TWM463871U - Touch electrode device - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch electrode device includes a substrate, at least one electrode layer and a conductive ink pattern. The electrode layer is disposed above a surface of the substrate, and the electrode layer includes a non-transparent conductive material. The ink pattern is printed on two sides of a surface of the electrode layer.

Description

Touch electrode device

The present invention relates to a touch electrode device, and more particularly to a touch electrode device in which a touch electrode pattern is formed by a non-transparent conductive material.

The touch display is an input/output device formed by combining sensing technology and display technology, and is commonly used in electronic devices, such as portable and handheld electronic devices.

A capacitive touch panel is a commonly used touch panel that utilizes a capacitive coupling effect to detect a touch position. When the finger touches the surface of the capacitive touch panel, the capacitance of the corresponding position is changed, and the touch position is detected.

The first figure shows a cross section of a conventional touch panel. As shown, the first electrode layer 11 and the second electrode layer 12 are sequentially formed on the upper surface of the substrate 10. The first electrode layer 11 has a first sensing electrode array 11A and a first film 11B, and the second electrode layer 12 has a second sensing electrode column 12A and a second film 12B, wherein the first sensing electrode column 11A and the second sensing electrode column 12A They are respectively disposed on the lower surfaces of the first film 11B and the second film 12B. In addition, the first electrode layer 11 and the second electrode layer 12 can be bonded to each other by the optical glue 15. As shown, the first film 11B is bonded to the second sensing electrode array 12A by the optical glue 15. However, the decorative film 13 is formed on the upper surface of the second electrode layer 12, and the cover plate 14 is provided on the upper surface of the decorative film 13, and may be attached through the optical glue 15, respectively.

The first sensing electrode array 11A and the second sensing electrode array 12A of the first electrode layer 11 and the second electrode layer 12 of the conventional touch panel generally use a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO). However, the formation of indium tin oxide requires not only a complicated process, but also the thickness of each electrode layer formed is generally between about 100 micrometers and 150 micrometers, so that the overall thickness is increased. In addition, the complicated manufacturing process often results in poor yield of the decorative mold, resulting in a significant increase in the production cost of the touch panel.

In view of the fact that the overall thickness of the conventional touch panel is thick, it is not effective to achieve thinness and thinness, and the process is complicated. Therefore, a novel touch electrode device is needed to improve the shortcomings of the conventional touch panel.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a touch electrode device which can form a simplified structure of an electrode layer by a non-transparent conductive material to substantially achieve a thinning effect, or can directly perform exposure and development to form an electrode array to simplify the process steps.

According to the present embodiment, the touch electrode device includes a substrate, at least one electrode layer, and a conductive ink pattern. The electrode layer is disposed directly or indirectly on the surface of the substrate, and the electrode layer comprises a non-transparent conductive material. The conductive ink pattern directly or indirectly prints a portion of the surface formed on the electrode layer.

10‧‧‧Substrate

11‧‧‧First electrode layer

11A‧‧‧first sensing electrode column

11B‧‧‧First film

12‧‧‧Second electrode layer

12A‧‧‧Second sensing electrode column

12B‧‧‧Second film

13‧‧‧Decorative film

14‧‧‧ Cover

15‧‧‧Optical adhesive

200‧‧‧Touch electrode device

300‧‧‧Touch electrode device

20‧‧‧ Cover

21‧‧‧Substrate

22‧‧‧Electrical layer

22A‧‧‧First electrode layer

22B‧‧‧Second electrode layer

23‧‧‧Conductive ink pattern

23B‧‧‧Second conductive ink pattern

24‧‧‧Metal wire

25‧‧‧Grid

27‧‧‧Local

28‧‧‧Metal wire layer

28B‧‧‧Second metal wire layer

29‧‧‧Insulation

The first figure shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional touch panel.

Figure 2A shows a top view of the touch electrode device of the present embodiment.

The second B-picture shows a cross-sectional view of the second A-picture along section line 2-2'.

The second C picture shows a partial enlarged view of the electrode layer

The second D-figure shows a cross-sectional view of an electrode layer of another embodiment of the present creation.

The third figure shows a cross-sectional view of a touch electrode device of another embodiment of the present invention.

The fourth figure shows a partial enlarged view of another embodiment of the present invention using an electrode layer of mesh copper.

In the scope of the embodiments and patent applications, unless the context specifically dictates the articles, "a" and "the" may mean a single or plural.

As used herein, "about," "about," or "substantially" is used to modify the amount of any slight change, but such minor changes do not alter the nature. In the embodiment, unless otherwise stated, the error range represented by "about", "about" or "substantially" is generally allowed to be within 20%, preferably 10%. Within, and more preferably within five percent.

2A is a top view of the touch electrode device 200 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view along the line 2-2' of the second A. The figure shows only the components related to the embodiment. . The touch electrode device 200 of the present embodiment mainly includes a substrate 21, at least one electrode layer 22, and a conductive ink pattern 23. The electrode layer 22 may be directly provided on a surface (for example, an upper surface) of the substrate 21. The conductive ink pattern 23 is printed on both sides of the electrode layer 22 for conducting the touch signals induced by the electrode layer 22. In addition, the color of the conductive ink pattern 23 can be adjusted according to the actual situation and design requirements, and in the embodiment of the present invention, black is used as the schematic color.

Moreover, in an embodiment, the electrode layer 22 may further comprise a metal-trace layer 28. Wherein, the metal wire layer 28 can be disposed on both sides of the electrode layer 22 for transmitting by the electrode The touch signal sensed by layer 22. The conductive ink pattern 23 is printed on the metal wiring layer 28 and electrically connected to the metal wiring layer 28. In this way, the touch signal is transmitted to the signal processor (not shown) of the touch electrode device 200 by the conductive ink pattern 23, the touch signal is calculated, and the image signal is displayed correspondingly.

According to one of the features of the embodiment, the electrode layer 22 contains a non-transparent conductive material such as a metal wire, a mesh copper or a mesh silver, wherein the inner diameter of the metal wire is between several nanometers and several hundred nanometers. The embodiment of the present invention is illustrated by a metal wire.

The metal wire may be fixed in the electrode layer 22 by a plastic material such as a resin or a photosensitive material such as acryl. Since the metal wire is very thin and can be observed by a non-human eye, the electrode layer 22 composed of the metal wire has excellent light transmittance, and the thickness thereof can be only about 0.1 micrometer to 1 micrometer, thereby causing the touch electrode The overall thickness of the device 200 is reduced.

Referring to the second C diagram, it shows an enlarged view of a portion 27 of the electrode layer 22. As shown, the metal wires 24 are randomly staggered and planarly distributed in the electrode layer 22, so that the electrical conductivity of the electrode layers 22 composed of metal wires is substantially equal in all directions of the plane.

According to another feature of this embodiment, when the electrode layer 22 is made of a photosensitive material such as acryl, an electrode array having a desired electrode shape can be formed by an exposure and development process. For example, in one embodiment, the appearance of each of the electrodes in the electrode column may have a diamond-like appearance, or may be designed to have an appearance such as a strip pattern or other polygonal pattern depending on actual needs. Therefore, compared with the conventional process of using indium tin oxide (ITO) to form an electrode layer, since the electrode layer 22 of the present embodiment can directly perform the exposure and development process, the process step can be simplified and the decorative film can be omitted, thereby effectively reducing cost.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the substrate 21 is a transparent substrate made of glass, plastic or any other transparent material. However, the substrate 21 can also be included depending on its actual design requirements. Flexible material, hard material or liquid crystal display module. Since the metal wire included in the non-transparent conductive material is very fine, and the size thereof can be nanometer-scale and malleable, when combined with the substrate 21, the touch electrode device 200 can be formed to realize thickness reduction and flexibility. . In contrast, conventionally, a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) is used. However, in particular, when an indium tin oxide is used to form an electrode layer, the electrode layer is thick and easily broken, so that the process is complicated and time consuming, and the yield is low, and because of the low flexibility, the application layer is also relatively Limited.

Referring to FIG. 2D, a cross-sectional view of the touch electrode device 200 of another embodiment of the present invention is shown. As shown in the figure, the touch electrode device 200 further includes a cover plate 20 disposed on the surface of the electrode layer 22. In one embodiment, the cover 20 can be attached to the surface of the electrode layer 22 by a transparent insulating paste such as optical glue. Further, the cover 20 can be a transparent cover and it can further comprise a flexible material or a rigid material. The surface material of the cover plate can be treated by special techniques to have anti-wear, anti-scratch, anti-reflection, anti-glare and anti-fingerprint functions.

In another embodiment, the touch electrode device 200 further includes an insulating layer disposed between the substrate 21 and the electrode layer 22 such that the electrode layer 22 is indirectly disposed on the surface of the substrate 21. The insulating layer may include a photosensitive material, and the electrode layer 22 is formed into a desired shape on the substrate 21 by an exposure and development process.

The touch electrode devices 200 shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B are all of a single layer structure, that is, a single electrode layer 22 is provided on a single surface of the substrate 21. However, other structures such as a two-layer structure may also be used in this embodiment. The third figure shows a cross-sectional view of the touch electrode device 300 of the two-layer structure. The first electrode layer 22A and the second electrode layer 22B are sequentially disposed on the same surface of the substrate 21, and the first electrode layer 22A and the second electrode layer 22B. They are electrically isolated by an insulating layer 29. The first electrode layer 22A and the first electrode layer 22B may respectively include a first conductive ink pattern 23A (not shown) and a second conductive ink pattern 23B. this In addition, the touch electrode device 300 can also include a cover plate 20 disposed on the surface of the second electrode layer 22B. In an implementation, the cover 20 may be adhered to the surface of the second electrode layer 22B by a transparent insulating paste such as optical glue.

In addition, in another embodiment, the touch electrode device 300 further includes an insulating layer disposed between the substrate 21 and the first electrode layer 22A such that the first electrode layer 22A is indirectly disposed on the surface of the substrate 21 . The insulating layer may also include a photosensitive material, and the desired shape is formed on the substrate 21 together with the first electrode layer 22A by an exposure and development process.

Please continue to refer to the third picture. As shown, the second electrode layer 22B may include a second metal wire layer 28B, wherein the second metal wire layer 28B may be disposed on both sides of the second electrode layer 22B for transmitting the second electrode layer 22B. Touch signal. The second conductive ink pattern 23B is printed on the second metal wire layer 28B, and is electrically connected to the second metal wire layer 28B. The second conductive ink pattern 23B can transmit the touch signal to the touch. The signal processor of the electrode assembly 200 displays the image signal with a corresponding output. In addition, in the above embodiments and illustrations, although only the features of the second electrode layer 22B are described, since the first electrode layer 22A can be similar to the second electrode layer 22B, the correspondence of the first electrode layer 22A will not be described again. feature.

In another embodiment, the thickness of the first electrode layer 22A and the second electrode layer 22B may be between about 0.1 micrometers and 1 micrometer, and the thickness of the insulating layer 29 may be between about 5 micrometers and 10 micrometers. As a result, the overall thickness of the touch electrode device 300 can be effectively reduced. The insulating layer 29 may also include a photosensitive material which is formed into a desired shape together with the second electrode layer 22B by an exposure and development process.

Compared with the conventional touch electrode, the touch electrode device 200/300 of the above embodiment uses the electrode layer 22 containing a non-transparent conductive material, so that the simplified structure of the electrode layer can be formed to achieve the thickness thinning effect, and at the same time, it can have better Flexible and easy to manufacture.

In addition, please refer to the fourth figure, which shows an electrode layer using a mesh copper according to another embodiment. An enlarged view of the portion 27 of the section. As shown, since the mesh copper has a plurality of grids 25, each of the grids 25 may have a polygonal appearance or a circular appearance, and the surrounding sections allow the light to penetrate sufficiently, and the grids 25 can also be electrically connected to each other and arranged in an array pattern. Thus, by the arrangement of the grids 25, the electrodes can be combined to form an appearance such as a strip pattern, a diamond pattern or a polygonal pattern. Although the embodiment is illustrated by the net copper, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the above features can also be realized by using suitable materials such as net silver.

The above description is only for the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention; any equivalent changes or modifications made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure should be included in the following Within the scope of the patent application.

200‧‧‧Touch electrode device

21‧‧‧Substrate

22‧‧‧Electrical layer

23‧‧‧Conductive ink pattern

28‧‧‧Metal wire layer

Claims (10)

A touch electrode device comprising: a substrate; and at least one electrode layer disposed on a surface of the substrate, the electrode layer comprising a non-transparent conductive material; and a conductive ink pattern printed on both sides of the at least one electrode layer On the surface. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode layer further comprises a metal-trace layer, wherein the metal wire layer is disposed on both sides of the at least one electrode layer, and The conductive ink pattern is printed on the metal wire layer. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the non-transparent conductive material comprises a plurality of metal wires, mesh copper or mesh silver. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the metal wires have an inner diameter of between several nanometers and several hundred nanometers, and the metal wires are distributed in a plane. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the electrode layer further comprises a plastic material to fix the non-transparent conductive material in the electrode layer. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the electrode layer further comprises a photosensitive material. The touch electrode device of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a transparent substrate. The touch electrode device of claim 1, further comprising a cover plate disposed on a surface of the at least one electrode layer. The touch electrode device of claim 2, wherein the at least one electrode layer comprises a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, which are sequentially disposed on the same surface of the substrate. The touch electrode device of claim 9, further comprising an insulating layer disposed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer to be electrically isolated.