CN203930732U - Contact panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses a touch panel, which is defined as a non-visible area and a visual area corresponding to the non-visible area. The touch panel includes: a shielding layer formed on a substrate, wherein the shielding layer The formation area defines the non-visible area, and the shielding layer and the substrate form a stepped portion; a sensing electrode layer is formed on the substrate to correspond to the visible area, and further extends through the stepped portion to It is formed on the shielding layer so as to correspond to the non-visible area; and a conductive protection layer is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer at least corresponding to the position of the step portion. In this way, the problem that the transparent electrode layer is prone to breakage or peeling can be effectively solved, and the reliability of the electrical connection between the transparent electrode layer and other circuits can be improved.

Description

touch panel

technical field

The utility model relates to a touch technology, more specifically, the utility model relates to a touch panel.

Background technique

The use of touch panels has become increasingly popular. There is currently a thinner touch panel, which includes a substrate and a touch component. The touch component is directly formed on one side of the substrate, while the other side of the substrate is for use. The substrate can be operated by touching it, so that the substrate has both the protection function and the function of carrying the touch component, and the touch substrate that originally needs to be independently used to carry the touch component can be omitted. Since this kind of touch panel has the advantage of being thin and light, it is gradually favored by people.

In the aforementioned thin-design touch panel, a shielding layer is usually first formed on the substrate to define the peripheral area, and the area outside the peripheral area belongs to the visible area. Next, a transparent electrode layer is formed to form a touch component, wherein the transparent electrode layer extends from the substrate in the visible area to the shielding layer in the peripheral area. Since the shielding layer usually needs to be designed with a thickness of a few microns (μm) to tens of microns to achieve the shielding effect, it is difficult to extend the transparent electrode layer from the visible area to the peripheral area when it is formed. That is to say, the climbing ability of the transparent conductive layer on the shielding layer will be reduced due to the increase of the thickness of the shielding layer, and the transparent electrode layer is prone to breakage or peeling off, making the electrical connection between the transparent electrode layer and other circuits reliable. degree reduced.

Utility model content

In view of the above, the present invention proposes a touch panel, which can effectively solve the problem of breakage or peeling due to the formation of the transparent electrode layer that must cross the height of the shielding layer to extend from the visible area to the peripheral area.

The utility model provides a touch panel, which is defined as a non-visible area and a visible area corresponding to the non-visible area. The touch panel includes: a shielding layer formed on a substrate, wherein the shielding layer The formation area defines the non-visible area, and the shielding layer and the substrate form a stepped portion; a sensing electrode layer is formed on the substrate to correspond to the visible area, and further extends through the stepped portion to It is formed on the shielding layer so as to correspond to the non-visible area; and a conductive protection layer is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer at least corresponding to the position of the step portion.

The touch panel provided by the utility model uses the step of forming the sensing electrode layer to form a conductive protective layer on the surface of the sensing electrode layer corresponding to the position of the step part formed by the shielding layer and the substrate, so as to effectively solve the problem of transparency. The electrode layer is likely to be broken, damaged or peeled off, thereby improving the reliability of the electrical connection between the transparent electrode layer and other circuits.

In order to make the above and other purposes, features, and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, preferred embodiments are listed below and described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 shows a schematic partial top view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along the section line a-a' in Fig. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a partial top view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view along the line b-b' in Figure 3.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a manufacturing method of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic partial cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Below in conjunction with accompanying drawing and specific embodiment the utility model is described in further detail.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, which respectively depict a partial top view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention and a schematic cross-sectional view along the section line a-a' in FIG. 1. The touch panel 20 of this embodiment includes a substrate 21 , a shielding layer 22 , a sensing electrode layer 23 and a conductive protection layer 24 . Wherein, the shielding layer 22 is formed on the substrate 21, and the formation area of the shielding layer 22 is used to define a non-visible area NV of the touch panel 20, so that the area corresponding to the non-visible area NV can form a visible area. Viewport V. In the embodiment of the present utility model, the shielding layer 22 can be formed around the surface of the substrate 21, and the non-visible area NV defined by it is set around the visible area V. In addition, the shielding layer 22 can also be formed only On one side or both sides of the surface of the substrate 21 , the non-visible area NV defined therein corresponds to one or both sides of the visible area V, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, the shielding layer 22 formed in this embodiment has a certain thickness and forms a stepped portion S with the substrate 21. The thickness of the shielding layer 22 can be adjusted according to the actual color of the shielding layer 22 and the desired shielding effect. , which is not limited by the present invention. In the embodiment of the present utility model, the material of the substrate 21 is a transparent strengthened base material, which can be designed by using non-conductive base materials such as glass, acrylic, plastic, etc., and a shielding layer is arranged on one surface thereof. 22 and other structures, the corresponding other surface is an operating surface for users to touch; the material of the shielding layer 22 is ink or photoresist, which has a certain light-shielding property, and is generally dark, such as black, but different from According to the product design requirements, it can also be other colors. The shielding layer 22 can be a single-layer structure or a multi-layer stacked structure, which is not limited by the present invention.

The sensing electrode layer 23 is formed on the substrate 21 to correspond to the visible region V, and further extends through the step portion S to be formed on the shielding layer 22 to correspond to the non-visible region NV. The specific design of the sensing electrode layer 23 is, for example, a plurality of first axial electrodes 231 (such as Y axial electrodes) and a plurality of second axial electrodes 232 (such as X axial electrodes). In an embodiment of the present utility model, the sensing electrode layer 23 is formed of transparent conductive materials, such as indium tin oxide, aluminum zinc oxide, zinc oxide, tin antimony oxide, tin dioxide, indium oxide, nano silver, carbon nanotubes , graphene, etc. or a combination of the foregoing.

The conductive protection layer 24 is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer 23 at least corresponding to the position of the step portion S, so as to cover and protect at least the portion of the sensing electrode layer 23 corresponding to the step portion S, and enhance the sensing electrode layer 23 in the The adhesion between the step S and the shielding layer 22 prevents the sensing electrode layer 23 from easily peeling off due to climbing at the position corresponding to the step S, and effectively reinforces the sensing electrode layer 23 . In addition, because the conductive protection layer 24 of this embodiment has conductivity, when the sensing electrode layer 23 breaks or is damaged at the above-mentioned step S, the conductive protection layer 24 can continue to provide electrical connection and maintain sensing. Measure the function of the electrode layer 23.

More specifically, in order to achieve the function of protecting the sensing electrode layer 23 without affecting the function of the sensing electrode layer 23, the conductive protection layer 24 is only formed on each first layer through a patterning process. On the surface of one axial electrode 231 and each second axial electrode 232 . In this embodiment, the conductive protection layer 24 includes a plurality of protection elements 241 after patterning, and the protection elements 241 respectively correspond to each first axial electrode 231 and each second axial electrode formed on the sensing electrode layer 23. 232, as shown in Figure 1, each first axial electrode 231 and each second axial electrode 232 are respectively protected by two protection components 241, the protection components 241 of this embodiment are, for example, long The design of the strip structure, and the protection component 241 is non-perpendicular and non-parallel to the boundary between the visible zone V and the non-visible zone NV, and the protection component 241 can be further along the first axial electrode 231 and the second axial electrode 232 are formed on the surfaces of the first axial electrode 231 and the second axial electrode 232 correspondingly. In this way, chances of the conductive protective layer 24 affecting the optical and visual effects of the touch panel 20 are reduced. In the embodiment of the present invention, the material of the conductive protective layer 24 can be a transparent conductive material, which can be the same as the material of the sensing electrode layer 23. In the manufacturing steps of forming the sensing electrode layer 23, the conductive protective layer 24 can be Formed in the same step to save process. The material of the conductive protective layer 24 can also be a non-transparent conductive material, such as metal, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

The touch panel 20 of this embodiment further includes wires 25 formed on the shielding layer 22 corresponding to the non-visible area NV and electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer 23 . In actual design, the wire 25 and the conductive protection layer 24 can be formed of the same material and formed in the same process step, so that the conductive protection layer 24 designed in the present invention does not add additional process steps. The wire 25 can be a single-layer metal structure, such as a single-layer metal structure formed of copper, silver, and aluminum. In different embodiments of the present invention, the conductive wire 25 can be a multi-layer metal structure, such as formed by molybdenum-aluminum-molybdenum three-layer structure.

Next, the stacked arrangement of the touch panel 20 of this embodiment will be described more specifically. As shown in FIG. 2 , the shielding layer 22 is formed on the first surface 211 of the substrate 21 , and the shielding layer 22 has a sidewall 221 and a second surface 222 away from the substrate 21 . Wherein, the opposite side of the first surface 211 of the substrate 21 is a surface provided for the user to touch. The sensing electrode layer 23 is formed on the first surface 211 of the substrate 21 in the visible region V, and is further formed along the sidewall 221 and the second surface 222 of the shielding layer 22 to extend into the non-visible region NV. The conductive protection layer 24 is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer 23 corresponding to the position of the step S. Specifically, the conductive protection layer 24 is divided into three parts corresponding to the first surface 211 of the substrate 21 and the sidewall of the shielding layer 22 respectively. 221 and the second surface 222 of the shielding layer 22 are formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer 23 . The wire 25 is formed on the second surface 222 of the shielding layer 22 and is electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer 23 .

Based on the above, the touch panel 20 of this embodiment is provided with a conductive protective layer 24 on the surface of the sensing electrode layer 23 at a position corresponding to the step S, so that at least part of the sensing electrode layer 24 is at the position of the step S It is located between the conductive protection layer 24 and the shielding layer 22, and in other embodiments of the present utility model, the conductive protection layer 24 can also be formed between the shielding layer 22 and the sensing electrode layer 23, and is correspondingly located at the stepped portion S position, so as to slow down the height difference between the shielding layer 22 and the substrate 21, and gently climb the sensing electrode layer 23, so as to reduce the risk of the sensing electrode layer 23 breaking at the stepped portion S. In addition, the touch panel 20 of this embodiment does not impose restrictions on the stacked structure and layered relationship of other parts. In the visible area V, between the sensing electrode layer 23 and the substrate 21 and the shielding layer 22 An anti-reflection layer, an explosion-proof film, etc. can be designed between the base plate 21 and the like.

Please refer to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, which respectively depict a partial upper view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention and a schematic cross-sectional view along the section line b-b' in Fig. 3 . The touch panel 20' of this embodiment is substantially the same as the touch panel 20 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in terms of structure and extension design, the difference is that the protective component 241 of the conductive protective layer 24 of this embodiment 'The non-visible area NV is further extended to electrically connect the wire 25. Wherein, since the part of the extended design of the protection component 241' in this embodiment is already located in the non-visible area NV, the shape and style of the protection component 241' of the extension part are relatively flexible, and there is no need to consider the touch panel 20' in particular. The optical and visual effects of appearance can be extended by the shortest path in the simplest way, so as to form a zigzag elongated structure as shown in FIG. 3, for example. Of course, the specific shape and style of the protection component 241' can be adjusted according to actual design requirements, and is not limited by this embodiment.

Based on the above, in this embodiment, the protection component 241' is extended to the electrical connection wire 25, which can not only effectively prevent the sensing electrode layer 23 from failing due to fracture, damage or peeling off at the stepped part S, but also further strengthen the The reliability of the electrical connection between the sensing electrode layer 23 and the wire 25 ensures the signal transmission between the sensing electrode layer 23 and the wire 25 .

Please refer to FIG. 5 based on the framework of the foregoing embodiments. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a manufacturing method of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the steps of the manufacturing method of the touch panel provided by this embodiment include: providing a substrate 21 (step S101 ). Next, a shielding layer 22 is formed on the substrate 21 (step S102 ), wherein the formation area of the shielding layer 22 defines a non-visible area NV, and the shielding layer 22 and the substrate 21 form a stepped portion S. The shielding layer 22 can be formed by printing or coating and etching on the substrate 21 , wherein the printing method can include screen printing, and the number of printing can be single or multiple, which can be adjusted according to actual process requirements. When the formation method of coating and etching is adopted, the material of the masking layer 22 is mostly photoresist. The specific forming steps are: coating the entire surface of the photoresist material on the substrate, and then forming the masking layer 22 by exposure and development or laser etching. .

Next, a sensing electrode layer 23 is formed on the substrate 21 to correspond to the visible area V, and the sensing electrode layer 23 is further extended through the step S to be formed on the shielding layer 22 to correspond to the non-visible area NV (step S103). The specific formation method of the sensing electrode layer 23 is related to its specific structure, which is a well-known technology in the art, and it is not limited in the present invention, so it will not be repeated here. Furthermore, a conductive protection layer 24 is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer at least at the position corresponding to the step portion S (step S104 ). In this way, at least part of the sensing electrode layer 23 is located between the conductive protection layer 24 and the shielding layer 22 at the position of the step S, effectively preventing the sensing electrode layer 23 of the touch panel 20, 20' from falling on the step S. Part S fails due to fracture, breakage or detachment. In addition, the manufacturing method further includes forming a wire 25 on the shielding layer 22 corresponding to the non-visible area for electrically connecting the sensing electrode layer 23 (step S105 ). In another embodiment, after the aforementioned step S104 is completed, the conductive protective layer 24 in the non-visible area NV may be extended to electrically connect the wire 25 .

It is worth mentioning that the conductive protective layer 24 and the conductive wire 25 can be made of the same material in actual design, such as metal, so that the aforementioned step S104 and step S105 can be combined into one step to simultaneously form the conductive protective layer 24 and the conductive wire. 25, which is not limited by the present invention. In addition, the substrate 21 mentioned in the foregoing embodiments can be designed by using non-conductive substrates such as glass, acrylic, plastic, etc., and the foregoing substrates can further be strengthened substrates. Furthermore, the aforementioned transparent electrode layer 23 may include transparent conductive materials such as Indium Tin Oxide, Zinc Tin Oxide, or Aluminum Zinc Oxide.

The touch panel provided by the utility model can be further integrated into an electronic device with a display module, so that the touch panel becomes an operation input interface of the electronic device. Please refer to FIG. 6, which shows a partial cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Wherein, the present embodiment is illustrated by taking the touch panel 20 described in the embodiment of the aforementioned FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 as an example.

The electronic device 1 includes a casing 10 , the aforementioned touch panel 20 and a display module 30 . Wherein, the touch panel 20 and the display module 30 are bonded through an adhesive layer 40 (such as optical glue), and the whole touch panel 20 and the display module 30 after bonding are disposed in the casing 10 . In this way, when the user is using the electronic device 1, he or she is watching from the side of the touch panel 20, wherein the display module 30 displays images for the user to watch, and the substrate 21 of the touch panel 20 carries the shielding layer 22 and the sensor The opposite surface of the surface of the electrode layer 23 is provided for the user to perform touch operation.

To sum up, the utility model provides a touch panel with a conductive protective layer and a manufacturing method thereof. By setting the conductive protective layer, the sensing electrode layer itself and the electrical conductivity between the sensing electrode layer and the wire can be improved. The reliability of the permanent connection can be improved, thereby reducing the risk that the sensing electrode layer cannot be used after the step part is broken, damaged or peeled off.

Although the present utility model is disclosed as above with the foregoing embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present utility model. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the utility model belongs can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the utility model. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present utility model should be defined by the scope of the appended patent application.

Claims (10)

1. A touch panel, characterized in that, is defined as a non-visible area and a pair of visible areas of the non-visual area, the touch panel comprises: a shielding layer formed on a substrate, wherein the formation area of the shielding layer defines the non-visible area, and the shielding layer and the substrate form a stepped portion; a sensing electrode layer formed on the substrate to correspond to the visible area, and further extends through the stepped portion to be formed on the shielding layer to correspond to the non-visible area; and A conductive protection layer is formed on the surface of the sensing electrode layer at least corresponding to the position of the step portion. 2 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , further comprising a wire formed on the shielding layer to correspond to the non-visible area and electrically connected to the sensing electrode layer. 3 . 3 . The touch panel according to claim 2 , wherein the conductive protection layer is further extended in the non-visible area to electrically connect the wire. 4 . 4 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing electrode layer comprises a plurality of first axial electrodes and a plurality of second axial electrodes electrically insulated from each other. 5. The touch panel according to claim 4, wherein the conductive protective layer comprises a plurality of protective elements respectively formed on the surface of each of the first axial electrodes and the second axial electrodes superior. 6 . The touch panel according to claim 5 , wherein the protection components are strip-shaped. 6 . 7. The touch panel according to claim 6, wherein the protection elements are non-perpendicular and non-parallel to the boundary between the visible area and the non-visible area. 8. The touch panel according to claim 6, wherein the protection elements are formed correspondingly on each of the first axial electrodes and the edges of the second axial electrodes. On the surface of an axial electrode and the second axial electrodes. 9 . The touch panel according to claim 6 , wherein the protection components are zigzag strip structures. 10 . 10. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the conductive protective layer is made of metal.