TWI621057B - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch panel includes a first sensing electrode and a second sensing electrode. The first sensing electrode has a plurality of first mesh lines staggered in a mesh shape. The second sensing electrode has a plurality of second network lines that are staggered into a network. The first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode each extend in different directions and are insulated from each other. At least one first network cable is interleaved with at least one second network cable. The line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the at least one second network line is greater than the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the second network line.

Description

Touch panel

The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to a touch panel.

In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology, many information products have been converted into touch panels by traditional keyboards or mice for the convenience, volume, and humanization. Today's touch panels can be roughly classified into resistive, capacitive, optical, acoustic, and electromagnetic, with resistive and capacitive being the mainstream.

Taking a capacitive touch panel as an example, the capacitive touch panel includes a plurality of first sensing electrodes and a plurality of second sensing electrodes that are staggered with each other. Generally, the first sensing electrode and the plurality of second sensing electrodes are mostly made of a light-transmitting conductive material (for example, indium tin oxide, ITO), but the resistance of the light-transmitting conductive material is high, which is not favorable for touch. Since the panel is driven, it has been proposed to form a mesh-shaped sensing electrode using a light-shielding conductive material having a low resistance. However, since the line width of the mesh sensing electrode is small and the process variability is large, the tolerance of the line width of the network line is not easily controlled within an ideal range, so the network line of the first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode The capacitance variation at the intersection of the network lines is also large, which is not conducive to the performance of the touch panel.

The invention provides a touch panel with good performance.

The touch panel of the present invention includes a first sensing electrode and a second sensing electrode. The first sensing electrode has a plurality of first mesh lines staggered in a mesh shape. The second sensing electrode has a plurality of second network lines that are staggered into a network. The first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode each extend in different directions and are insulated from each other. At least one first network cable is interleaved with at least one second network cable. The line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the at least one second network line is greater than the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the second network line.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the first mesh wires has at least a connected thick portion and a thin portion. The thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed at an intersection of the first network line and the corresponding second network line. The details of each of the first network lines do not overlap with the second network lines.

In an embodiment of the invention, the plurality of thick portions of the plurality of first mesh lines have substantially the same line width.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each of the first network lines has at least a connected thick portion and a thin portion, and the thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed on the first network line and the corresponding second network line. Interlaced. The details of each of the first network lines do not overlap with the second network lines. The thick portion and the thin portion are formed in the same film layer.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the first mesh wires has a connected thick portion and a thin portion. The thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed at an intersection of the first network line and the corresponding second network line. The details of each of the first network lines do not overlap with the second network lines. The thick portion and the thin portion are formed in different film layers.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of the first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode has a blackened surface.

In an embodiment of the invention, the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the second network line is W2, and 1 μm ≦ W2 ≦ 10 μm.

In an embodiment of the invention, the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the at least one second network line is W1, and 0.5 μm ≦ (W1-W2) ≦ 10 μm.

In an embodiment of the invention, the material of the first sensing electrode (and/or the second sensing electrode) comprises a metal, a metal oxide, a nano silver paste or a combination thereof.

Based on the above, the touch panel of the embodiment of the invention includes a first sensing electrode and a second sensing electrode. The first sensing electrode has a plurality of first mesh lines staggered in a mesh shape. The second sensing electrode has a plurality of second network lines that are staggered into a network. The first network cable is interleaved with the second network cable. In particular, the line width of the first network line at the intersection with the second network line is greater than the line width of the first network line at the intersection with the second network line. Thereby, the variation of the capacitance at the intersection of the first network line and the second network line in the touch panel is small, which contributes to the performance improvement of the touch panel.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the invention. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion R of the touch panel of FIG. 1. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the invention. In particular, Fig. 3 corresponds to the line A-A' and the line B-B' of Fig. 2 .

Referring to FIG. 1 , the touch panel TP includes a touch sensing structure 100 and a carrier 10 for carrying the touch sensing structure 100 . The carrier 10 can be any light transmissive member capable of carrying the touch sensing structure 100. For example, the carrier 10 can be a substrate, a film, or a combination thereof. The touch sensing structure 100 includes a plurality of first sensing electrodes 110 and a plurality of second sensing electrodes 120. The first sensing electrode 110 extends in the first direction x. The second sensing electrode 120 extends in the second direction y. The first direction x is different from the second direction y. Specifically, the first direction x is interleaved with the second direction y. In this embodiment, the first direction x and the second direction are, for example, perpendicular, but the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the first direction x and the second direction y may also be clipped at angles other than 90 degrees. The first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 are insulated from each other. In detail, in the embodiment, one of the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 is a driving electrode (Tx), and the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 are The other is a receiving electrode (Rx). The touch position can be determined by detecting a change in capacitance between the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120. In other words, the touch panel TP of the embodiment is a capacitive touch panel.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the first sensing electrode 110 is a mesh electrode and has a plurality of first network lines 112 staggered in a network. The plurality of first network lines 112 define a first sensing electrode. A plurality of first openings 110a of 110. The second sensing electrode 120 is a mesh electrode and has a plurality of second mesh wires 122 staggered in a mesh shape, wherein the plurality of second mesh wires 122 define a plurality of second openings 120a of the second sensing electrodes 120. In this embodiment, the material of the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 is, for example, a light-shielding conductive material. For example, the material of the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 may include a metal (eg, gold, silver, copper, etc.), a metal oxide, a nano silver paste, or a combination thereof. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 may also be other suitable materials. In addition, in this embodiment, the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 may be formed by any suitable method, for example, by using a lithography process, a printing process, a spraying process, or other suitable manner. .

The first network line 112 of the first sensing electrode 110 is interleaved with the second network line 122 of the second sensing electrode 120. In particular, the line width W1 of the first network line 112 at the intersection with the second network line 122 (ie, the thick portion 112a) is greater than the line of the first network line 112 at the point where the second network line 122 is not interlaced (ie, the detail 112b). Wide W2. For example, in the present embodiment, 1 μm ≦W2 ≦ 10 μm, 0.5 μm ≦ (W1-W2) ≦ 10 μm, but the invention is not limited thereto, and the line width W1 and the line width W2 can also be designed in other suitable ranges. .

In the present embodiment, the first mesh line 112 has the connected thick portion 112a and the thin portion 112b. The thick portion 112a of the first network line 112 is disposed at an intersection of the first network line 112 and the corresponding second network line 122. The detail 112b of the first wire 112 does not overlap the second wire 122. In other words, the thick portion 112a of the first network line 112 is located at a region where the first sensing electrode 110 overlaps with the second sensing electrode 120 and the vicinity thereof, and the thin portion 112b of the first network line 112 is located at the second sensing electrode 120. The area of the second opening 120a is within. The thick portion 112a of the first wire 112 has a line width W1 in a longitudinal direction D1 parallel to the second wire 122, and the detail 112b of the first wire 112 has a line width W2 in a direction D2, wherein the directions D1, D2 are mutually Parallel, and the line width W1 of the thick portion 112a is larger than the line width W2 of the thin portion 112b. Further, the thick portion 112a of the first wire 112 has a line width W3 in a longitudinal direction D3 parallel to the first wire 112, and is located within a portion of the first opening 110a of the first sensing electrode 110. The second wire 122 has a line width W4 in the direction D4, wherein the directions D3, D4 are parallel to each other, and the line width W3 is greater than or equal to the line width W4.

In this embodiment, the line widths W1 of the plurality of thick portions 112a of the plurality of first network lines 112 located at a plurality of locations on the touch panel TP are substantially the same. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, each thick portion 112a is located at a plurality of touch panels TP as long as the line width W1 is greater than the line width W2 and the line width W3 is greater than or equal to the line width W4. The plurality of line widths W1 of the plurality of thick portions 112a are not necessarily limited to be the same.

It is worth mentioning that the line width W1 of the first network line 112 at the intersection with the second network line 122 (ie, the thick portion 112a) is wider, and the wider line width W1 has better variation stability. That is, the line width W1 of the first wire 112 at the intersection with the second wire 122 has a smaller variation ratio than the line width W2 (i.e., the detail 112b) under the same manufacturing tolerance. For example, when the process tolerance of the line width is ±0.4μm, when the line width W1 is designed to be 8μm and the line width W2 is designed to be 4μm, the line width W1 of the actual product will fall between 7.6μm and 8.4μm. The line width W2 of the actual product will fall between 3.6μm and 4.4μm, so the variation ratio of the line width W1 is 10% (0.8/8=0.1), and the variation ratio of the line width W2 is 20% (0.8/4). =0.2), and the smaller the line width, the larger the variation ratio of the actual product, so the wider line width W1 has better variation stability. In particular, when the required line width of the network cable is smaller to improve the overall optical transmittance design, in order to avoid the intersection of the first network line 112 of the first sensing electrode 110 and the second network line 122 of the second sensing electrode 120 The capacitance variation becomes large, which is disadvantageous to the performance of the touch panel TP. Therefore, it is only necessary to design a wider line width in the area where the first sensing electrode 110 and the second network line 122 are interlaced (ie, the first part). The thick portion 112a) of the network line 112 can obtain the effect of less variation of the capacitance formed by the second sensing electrode 120, and contribute to the performance improvement of the touch panel TP. For example, when the variation of the capacitance between the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 in the touch panel TP is small, the touch accuracy and/or the touch sensitivity of the touch panel TP can be improved. .

In addition, in the above embodiment, only the first sensing electrode 110 has a thick portion 112a having a wider line width W1 at the intersection with the second sensing electrode 120, but the invention is not limited thereto. . In other embodiments, the second sensing electrode 120 may also have a thick portion (not shown) having a wide line width at the intersection with the first sensing electrode 120, wherein the thick portion 112a of the first sensing electrode 110 The position may correspond to the position of the thick portion of the second sensing electrode 120; when both the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 have a thick portion at the intersection of the two, the thickness of the first sensing electrode 110 is thick. The variation of the capacitance formed by the portion 112a and the second portion of the second sensing electrode 120 (ie, the intersection of the first network line 112 and the second network line 122) can be further reduced, and the performance of the touch panel is further improved.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , in the embodiment, in order to improve the visual effect of the touch panel TP, the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 are not easily perceived by the user, and the first sensing electrode 110 is And/or the second sensing electrode 120 can have a blackened surface 110b and/or 120b facing the user. For example, the blackened surface 110b and/or 120b may be made of a metal oxide layer, a metal nitride layer, a dark ink, or other non-reflective material, but the invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the touch panel TP further includes an insulating layer 130 (shown in FIG. 3 ) disposed between the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 . In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the insulating layer 130 is illustratively integrally disposed on the carrier 10. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the insulating layer 130 may also be a patterned insulating layer; for example, the patterned insulating layer may include a first sensing electrode 110 and a second sensing. A plurality of island-shaped insulating patterns at a plurality of intersections of the electrodes 120, but the invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the carrier 10 is, for example, a cover glass having a touch surface 10a (shown in FIG. 3), and the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 may be formed on the same carrier. 10 on. In other words, in the present embodiment, the touch panel TP is, for example, an OGS (one glass solution) touch panel as is conventional in the art. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various touch panels including the first sensing electrode 110 and the second sensing electrode 120 are within the scope of the present invention. In other embodiments, the touch panel TP can also be a touch panel of GFF, GF2, GF, GG or other suitable aspect as is conventional in the art.

In addition, in the embodiment, the thick portion 112a of the first sensing electrode 110 and the thin portion 112b of the first sensing electrode 110 are selectively formed on the same film layer, and the second sensing electrode 120 is formed on the other film. Layer, but the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the thick portion 112a of the first sensing electrode 110 and the thin portion 112b of the first sensing electrode 110 are also respectively formed on different film layers and electrically connected to each other, which will be described in the following paragraphs in conjunction with other illustrations. .

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view showing a portion of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention. The portion R of the touch panel of FIG. 4 also corresponds to the portion R of the touch panel of FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention. In particular, Fig. 5 corresponds to the line C-C' and the line D-D' of Fig. 4. Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the touch panel TP-1 is similar to the touch panel TP described above, and thus the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same or corresponding reference numerals. The difference between the touch panel TP-1 and the touch panel TP is that the thick portion 112a' and the thin portion 112b of the first mesh 112 of the touch panel TP-1 can be formed on different film layers, respectively. In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the thin portion 112b may be formed first, and then the thick portion 112a' electrically connected to the thin portion 112b may be formed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, the thick portion 112a' may be formed first, and then the thin portion 112b electrically connected to the thick portion 112a' may be formed. The touch panel TP-1 has similar functions and advantages as the touch panel TP, and will not be repeated here.

In summary, the touch panel of the embodiment of the invention includes a first sensing electrode and a second sensing electrode. The first sensing electrode has a plurality of first mesh lines staggered in a mesh shape. The second sensing electrode has a plurality of second network lines that are staggered into a network. At least one first network cable is interleaved with at least one second network cable. In particular, the line width of the first network line at the intersection with the second network line is greater than the line width of the first network line at the intersection with the second network line. Thereby, the variation of the capacitance at the intersection of the first network line and the second network line in the touch panel is small, which contributes to the performance improvement of the touch panel.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

10‧‧‧ Carrier
10a‧‧‧ touch surface
100‧‧‧ touch sensing structure
110‧‧‧First sensing electrode
110a‧‧‧first opening
110b, 120b‧‧‧ blackened surface
112‧‧‧First network cable
112a, 112a'‧‧‧

112b‧‧‧Details

120‧‧‧Second sensing electrode

120a‧‧‧second opening

122‧‧‧Second network cable

130‧‧‧Insulation

A-A’, B-B’, C-C’, D-D’‧‧‧

R‧‧‧ partial

TP, TP1‧‧‧ touch panel

W1~W4‧‧‧ line width

x, y, D1~D4‧‧‧ directions

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the invention. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion R of the touch panel of FIG. 1. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic view showing a portion of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A touch panel includes: a first sensing electrode having a plurality of first network lines staggered in a network; and a second sensing electrode having a plurality of second network lines staggered into a network, wherein the The first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode respectively extend in different directions and are insulated from each other, at least one first network line is interlaced with at least one second network line, and the at least one first network line is at least a line width at which the second network lines are interlaced is greater than a line width of the at least one first network line that is not interlaced with the second network lines, and the at least one second network line is interleaved with the at least one first network line The line width is smaller than the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the at least one second network line. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the first network lines has at least one connected portion and a thin portion, and the thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed on the first network. The intersection of the line and the corresponding second network line, the detail of each of the first network lines does not overlap with the second network lines. The touch panel of claim 2, wherein the plurality of thick portions of the first plurality of wires have substantially the same line width. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the first network lines has at least one connected portion and a thin portion, and the thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed on the first network. The intersection of the line and the corresponding second network line, the detail of each of the first network lines is not overlapped with the second network lines, and the thick portion and the thin portion are formed in the same film layer. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the first network lines has at least one connected portion and a thin portion, and the thick portion of each of the first network lines is disposed on the first network. The intersection of the line and the corresponding second network line, the detail of each of the first network lines is not overlapped with the second network lines, and the thick portion and the thin portion are formed in different film layers. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first sensing electrode and the second sensing electrode has a blackened surface. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the second network lines is W2 and 1 μm ≦ W2 ≦ 10 μm. The touch panel of claim 7, wherein the line width of the at least one first network line at the intersection with the at least one second network line is W1, and 0.5 μm ≦ (W1-W2) ≦ 10 μm . The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the material of the first sensing electrode comprises a metal, a metal oxide, a nano silver paste or a combination thereof. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the material of the second sensing electrode comprises a metal, a metal oxide, a nano silver paste or a combination thereof.