TWI521409B - Touch panel structure and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

Touch panel structure and manufacturing method thereof

The invention relates to a touch panel structure and a manufacturing method thereof.

The touch technology combines the screen of the electronic device with the input module, and the user can operate by pressing the finger on the corresponding image of the screen, which is very intuitive and easy. Touch technology can be divided into resistive, capacitive and optical.

The capacitive touch technology is to provide a transparent electrode on the transparent panel. When the user touches the screen with a finger, the static electricity between the transparent electrode and the human body combines to form a coupling capacitor, thereby generating a capacitance change. The induced current generated by the coupling capacitor can be calculated by the position where the finger touches the screen. The capacitive touch panel has the advantages of high light transmittance, fast response speed, and good durability, and can also have multi-touch function.

In order to make the touch panel have multi-touch function, the transparent electrode disposed on the panel must have a corner design. However, when the corner structure is subjected to high and low temperature difference in the production process, the transparent electrode will be uneven due to uneven heat and cold. The corner structure creates cracks that impair the effectiveness of the transparent electrode.

The invention provides a touch panel structure and a manufacturing method thereof, in order to avoid cracking of a corner structure of a patterned transparent electrode layer and avoid damage to the performance of the patterned transparent electrode layer.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of fabricating a touch panel structure includes providing a substrate, forming a transparent electrode layer on the substrate, and patterning the transparent electrode layer to form a patterned transparent electrode layer, wherein a corner of the patterned transparent electrode layer is patterned The structure is a circular arc structure.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the method for manufacturing a touch panel structure further includes forming a metal wiring layer on the substrate, and curing the metal wiring layer, wherein the curing metal wiring layer has a curing temperature of about 85 ° C to 100 ° C. .

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the material of the metal wiring layer comprises silver.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the metal line layer has a cure time of 90 minutes.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel structure includes a substrate, a patterned transparent electrode layer, and a metal wiring layer. The patterned transparent electrode layer is disposed on the substrate, wherein the corner structure of the patterned transparent electrode layer is a circular arc angle structure. The metal wiring layer is disposed on the substrate.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the radius of the arc of the corner structure is about 50 microns.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the patterned transparent electrode layer has a line width and a line pitch of at least about 50 microns, respectively.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, the arc of the corner structure The radius is about 100 microns.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the patterned transparent electrode layer has a line width and a line pitch of at least about 100 microns, respectively.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the material of the metal wiring layer comprises silver.

In the above embodiment of the present invention, by setting the corner structure of the patterned transparent electrode layer to a circular arc angle structure, the internal stress generated by the uneven heating and contraction of the touch panel structure is buffered, thereby avoiding patterning of the transparent electrode layer. The corner structure creates cracks to avoid damaging the performance of the patterned transparent electrode layer. In addition, compared with the conventional touch panel, since the touch panel structure only transforms the corner structure of the patterned transparent electrode layer, the overall optical characteristics and functionality of the touch panel structure are not affected.

10~50‧‧‧Steps

100‧‧‧Touch panel structure

110‧‧‧Substrate

111‧‧‧ display area

112‧‧‧The surrounding area

120‧‧‧Transparent electrode layer

122‧‧‧ patterned transparent electrode layer

124‧‧‧ Corner structure

126‧‧‧Linear structure

130‧‧‧metal circuit layer

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a touch panel structure according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a substrate according to an embodiment of the invention.

3A-3C are cross-sectional views showing the steps of the process of the touch panel structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cross-sectional position is the line segment 3 of FIG.

4 is a partial top view of a touch panel structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a touch panel structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a step of the process of the touch panel structure according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cross-sectional position is the line segment 3 of FIG.

The embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in the following drawings, and the details of However, it should be understood that these practical details are not intended to limit the invention. That is, in some embodiments of the invention, these practical details are not necessary. In addition, some of the conventional structures and elements are shown in the drawings in a simplified schematic manner in order to simplify the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing the touch panel structure 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a substrate 110 according to an embodiment of the invention. 3A-3C are cross-sectional views showing various steps of the process of the touch panel structure 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cross-sectional position is the line segment 3 of FIG. Different embodiments of the present invention provide a method for manufacturing the touch panel structure 100. The touch panel structure 100 is mainly applied to a capacitive touch panel.

As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A , step 10 is to provide a substrate 110 , wherein the substrate 110 has a display area 111 and a peripheral area 112 , the peripheral area 112 surrounds the display area 111 , and the peripheral area 112 can serve as a touch. The border area of the panel structure 100.

In the present embodiment, the substrate 110 is a flexible substrate. Specifically, the substrate 110 is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, but is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the substrate 110 may be a rigid substrate or other type of flexible substrate, the rigid substrate may be, for example, a glass substrate, and the flexible substrate may be, for example, a Polyimide (PI) substrate.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3B, step 20 is to form a transparent electrode layer 120 on the substrate 110.

The material of the transparent electrode layer 120 may be Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). It should be understood that the materials of the transparent electrode layer 120 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention. Those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention should flexibly select the material of the transparent electrode layer 120 according to actual needs.

The transparent electrode layer 120 can be formed by a deposition process, wherein the deposition process can be Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), Physical Vapor Deposition, sputtering, or the like. Deposition process.

FIG. 4 is a partial top view of the touch panel structure 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 3C and FIG. 4 , step 30 is to pattern the transparent electrode layer 120 and form a patterned transparent electrode layer 122 on the display region 111 , wherein the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 has a corner structure 124 and The linear structure 126 has a rounded corner structure.

Specifically, the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 can be formed by a lithography and etching process, but is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, patterning The transparent electrode layer 122 can be formed by other suitable processes such as screen printing, spin coating, ink jetting, and the like.

Since the touch panel structure 100 may experience high and low temperature difference during the production process, the touch panel structure 100 may be unevenly heated and contracted, so that the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 will be cracked and damaged. The effectiveness of the transparent electrode layer 122 is patterned. By setting the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 to an arc angle structure, the internal stress generated by the uneven shrinkage of the touch panel structure 100 can be buffered, thereby avoiding the corner of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122. The structure 124 creates cracks to avoid damaging the performance of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122. In addition, compared with the conventional touch panel, since the touch panel structure 100 only transforms the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122, the overall optical characteristics and functionality of the touch panel structure 100 will not be affected.

Specifically, there are two main causes of the uneven heat and cold shrinkage referred to here. One is that when the substrate 110 is a flexible substrate, the substrate 110 is rolled out of the film roll, so the characteristics of the substrate 110 in the longitudinal direction (MD) and the transverse direction (TD) will be inconsistent, thus causing the substrate The magnitude of the ups and downs of 110 when experiencing high and low temperature differences will be inconsistent. The second is that the touch panel structure 100 has inconsistent cold and heat expansion and contraction in the region having the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 and the region not having the patterned transparent electrode layer 122.

More specifically, when the substrate 110 is a polyethylene terephthalate substrate, after the substrate 110 is subjected to a high temperature process of 150 ° C / 60 minutes, the longitudinal direction of the substrate 110 shrinks by 0.4 to 1.0%, and the lateral direction of the substrate 110 Contraction 0.2 ~0.5%. Thus, the uneven heat and cold shrinkage of the substrate 110 may cause cracks in the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of manufacturing the touch panel structure 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a step of the process of the touch panel structure 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cross-sectional position is the line segment 3 of FIG. This embodiment is substantially the same as the above-described embodiment, and the differences will be mainly described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3A and FIG. 5, step 10 is to provide a substrate 110, wherein the substrate 110 has a display area 111 and a peripheral area 112, the peripheral area 112 surrounds the display area 111, and the peripheral area 112 can serve as a touch. The border area of the panel structure 100.

As shown in FIG. 3B and FIG. 5, step 20 is to form a transparent electrode layer 120 on the substrate 110.

As shown in FIG. 3C, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5, step 30 is to pattern the transparent electrode layer 122 and form a patterned transparent electrode layer 122 on the display region 111, wherein the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 is Arc angle structure.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the step 40 is to form the metal wiring layer 130 on the substrate 110. Specifically, the metal wiring layer 130 is formed in the peripheral region 112. The metal circuit layer 130 is used to electrically connect the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 located in the display area 111 with an external control module (such as a flexible circuit board), or to electrically connect an external ground wire (such as a ground circuit of a flexible circuit board). To achieve the effect of static protection.

In the present embodiment, the material of the metal wiring layer 130 contains silver. Specifically, the material of the metal wiring layer 130 is silver paste. It should be understood that the materials of the metal circuit layer 130 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention. Those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention should flexibly select the material of the metal circuit layer 130 according to actual needs.

In the present embodiment, the metal wiring layer 130 is formed by printing, but is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the metal wiring layer 130 can be formed by coating.

Step 50 is curing the metal wiring layer 130. Specifically, the curing temperature of the cured metal wiring layer 130 is about 85 ° C to 100 ° C, and the curing time is about 90 minutes. It should be understood that the specific embodiments of the cured metal circuit layer 130 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention. Those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention should flexibly select a solidified metal circuit layer according to actual needs. 130 is a specific implementation.

By converting the high temperature process (about 130 ° C) of the original cured metal circuit layer 130 into a low temperature process, the temperature difference experienced by the touch panel structure 100 becomes small, thereby reducing the uneven heat and cold shrinkage of the touch panel structure 100. Therefore, the uneven heat and cold shrinkage caused by the touch panel structure 100 caused by the high and low temperature difference will be reduced, thereby preventing the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 from being cracked to avoid damaging the performance of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122. .

As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, another embodiment of the present invention provides a touch panel structure 100. The touch panel structure 100 includes a substrate 110 , a patterned transparent electrode layer 122 , and a metal wiring layer 130 . The patterned transparent electrode layer 122 is disposed on the substrate 110, wherein the pattern The corner structure 124 of the transparent electrode layer 122 has a circular arc angle structure. The metal wiring layer 130 is disposed on the substrate 110.

Specifically, the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 is disposed on the display region 111 , and the metal wiring layer 130 is disposed in the peripheral region 112 .

In particular, the radius of the arc of the corner structure 124 can be about 50 microns. Correspondingly, the line width and line pitch of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 can be at least about 50 microns, respectively. Alternatively, the radius of the arc of the corner structure 124 can be about 100 microns. Correspondingly, the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 may have a line width and a line pitch of at least about 100 microns, respectively. Therefore, the linear structure 126 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 and the corner structure 124 can be well matched without the problem that the required installation space of the corner structure 124 is insufficient.

Hereinafter, for the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6 , two embodiments of the present invention are disclosed (ie, the curing temperature of the cured metal wiring layer 130 is 85° C., the curing time is 90 minutes; and the arc of the corner structure 124 is 124 The test case of a radius of 50 micrometers or 100 micrometers, thereby illustrating the touch panel structure 100 of the above embodiment, can indeed provide the required performance. It should be understood that in the following description, the parameters that have been mentioned in the above embodiments will not be repeated, and will be supplemented only if further definitions are needed.

First, the touch panel structures 100 of the two embodiments pass the following three reliability tests. The reliability test is Damp Heat Cyclic (Tamp Heat Cyclic), that is, the touch panel structure 100 is subjected to 18 cycles in an environment with a relative humidity of 93±3% and a temperature of 30° C. to 65° C., and each cycle is 8 hours. ), thermal shock (thermal shock) The structure 100 is subjected to 50 cycles in an environment with a temperature change of -40 ° C to 85 ° C. In one cycle, the environment is maintained at -40 ° C for 30 minutes, the environment is maintained at 85 ° C for 30 minutes, and the temperature is from - 40 ° C changed to 85 ° C or 85 ° C changed to -40 ° C for less than 3 minutes,) and high temperature and high humidity (High Temperature And High Humidity, that is, the touch panel structure 100 is at 95% relative humidity, temperature is 30 ° C ~ The cycle was changed to 60 cycles in a 60 ° C cycle, each cycle was 8 hours. In one cycle, the environment was maintained at 60 ° C for 4 hours, the cooling time was 1.5 hours, and the temperature was maintained at 30 ° C for 1 hour. The heating time is 1.5 hours). After the above three reliability test tests, the touch panel structures 100 of the two embodiments were separately observed using an optical microscope, and the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 confirmed that no cracks were generated.

In the above embodiment of the present invention, by setting the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122 to a circular arc angle structure, the internal stress generated by the uneven heating and contraction of the touch panel structure 100 is buffered, thereby avoiding pattern transparency. The corner structure 124 of the electrode layer 122 creates cracks to avoid damaging the performance of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122. In addition, compared with the conventional touch panel, since the touch panel structure 100 only transforms the corner structure 124 of the patterned transparent electrode layer 122, the overall optical characteristics and functionality of the touch panel structure 100 will not be affected.

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 modified 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.

10~30‧‧‧Steps

Claims (8)

A method for manufacturing a touch panel structure includes: providing a substrate; forming a transparent electrode layer on the substrate; patterning the transparent electrode layer and forming a patterned transparent electrode layer, wherein a corner of the patterned transparent electrode layer The structure is a circular arc structure; a metal wiring layer is formed on the substrate; and the metal wiring layer is cured, wherein the curing temperature of the metal wiring layer is about 85 ° C. The manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the material of the metal wiring layer contains silver. The manufacturing method according to claim 2, wherein the metal wiring layer has a curing time of about 90 minutes. A touch panel structure includes: a substrate; a patterned transparent electrode layer disposed on the substrate, wherein a corner structure of the patterned transparent electrode layer is an arc angle structure, wherein a radius of the arc of the corner structure is About 50 microns; and a metal circuit layer disposed on the substrate. The touch panel structure of claim 4, wherein the pattern is transparent The line width and line pitch of the bright electrode layer are each at least about 50 microns. The touch panel structure of claim 4, wherein the corner structure has a radius of a circle of about 100 microns. The touch panel structure of claim 6, wherein the patterned transparent electrode layer has a line width and a line pitch of at least about 100 micrometers. The touch panel structure of claim 4, wherein the material of the metal wiring layer comprises silver.