TWM472894U - Touch panel structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch panel comprising a sensing electrode disposed on a substrate including a main portion and a connecting portion, wherein said main portion is electrically connected to said connecting portion, and a signal transmission circuit including a main segment and a connecting segment, wherein said connecting segment which is electrically connected to said main segment electrically overlap said connecting portion at least a portion of said main portion, wherein the width of the end of said connecting segment electrically connected with said connecting portion is smaller than the width of the other end to form a tapered pattern.

Description

Touch panel structure

This creation is related to a touch technology, in particular to a touch panel structure.

Today's touch panels have become mainstream designs for a variety of portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, tablets, and notebooks. The user can directly operate the electronic device by touching the touch panel with a finger or a stylus, that is, the touch panel is used as an interface between the user and the electronic device.

A general touch panel includes a sensing electrode and a signal transmission line. The sensing electrode includes a main body portion and a connecting portion. The main body portion is configured to detect a touch action of the user, and the connecting portion is configured to be electrically connected to the signal transmission line. Thereby, the sensing electrode is allowed to transmit signals to the controller through the signal transmission line.

However, when the current touch panel is manufactured, it is easy to make the alignment accuracy of the connection portion between the signal transmission line and the sensing electrode poor due to the error of the mechanical action, which will cause an effective contact area between the signal transmission line and the sensing electrode. The decline has caused the touch panel to fail to operate properly. This is an urgent problem to be overcome for today's touch panel technology.

In view of this, the present invention provides a new touch panel structure design, which improves the design of the signal transmission line overlapping the sensing electrode, effectively improving the alignment error tolerance of the signal transmission line and the sensing electrode to avoid the signal transmission line. The contact area between the road and the sensing electrode is degraded due to process error factors.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a touch panel structure is provided, comprising: a sensing electrode disposed on a substrate, and comprising a main body portion and a connecting portion, wherein the main body portion is electrically connected to the connecting portion And a signal transmission line comprising a main line segment and a wiring segment, wherein the wiring segment is electrically connected to the main line segment, and is electrically connected to the connecting portion and at least part of the main body portion, wherein the wiring segment is electrically The line width of one end of the main line segment is greater than the line width of the other end of the wire segment, and the line width is tapered.

In one embodiment, the substrate is defined with a viewable area and a pair of shaded areas that should be visible, the body portion of the sensing electrode being located in the viewable area, the connection being located in the shaded area.

In one of the embodiments, the body portion of the sensing electrode is further extended to the shielding region.

In one of the embodiments, the main line segment is located in the shaded region and the wire segment extends from the shaded region to the viewable region.

In one of the embodiments, the wiring section of the signal transmission line is made of a low reflectivity metal material.

In one of the embodiments, the wiring segment is an extension of the main line segment.

In one of the embodiments, the line width of the end of the wiring segment is smaller than the width of the connecting portion.

In one of the embodiments, the width of the end of the wiring segment is smaller than the width of the connecting portion of the sensing electrode.

In one of the embodiments, the end of the wiring segment has a line width of less than 7 μm.

It will be apparent that such objects and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

100‧‧‧Substrate

100a‧‧ visible area

100b‧‧‧ shaded area

102‧‧‧Induction electrode

102a‧‧‧ Main body

102b‧‧‧Connecting Department

104‧‧‧Signal transmission line

104a‧‧‧Main line segment

104b‧‧‧Wiring section

This description contains the drawings and constitutes a part of this specification in the text, which will enable the reader to further understand the present embodiment. The drawings depict some embodiments of the present teachings and together with the description herein. In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a top plan view showing a structure of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 to 4 are top schematic views showing the structure of the touch panel of other embodiments of the present invention.

It should be noted that all the figures in this specification are of the nature of the legend. For the sake of clarity and convenience of description, the various components in the drawings may be exaggerated or reduced in size and proportion. The same reference numbers are used in the drawings to refer to the corresponding or similar features in the modified or different embodiments.

In the detailed description that follows, the component symbols are marked as part of the accompanying drawings, and are described in the manner of the specific examples in which the embodiments can be practiced. Such embodiments will illustrate sufficient details to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to practice. The reader is aware that other embodiments may be utilized in the present invention or that structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the embodiments. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be considered as a limitation, and the embodiments included herein are defined by the scope of the accompanying claims.

First, please refer to FIG. 1 , which schematically illustrates a top schematic view of a touch panel structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the touch panel structure includes a sensing electrode 102 and a signal transmission line 104 . The sensing electrode 102 is disposed on the substrate 100 and includes a main body portion 102a and a connecting portion 102b electrically connected to each other. The main body portion 102a is for sensing a touch action of the user, and the connecting portion 102b is An electrical connection interface between the main body portion 102a and the signal transmission line 104.

The signal transmission line 104 includes a main line segment 104a and a wiring segment 104b, wherein the wiring segment 104b is electrically connected to the main line segment 104a and electrically connected to the connecting portion 102b and at least a portion of the main body portion 102a. In addition, the line width of the wiring segment 104b at one end electrically connected to the main line segment 104a is greater than the line width of the opposite end of the wiring segment 104, and the wiring segment 104b is from the end electrically connected to the main line segment 104a to the opposite side. One end is a pattern in which the line width is tapered. In other words, the wire segment 104b extends from the main wire segment 104a, and the wire width of the end of the wire segment 104b is less than the line width at the beginning of the extension of the wire segment 104b. In an embodiment, the end of the wire segment 104b is smaller than the width of the connecting portion 102b. In another embodiment, the end of the wire segment 104b is less than 7 [mu]m.

Therefore, in the alignment and overlapping process of the signal transmission line 104 and the sensing electrode 102, if the alignment of the wiring segment 104b and the connecting portion 102 is offset due to the error of the mechanical action, the embodiment is designed. The wiring section 104b still maintains a sufficient area to be in contact with the sensing electrode 102 without a decrease in contact area. In other words, the design of the wiring segment 104b overlapping the connecting portion 102b and the main body portion 102a at the same time can improve the alignment margin of the signal transmission line 104 and the sensing electrode 102, even if the partial wiring segment 104b is in error due to the error. Failure to make effective contact with the connecting portion 102b, but the extended design of the wiring segment 104b is still able to compensate for the contact area by contact with the main body portion 102a.

The substrate 100 of the present embodiment may be, for example, a transparent substrate, such as a transparent alumina glass or a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) material, and may be subjected to a process such as strengthening, so that the substrate 100 not only provides a load. The function can be used to protect circuit components such as the sensing electrode 102 and the signal transmission line 104. In addition, the opposite side of the surface of the substrate 100 on which the circuit elements such as the sensing electrodes 2 are disposed is provided with a touch plane for the user to perform a touch operation with a finger or a stylus.

Further, the substrate 100 can be defined as a visual according to actual design requirements. The area 100a is associated with a masked area 100b corresponding to the viewable area 100a. The shielding area 100b of the present embodiment is, for example, correspondingly formed on at least one side of the visible area 100a, and a more common design is disposed around the four sides of the visible area 100a. In addition, in an embodiment, the touch panel structure is directly disposed on the substrate 100 by an opaque insulating layer, such as by printing, to define the shielding region 100b by using the layout region of the insulating layer. In another embodiment, the touch panel structure is configured to dispose an opaque insulating layer on a cover, and when the substrate 100 of the embodiment is attached to the cover, the layout of the insulating layer on the cover is relatively The masking region 100b of the substrate 100 is defined.

According to the above-mentioned area definition, in the portion of the sensing electrode 102, the main body portion 102a is located in the visible region 100a, and the connecting portion 102b is located in the shielding region 100b, so that the visible region 100a corresponds to the main body portion 102a of the sensing electrode 102. The touch area of the touch panel structure. Of course, according to actual design requirements, the main body portion 102a can be further designed to extend over a portion of the shielding area 100b to improve the sensing accuracy of the touch area. The embodiments of the present specification are all in this aspect. Do a schematic drawing.

In fact, the body portion 102a of the sensing electrode 102 may, for example, comprise a plurality of first axial electrodes (such as X-axis electrodes) and a plurality of second axial electrodes (such as Y) that are insulated from each other and arranged in an array on the substrate 100. Axial electrode), but in order to avoid obscuring the focus of this creation and the simplification of the drawings, the embodiments of the present specification only represent the description by the sensing unit belonging to the first axial electrode, and only show The sensing unit, which is the outermost periphery for electrically connecting to the connecting portion 102b, is a diamond-shaped sensing unit as shown in the figure. Of course, the shape of the sensing unit in any of the axial electrodes is not limited to the above-described diamond-shaped sensing unit aspect, and may be in any other shape, such as the rectangular shape below the diamond-shaped sensing unit in FIG. In addition, the material of the sensing electrode 102 may be a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), carbon nanotube (CNT), nano silver or the like.

Next, with respect to the portion of the signal transmission line 104, the main line segment 104a is located in the shielding region 100b, and the extended design wiring segment 104b extends from the shielding region 100b to the visible region 100a in addition to the shielding region 100b. In the process, the signal transmission line 104 can be formed by another printing or photolithography process after the sensing electrode 102 is formed, and the material thereof can be silver paste or copper. It is worth mentioning that, since the wiring segment 104b of the embodiment is formed from the end electrically connected to the main line segment 104a to the opposite end to form a line width, the wiring segment 104b is overlapped with the main body. The portion 102a partially protrudes into the viewable area 100a, and the portion that protrudes into the viewable area 100a is also less likely to be visible because the line width is relatively small. Of course, the wiring segment 104b can be further made of a low-reflectivity metal material such as chromium (Cr), which further reduces the chance of visibility.

Next, various design aspects of the wiring section 104b will be exemplified. As shown in Fig. 1, the wiring section 104b is a shape in which a plurality of (e.g., three) rectangles whose width is gradually reduced is designed to protrude into the visible region 100a in a state in which the phase line width is tapered.

As shown in Fig. 2, the wiring section 104b is a design in which a combination of a rectangle and a trapezoid is used. Wherein one side of the rectangle is joined to the main line segment 104a, and the opposite pair of sides of the rectangle joined to the side of the main line segment 104a are joined to a bottom edge of a relatively large length in the trapezoid, so that the length of the trapezoid is relatively The smaller one of the bottom edges is the end of the wiring segment 104b, and the frame width of the wire segment 104b is tapered by the two sides of the trapezoid.

As shown in Fig. 3, the wiring segment 104b is a design in which a combination of a rectangle and a semicircle is used. Wherein one side of the rectangle is joined to the main line segment 104a, and the opposite pair of sides of the rectangle joined to the side of the main line segment 104a are joined to the semicircular straight line edge, such that the semicircular arc bottom end That is, as the end of the wiring section 104b, and the frame of the wiring section 104b is tapered by the semicircular arc. Of course, the semicircular shape used in this embodiment can also be replaced by a semi-ellipse to meet the required line of the wiring segment 104b. Wide and tapered effect.

Each of the above-mentioned various wiring segments 104b has a so-called line width grading feature, which can achieve the desired effect of the structure of the present invention. It should be noted that the above is for convenience of explaining the overall shape of the wiring segment 104b, and therefore the wiring segment 104b is described in sections in a plurality of shapes, but in practice, the entire wiring segment 104b is preferably integrated. This is not a limitation of the above embodiment.

In addition, in addition to the aspect of the sensing unit designed in the shape of a diamond in the foregoing embodiment, in some arrangements and layouts, the diamond-shaped sensing unit for the electrical connection with the connecting portion 102b at the outermost periphery is not necessarily a complete diamond shape. For example, it is also possible that only a portion of the diamond-shaped sensing unit electrically connects the connecting portion 102b, as shown in FIG. 4, that is, the triangular shape exhibited by the right half of the diamond.

In summary, the wiring section 104b of the present invention has an advantage in that the alignment margin between the signal transmission line 104 and the sensing electrode 102 can be improved. For the end of the wiring section 104b having a relatively small line width, even if the signal transmission line 104 and the sensing electrode 102 are offset in the alignment of the process, the entire wiring section 104b maintains a sufficient area to contact the sensing electrode 102, and does not A drop in contact area occurs, allowing the touch panel structure to maintain normal operation. On the other hand, if the signal transmission line 104 of the present invention is made of a metal material having a low reflectance, and the wiring section 104b extending into the visible area 100a has a small line width, the wiring section 104b extending into the visible area 100a is also Cannot be recognized or perceived by the naked eye.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made by the scope of the patent application of the present invention should be covered by the present invention.

100‧‧‧Substrate

100a‧‧ visible area

100b‧‧‧ shaded area

102‧‧‧Induction electrode

102a‧‧‧ Main body

102b‧‧‧Connecting Department

104‧‧‧Signal transmission line

104a‧‧‧Main line segment

104b‧‧‧Wiring section

Claims (8)

A touch panel structure includes: a sensing electrode disposed on a substrate and including a main body portion and a connecting portion, wherein the main body portion is electrically connected to the connecting portion; and a signal transmission line including a main line segment And a wire segment, wherein the wire segment is electrically connected to the main wire segment, and is electrically connected to the connecting portion and at least a portion of the body portion, wherein a wire width of the wire segment at one end electrically connected to the main wire segment is greater than The line width at the other end of the wiring segment forms a line width tapered state. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is defined with a visible area and a pair of shielding areas that should be visible, wherein the main body is located in the visible area, and the connecting part is located in the shielding area. The touch panel structure of claim 2, wherein the main body portion of the sensing electrode further extends in the shielding area. The touch panel structure of claim 2, wherein the main line segment is located in the shielding area, and the wiring section extends from the shielding area to the visible area. The touch panel structure of claim 1, wherein the wiring section is made of a low reflectivity metal material. The touch panel structure of claim 1, wherein the wiring segment is an extension of the main line segment. The touch panel structure according to claim 6, wherein the end of the wiring segment The line width of the end is smaller than the width of the connecting portion. The touch panel structure of claim 6, wherein the end of the wiring segment has a line width of less than 7 μm.