not be interpreted or limited. First described.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a top view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in the figure, the substrate 100 of the touch panel 1 of the present invention may include a display area DA (Display Area), a frame area FA (Frame Area), and a color display frame located in the frame area FA and surrounding the display area DA (which will refer to Figure 2 is detailed below). The display area DA can include a display element and a touch element to provide a user with viewing and operating the display device, and the color of the frame area FA can be golden yellow, blue, yellow-green, purple, or other colors.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel along line I-I of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in the figure, the touch panel of the embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate 100, a color plating layer 200, a reflective layer 300, and an OC (over coat) layer 400. The material of the substrate 100 may be a tempered glass substrate, but is not limited to, and may be a sapphire substrate or a plastic substrate as a base of the touch panel. The color coating layer 200 may be made of titanium nitride, but is not limited to, and may be made of aluminum nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, titanium nitride, or tungsten nitride, and has a first thickness T1. A difference in thickness T1 may present a different color, the color change of which will be detailed below. The reflective layer 300 is disposed for use as a light-shielding use, and has a second thickness T2 to cause the color coating layer 200 to reflect various colors after being reflected by light. The reflective layer 300 may be made of a mirror material such as aluminum, but is not limited thereto, and may be made of silver, silver aluminum alloy, or silver bromide. The mirror material has a high reflectivity and a polished surface to achieve a light-shielding effect to prevent leakage current and shadow leakage due to illumination. An OC (over coat) layer 400 is provided as a transparent insulating layer.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 together, a configuration of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described. The color coating layer 200 can be disposed on the substrate 100 to cover the frame area FA of the substrate 100 and surround the display area DA. Then, the reflective layer 300 can be disposed on the color coating layer 200, and finally the OC layer 400 is disposed on the substrate 100 and the reflective layer 300. Above The OC layer 400 and the substrate 100 are covered.

The embodiment of the present invention uses the color coating layer 200 with the reflective layer 300, when the reflective layer 300 is made of aluminum, and the second thickness T2 has a thickness in the range of 20 to 210 nm, or the second thickness T2 is 30 to 200 nm. The color plating layer 200 is made of titanium nitride, and when the first thickness T1 has a thickness in the range of 25 to 45 nm, or when the first thickness T1 is 30 to 40 nm, the color is golden yellow.

When the reflective layer 300 is made of aluminum, and the second thickness T2 has a thickness in the range of 20 to 210 nm, or the second thickness T2 is 30 to 200 nm, the color plating layer 200 is made of titanium nitride, and when A thickness T1 has a thickness in the range of 70 to 110 nm, or a first thickness T1 of 80 to 100 nm, which is blue in color.

When the reflective layer 300 is made of aluminum, and the second thickness T2 has a thickness in the range of 20 to 210 nm, or the second thickness T2 is 30 to 200 nm, the color plating layer 200 is made of titanium nitride, and when A thickness T1 has a thickness in the range of 105 to 135 nm, or a first thickness T1 of 110 to 130 nm exhibits a yellow-green color.

When the reflective layer 300 is made of aluminum, and the second thickness T2 has a thickness in the range of 20 to 210 nm, or the second thickness T2 is 30 to 200 nm, the color plating layer 200 is made of titanium nitride, and when A thickness T1 has a thickness in the range of 145 to 175 nm, or a first thickness T1 of 150 to 170 nm, which is purple in color.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 at the same time. Since the embodiment of the present invention uses a color border of a nano-level thickness, the technology for manufacturing a touch panel frame is reduced compared with the micro-scale ink printing used in the prior art. The difference in height between the substrates solves the problem that the ITO conductive film is broken due to the height being too steep. In addition, the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention can be refracted by light by using a color coating layer with a reflective layer. Then, the borders of various colors are presented to manufacture a touch panel with a colorful border, which solves the problem of monotonous color of the currently available touch panel.

It is worth mentioning that the color border of the nano-level thickness in the embodiment of the invention can avoid the problem of miscellaneous gas caused by the use of the ink in the subsequent touch panel process, thereby obtaining better ITO conductive in the subsequent process. Film quality, that is, an ITO conductive film having a low sheet resistance.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a touch panel having the above structure will be described with reference to the drawings.

3 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the touch panel of the embodiment of the present invention can be manufactured by providing a substrate 100, then applying a positive photoresist 110 on the substrate 100 and performing exposure development, and the development area does not contain the desired retention. The lower frame area FA, that is, the positive type resist 110 remains only in all areas except the frame area FA. It is worth mentioning that the positive photoresist 110 includes the alignment target required for the subsequent yellow light process (not shown in the figure). The vacuum sputtering material is sputtered by vacuum sputtering on the positive photoresist 110 and the substrate 100, and a temporary color coating layer 210 is formed. According to an embodiment of the invention, the vacuum sputtering material uses titanium and is vacuumed. Argon gas and nitrogen gas are used as the process gas in the sputtering process to form the temporary color coating layer 210 of titanium nitride, but not limited thereto. Next, aluminum is plated by vacuum sputtering on the temporary color coating layer 210, and argon gas is used as a process gas in the process of vacuum sputtering aluminum to form a temporary reflective layer 310 of aluminum. After the vacuum sputtering process of the temporary reflective layer 310 is completed, the photoresist removal process is performed with KOH, and the region having the positive photoresist 110 is removed, and the color plating layer 200 and the reflective layer 300 corresponding to the frame region FA are developed. Finally, a transparent OC layer 400 is coated on the substrate 100 and the reflective layer 300 to form a transparent insulating layer. The color frame 500 of the touch panel has been completed, and then the subsequent process is performed according to the manufacturing process of the conventional touch panel. In order to complete the final touch function, in order to avoid unnecessary obscuring the focus of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, the color plating layer 200 has a first thickness T1, and the reflective layer 300 has a second thickness T2. The first thickness T1, the second thickness T2, and the correspondingly rendered colors are the same as those of the touch panel according to the embodiment of the present invention, and the description thereof is omitted.

In summary, the present invention provides a touch panel and a method of fabricating the same, which uses a nano-scaled color border to reduce the technology of manufacturing a touch panel frame compared to the micron-sized ink used in the prior art. The difference in height between the substrates solves the problem that the ITO conductive film is broken due to the height being too steep. In addition, according to the touch panel of the embodiment of the invention, the color coating layer can be combined with the reflective layer to refract the light to form a frame of various colors to manufacture a touch panel having a colorful frame, thereby solving the current commercially available touch panel. The problem of monotonous color. Obviously, the present invention has achieved the desired effect under the prior art, and is not familiar to those skilled in the art. Moreover, the present invention has not been disclosed before the application, and its progress has been made. Sexuality and practicability have been met with the patent application requirements, and patent applications have been filed according to law.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been particularly shown and described with reference to the exemplary embodiments thereof, Various changes in form and detail may be made in the spirit and scope of the invention.

1‧‧‧ touch panel

100‧‧‧Substrate

200‧‧‧Color coating layer

300‧‧‧reflective layer

400‧‧‧OC (over coat) layer

T1‧‧‧first thickness

T2‧‧‧second thickness

Claims (15)

A touch panel includes: a substrate comprising a display area and a frame area surrounding the display area; a color coating layer disposed on the substrate corresponding to the frame area, and having a nanometer level a first thickness; and a reflective layer disposed on the color coating layer corresponding to the color coating layer, wherein the reflective layer has a second thickness of a nanometer level, so that the color coating layer is reflected by light At least one color. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the color coating layer is made of titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, titanium nitride, or tungsten nitride. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the reflective layer is made of a mirror material. The touch panel of claim 3, wherein the mirror material is aluminum, silver, aluminum silver alloy, or silver bromide. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the second thickness is 30 to 200 nm. The touch panel of claim 5, wherein the color coating layer is made of titanium nitride, and the first thickness is 30 to 40 nm, 80 to 100 nm, 110 to 130 nm, or 150 to 170 nm. The color is golden yellow, blue, yellow green, or purple. A method for manufacturing a touch panel, comprising: providing a substrate, the substrate comprising a display area and a border surrounding the display area a color coating layer corresponding to the frame region on the substrate, having a first thickness of one of nanometer grades; and forming a reflective layer corresponding to the color coating layer on the color coating layer, wherein the reflective layer The second thickness of one of the nanometer grades causes the color coating layer to exhibit at least one color after being refracted by light. The manufacturing method of claim 7, wherein the step of forming the color coating layer comprises applying a photoresist material to the substrate and exposing the photoresist material to define the border. a region; then depositing a vacuum sputter material on the substrate by vacuum sputtering; and subsequently performing a photoresist stripping process on the sputtered vacuum sputter material to obtain the color coating layer corresponding to the bezel region. The manufacturing method according to claim 8 is characterized in that before the photoresist stripping process, a high reflectivity material is sputtered on the sputtered vacuum sputtering material by vacuum sputtering. The reflective layer corresponding to the bezel area is obtained after the photoresist stripping process. The manufacturing method of claim 8, wherein the vacuum sputtering material comprises titanium, aluminum, chromium, zirconium, or tungsten. The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein the color coating layer is made of titanium nitride, aluminum nitride, chromium nitride, zirconium nitride, or tungsten nitride. The manufacturing method of claim 7, wherein the reflective layer is made of a mirror material. The manufacturing method of claim 12, wherein the mirror material is aluminum, silver, aluminum silver alloy, or silver bromide. The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of forming the reflective layer, the second thickness is 30 to 200 nm. The manufacturing method according to claim 14, wherein in the step of forming the color plating layer, the color plating layer is made of titanium nitride, and the first thickness is 30 to 40 nm, 80 to 100 nm. At 110 to 130 nm, or 150 to 170 nm, the color is gold yellow, blue, yellow green, or purple, respectively.