TWM527572U - Touch panel having sensing metal mesh - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a touch panel with metal mesh. The touch panel includes a transparent substrate and at least a sensing electrode. The transparent substrate has at least a surface and plural referring node points arranged in regular order. The sensing electrode is disposed on the transparent substrate and has plural node points, plural turning points and plural metal wires. Each node point corresponding to referring node point is disposed on the surface. Each turning point is randomly selected from a shiftable zone corresponding to a referring point between two adjacent referring node points. Each metal wire is connected between adjacent node point and the turning point, so as to form the sensing electrode and be configured as a visible touch zone.

Description

Touch panel with sensing metal grid

The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly to a touch panel having a sensing metal mesh that reduces or prevents the occurrence of interference grains.

At present, the touch technology has been widely applied to various electronic product display devices, so that the user can control the operation of the electronic product by using a touch control method. In order to make the electrodes of the touch area difficult to be visually recognized, indium tin oxide (ITO) is usually used to form a transparent electrode. However, as the application of the touch panel gradually develops toward a large size, the technology of using an indium tin oxide transparent electrode has technical problems such as large resistance, slow touch response speed, multiple process steps, and high production cost. Therefore, the metal mesh (Metal Mesh) sensing electrode was developed to replace the indium tin oxide transparent electrode.

However, when the metal grid of the touch panel is applied to the display panel, a so-called interference pattern (Moire) is easily generated, which affects the display quality of the screen. The generation of the interference fringes is mainly caused by the shape of the metal mesh pattern, and when the adjacent stripe patterns are regularly arranged with each other, optical interference fringes are generated. Further, when the line width of the metal mesh is thicker, or the adjacent stripes are overlapped or intersected to increase the thickness of the stripe patterns with each other, interference fringes are likely to occur. Another reason is that when the touch panel is attached to the display panel, the metal grid of the touch panel and the thin film array of the display panel (Thin-Film Transistor array, TFT arrays (such as black matrix or RGB pixel arrangement) are arranged in a regular grid pattern, so optical interference patterns are also generated when the two regular grid-like patterns overlap.

In order to avoid or reduce the occurrence of interference fringes, the pattern and line shape of the metal grid of the touch panel are generally arranged according to the thin film transistor array of the display panel, and are designed to be staggered and regular by a plurality of linear metal microwires. The arrangement is structured to form a grid pattern, thereby increasing visibility. For example, the metal mesh includes a plurality of linear first metal microwires extending in a first direction and arranged in parallel, and a plurality of linear second metal microwires extending in a second direction and arranged in parallel, wherein the plurality of strips are arranged in parallel The linear first metal microwire and the plurality of linear second metal microwires are isolated from each other and staggered to form a touch array. However, the metal grid of the touch panel of the prior art must have a good fit with the thin film transistor array of the display panel to reduce the occurrence of interference fringes, and thus the space and interleaving between the plurality of linear metal microwires of the metal grid. The angle needs to be carefully designed, which causes design difficulties and is easy to reduce the visibility due to metal grid pattern design errors. On the other hand, if a random pattern design is used to solve the interference pattern problem, there may be a phenomenon in which the aperture ratio of the grid design is not uniform and the distribution is uneven, resulting in uneven brightness. When a plurality of random patterns are combined with each other, the intersection of the interfaces may also cause random splicing or interference patterns between random patterns due to random changes in node positions.

Therefore, how to develop a touch panel having a sensing metal mesh which can reduce or avoid the occurrence of interference grains and a manufacturing method thereof to solve the problems faced by the prior art is a problem to be solved.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a touch panel with a sensing metal grid, which can form a sensing metal grid with random grid tiles, and avoid overlapping or excessive line strips of the grid tiles sensing the metal grid. The intersection of the intersection causes the interference pattern to occur.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel with a sensing metal grid, which can precisely control the variation of the random grid block of the sensing metal grid to avoid sensing the line of the grid grid of the metal grid. The design of the stripe is caused by the random variation, and the aperture ratio is not uniform or unevenly distributed, and the touch display device of the application is prevented from being uneven in brightness.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel with a sensing metal grid, which can precisely control the variation of the random grid block of the sensing metal grid, so that two or more grid tiles are combined when lap joint , to avoid the lap joint pattern of the two grid tiles to affect the visual effect.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch panel with a sensing metal grid, which can form a sensing metal grid with random grid tiles in accordance with the arrangement of the pixel units.

To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a touch panel comprising a transparent substrate and at least one touch sensing electrode. The transparent substrate has at least one surface and a plurality of reference nodes arranged regularly on at least one surface and assembled to form a visible touch area. The touch sensing electrode is disposed on at least one surface, and has a plurality of mesh nodes, a plurality of vertices, and a plurality of metal microwires, wherein the plurality of mesh nodes are disposed on the at least one surface corresponding to the reference node. The plurality of vertices are centered on any point adjacent to the two adjacent reference nodes and are given a random selection in a range of offsettable regions. The plurality of metal microwires are connected between any two adjacent grid nodes and the vertices to form the touch sensing electrodes.

1‧‧‧Metal mesh layer

11‧‧‧Transparent substrate

111‧‧‧ surface

112‧‧‧Visual touch area

113‧‧‧ Peripheral area

12‧‧‧ reference node

12’‧‧‧ mesh nodes

13‧‧‧ Reference point

14‧‧‧ 折点

15‧‧‧Grid Block

15a to 15f‧‧‧ grid tiles

16‧‧‧Touch sensing electrodes

161‧‧‧Metal microwire

17‧‧‧Metal lead

2‧‧‧pixel layer

21‧‧‧pixel unit

A‧‧‧ offset area

C, C1, C2‧‧‧ offset area

P‧‧‧Local area

R, R1, R2, R3‧‧‧ predetermined radius values

S10~S14, S20~S25, S30~S34‧‧‧ steps

X, Y‧‧‧ axis

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the manufacturing of a touch panel with a sensing metal grid according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 2A through 2D show a schematic diagram of the phased structure in the process steps of Figure 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the manufacture of a touch panel with a sensing metal grid according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 4A through 4C show schematic diagrams of the phased structure in the process steps of Figure 3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of a touch panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view showing another embodiment of the P partial region in Fig. 5.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the manufacture of a touch panel with a sensing metal grid according to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 8A through 8B are schematic diagrams showing the phased structure in the process steps of Figure 7.

Figure 8C is a schematic diagram showing another phase structure in the process steps of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a view showing the structural correspondence between the sensing metal grid and the pixel layer in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Some exemplary embodiments embodying the features and advantages of the present invention are described in detail in the following description. It is to be understood that the present invention is capable of various modifications in the various aspects of the present invention, and the description and drawings are intended to be illustrative and not limiting.

1 is a flow chart showing the manufacturing of a touch panel with a sensing metal grid according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D are schematic diagrams showing the phase structure in the process steps of FIG. The touch panel with sensing metal grid of the present invention and its manufacturing method are briefly described as follows. First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A, a transparent substrate 11 is provided, wherein the transparent substrate 11 has at least one surface 111 (step S10). Next, a plurality of first reference nodes 12 are defined on the surface 111, and are regularly arranged on the surface 111 (step S11). In this step, a plurality of first reference points 12 form an array of diamond-shaped pattern elements and extend in the XY axis direction. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any pattern unit such as a triangle that can be repeatedly extended and extended is spliced. , rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc., are applicable. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2B, the intermediate point on the line connecting any two adjacent reference nodes 12 can be defined as a reference point 13 centered on the reference point 13, given each reference point 13 The region C is offset, and a vertex 14 is randomly selected within the offsettable region C (step S12). In the present embodiment, the range of the offsettable region C is a circular region formed by a predetermined radius value R. The predetermined radius value R ranges from one eighth to two hundredth of the spacing between any two adjacent reference nodes 12. The implementation range of the predetermined radius value R is preferably one tenth of the aforementioned line pitch to the percent A distance of between 3 microns and 50 microns, preferably between 5 microns and 30 microns. Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2C, the position of each reference node 12 is defined as a mesh node 12', and all adjacent mesh nodes 12' and vertices 14 on the surface 111 are connected to the surface. A grid block 15 constituting one of the sensing metal grids is formed on 111 (step S13). In this step, the pattern of the grid block 15 is transferred to the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11 through a process of mask development and metal etching to form a touch sensing electrode 16 and combined to form a visual touch. Control area 112 is shown in Figure 2D.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the manufacturing process of the touch panel with the sensing metal grid according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4A to FIG. 4C are schematic diagrams showing the phase structure in the process steps of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, a transparent substrate 11 (refer to FIG. 2A) is first provided, wherein the transparent substrate 11 has at least one surface 111 (step S20). Next, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4A, a plurality of first reference nodes 12 are defined on the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11, and are regularly arranged on the surface 111 (step S21). In this step, a plurality of first reference points 12 form an array of diamond-shaped pattern elements and extend in the XY axis direction. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any pattern unit such as a triangle that can be repeatedly extended and extended is spliced. , rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc., are applicable. Then, any two adjacent reference nodes 12 are randomly selected with a reference point 13 centered on the reference point 13, given each reference point 13 a first offsettable area C1, and is offset at the first A break point 14 is randomly selected in the area C1 (step S22). Next, as shown in FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B, a second offsettable area C2 is given centered on each reference node 12, and a mesh node 12 is randomly selected in the second offsettable area C2. '(as in step S23). In this embodiment, the first offsettable area C1 and the second offsettable area C2 may each be a circular area formed by a first predetermined radius value R1 and a second predetermined radius value R2. The first predetermined radius value R1 and the second predetermined radius value R2 are in the range of one eighth to two hundredth of the spacing between any two adjacent reference nodes 12. Preferably, the first predetermined radius value R1 and the second predetermined radius value R2 are in a range of one tenth of a distance to one hundredth of the distance of the line, that is, between 3 micrometers and 50 micrometers, preferably between Between 5 microns and 30 microns. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4C, all adjacent mesh nodes 12' and vertices on the connecting surface 111 are connected. 14. A grid 15 of one of the sensing metal grids is formed on the surface 111. In this step, the pattern of the grid block 15 shown in FIG. 4C is transferred to the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11 through a process of mask development and metal etching to form a touch sensing electrode 16 and The combination constitutes a visual touch area 112 (please refer to FIG. 2D).

In the foregoing embodiment, the grid block 15 can be regarded as a grid block with random and non-overlapping patterns. In some embodiments, the touch sensing electrodes 16 formed on the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11 may be combined by a plurality of mesh tiles 15 to form a larger area mesh tile combination. FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of a touch panel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel 1 of the present invention includes a transparent substrate 11 , a touch sensing electrode 16 , and a plurality of metal leads 17 . The light transmissive substrate 11 (see FIG. 2A) has at least one surface 111 and a plurality of reference nodes 12 arranged regularly on the surface 111. The touch sensing electrodes 16 are disposed on the transparent substrate 11 and form a visible touch area 112, and have a plurality of mesh nodes 12 ′, a plurality of vertices 14 and a plurality of metal micro wires 161 (please See Figure 2D). The plurality of mesh nodes 12' are respectively disposed at positions of the original plurality of reference nodes 12. A plurality of vertices 14 are randomly selected from the range of C1 as in the foregoing embodiment. The metal microwire 161 is connected between any two adjacent grid nodes 12' and the vertices 14 and is formed to form the touch sensing electrode 16. In this embodiment, the touch sensing electrodes 16 are formed by splicing a plurality of grid tiles 15a to 15f, wherein two adjacent grid tiles are joined by a reference node at a boundary thereof, and the plurality of mesh tiles are spliced. The grid tiles can be joined in a first direction (such as the X axis) or a second direction (Y axis) to form a larger area of the grid tile combination. In this embodiment, the touch sensing electrodes 16 may be spliced by, for example, but not limited to, 2×6=6 mesh tiles 15a to 15f, thereby forming a touch sensing electrode 16 of the metal mesh. In addition, a plurality of metal leads 17 of the touch panel 1 are disposed on the transparent substrate 11 and are configured to form a peripheral line region 113 around the visible touch region 112. The forming manner is as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. As shown in step S24, it can be formed by a mask development and metal forming etching process. In this embodiment, the plurality of reference nodes 12 of the grid block 15 are regularly arranged. Therefore, when each grid block 15 is spliced with another grid block 15, the nodes with regular arrangement at the junction of each other are arranged. The point is easy to be joined, and the problem that the stitching is not easy or the aperture ratio of the splicing interface is too large is not caused by the excessive random variation and the node offset, and the splicing marks generated when the grid tile design is lapped are also avoided. In some embodiments, the touch sensing electrode 16 and the metal lead 17 are formed on the transparent substrate 11 through the same mask development and metal forming etching process. In this embodiment, the metal microwires 161 connecting the adjacent mesh nodes 12' and the vertices 14 are in a straight line segment, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the metal microwire 161 connecting the adjacent mesh nodes 12' and the vertices 14 includes at least one arc segment. Fig. 6 is an enlarged view showing another embodiment of the P partial region in Fig. 5. As shown in Figures 5 and 6, in some embodiments, the metal microwires 161 connecting the adjacent mesh nodes 12' and the vertices 14 can be an arc segment. In a preferred embodiment, the metal microwires 161 connecting the adjacent mesh nodes 12' and the vertices 14 are more intersected by the arc segments generated by Spline Interpolation. The mesh node 12' and the vertices 14 to which each smooth cloud curve is connected are located on the same straight line as the reference node 12 and the reference point 13. In other words, the reference node 12 and the reference point 13 on the same line are fitted to the selected mesh node 12' and the vertices 14, that is, the grid nodes 12' and the vertices 14 of the group are fixed points. Become a smooth curve. Of course, any two adjacent mesh nodes 12' and the metal microwires 161 of the vertices 14 can also be freely selected to be grouped and fitted into an open or closed cloud-shaped curve, which is not limited thereto.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the manufacturing process of the touch panel with the sensing metal grid according to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8A to FIG. 8B are schematic diagrams showing the phase structure in the process steps of FIG. As shown in Fig. 7, first, a transparent substrate 11 (refer to Fig. 2A) is provided, wherein the transparent substrate 11 has at least one surface 111 (step S30). Next, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8A, a plurality of first reference nodes 12 are defined on the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11, and are regularly arranged on the surface 111 (step S31). In this step, the plurality of first reference points 12 form an array of diamond-shaped pattern elements and extend in the XY axis direction. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any pattern unit such as a triangle that can be repeatedly extended and extended is spliced. , rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc., are applicable. Then, a reference point 13 is randomly selected on any two adjacent reference nodes 12, and at the same time, reference point 13 is centered, and each reference point 13 is given an offset area. Field A, and a vertices 14 are randomly selected within the offsettable area A (step S32). In this embodiment, the range of the offsettable area A is formed in a ring-shaped area or on both circumferences by a first predetermined radius value R1 and a third predetermined radius value R3. Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto. The first predetermined radius value R1 is greater than the third predetermined radius value R3 to form an annular region of the range of the offsettable region A. The range of the first predetermined radius value R1 and the third predetermined radius value R3 is between one eighth and two hundredth of the spacing between any two adjacent reference nodes 12. Preferably, the first predetermined radius value R1 and the third predetermined radius value R3 are in a range of one tenth to one hundredth of the distance of the line spacing, that is, between 3 micrometers and 50 micrometers, preferably between Between 5 microns and 30 microns. Next, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8B, the position of each reference node 12 is defined as a mesh node 12', and all adjacent mesh nodes 12' and vertices 14 on the surface 111 are connected to the surface. A grid block 15 constituting one of the sensing metal grids is formed on 111 (step S33). The pattern of the grid block 15 is transferred to the surface 111 of the transparent substrate 11 through a process of mask development and metal etching to form a touch sensing electrode 16 and configured to form a visible touch area 112. As shown in Figure 2D. Alternatively, the mesh node 12' is also randomly selected within each of the reference nodes 12, within its corresponding annular region of the range of offsetable regions A of the same size. All adjacent mesh nodes 12' and vertices 14 on the surface 111 are formed on the surface 111 to form one of the sensing metal grids, as shown in Fig. 8C.

In the foregoing embodiment, the touch sensing electrodes 16 of the touch panel can be patterned according to the obtained grid pattern 15 by a mask development and metal forming etching process, and the surrounding metal leads 17 ( Referring to FIG. 5), it is formed on the transparent substrate 11. Since the case mainly generates random grid tiles through the vertices change between any two nodes, the phenomenon that the opening size is not average is not generated as is known by excessive random variation. When the grid nodes are arranged according to the rules of the reference nodes, the plurality of grid tiles can be easily spliced through the corresponding joints of the boundary reference nodes, and no interface stitching is generated at all. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3, each of the reference nodes 12 may be centered, a second offsettable area C2 is given, and a grid is randomly selected in the second offsettable area C2. The node 12' causes the mesh node 12' of the grid tile 15 to be randomly offset. Wherein the second deflectable region C2 is a circle formed by the second predetermined radius value R2 The area, the size of which may be equal to or smaller than the first offsettable area C1 formed by the first predetermined radius value R1. Since the random mesh nodes 12' all fall within the second offsettable region C2 centered on the corresponding reference node 12, when the two adjacent mesh tiles 15 are designed to overlap again, the overlapping boundary thereof The reference nodes 12 can be correspondingly joined, and the mesh nodes 12' of the boundaries of the two adjacent mesh tiles 15 will fall within the corresponding second offsettable region C2, and the range of the second offsettable region C2 is transmitted. Control (i.e., given the second predetermined radius value R2 controls the size of the second deflectable region C2), the aperture ratio at the boundary junction is not excessively large, and the occurrence of splicing marks is less likely to occur. In some embodiments, the plurality of mesh nodes 12 ′ at the outermost boundary thereof may be regularly arranged as the original plurality of reference nodes 12 , thereby making the plurality of mesh tiles 15 spliced. It is easy to complete, and there is no lap pattern between the lap joints to affect the visual effect.

In some embodiments, the array of pattern elements formed by the reference nodes may be formed by a triangle, a rectangle, a diamond, a hexagon, or an octagon. In the present embodiment, the case where the diamond shape is a pattern unit is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto. FIG. 9 is a structural diagram corresponding to the pixel layer of the touch panel with the sensing metal grid and the pixel layer of the display module shown in FIG. 1 . As shown in FIG. 9, each of the grid blocks 15 of the touch sensing electrodes of the touch panel corresponds to a plurality of pixel units 21 of the pixel layer 2 of the display module, wherein the pixel units 21 are red. The sub-pixel, the green sub-pixel, and the blue sub-pixel are arranged in combination. In order to meet different needs, the arrangement of the red sub-pixel, the green sub-pixel and the blue sub-pixel may have different aspect regions. The reference node of the present case can be modularized according to the configuration of different regions, that is, the regular arrangement of reference nodes can be designed according to the arrangement of pixel units, thereby effectively preventing interference fringes with pixel units. . The length of each side of each grid block 15 is at least larger than the size of one pixel unit 21.

In summary, the present invention provides a touch panel with a sensing metal grid and a method for manufacturing the same, which can form a sensing metal grid structure with random grid tiles, and avoids sensing grid grids of metal grids. Line streaks create overlapping or excessive intersections that cause interference patterns to occur. In addition, the present invention has a touch panel and a method for sensing a metal grid, and more precisely controls the variation of the random grid block of the sensing metal grid to It is avoided that the line stripe of the grid block of the sensing metal grid is caused by the random variation design, and the aperture ratio is not uniform or unevenly distributed, and the touch display device of the application is prevented from being uneven in brightness. On the other hand, in this case, the random pattern change of the sensing metal grid structure is controlled by a specific offsettable region, so that when two or more grid tiles are combined, the two grid grids are avoided. The interface produces lap patterns that affect visual effects. And the design of the grid block for sensing the metal grid can be constructed according to the arrangement design of the pixel units.

This case has been modified by people who are familiar with the technology, but it is not intended to be protected by the scope of the patent application.

1‧‧‧Metal mesh layer

11‧‧‧Transparent substrate

112‧‧‧Visual touch area

12’‧‧‧ mesh nodes

14‧‧‧ 折点

15‧‧‧Grid Block

16‧‧‧Touch sensing electrodes

161‧‧‧Metal microwire

X, Y‧‧‧ axis

Claims (11)

A touch panel comprising: a transparent substrate having at least one surface, and a plurality of reference nodes arranged regularly on the at least one surface; and at least one touch sensing electrode disposed on the at least one surface Grid nodes, a plurality of vertices, and a plurality of metal micro-lines, wherein the plurality of mesh nodes are respectively disposed on the at least one surface corresponding to the plurality of reference nodes, and the plurality of vertices are any two adjacent The reference node is centered at any point on the line and is given a random selection in a range of offsettable regions, and the plurality of metal microwires are connected between any two adjacent grid nodes and the vertices to constitute the The sensing electrodes are touched and assembled to form a visual touch area. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vertices are respectively a midpoint of any two adjacent reference node links being the center and being offsettable given Randomly selected from the regional scope. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the location of the mesh node is set on the corresponding reference node. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the location of the mesh node is set to be randomly selected within a range of the offsettable region corresponding to the reference node. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the deflectable area ranges from a predetermined radius value to a circular area or a circumference, wherein the predetermined radius value ranges between any two One-eighth to one-twoth of the distance between adjacent reference nodes. The touch panel of claim 5, wherein the predetermined radius value ranges from one tenth to one hundredth of a distance between any two adjacent reference nodes. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the deflectable region ranges from a first predetermined radius value to a second predetermined radius value in one annular region or two circles, wherein the first a predetermined radius value and the second predetermined radius value are between one eighth and two hundredth of a distance between any two adjacent reference nodes, and the first predetermined radius value is greater than the second predetermined radius value . The touch panel of claim 7, wherein the first predetermined radius value ranges from one tenth to one hundredth of a distance between any two adjacent reference nodes. The touch panel of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of metal leads disposed on the at least one surface of the transparent substrate and configured to form a peripheral line region around the visible touch region. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the metal microwire is a straight line segment or an arc segment. The touch panel of claim 10, wherein the arc segment is a cloud curve passing through any two adjacent grid nodes and the vertices.